this is weird cuz my casting was always nathan, but Boreanaz'd be awesome. Nathan for Cap!

PuppetDoug | September 13, 02:37 CET

Lantern should be black IMO.

EX | September 13, 02:49 CET

It's Gugino.

cabri | September 13, 02:51 CET

Fixed

Buffyfantic | September 13, 03:39 CET

Lantern should be Hal Jordan. (Iz old)

There's lots of Lanterns to choose from, though.

Like Hal Jordan.

redeem147 | September 13, 04:10 CET

re: the "New Frontier" ref in the article...hell of an awesome, epic, graphic novel. Thank you, Bruce Timm for helping me appreciate DC Comics.

[ edited by pat32082 on 2008-09-13 04:33 ]

pat32082 | September 13, 04:23 CET

New Frontier was actually done by Darwyn Cooke (unless you're referring to the animated movie.)

Lady Brick | September 13, 05:12 CET

I am in dig of Ben Browder.

Dolphin Tamer | September 13, 08:15 CET

I was referring to both actually. It was because of Bruce Timm's DCAU that I watched the movie, and then bought the Absolute Edition of "New Frontier," which yes, I realize was written by Darwyn Cooke. My last post was made very late. ;-)

pat32082 | September 13, 12:48 CET

That would work. (Most of the fan suggestions would work for me, really.)

What I really want to know is whether it'll have a man flying through space and fighting off spaceships.

Craig Oxbrow | September 13, 13:48 CET

Of all the considerations that might go into choosing which character to cast in the role, really doesn't matter the color of the character's skin type IMO (and it shouldn't be an issue for those in marketing films anymore either--not when Will Smith movies are one of the biggest box office blockbuster draws and have been for years now). But why should they go with a black Lantern, Ex ?

I liked John Stewart in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series. I can't remember if it was mostly just his thing with Shayera/Hawkgirl that lead to me finding him appealing for a while ('cause he was just kinda stock warrior dude in the beginning there, even after he was given one of the series' earliest focal arcs), but he remained a strong character even after their relationship was pretty much over.

I liked Kyle Rayner too though when he was introduced on Superman: The Animated Series that one time and it was cool to see him show up once or twice in Justice League as well. Although Hal Jordan appeared very briefly in Justice League, I didn't have much of a handle on his character until seeing the Justice League: New Frontier direct-to-DVD.

Keeping in mind that I haven't read Green Lantern comics, I don't see any compelling reasons for why one is better than the other. Because there've been so many (heck, they could go with one of the alien GLs if they really wanted to go out there, but some might argue that risks the relatability of the character, not starting out with a human GL on Earth). I guess hardcore purist GL fans might want them to start off with Hal, start at the beginning (that makes sense), but IMO they should go with whichever character they're able to create the most compelling movie script for. Personally I'd rather see a movie about Kyle. I got enough of John Stewart in the animated series.

David Boreanaz isn't who I picture for the role (mostly because all the art and cartoon versions of I've seen of Hal don't look a whole lot like him), but I'm not a stickler for art-to-screen perfection match-ups (though it can be cool when that does happen with a capable actor) and he did an awesome job voicing the role in New Frontier. Given that his popularity and visibility has risen even further with Bones (haven't seen it), it might be a really smart choice to cast him. It would also further affirm that studios aren't paranoid of casting leads in superhero films that aren't teens or 20-something, which is certainly the way I'd go for a lot of the characters. Robert Downey Jr. can believably play Tony Stark for the rest of his 40s and maybe into his 50s if the series lasts that long, no reason Boreanaz couldn't be a GL.

[ edited by Kris on 2008-09-13 14:37 ]

Kris | September 13, 14:35 CET

Kris, you should check out Bones sometime. Compared to Angel, DB's acting skills have improved tremendously.

I think he'd be a good lead for GL- he has a strong presence, yet can still play the softer side.

korkster | September 13, 16:56 CET

Oooo, tasty. I'm all for it. After all, he did provide the voice for Hal/GL in the Justice League: A New Frontier animated movie, so he's had experience with the character. :)

kungfubear | September 13, 18:43 CET

Yeah, Bones is worth it for the great chemistry between the cast and some really witty writing. Not to mention some great "can't believe they did that on television" moments and more inventive cases then you'll get on some chewed up and spit out CSI style procedural.

And who can say no to David Boreanaz?

[ edited by The Xan Man on 2008-09-14 01:55 ]

The Xan Man | September 14, 01:54 CET

Hmm.. While Hal Jordan is/was a test pilot and a man of immense will, a good portion of it is frankly fueled by ego. Hal was selected because he was "Utterly honest and born without fear" but add a power ring that lets him do whatever that enormous confidence and willpower thinks it can, and that ended him up becoming a double-edged sword for the Lanterns, and ultimately their worst nightmare. In earlier days (and with a short enough supporting cast), William Shatner comes to mind as a possible actor to play him.

Nathan is frankly the Whedoner that springs first to my mind to play a convincing Hal Jordan. However, I wouldn't doubt David's ability to ego up and he can certainly be fearless and heroic. In fact, in the context of the death of Coast City he so easily has the ready steamy broody mope (and for the better times a sneaky lurking snarky smirk), that perhaps it's just the hair color which affects my perception. (That and the starship captain Mal/Ego-with-feet Captain Hammer thing.)

Maybe David could be Hal and Nathan could be Guy, and Tahmoh could be Kyle and D.B. could be John and Jewel could be Jade and Adam could be Kilowog and...

Grotesk | September 14, 03:02 CET

Wasn't the green Lantern black in the comics? Or just in the cartoons? Personally I'd like to see him be black, just because there aren't any DC/marvel movies out there with black superheroes are there? If there is, do inform me, because I've missed it. In fact I don't even think there are many in the comic books either, but then I haven't read or seen them all.

