Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern Costume Comics Inspiration Explained

Summary

• Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern suit in
  Superman
  set photos is quite different from Guy Gardner’s traditional DC Comics costume.
• Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl’s DCU uniforms share elements with Mr. Terrific’s comic book costume, which hints at a possible superhero team that may be the Terrifics or an early version of Maxwell Lord’s Justice League International.
• Guy Gardner may wear a more traditional Green Lantern suit when he’s fighting independently, and the other Green Lanterns may wear their own cosmic jumpsuits.

Action-packed Superman set photos reveal Nathan Fillion’s DCU Green Lantern suit, which looks surprisingly different from Guy Gardner’s traditional costume from the comics. New details about James Gunn’s Superman surface as filming continues, from the apparent confirmation of Krypto the Superdog to a first glimpse at the main heroes’ official DCU costumes. Apart from David Corenswet’s Superman, the metahumans Mr. Terrific, Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, and Guy Gardner have been spotted on set. However, only one of them is wearing a comic-accurate costume.

In DC Comics lore, Guy Gardner is Oa’s first choice for Earth’s Green Lantern, replaced by Hal Jordan seemingly by chance. After years of waiting for his opportunity to shine while Hal Jordan and John Stewart protected the Earth, Guy earned his right to wield the power ring. However, Hal Jordan and John Stewart kept upstaging Guy, which exacerbated his volatile personality. Guy Gardner has continued to be a hero since then, however, becoming one of the Guardians of the Universe’ best soldiers and a respected former member of the Justice League. Now, the DCU is adapting Guy Gardner to live-action with an interesting twist.

Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern Costume Draws Inspiration From Guy Gardner’s Comics Design

Guy Gardner’s DCU Uniform Shares One Major Element With His Comic Book Costume

Superman set photos show Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner wearing a white and black uniform with green stripes and the Green Lantern logo on his shoulder. This is a big departure from Guy Gardner’s all-black jumpsuit with a puffy, collared, green leather vest. However, the Superman team jacket’s leather material does bear a resemblance to Guy Gardner’s iconic vest. Guy Gardner has worn several costumes in the comics, and most of them have included a leather jacket, often oversized and with a large popped collar.

Why Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern Costume Is So Different To The Comics

Guy Gardner May Be Wearing A Superhero Team Uniform Not Connected To The Green Lanterns

Guy Gardner’s suit seen in the Superman set photos doesn’t have a direct counterpart in the comics. However, Guy’s suit looks almost identical to Hawkgirl’s and Mr. Terrific’s. The only difference is that Guy Garner’s stripes are green while Hawkgirl’s are gold and Mr. Terrific’s are red. This similarity between their costumes suggests that all three heroes — and Metamorpho, who’s played with motion-capture — are an official team at this point in the DCU’s Gods and Monsters chapter, and that Guy Gardner wore his original Green Lantern suit before joining or co-founding the team.

Superman
‘s new superhero team might be the DCU’s version of the Terrifics — DC’s response to Marvel’s Fantastic Four.

Curiously, the team seems to be wearing uniforms inspired by Mr. Terrific’s costume, which looks like an exact adaptation of the hero’s comic book look. Therefore, Superman‘s new superhero team might be the DCU’s version of the Terrifics — DC’s response to Marvel’s Fantastic Four. The original Terrifics line-up is composed of Mr. Terrific, Metamorpho, Phantom Girl, and Plastic Man, but the DCU seems to be replacing the latter two with Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl. This possibility is supported by the appearance of a Stagg Enterprises logo on the Superman set. In the comics, Stagg Enterprises is owned by Mr. Terrific’s boss and Metamorpho villain Simon Stagg.

A different but equally likely possibility is that this metahuman squad is an early version of the Justice League International. In the source material, the “JLI” is a superhero team founded by villain Maxwell Lord (set to be played in the DCU by Sean Gunn) and sponsored by the United Nations to protect the whole world. The original comic book team notably features Guy Gardner as one of its main members, and a clear clue that supports this scenario in the DCU is Maxwell Lord’s LordTech logo engraved on Guy Gardner and his teammates’ uniforms on the Superman set.

Will The DC Universe’s Other Green Lanterns Have Similar Costumes?

The DCU’s Green Lanterns Will Likely Wear Very Different Costumes

The fact that Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific are wearing very similar costumes suggests that they wear their own comic-accurate suits when they participate in independent missions. Hawkgirl might wear her traditional golden armor and Guy Gardner might wear his iconic leather vest or a more classic Green Lantern jumpsuit. These Superman heroes’ white-and-black leather uniforms may not be the first costumes they wear chronologically in the DCU. After all, Hawkgirl must have a centuries-long history as a superhero across different lifetimes, and countless other Green Lanterns must be active out there in the universe.

There’s also the DCU series Lanterns, which will follow Hal Jordan and John Stewart as they uncover a cosmic threat on Earth. Although little is known about the series, Hal and John will likely be revealed to be the first two human Green Lanterns, replaced temporarily by Guy Gardner when they’re absent. It’s also possible that Hal Jordan and John Stewart are Earth’s only two Green Lanterns, while Guy Gardner works with the Terrifics as Warrior — his other moniker in the comics, which came with shapeshifting abilities similar to those of Metamorpho.

How Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern Costume Compares To The 2011 Movie

Guy Gardner’s DCU Suit Will Likely Use Very Little CGI

The Green Lanterns’ DC lore has only been adapted to the big screen in live-action once. The poorly-reviewed 2011 Green Lantern movie starring Ryan Reynolds translated Oa, the Guardians of the Universe, and many of the Green Lanterns’ comic book appearances quite faithfully, but it failed to depict many elements accurately, such as the Green Lanterns’ abilities, Hal Jordan’s personality, and Parallax’s colossal power. Although the 2011 movie’s Green Lantern suits were visually stunning, their visual effects were excessive at times, as they were created entirely with CGI.

The 2011
Green Lantern
movie was planned to be the first installment in a DC cinematic universe, and its critical and commercial failure led to the creation of a different franchise: the DCEU.

As evidenced by set footage, James Gunn’s Superman uses plenty of practical resources. Buildings are dressed, real extras fill the sets, actors wear their full costumes, and even Superman’s real cape is used in every shot. The only VFX elements used to bring Guy Gardner to life in James Gunn’s Superman may be those needed in fight scenes and shots where he’s flying and using his Green Lantern ring. This is great news not only for other DCU Green Lanterns, but also for all characters in future DCU projects, as practical costumes may be designed more carefully than fully CGI costumes that can be altered at the last minute.