Lanterns Premiere Makes Major Guardians Revelation That Comic Fans Will Love

DC fans learned a lot about the Green Lantern mythos throughout tonight’s HBO premiere of Lanterns, and much of it was focused on Hal Jordan. Early in the episode, we see a 60 Minutes interview with Jordan from earlier in his career that reveals quite a bit about the timeline and how long Hal has been a Green Lantern. While that part of the episode is stacked with details, a later conversation with John Stewart gives us another major piece of information, but this time it’s regarding the Guardians of the Universe, and comics fans are going to love it.

Spoilers incoming for Lanterns episode 1. There’s a scene of Hal and John speaking in the car that’s been frequently used in trailers, but there’s a part of the conversation that’s been cut out until now. John tells Hal the Guardians chose him, and Hal responds by saying, “The big blue bosses may think that you’re hot s***, but you’re just a f****** substitute teacher junior. You’re not ready to get up in front of the class until the ring says you are.”

That first line is key, as the “big blue bosses” are the Guardians of the Universe. It was previously believed that the Guardians wouldn’t be taking on their smaller blue forms, as Laura Linney was confirmed to be playing a Guardian, and she was appearing in human form. Now it seems that may just be a decision she’s making in the moment, but they do seem to be blue, just like they are in the comics, and that’s going to be delightful news for longtime comics fans.

John Stewart’s Chosen By The Guardians Role Is Actually From The Comics

You might be surprised to know that John being chosen by the Guardians is actually from the comics as well, even though it’s clearly been elaborated on in the show. More often than not, the ring chooses the bearer by seeking out good people in the vicinity after a Green Lantern has fallen. In John’s case though, things are different.

Similar to the show, in the comics, the Guardians believe that John will be a great Green Lantern from an early age, and so they keep an eye on him and his progress. At one point they decide it’s time to test whether or not he’s ready to become a Lantern, and so they send a Manhunter down to Ferris Air to see how he reacts. As one would expect, John leaps into the fray without a second thought, and the Guardians rewarded him with a Green Lantern ring.

What’s interesting is that they also concealed from John the fact that they sent the Manhunter. In a rather ironic circumstance, they thought so highly of him that they feared he would even confront them if he knew the truth, so they hid it from him. This is in stark contrast to Hal’s origin as a Green Lantern, and the same is true of the trust that the Guardians have in him versus Stewart, which is also set to be a big part of the show as well.

Lanterns is now streaming on HBO.