Keeping that in mind, the show's premiere features an exciting collection of Easter eggs and references both to the page and greater DCU.
As a result, here are over 25 major Easter eggs, references, DCU ties, and the coolest things we loved seeing in Lanterns Episode 1.
It's also worth noting that John Stewart Sr. and his service as a Marine are deviations from the comics.
“The Big Blue Bosses"Hal references the "Big Blue Bosses" who chose John to become a Green Lantern.
These are the Guardians of the Universe, founders and leaders of the Green Lantern Corps operating out of Oa at the center of the DC Universe.
Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Lanterns episode 1
DC Studios' brand-new Lanterns is finally streaming on HBO Max, bringing Kyle Chandler's veteran Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre's rookie John Stewart into the new DCU with an exciting new take on the classic Green Lantern mythos from DC Comics. Keeping that in mind, the show's premiere features an exciting collection of Easter eggs and references both to the page and greater DCU.
Quiz 5 Questions Rings, Sectors, and Secrets: Test Your Green Lantern Lore Your Top Score -- Attempts -- Average 96% Users 737 Start Quiz 0 0
Remarkably, Lanterns opens as a grounded mystery clearly inspired by True Detective, with Hal Jordan and John Stewart investigating murders in rural Nebraska. However, the extraterrestrial significance of this small town is gradually revealed in the new DCU premiere, along with major twists, as the show jumps between the beginning of their investigation in 2016 and its apparent consequences ten years later, in 2026.
In the premiere alone, audiences are introduced to new characters, the complicated relationship between Hal and John, along with plenty of seeds and references to the wider Green Lantern mythology (not to mention all the cool ways a power ring can be used in the new DCU show). As a result, here are over 25 major Easter eggs, references, DCU ties, and the coolest things we loved seeing in Lanterns Episode 1.
Hal Jordan’s Pre-Lantern Origins
As featured in a 60 Minutes special interview with Hal Jordan, which a young John Stewart watched back in 1996, we learn that many of Hal's comic origins are preserved in the DCU. Not only was he originally an Air Force veteran and test pilot, but he also witnessed his father dying in a plane crash as a child, just like on the page. It's also revealed that Hal became Earth's first officer of the Green Lantern Corps in 1986.
William Tell
Upon returning home, John's father (John Stewart Sr.) takes his son outside after asking him Green Lantern's name, placing an apple on his son's head before shooting it, just like the Swiss folk hero William Tell, who was forced to shoot an apple off his son's head with his crossbow.
During the test, the younger John Stewart tells his father he's not afraid, seemingly revealing that his father has been training him to one day become a Lantern himself. It's also worth noting that John Stewart Sr. and his service as a Marine are deviations from the comics. John's father's name on the page was Henry, who left his family when John was young.
Exterior Paddy’s Pub
When Hal Jordan picks up an older John Stewart in 2016, the building behind them is the Nate Starkman Building, famously used as the exterior for Paddy's Pub in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Pharon 4
Hal reveals that he had to temporarily leave John's training to end a civil war on a planet known as Pharon 4, which may be a nod to Dela Pharon, one of DC Comics' Star Sapphires, a group who wield the violent energy of love rather than the green energy of willpower.
“The Big Blue Bosses"
Hal references the "Big Blue Bosses" who chose John to become a Green Lantern. These are the Guardians of the Universe, founders and leaders of the Green Lantern Corps operating out of Oa at the center of the DC Universe.
“A F***ing Substitute Teacher"
Hal Jordan believes John Stewart to be nothing more than a second-string Lantern rather than a future contemporary or his replacement. While it seems like he's become Hal's full successor in the DCU show, John did debut in the comics as a reserve Lantern when he first appeared in the early 70s, only to gradually become a full-fledged Green Lantern in his own right and eventually leader of the entire Green Lantern Corps.
2006 Halogram
Seemingly a new ability for power rings, it's revealed that Green Lanterns can store memories and copies of themselves as backups, provided they routinely update their artificial consciousness. Discovered by John, Hal hadn't backed up his since 2006.
Bubble Wrap (Construct 1)
Hal recklessly tests John by diving out of the car and sending him off a cliff, and it's later revealed that John survived by using Hal's ring to create a green construct of bubble wrap to protect himself. While it happened off-screen, this was technically the first construct created in Lanterns.
Sheriff Kerry Kane
Kelly Macdonald in Lanterns Via MovieStillsDB
Sheriff Kerry Kane is Hal and John's primary law enforcement connection in Rushville, Nebraska. Although she's an original DCU character, she still has a classic alliterative comic book name.
Extraterrestrial Jurisdiction
Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan in Lanterns
Although Hal Jordan's Green Lantern is a well-known hero in the DCU, it's also well known that his jurisdiction lies solely in extraterrestrial affairs; hence, some of the complications Hal and John initially face before Jordan can definitively prove their case in Nebraska involve aliens.
