For a while there, rumors were swirling that Ryan Reynolds might surprise us all by reprising his role as Hal Jordan from 2011’s Green Lantern in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. This speculation was put to bed, however, when Reynolds himself confirmed it wasn’t going to happen. But there’s rarely smoke without fire, so was there actually some truth to these reports? Maybe, as Zack Snyder has now admitted that he did consider adding Reynolds’ Jordan into his movie.
While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter about the role of the Green Lanterns in Justice League, the filmmaker revealed that he didn’t necessarily plan to factor Hal into the pic, but he thinks that if he had decided on bringing in the corps of Emerald Knights, then he definitely would’ve included the Deadpool star in some capacity.
“There was another idea I had for the Green Lantern that wasn’t Ryan,” Snyder began before explaining that he did have aims to work with Reynolds at one stage. “I thought that if we had gone down this path [with] Green Lantern, I would’ve had to have Ryan as the additional Lantern. But that’s another story.”
DC fans would’ve gone crazy if Hal Jordan had turned up in Justice League in any form, seeing as he’s one of the six traditional founding members of the team in the comics. Remember, the Snyder Cut will include the only other founding hero who wasn’t in the theatrical cut, too – Martian Manhunter, with Harry Lennix due to cameo as the shapeshifting alien. So to have Reynolds’ Hal in there to complete the set would’ve been something.
Still, the Lanterns will have some kind of representation in the movie. Much like the 2017 version, an ancient Lantern – Yalan Gur – will appear in the flashback sequences to the first war between Earth and Apokolips. Hopefully he’ll have more to do than in the Whedon cut, though.
Don’t miss Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max from tomorrow, March 18th.