Abhiroop Das
Co-created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King, HBO’s ‘Lanterns‘ expands on the DC Universe by shifting the focus away from intergalactic battles and cosmos-level threats, and back towards the more mundane. Hal Jordan has been the Green Lantern for decades now, and his ring’s powers have started to deplete. While ex-soldier John Stewart is assigned as his successor, their dynamic can be best described as a little rough. However, a fatal shooting not far from where Hal first got his powers brings in a serious turn to this superhero drama series. As Hal and John spend the entire first episode, titled ‘Pilot,’ being less superheroes and more old-school detectives, the final scene skips ahead to the year 2026, revealing a twist that already threatens to shake the very foundations of this show. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Hal Jordan May Have Killed Himself, Given the Missing Ring
Episode 1 of ‘Lanterns’ ends by killing off its protagonist, Hal Jordan, in one of the most daring twists ever seen in superhero television. While much of the story is set in 2016, the final scene of the episode takes us to Rushville, Nebraska, in 2026. Surprisingly enough, John Stewart still doesn’t seem to have his power ring, and when he ultimately finds Hal’s dead body, frozen still at the bleachers, the ring isn’t on his finger either. With no other explanation for how we ended up here, and seven more episodes to go for this season, all we can do for now is theorize about how Hal might have ended up dead, or if he’s dead at all. For starters, it’s not just Hal who is dead, but the entire town seems to have turned into a frozen ruin, and that might be our first clue.
It is firmly established by now that Rushville has a strange relationship with the extraterrestrial, be it Hal’s meeting with Abin Sur or the alien killings that define the events of 2016. It is entirely possible that the defining battle with the aliens takes place in 2026 and ends with Hal sacrificing his life, as the frozen blood on his dead body seems to support this theory. However, this still doesn’t explain the absence of his ring, and thus, we are left with two options. The first, and grimmer possibility is that Hal took his own life, giving up the ring and rendering himself defenseless. Though we don’t know the circumstances that could have led to that decision, it is no secret that Hal’s passion for the role has been diminishing over the years, and this might just have pushed him to his limit.
Hal Jordan’s Dead Body Might be a Clone
Another possible explanation for Hal Jordan’s death might be that he is not dead at all. While the concept of clones hasn’t exactly been introduced in the series yet, we know for a fact that cloning is possible in this universe, courtesy of the big reveal in ‘Superman.’ We have already seen that Hal has a backup of his consciousness stored inside the ring, and while it isn’t exactly up to date, it still retains his brain and sensibilities. Thus, it is entirely possible that everything about his death in 2026 is one big fake-out and the real Hal is still out there, somewhere. Whether this means that Hal is planning for revenge or has simply faked his death to escape the superhero life is still up in the air, but the missing ring strongly points towards the former explanation.
As far as we can tell from the events of ‘Superman,’ Guy Gardner has been Green Lantern for quite some time already, and yet he doesn’t seem to have the same ring as the one we have seen on Hal Jordan. It is not unusual for there to be more than one Lantern stationed on a planet at any given time, but the fact that John still doesn’t have a ring of his own is suspicious nonetheless. It is possible that something went wrong between him and Hal in 2016, or that he simply failed the test. From the looks of it, though, it appears that John is still a part of the larger narrative and might as well become the next Green Lantern after the big mystery about Hal’s death is solved.
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