Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Lanterns episode 6
One year before Man of Tomorrow, James Gunn's DC Universe introduced an exciting Superman weapon that could prove very useful in the near future. As seen in HBO's new Lanterns series, the cosmic side of the DCU has gradually been expanding. However, a key piece of classic Superman lore has also just been confirmed.
Recently in Lanterns episode 6, John Stewart has returned to Rushville, Nebraska, ten years after the massacre in 2016 that saw John killing a Manhunter, taking Hal Jordan's power ring, and turning down the role of Earth's next Green Lantern. Now, John is trying to figure out who murdered Hal in 2026, while also holding a funeral for the former Green Lantern.
However, part of Jordan's memorial is actually a secret bid from John to get Hal's old ring, allowing him to continue uncovering Jordan's killer. As such, securing the ring involves Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner, the current Green Lantern chosen after John turned down the role, resulting in a fascinating Superman reveal.
Guy Gardner Just Confirmed The Existence Of The Phantom Zone
Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner in Lanterns episode 6
At John's request, Guy Gardner retrieves Hal Jordan's decommissioned power ring from the planet Oa, where the Guardians had been keeping it locked away after John gave it back to them at the end of Lanterns episode 5. Paying his respects at John's memorial, Gardner mentions that if he gets caught, he'll be on "the first beam to the Phantom Zone," casually confirming that the classic DC Comics location does exist in James Gunn's DCU.
Sector 2814 · Ring Active How Well Do You Know Lanterns? “In brightest day, in blackest night…”
💍The RingPowered by will
🔦The Corps3,600 sectors
🌌OaThe Guardians
👮Earth BeatSector 2814
⚠Yellow PerilThe fear entity
01
Lanterns is one of the tentpole TV series launching James Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted DC Universe. On which streaming platform does it air?
✓ Correct! HBO Max — Warner Bros. Discovery’s flagship streamer and the natural home for DCU prestige TV alongside Peacemaker and The Penguin. Lanterns is positioned as the DCU’s high-end serialised drama counterpart to Gunn’s theatrical Superman relaunch, sharing canon with the films. Disney+ runs Marvel; Netflix and Apple are rival streamers.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is HBO Max. Netflix has had various superhero shows but not DCU. Disney+ is Marvel’s home. Apple TV+ doesn’t house DC. HBO Max is Warner Bros. Discovery’s streamer and the TV home of the Gunn/Safran DCU — Lanterns joins Peacemaker and upcoming DCU series there.
02
Unlike most Green Lantern adaptations, Lanterns pairs two Earth-based ring-bearers in a buddy-cop framework — a weathered veteran and a newer recruit partnered together on Sector 2814 duty. Which two Lanterns lead the show?
✓ Correct! Hal Jordan and John Stewart — two of the most beloved Earth-assigned Lanterns — are paired as the show’s central duo. Hal is the hot-shot test-pilot veteran, John the disciplined ex-Marine architect with a sharper sense of justice. The pairing draws heavily from the Geoff Johns comics era and lets the show explore two very different philosophies of what a Green Lantern should be.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is Hal Jordan and John Stewart. Guy Gardner (played by Nathan Fillion) is a separate DCU character who appears in the 2025 Superman film. Kyle Rayner is a beloved Lantern but not part of this show. The Lanterns duo is the Hal/John pairing — a pointedly contrasting veteran and recruit on Sector 2814 duty together.
03
The role of Hal Jordan — the weathered, test-pilot-turned-space-cop original Earth Lantern — went to a veteran actor best known as Coach Eric Taylor on Friday Night Lights and for leading Bloodline. Who plays Hal?
✓ Correct! Kyle Chandler — Emmy winner for Friday Night Lights, star of Bloodline, and part of the Monsterverse (Godzilla: King of the Monsters) — plays an older, weathered Hal Jordan. James Gunn wanted a seasoned, grounded presence rather than a rookie. Ryan Reynolds played Hal in 2011’s widely-mocked Green Lantern film (a different continuity); Nathan Fillion plays Guy Gardner in the 2025 Superman film.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is Kyle Chandler. Ryan Reynolds’ Hal was the 2011 film (a separate, mostly-disowned continuity). Nathan Fillion plays Guy Gardner in the 2025 Superman film — not Hal. Chris Pine isn’t in the DCU. Chandler’s weathered, Friday-Night-Lights gravitas is exactly the mature Hal energy Gunn wanted for the show.
04
John Stewart — ex-Marine sniper, architect, and one of DC’s most iconic Black heroes — is played by a British actor who broke out in Barry Jenkins’ The Underground Railroad and Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge. Who is he?
✓ Correct! Aaron Pierre — the British actor who earned raves as Caesar in The Underground Railroad (2021) and carried Netflix’s Rebel Ridge (2024) with a performance frequently compared to early Denzel Washington. Gunn called his casting “a no-brainer.” Winston Duke, Sterling K. Brown and John Boyega are all great actors but not in the role.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is Aaron Pierre. Winston Duke is M’Baku in the Marvel universe. Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us, American Fiction) is Marvel-adjacent too. John Boyega famously played Finn in Star Wars. Pierre’s Rebel Ridge performance — playing a disciplined ex-Marine — is essentially his audition for John Stewart, and Gunn’s team cast him off it.
05
James Gunn has repeatedly pitched Lanterns as a grounded, small-town murder-mystery thriller — where the space-cop rings are secondary to a detective case on Earth. Which acclaimed HBO series is his go-to tonal comparison?
