Green Lantern

Even as Arrow once again revoked access to Deathstroke, fans kept hope that recent references to Batman and Wonder Woman might signal greater leniency with the major DCEU characters. Not so, apparently, as Arrow boss Marc Guggenheim once again shoots down the notion that Justice League-rs Batman or Wonder Woman might make their CW debuts.

In their mad rush to kickstart a cinematic universe without actually giving new characters individual movies, Warner Bros. has often struggled in the shadow of its Marvel competitors. Fans who are rooting for the success of the DCEU  —  those willing to see see the good and the bad of the movies, at least  —  know that movies like Wonder Woman are important because they create personal and well-rounded characters that we can then smash up against each other in movies like Justice League. After all, nobody would care who gets invited to an All-Star Game if there wasn’t an entire season’s worth of plays and memories to get us to that point.

Over the year’s, Marvel’s marketing strategy seems to have pivoted slightly. As the movies have become more successful and the core group of actors have settled into their roles, Marvel seems to now be emphasizing the fresh blood in its pre-release publicity. Tom Holland gushing about playing Spider-Man? Brie Larson discussing the importance of Captain Marvel? Taika Waititi having a blast talking up his cast and crew? It doesn’t really matter what side of the camera you were on; if you’re still riding that Marvel high, you’ll be the one to do the talking.

In the tradition of ScreenCrush series like You Think You Know Movies and You Think You Know TV comes a new YouTube series: Top Five! Every month (or so; we’ve got a lot of other stuff going on), ScreenCrush editor and critic Matt Singer will count down a particular topic from the world of movies (and probably write these introductory posts in the third person).

The universe owes Armie Hammer a superhero franchise. A few years ago, when Warner Bros. was working with Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller on a Justice League movie, Hammer was signed, sealed, and delivered to play a young Bruce Wayne in the film. Hammer would’ve been an interesting choice for the role; he’s funnier and has more range as an actor than most people might expect, suggesting that Hammer could’ve bridged the gap between Christian Bale’s brooding dark knight and Adam West’s silly caped crusader. For my money, Hammer could’ve been the best Batman yet.

Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code, Warcraft) is not directing the Green Lantern Corps movie, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have something to say about it. The director took to Twitter today to share his opinion of the hero and how he would make him better. His solution: make him dumb.

In brightest day, in blackest night, no movie rumor shall escape our sight. Next year’s Justice League has been sans Green Lantern so far, with no news for sure that the intergalactic crimefighter will appear in the movie, despite the fact that he’s historically been a hugely important member of the group. Today, it’s now rumored that the Green Lantern Corps will appear in the movie, but it might not be our familiar human member of the force.

It’s never entirely clear where DC draws the line at major heroes and villains in The CW series, given the use of characters like Superman and Flash, but not Batman. Green Lantern too has been given frequent Arrow reference, though producers now officially state they “could never” feature the character in brightest day, or blackest night.

The early days of Arrow Season 4 saw enough Green Lantern teases to get fan hopes up, but will Season 5 do the same? The latest addition features a surprising personal connection to Hal Jordan, as Carly Pope joins Season 5 as a Coast City reporter.

In Cinemautopsy, we look back at a recent, high-profile failure and asks a simple question: What the hell happened? In this installment... a long-running superhero. The megastar lead of another wildly popular comic-book movie. A massive sci-fi epic with an all-star cast. The guy who reinvented James Bond twice. The guy who went on to launch DC’s TV empire. What could possibly go wrong?