Do We Need a Green Lantern Reboot?

So ladies and gentlemen, come June 19, 2020 we will have ourselves yet another Green Lantern movie. And not just a Green Lantern film, it’s a Green Lantern Corps movie. It will be an entirely clean reboot that will be a part of the new cinematic universe of DC Comics shared films, that started with Man of Steel. There hasn’t been any official news about who will be the main Lantern. Only talks of Tyrese Gibson wanting to have a crack at portraying Green Lantern John Stewart, however nothing official really.

With that out-of-the-way, we just got to ask ourselves: Do we truly need a reboot? Honestly, I didn’t think we needed a Green Lantern reboot. The 2011 Green Lantern movie had its share of flaws, but it was decent for a first film on the character. I admit that Hal Jordan came off as too comical as opposed to his serious personality that we all know him for in the comics. I will add that I didn’t appreciate how Parallax was shown in the movie. He looked more like some cloud monster and we had Hector Hammond, still talking and walking, and they could’ve done a lot better with him. Then there were of course some plot holes and clichés, eventually the film was considered a failure. So from those views, a reboot sounded like a good idea to many people.

Hear me out now before you call an angry mob on me, if we need a reboot, then it must be done. But on another side, I feel that they should’ve done a sequel that also could be a reboot of sorts, and still continue the franchise. That way, a rebooted sequel could redeem where the first film had failed. Complete with a new director, a recasting for Hal Jordan, and less humor but dark tone. That said, here’s what I would’ve wanted to have seen done in the sequel. And I would go with a story borrowed from a story arc from the comics. We would see Hal Jordan, serious and disciplined, hailed as the greatest Green Lantern ever and provide history between him and Sinestro as enemies as seen in the mid credit scenes of the first one where Sinestro wielded the yellow ring of Fear. Next allow Jordan to be seduced by the power of Fear, resulting in the rebirth of the entity Parallax (Not a cloud monster) inside Jordan.

This actually happened in Green Lantern #50 in March 1994, in which Hal Jordan becomes evil, renaming himself Parallax from anger upon Coast City being obliterated by Mongul during the Reign of the Supermen story arc.

This led to a dark path for Hal as he betrayed and went on to slaughter the majority of the Green Lantern Corps as well as the Guardians, (Yikes!!) This is what I always pictured seeing, which also helps with Hal Jordan being stripped away as the main hero, and replaced by someone new who could carry the torch for the movie and beyond. Any Lantern would do, but me personally, I would go with Kyle Rayner only because he was the Lantern who confronted Jordan/Parallax during this angle.

Another reason why I don’t want a reboot is because I praised Mark Strong’s portrayal of Sinestro, he had the essence of everything I had always imagined in a live action Sinestro. He took the spotlight in every scene he had. Just perfect and I would’ve loved to see more of him in a sequel.

Well that’s my thoughts on the subject. If anyone feels the same way, feel free to comment and let me know what you think would’ve saved the franchise. If you disagree, feel free to rant.