Patton Oswalt is one of Hollywood’s most notable comic book fans, and it’s had a huge bearing on the entirety of his career. The actor, comedian, writer, producer, and author has worked it into his stand-up routines for decades, and penned issues of various runs for both Marvel and DC.
Onscreen, he guested in nine episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., lent his vocal talents to TV shows The Boys, Teen Titans Go!, and Spider-Man, while co-creating and voicing the title character in Hulu’s acclaimed M.O.D.O.K.
In short, he knows superheroes. Therefore, in a new interview, he explains what he thinks about his A.P. Bio co-star Glenn Howerton; in particular, he feels he would make for an excellent member of the Green Lantern Corps.
“There’s actually a character in the DC universe that would be perfect for him. It’s not the Hal Jordan Green Lantern…but the Guy Gardner Green Lantern. He would be amazing. The whole idea — so brilliant — and if they did it, they would have another Deadpool on their hands…the whole point of being the Green Lantern is that you have to be without fear and completely honest. That’s the only way you can wear the ring. Having no fear and being completely honest doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a good person.
So, the second Green Lantern is a guy named Guy Gardner — afraid of nothing and completely honest — like, ‘Oh hey, you gained some weight, dude’.
He doesn’t understand there’s things you shouldn’t do. He’s an awesome Green Lantern. He’s the best one because he truly doesn’t have any fear. Glenn would be amazing playing that. The Guardians of the Universe are like, ‘I don’t really know if we made the ring for this reason, but he is the best Green Lantern?’. So, that would be an amazing character to play.”
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia veteran Howerton was famously James Gunn’s second choice to play Peter Quill in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Guardians of the Galaxy if Chris Pratt’s Parks and Recreation commitments got in the way, and he’s been holding out hope of getting the call to play another comic book favorite since.
Green Lantern is on the way back to our screens via an HBO Max exclusive series, but American Horror Story‘s Finn Wittrock has been cast as Guy Gardner. Looking at the disconnect that’s run rampant throughout DC continuity since the franchise first launched in the summer of 2013, it can’t be ruled out that the Corps could make a return to the feature film realm, so the door might not be completely closed on making Patton and Howerton’s dream a reality just yet.