Before he debuted as Diana Prince’s love interest Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman, many DC fans felt Chris Pine would be the perfect pick to play Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern in a reboot. Obviously, that’s unlikely to happen now, but it’s possible that Marvel Studios might take the fans up on that offer and cast the Star Trek actor as the MCU’s own version of Green Lantern instead – the Squadron Supreme’s Doctor Spectrum.
If you’ve been keeping up, you’ll know that we’ve heard a lot about the studio’s plans to bring the Squadron Supreme to the MCU lately. Last April, we revealed that a project was in the works featuring the team, and earlier this month we brought you the news that Brad Pitt was being eyed to play group leader Hyperion. Their hunt for big names to play these characters continues, too, as our sources – the same ones who said She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel TV shows were on the way and that Taskmaster was the main villain in Black Widow, all of which have since been confirmed – tell us that Pine is in the running, too, and he’s wanted for Spectrum.
Debuting in the comics in 1971, the Squadron Supreme are a very deliberate and thinly-veiled pastiche of DC’s Justice League. There’s the Superman stand-in Hyperion that I’ve already mentioned, with other members including Nighthawk (Batman), Power Princess (Wonder Woman) and Whizzer (Flash). With the ability to create light energy constructs from an alien gem called the Power Prism, Doctor Spectrum is obviously the Lantern equivalent on the roster.
At present, it’s still unclear whether the Squadron will get their own movie or a Disney Plus TV show. With the caliber of actors they’re chasing, you’d imagine this would be for a film, but let’s not forget that the studio has already landed some big coups for their series on Disney’s streaming service – Owen Wilson in Loki springs to mind. So, it seems things could go either way right now. But Chris Pine is definitely one name they’re interested in.
As for what’s next for the star, he’ll return as Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman 1984, which was just moved to its new release date of August 14th. And, of course, there’s still the possibility of him reprising his role of Captain Kirk in Star Trek 4, if it ever escapes development hell.
