We all saw Green Lantern 2008. It was bad wasn't it? Parallax was nothing like the comics, it spent way too much time on Earth, it was made by someone who doesn't understand how cgi works….
Anyway, we deserve better, and I want to give it to you. A couple ideas for how to make a good Green Lantern movie, mixed with what we’ve already heard about the planned Green Lantern Corps movie
It needs to have more than one earth green lantern. We need John Stewart, Hal Jordan, and Guy Gardner. I want to see a lot of green lanterns in this movie and have each play an important role.
It needs to have elements of a cop movie. This will ground it a bit and is true to the comics
Sinestro needs to be the villain. Sinestro is one of the most complex villains ever and he is 100% needed to make this movie good
We need epic space battles. We need the Green Lantern corps facing off against the Sinestro Corps. We need Mogo too.
It needs to be good. The DCEU needs a win and Green Lantern has the potential to be this. It, if done right, could be the next dark knight.
So here's my plan:
The movie is going to be about whether or not you can rule through fear.
First 15/20 minutes of the movie we start off with a retelling of Hal Jordan's origin, narrated by him. We see him as the confident(kind of a jerk) test pilot, we see the ring find him and take him to Abin Sur, who gives him the gist on being a green lantern, and sends him up into space. He gets trained, and sent on a ride along with Sinestro to see how it's done. Sinestro is super corrupt, beating suspects,controlling his planet's government , and using fear to keep his sector in line. Hal reports him to the guardians of the universe and after a trial where he pleads guilty, not understanding how what he did was wrong, Sinestro is ousted in disgrace, swearing vengeance. Flash forward to today, where in Coast city, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner battle The Kanjar Ro, a criminal hiding out on earth. Kanjar Ro does not fear battling lanterns as he knows they can't use lethal force. He is defeated and Hal and John are called back to Oa. They are assigned to participate in a sting operation on Qward weapons manufacturers. When the weapon being sold is revealed to be dozens of yellow rings(made from the captured fear energy being parallax), a power battery, and the buyer is Sinestro, the sting goes south and a friend of Hal's (Tomar-Re) is killed. Sinestro kills the Qward and escapes with the rings in the Qward’s ship. The green lanterns return to Oa. The guardians explain that yellow fear energy is the one thing that can potentially cancel out green lantern willpower and send out a message to every sector to find Sinestro. Sinestro programs the rings to seek out recruits(they go to anyone who is knowledgeable on using fear as a weapon) On a Qward factory planet Sinestro has taken over and forced to constantly create more rings, the Sinestro Corps are formed. As the new police force in the galaxy they must get rid of the previous one, the Green Lanterns. Sinestro sends an army to attack Mogo, a living planet that is connected to the green lantern rings and sends them to new recruits whenever a lantern dies. Without Mogo the GL’s will be crippled. The Green Lanterns in Mogo’s sector send out a distress call to Oa as they attempt to battle an army of Yellow Lanterns. John and Kilowog lead several squads of Green lanterns to Mogo, but with a large amount of Green Lanterns off Oa, and a few dozen of Sinestro’s most powerful disciples attack. Hal Jordan and the remaining lanterns attempt to protect the power battery, and Hal contacts nearby Lanterns, including Guy Gardner, for help. The Guardians are desperate as Sinestro’s forces attempt to destroy the battery, and realize that the Green Lanterns are ineffective against Sinestro Corps(who can kill while the lanterns can’t) and reprogram all green lantern rings to allow lethal force. Two guardians disagree though, as they believe it could lead to the passing of a mysterious prophecy. The tide of the battle turns and Mogo, who is himself a green lantern, disintegrates a large portion of the attacking army. The Sinestro corps retreat, and though the battle has been won, dozens of green lanterns are dead, and their rings are whizzing through the Galaxy searching for new recruits. The lanterns managed to capture a yellow lantern, and the lanterns interrogate him and learn the location of the Sinestro corps base(Qward factory planet) Hal vows to bring Sinestro to justice, and him, John, and Guy lead the entire remaining green lantern corps to war. The final battle between the Sinestro corps and Green Lanterns. Hal finds Sinestro, who has a caged Parallax that's energy is being sucked to make more rings. Parallax is drawn to Hal but is trapped in its prison. Sinestro and Hal fight, and the battle leads from the factory, to the sky miles above, to a field about a quarter mile from the factory where Hal’s ring runs out of energy and must be recharged after all the fighting. Guy Gardner shuts down the yellow power battery and disables the rings, including Sinestro's. Sinestro and Hal end up fist fighting in a field, they both beat the s*** out of each other, a large rock is involved, and Hal wins, and keeps his promise to bring Sinestro in to be sent to prison. The Sinestro corps are defeated. Later, Sinestro, who is now in prison reveals to Hal he still won, as his goal was to create a police force that the universe would fear, and now the green lanterns will be feared. We end with the lanterns honoring those lost, the guardians continuing to rewrite the rules of the corps so that this will not happen again, and the two guardians who didn't agree leaving to create their own corps.
Connections to the DCEU:
Abin Sur could have been killed when he tried to stop Zod pre Man of Steel
Some superhero references during the scenes on earth.
Krypton and Thanagarian references
Scarecrow getting a yellow ring in a cameo
Sequel ideas:
A sequel where more lantern corps begin to show up across the galaxy. I picture the blue lanterns, the red lanterns, and the star sapphires. We see the Guardians have been hiding a lot, including the other corps, to avoid a prophecy from coming true. Villains could include the Red Lanterns, and the Manhunters
A Justice League movie loosely based off of Blackest night