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

Nathan Fillion and the character he is playing in Superman: Legacy, Guy Gardner.
(Image credit: ABC / DC Comics)

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Superman: Legacy is looking more and more interesting! 

As you've no doubt seen by now, yesterday saw the announcement of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:three new cast members joining 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:James Gunn's upcoming film. 

, Edi Gathegi will be playing 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mister Terrific, I🦩sabela Merced is taking on the part of Hawkgirl and, most eye-catcꦗhingly, 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 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Suicide Squad and was a highlight of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: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 projec🌃t.

A new role in the DCU

Nathan Fillion as T.D.K. in The Suicide Squad.

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

The casting also raises further questions about the state of re♛ality in the new DCU. 

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

We know that the DCEU was reset, to some extent, by the events of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: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 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:various Batmen that appeဣared 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 o🐠ne of the obvious characters t❀o 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 L𒀰antern title. Hell, you could e൩ven make a case for bringing in OG Lantern, Alan Scott. But Guy Gardner? That's a really specific choice.

The other other Green Lantern

The first appearance of Guy Gardner.

(Image credit: DC Comics)

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 Lant♕ern 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 co🧸matose and left with se♒vere brain damage.

Guy comes out of his coma.

(Image credit: DC Comics)

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 somꦺe 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 destru✃ction 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 remai𒅌ns 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 Interꦓnational and dated fellow JLI member Ice.

An unpredictable hero

Felipe Massafera's portrait of Guy Gardner.

(Image credit: DC Comics /)

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

Perhaps there were concerns that a char🔯acter 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 sh꧂ow 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 o🌌n 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 ൩going to be fascina𝕴ting to see how these two characters get on...


Discover the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Green Lantern stories of all time.

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Will Salmon
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Will Salmon is the Streaming Editor for GamesRadar+. He has been writing about film, TV, comics, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he launched the scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and ha🎀s written for every issue of SFX magazine for well over a decade. His music writing has appꦑeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places too.