I'm also not sure how the graphic shown in that article is "obviously" drawn from David. Carla, yes, but not David. Oh well, I'll just be happy when the movie comes out, I was just saying the other month how awesome it'd be if a GL movie came out.

Ivalaine | September 14, 03:08 CET

Ivalaine - Yes and no. :) The African-American from the Justice League cartoon, John Stewert, was also in the comics... eventually. But Hal Jordan, a verson of whom Boreanaz voiced in the direct-to-DVD cartoon movie, came first. The Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic police force of a sort, and Hal was the first (?) Earthhuman to serve. (The first Green Lantern character was Alan Scott, but he's completely unrelated to the Corps.) There have been three more since, all mentioned by Grotesk - John Stewert, Guy Gardener, and Kyle Rayner - all of whom have been the sector's (in one case universe's) only Lantern at one point or another, but are all serving together now. The current "Green Lantern" series mainly features Hal, while others are featured in other books. And yeah, diversity is somewhat lacking in the comics - at least as far as the most prominent characters go. There are quite a few "minority" heroes scattered through at least the Marvel books who haven't become household names (though I'm sure not proportionately enough, and few have had their own solo titles). Last I knew, they were working on a film for the Black Panther, Marvel's most-prominently featured African-American character (well, arguably besides Storm; but she doesn't have her own on-going series.)

Grotesk - in the last couple of years, they've clarified what caused the whole Parallax thing; it may not be exactly what you think ;) (Though of course, Hollywood very rarely hews exactly to what happend in the books, anyway.) I really like your casting ideas - Nathan would be a great Guy! (What? Nathan's already a great guy? Er...) He could totally give the necessary smirk; might not be as bright a character as he's used to playing, but... And we definitely need to see more D.B. Woodside.

Edit: Oh - and the Blade movies are based on a Marvel African-American hero (although, actually, the character's never been as big in comics; the films made him a much bigger success).

[ edited by LKW on 2008-09-14 14:43 ]

LKW | September 14, 14:30 CET

I think the point about skin color is more about mixing it up a little because when you think about it any of the superheroes could be black, and Green Lantern was originally created as a black character so it's a more obvious choice

frankly I don't care who is cast as long as they pull it off... I'm tired of casting for popularity/looks and not talent within the superhero world of movies

so if it is David... I'm rooting for you

mariec | September 14, 14:35 CET

I believe in casting the best actor for the role, but what makes you think that Green Lantern was originally created as a black character, mariec? John Stewart came a long way into the story.

I read Green Lantern as a kid in the sixties, so it's Hal I've got stuck in my head.

[ edited by redeem147 on 2008-09-14 18:15 ]

redeem147 | September 14, 17:22 CET

Ivalaine, the wikipedia page on Black Super Heroes has what seems to be a comprehensive (and, thus far, short) list of movie appearances. Invisible Boy from Mystery Men (and Frozone from The Incredibles) are good examples of new black heroes who could have been any color. As for existing heroes - well, we had many discussions in this regard about Wonder Woman casting (without wishing to open up that now-moot debate again, I did feel at the time that casting a black WW might have been an inspired move . . . but it was obviously dependent on what JW was intending to do with the origin story).

SoddingNancyTribe | September 14, 18:10 CET

Looks like they included a number of characters that are just strong powerful characters and not actually superheroes in that list, making it even shorter. I admit, I'd forgotten about cat woman.

Ivalaine | September 15, 11:04 CET

I think that this is one of those movies that DC may well struggle to make work. Green Lantern is well known to the majority of comic fans but, as it probably true with many of DC's characters outside of the Big Three, is not exactly a household name to the average bloke in the street.

I'd say this would need a bigger name that any of our Whedonverse guys to make it anything more than a moderate success. Even then it would be a much harder sell than the majority of Marvel's B-listers.

A couple of decades ago I'd have straight away gone with Harrison Ford as Hal Jordan. For some reason the actor and character have always seemed to suit each other, in my mind. Shame he's a little too, erm, mature for the role now.

Serial Rocker | September 15, 16:24 CET

He could play him in 'Dark Lantern Returns'. Ahem.

They could do a lot worse than DB for GL I reckon, he had exactly the right transparently slick and basically straightforwardly blokey vibe for 'New Frontier'. Bit doubtful about how well it'll work myself though, it's true IMO that outside the big three - who arguably have more than any Marvel character - DC characters just don't have the name recognition that the second tier Marvel characters do.

'The Flash' seems like the next logical choice for DC but development on that's stalled AFAIK (and the Goyer/Reynolds version seems dead).

Saje | September 15, 16:39 CET

Yeah, I'd probably go with the Flash as having the most chance of being a success for DC, especially with Ryan Reynolds in the lead role. The Flash is likely the fourth most recognisable character they have and is a relatively simple character for even newcomers to understand. A pity the Goyer version seems to have been abandoned because it could have worked.

Serial Rocker | September 15, 16:54 CET

GL was mentioned in a rock song of the 60s...about the only words I could ever pick out of that thing was the line "Superman and Green Lantern ain't got...nothin' on me" whatever the h**l the rest of it was about. That's about as famous as he got amongst the "generality don't y'know"

DaddyCatALSO | September 16, 01:03 CET

Aw, the Ryan Reynolds version is stalled ? I was really looking forward to that. It likely would've rocked.

I could even see Michael Rosenbaum in the role using his ADD-afflicted Justice League cartoon voice. He's fit but slim, like Flash has been drawn as sometimes. He could grow his hair out and dye it red. He's got a move oval-shaped, long face than your typical square-jaw, superbutch superhero...he could work.

Kris | September 16, 23:07 CET