*SPOILERS*
The Snyder Cut is here! Zack Snyder’s Justice League has arrived on HBO Max, and judging by the social media reactions I’ve seen, fans love it as much as I did. The film has loads of surprises and special cameos, including a couple of heroes that Snyder has been teasing for a few years. But one character that we didn’t get to see that was the subject of rumors was Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern, with the actor returning to the role he infamously played in the disastrous 2011 film. It turns out, Snyder really did have plans in case a deal with Reynolds could be worked out, but failing that, he had ideas for the John Stewart GL that ended up becoming something else.
Snyder told THR…
“There was another idea I had for the Green Lantern that wasn’t Ryan, and so I thought that if we had gone down this path of Green Lantern, I would have had to have Ryan as the additional Lantern,” the filmmaker confirms. “Filling out the Lantern Corps a little bit more than say just one Green Lantern.”
We do end up getting a brief glimpse at Green Lantern during an early fight scene against Darkseid and his forces, but it’s an extraterrestrial hero and definitely not Reynolds. Seems like Snyder and Reynolds would be down to work together in the future, though…
Yes! And we’ll watch 300 and Justice League. I promise I’ll raise my hand to ask questions instead of yelling, “how’d you do that?!” Every ten seconds like last time.
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) March 17, 2021
Of the two entirely new scenes added to the film, one was a Knightmare epilogue featuring Jared Leto’s Joker, and another an encounter between Bruce Wayne and the Martian Manhunter, who is green but definitely not a Lantern. Turns out, that hero was initially meant to be for Green Lantern, but Snyder faced heavy opposition from the studio for some reason…
“We shot a version of this scene with Green Lantern, but the studio really fought me and said ‘We really don’t want you to do Green Lantern,'” Snyder told Vanity Fair. “So I made a deal with them, and they let me do this [instead.]”
Oh no. Don’t do that, Snyder. You’ll have scores of fans begging to see that footage, too!
Turns out, the Green Lantern in question wouldn’t have been the Hal Jordan version played by Reynolds, but John Stewart, who viewers of the many animated TV shows and movies probably know best…
“It would be John Stewart,” Snyder added. “They were like, ‘We have plans for John Stewart and we want to do our own announcement.’ So I said all right, I’ll give you that. So [Martian Manhunter] was the compromise.”
By “plans” Warner Bros. is likely referring to the upcoming Green Lantern Corps. series that’s in the works for HBO Max.
I am curious who Snyder got to play John Stewart, though. Hmmmm….
