At the start of 2023, DC Studios announced an ambitious slate of projects that hasn't fully come to fruition in the past three years. Several projects have been scrapped or fallen by the wayside, leading to questions about just how serious James Gunn and Peter Safran were about those movies and TV shows (and whether they were pressured into presenting a slate).
The Brave and the Bold, which is set to reunite The Flash creative team, director Andy Muschietti and writer Christina Hodson, has become one of the biggest talking points. While Matt Reeves' The Batman Part II gains momentum ahead of its 2028 release, the DCU still has no Bruce Wayne.
Creature Commandos revealed that Batman is active in the DCU, but it also introduced a version of Clayface that the villain's upcoming movie—which wasn't in the works at the time—either has to now retcon or make sense of. Those scenes were also set in the past, leading to theories that Batman might have either vanished or been killed.
Well, in last night's episode of Lanterns, we finally get a meaningful nod to Batman's existence. That comes when Hal Jordan is talking to John Stewart about the signal Guy Gardner has placed in Rushville.
"[Guy] ripped off that bat guy in Gotham, too," Hal tells his former mentee. "Put a beacon right in the middle of the f**king town here so people can summon him."
This Easter Egg is welcome, but may also prove frustrating for fans eager to see Batman, not just hear about him. Fortunately, Lanterns features a big DCU debut when Carol Ferris makes a brief appearance at Hal's funeral. She asks John to read his eulogy, and hints at her past with the former test pilot.
In the comics, Carol is the CEO of Ferris Aircraft and Hal's longtime on-again, off-again love interest. She eventually becomes Star Sapphire after the Zamarons choose her, wielding a violet power ring and becoming a powerful member of the Star Sapphire Corps.
Though initially an adversary of Hal, Carol later embraced her powers and fights alongside him. Based on what little we see of her in Lanterns, there's nothing to suggest this has played out in the DCU.
Better Call Saul and 1923 actress Amie MacKenzie portrays Carol in the HBO series, and you can check out the first official still of her below.
Lanterns follows new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.
Alongside Kyle Chander and Aaron Pierre, Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Nicole Ari Parker, Jason Ritter, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Jasmine Cephas Jones round out the cast.
Six episodes of Lanterns are now streaming on HBO Max.