Making Guy Gardner Superman: Legacy's Green Lantern proves that all bets are off in James Gunn's DCU

Superman: Legacy is looking more and more interesting!

As you've no doubt seen by now, yesterday saw the announcement of three new cast members joining James Gunn's upcoming film.

As revealed by Vanity Fair, Edi Gathegi will be playing Mister Terrific, Isabela Merced is taking on the part of Hawkgirl and, most eye-catchingly, Nathan Fillion has been cast as Guy Gardner, Green Lantern. The latter is a really interesting choice for a couple of reasons, both in terms of the character and the actor playing him.

Firstly, it's always great to see Fillion in a big role. He's been a fan favorite since his Firefly and Serenity days, and he's always a lively on screen presence. He made a brief appearance as T.D.K. (The Detachable Kid) in Gunn's own The Suicide Squad and was a highlight of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as Master Karja.

It's started to feel like Fillion is to Gunn what Bruce Campbell is to Sam Raimi - a lucky charm actor who always adds a dash of unpredictable humor to a project.

A new role in the DCU

The casting also raises further questions about the state of reality in the new DCU.

Although TDK seemed to be a casualty of The Suicide Squad's infamous opening bloodbath, Gunn has stated that the character survived, saying "#TDK was definitely alive last we saw him" in a tweet that has since been deleted.

We know that the DCEU was reset, to some extent, by the events of The Flash and that Superman: Legacy is, in Gunn's own words, "the true beginning" of the new DC universe. So does T.D.K. even exist anymore? And, if so, does he still look like Nathan Fillion? Perhaps, like the various Batmen that appeared in The Flash, there's a very different version of that character out there now. Maybe we'll meet him one day.

But the most eyebrow-raising aspect of this casting is who Fillion is playing. In the comics, Guy Gardner is one of numerous Green Lanterns, but he's not one of the obvious characters to foreground in what will be, for many people, the first time they encounter these cosmic concepts.

Hal Jordan and John Stewart are the two characters most associated with the Green Lantern title. Hell, you could even make a case for bringing in OG Lantern, Alan Scott. But Guy Gardner? That's a really specific choice.

The other other Green Lantern

Gardner was created by John Broome and Gil Kane and introduced in 1968's Green Lantern (Vol. 2) #59.

In that issue, Hal Jordan discovers that, had he not been selected by Abin Sur to be the Green Lantern of Earth, gym teacher Gardner would have been his second choice. Hal eventually befriends Guy, but a serious injury in Green Lantern #87 takes Gardner out of the Green Lantern running, with John Stewart taking on the mantle of back up Lantern instead.

Gardner eventually recovers from his injuries and does finally become a Lantern. Unfortunately, it's a short-lived victory. Hal's power ring explodes and traps Gardner in the Phantom Zone. When he's eventually found and recovered, he is comatose and left with severe brain damage.

Steve Englehart and Joe Staton revived the character some years later in Green Lantern #190. Finally stirring from his coma, Gardner was a different man - tougher, angrier, and prone to making some poor decisions.

During Crisis on Infinite Earths, Gardner is tasked with teaming up with a bunch of violent supervillains and destroying the moon of Qward in the Anti-Matter universe. It soon becomes clear, however, that doing so would lead to the destruction of reality. The other Lanterns are sent to take him down by any means necessary, leading to his eventual defeat at the hands of John Stewart - though Gardner remains a part of the Green Lantern Corps.

Since then, the comics have tended to lean into the more unstable aspects of the character. Guy Gardner can be brash, boisterous and has a tendency to start things he can't finish (like the time he tried to clean up crime in New York by punching anyone who got in his way). He's squabbled with his fellow Lanterns, and picked fights with Lobo, Superman, and Batman - who KO'd him fairly conclusively. He also joined the Justice League International and dated fellow JLI member Ice.

An unpredictable hero

That Guy Gardner will be the first Green Lantern seen on screen in the new DCU is a really interesting choice.

Perhaps there were concerns that a character as recognizable as Hal Jordan would steal some of Superman's thunder. After all, there's a lot riding on Legacy, not least establishing David Corenswet's Superman following Henry Cavill's much-admired take on the Man of Steel.

More likely, however, it's because both Hal Jordan and John Stewart are going to be the joint protagonists of Lanterns, the forthcoming HBO TV show that Gunn has described as "like True Detective with a couple of Green Lanterns who are space cops watching over Precinct Earth."

Although details on that show are currently thin on the ground, Gunn has said that the show will "have a few other Lanterns peppered in there." Assuming that Gardner makes it out of Superman: Legacy alive (never an entirely safe bet with a James Gunn film) we can presumably expect to see him show up in the TV show too.

Whatever the case, Guy Gardner seems like a very Nathan Fillion and very James Gunn sort of character. He's funny, unpredictable, dangerous and a more morally ambiguous quantity than Superman. It's going to be fascinating to see how these two characters get on...

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