HBO’s Lanterns Changes John Stewart’s Green Lantern Powers

In the 2014 animated film Justice League: War, Earth faces an invasion led by Darkseid. Batman and Hal Jordan form an early, rocky alliance while tracking an alien through the sewers of Gotham. Hal spends the pursuit flying behind Batman and boasting about his abilities. When Hal finally touches down, Batman slips the power ring off Hal’s finger without him noticing. The costume and powers vanish instantly, returning only when Hal summons the ring back to his hand.

The moment adapts a scene from Geoff Johns and Jim Lee’s 2011 comic Justice League #1. The exchange captures the core dynamic between the two heroes while demonstrating a fundamental rule of Green Lantern lore: rings convert willpower into hard-light constructs, but the bearer must wear the ring to channel that power.

HBO’s Lanterns tests the boundaries of that rule, hinting that John Stewart could develop into one of the most formidable ring-bearers in the DC Universe.

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Lanterns episode 2.

During the second episode of Lanterns, John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) sustains an autonomous construct while separated from his ring and after falling unconscious multiple times. Similar feats in DC comic history are typically reserved for veteran ring-slingers, specialized rings, or cosmic power upgrades. Stewart manages the task after only two months of training.

Stewart has spent those initial two months working under Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), yet he still cannot fly. The episode begins with Jordan giving Stewart an impromptu flight lesson, primarily because Jordan wants Stewart to fly off and retrieve the power battery needed to recharge the ring. Jordan offers sparse instruction beyond telling him, “Think ‘flight.'” On Stewart’s second attempt, he produces a small, glowing green bird instead of lifting off the ground. Jordan reacts in total disbelief, yelling, “What the fuck is that!?”

Standard Green Lantern constructs are hollow shapes like shields, fists, or the bubble Jordan uses to contain a blast at the end of the first episode. DC’s official description highlights how Stewart differs from other members of the Green Lantern Corps: “A former architect, Stewart creates his power ring constructs differently from his fellow Lanterns, as they are never hollow. He always builds them from the inside out, down to the last nut and bolt — the result of his keen architectural mind.”

The television adaptation does not portray Stewart as an architect, though the show establishes his eye for detail. At the end of the premiere, while Jordan interrogates an alien, Stewart creates an intricate pencil sketch of the creature in minutes.

That artistic precision carries over to Stewart’s ring mastery. The construct he generates behaves like an independent living creature. The display rattles Jordan, who orders Stewart onto a commercial flight to fetch the lantern while imposing a test: “And one more trainee exercise: Take that bird with you and bring it back alive! You lose concentration, it disappears. It disappears, you fail.”

Stewart loses consciousness twice during the trip and nearly dies fighting off alien captors, but the bird remains intact. The alien leader, Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor), describes the creature as a “wildly impressive construct” and expresses shock that Stewart maintains it without a ring on his finger.

After returning to Rushville with Antaan’s demand that they locate the Manhunter within 48 hours, Stewart relays the conversation to Jordan. “They said to create a living thing, let alone keeping it alive while not wearing the ring, is so advanced that it’s practically impossible,” Stewart explains. “But I figured that couldn’t be true, because you would have at least given me a hoo-rah.” Jordan finally offers the praise, marking a breakthrough in their mutual respect.

Jordan then presses Stewart on the bird’s personal meaning, assuming an unconscious creation must carry emotional weight. Stewart dismisses the thought, calls it “just a bird,” and crushes the construct into emerald dust between his hands.

Comic readers have seen Stewart perform comparable feats before, but only after gaining immense power. In Green Lantern: War Journal by Philip Kennedy Johnson and Montos, Stewart builds Ellie, an autonomous construct based on his deceased sister that thinks and acts on its own. Stewart accomplished that feat only after absorbing the Godstorm, an ancient entity that transformed him into a cosmic powerhouse. In Lanterns, Stewart produces similar results at the very start of his journey.

Source: Polygon