✓ Correct! Gunn has explicitly called Lanterns his “True Detective in the DCU” — a slow-burn, atmospheric, character-driven case with superhero elements layered over a grounded murder mystery. Showrunner Chris Mundy actually did True Detective: Night Country duties, bringing that DNA directly. Watchmen (Damon Lindelof) was also cited, and Lindelof has consulting writer credits, but True Detective is the primary comp.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is True Detective. Gunn has named it as the explicit tonal blueprint — a slow-burn, character-driven murder mystery with superhero elements layered over it. Chris Mundy, the show’s runner, worked on True Detective: Night Country, bringing the DNA directly. Watchmen was a secondary comp (Damon Lindelof consults), but True Detective is the primary pitch.
06
When James Gunn and Peter Safran took over as DC Studios co-CEOs in 2022, they announced a rebooted slate of interconnected films and TV shows — with Lanterns among the launch titles. What is this first DCU phase officially called?
✓ Correct! Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters — announced in January 2023 as the Gunn/Safran DCU’s opening slate. It includes Superman (2025), The Authority, Supergirl, The Brave and the Bold, Paradise Lost, Waller, Creature Commandos, and of course Lanterns. Crisis on Infinite Earths is a comics event; Flashpoint and Dark Knights are other DC storylines, not the chapter branding.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters. Crisis on Infinite Earths is a famous DC comics crossover event (and Arrowverse crossover) but not a DCU chapter label. Flashpoint was referenced in The Flash (2023) from the now-defunct DCEU. The Gunn/Safran era officially named its launch phase Gods and Monsters — Superman 2025, Lanterns, and related titles.
07
Green Lanterns serve the Guardians of the Universe, an ancient race who created the Corps’ 3,600-sector peacekeeping force and charge the Lantern rings from a central Power Battery on their home planet. What is the Guardians’ homeworld called?
✓ Correct! Oa — the small blue-skinned Guardians’ home at the centre of the universe. It houses the Central Power Battery from which all Green Lantern rings draw their energy, and serves as the Corps’ academy and operational base. Krypton is Superman’s destroyed homeworld; Themyscira is Wonder Woman’s hidden Amazon island; Apokolips is Darkseid’s hellscape.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is Oa. Krypton is Superman’s homeworld. Themyscira is Paradise Island where Wonder Woman was raised. Apokolips is Darkseid’s grim world in the Fourth World mythos. Oa is specifically the Guardians of the Universe’s planet — home to the Central Power Battery that fuels every Green Lantern ring in all 3,600 sectors.
08
Every Green Lantern recites the same oath when charging their ring — a four-line rhyming incantation that’s become one of the most famous pieces of verse in comic-book history. How does it famously begin?
✓ Correct! “In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil’s might / Beware my power — Green Lantern’s light!” The oath dates back to 1940’s All-American Comics #16, was refined through the Silver Age, and is considered one of DC’s most sacred bits of verse. Every canonical adaptation includes some version of it.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is “In brightest day, in blackest night…” The full oath: “No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil’s might / Beware my power — Green Lantern’s light!” It’s been canon since 1940 and remains one of comics’ most instantly recognisable pieces of verse — recited in every major Green Lantern adaptation.
Ring Depowered · Report to Oa Your Corps Rank
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Honor Guard veteran — or still in Corps training?
On the page, the Phantom Zone is a pocket universe outside the normal confines of time, originally discovered by Superman's biological father Jor-El, who used the nearly inescapable realm to imprison various criminals before Krypton's destruction. Using a device known as the "Phantom Zone Projector" to access this pocket universe, it was eventually stored by Superman in his Fortress of Solitude on Earth, having been used to imprison some of the Man of Steel's most dangerous foes.
Interestingly, Guy Gardner did once find himself inadvertently trapped in the Phantom Zone in the original comics, perhaps explaining this new Lanterns reference in the first place. That being said, the reference to the Phantom Zone may potentially teases a much bigger role for the pocket universe in the DCU's future.
The Phantom Zone May Be More Important To The DCU Than We Realize
David Corenswet's Man of Steel closes his eyes in James Gunn's Superman
In Lanterns episode 6, Guy seems to be saying that he could be punished by the Guardians via a sentence to the Phantom Zone, implying that the creators of the Green Lantern Corps have access to the pocket universe as well. Although they're logically powerful enough to do so, the Guardians have traditionally held criminals on Oa in their "sciencells" in the comics. Likewise, we've already seen Sinestro locked away in what Guy refers to as "Spazkaban" (Space Azakaban) in the DCU, an intergalactic prison world all its own.
Keeping that in mind, the reference to the Phantom Zone in this context is rather curious. After all, why would the Guardians need another prison beyond the one that's already been confirmed in the DCU? Even if they do, why not send Sinestro there, seeing as how he killed one of the Guardians themselves?
Whatever the reason, it's also worth noting that the Phantom Zone is far from the first pocket universe that's been highlighted in James Gunn's DCU, as pocket universes in general have thus far been the interconnected universe's biggest recurring theme.
Superman established Lex Luthor's pocket dimension, which he used to nearly wipe out Metropolis, while Peacemaker had the Quantum Unfolding Chamber and even another pocket universe controlled by ARGUS called Salvation. Even Lanterns already debuted another pocket universe before the Phantom Zone, with Hal's cosmic locker and its infinite space.
As a result, it's worth wondering if the DCU is trying to establish some sort of overarching narrative with pocket universes/dimensions? At any rate, it will be fascinating to see if Man of Tomorrow features the Phantom Zone in any capacity when it releases in 2027.
New episodes of Lanterns release Sunday nights on HBO and HBO Max from DC Studios.
Release Date
August 16, 2026
Network
HBO
Showrunner
Chris Mundy
Directors
Alik Sakharov, James Hawes, Stephen Williams, Geeta Patel
Writers
Damon Lindelof, Chris Mundy, Tom King, Vanessa Baden Kelly, Justin Britt-Gibson, Breannah Gibson
