DCU detractors gun for James Gunn by accusing him of wasting the Green Lanterns

Director James Gunn and CEO of DC Studios Peter Safran have given a brief description of what their plans are for a Green Lantern TV series and fans have immediately decided it’s a terrible idea.

Safran describes the show as a “True Detective-type mystery”, explained that it will be set on Earth, and that it’ll follow Hal Jordan and John Stewart. However, the two new heads at DC have ruffled some feathers with the direction they’ve chosen to take the show. Via a post on the DC Blog, Safran said:

We call it Lanterns and it is starring two of our favorite Green Lanterns — Hal Jordan and John Stewart. It’s going to be with HBO Max, as all of our series are that we’re going to talk about today. It is more of a True Detective–type mystery with our two Lanterns. A terrestrial-based mystery…

Gunn then picks up the baton:

“that leads into the overall story that we’re telling throughout the different movies and television shows. We find this ancient horror on Earth, and these guys are basically supercops on “Precinct Earth.”

The primary complaint concerns the fact that the Green Lanterns are an intergalactic peacekeeping force, with stress on the intergalactic aspect. They are also some of the most powerful characters in the DC universe. Why would the creative team decide to take characters who are known for traveling across galaxies and confine them to Earth?

It’s a fair point and there certainly are other characters that would have been a better choice for this kind of story. Some fans agree with the user’s concerns whilst others believed that the story was a perfect fit for the Green Lanterns as their job also involves investigating mysteries.

Are the Green Lanterns just a bigger draw than Martian Manhunter?

But terrestrial crimes do feel a bit small-scale:

In addition, if you’re going to make a detective show based on a DC character there’s already a plethora of earth-based detectives in the DC universe that Gunn and Safran could have chosen. One particularly popular comic detective (the World’s Greatest!) springs to mind but he’s arguably been a bit overused in movies and TV recently.

Right now Lanterns sounds like it will be quite central to the ongoing DCU storyline, so maybe one day it’ll develop into something bigger and more worthy of the Corps. We’ll just have to wait until the show drops on HBO Max, until then, let’s try and see if we can go a day without criticizing Gunn for something.