Superman‘s scenes showing off the DCU Green Lanterns’ powers perfectly pull off one of the greatest challenges when it comes to this specific skillset. Superman‘s cast contains a range of exciting figures, but the bowl-cut-clad Guy Gardner manages to be one of the most exciting despite his brash atтιтude.

As the first Green Lantern we’ve seen in the DCU timeline, Gardner is a major deal for the DCU, and for DC movies broadly speaking, since the Green Lanterns are so under-adapted. This is in part due to the complexities of their powers – making it all the more of a relief that Superman nails this part of its story.

The Green Lanterns’ Powers Are Hard To Get Right On-Screen

Unlike conventional superpowers like superstrength or flight, the power of the Green Lantern ring is a little more complicated. First and foremost, conveying visually how the Green Lantern light constructs work is its own challenge, since the visual cue is a more abstract one than simply seeing someone be punched very hard via superstrength.

However, the true challenge of this power is how it’s channeled: namely, through creativity. The Green Lantern rings require the user to specifically imagine and “create” the construct they want to use, which can essentially be anything they put their mind to, which ideally means they have to be used in a vast range of ways that can prove tricky for a film to pull off.

This also has a level of individualism, as no two characters are really supposed to channel the power in exactly the same way. Ensuring this is conveyed throughout an on-screen story comes with its own challenges and tricks, since the choices made here also affect what the characterization of the Lanterns in question seems like,

Looking at this all together may go some way to explain why the Green Lanterns have been so infrequently seen on-screen. Not only is their lore more complex – and 2011’s Green Lantern controversial at best – but this core aspect of their powers also seems really hard to get right on-screen, adding an extra barrier to adaptations.

Superman’s Depiction Of Guy Gardner Nails The Green Lantern’s Power Perfectly

Superman manages to overcome all of these challenges with its own depiction of Green Lantern Guy Gardner. While the movie’s depiction of the Green Lantern powers is made somewhat easier by only having one to deal with, it still manages to handle Gardner in a way that highlights the unique potential of the superhero faction.

Instead of giving Gardner more bland power constructs, the Lantern uses his ring to create things like oven mitts used to contain a kaiju’s claws, or huge middle fingers that overturn tanks. This shows the full creative range of how the Green Lanterns’ powers can be used, and gives insight into what Guy Gardner is like as a character, too.

The casual, confident way in which Gardner uses his Green Lantern ring to do big and small tasks reflects his instinctive synergy with the artifact, effectively making him seem like a superhero who’s had his powers for a long time. It also shows that, while the ring is a powerful tool, it’s got plenty of domestic uses.

Indeed, some of the most fun moments featuring these powers are the ones wherein Guy is demonstrating the non-combat-based uses of the ring, like using it to make a megaphone or block a view through windows. While there are infinite ways the ring could theoretically be used, we certainly get to see a vast selection here, and each use adds crucial context to these unique DC powers.

Superman’s Green Lantern Depiction Paints A Promising Picture For The Franchise’s Future

With Guy Gardner’s use of the Green Lantern ring now well and truly established, the DCU has a lot of interesting ways to expand on the Green Lantern lore. We know the Lanterns show is on the horizon for the franchise, and that it’s set to release around the time of 2026’s Supergirl, which means there’s not a long wait.

Before that, we also have Guy Gardner’s appearance in Peacemaker season 2. The more adult-rated DCU installment offers the potential for more violent or simply more mature uses of the Green Lantern powerset, which also seems very much within Gardner’s own wheelhouse given his prior middle finger construct.

However, Lanterns does offer a bigger step forward for the Green Lanterns again, since it’s likely fellow Green Lanterns John Stewart and Hal Jordan will use the ring in very different ways. As such, Lanterns offers the DCU a chance to expand on what the ring’s power looks like in different hands, which is sure to prove fascinating.

With Lanterns‘ plot synopsis suggesting Stewart will be a new Lantern recruit, the show can also demonstrate how Green Lanterns develop an affinity with the ring over time. Superman‘s depiction of the Green Lanterns has already set the stage for this, as its creative use of the Lantern powerset seems to provide an ideal introduction for future releases to play with.