While it’s very exciting to get our first looks at Jordan and Stewart’s DCU debuts in the new Lanterns trailer, they’re not the first Green Lanterns we’ve met in James Gunn’s new universe. That honor goes to Guy Gardner, who’s noticeably missing from this first trailer. Here’s what we know about Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern, and how he’ll factor into Lanterns.
A Superman Movie Character Is Confirmed To Appear In Lanterns
One of the biggest connections between Lanterns and the wider DCU is a confirmed appearance from Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner.
Fillion made his DCU debut as Guy in 2025’s Superman, appearing as part of the team of superheroes currently known as the Justice Gang funded by LordTech’s CEO Maxwell Lord. Guy would later pop up briefly in Peacemaker season 2, helping Lord and Hawkgirl recruit new members into their ranks.
As an established Green Lantern operating publicly as a major Earth-based hero, one would think that other Green Lanterns would be familiar with Guy. However, this doesn’t appear to be the case in this first teaser trailer for Lanterns.
Not only does the new DCU trailer not feature Guy at all as Hal Jordan and John Stewart undergo an Earth-based investigation in the American heartland, but it also creates some solid confusion about Gardner’s place among his fellow intergalactic heroes.
Why Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner Doesn’t Appear In The Lanterns Trailer
Overall, the new Lanterns trailer focuses heavily on Hal Jordan mentoring John Stewart, and the tensions that clearly exist between the veteran and rookie.
However, the trailer ends with Hal telling John that he’s the only human Green Lantern, and that the rest of the Corps are aliens. However, we already know this isn’t true thanks to Guy Gardner. As a result, there are a few different possibilities to explain Hal’s claim when there’s literally an active and public human Green Lantern operating in Metropolis.
The simplest explanation is timeline placement with Lanterns potentially taking place before the events of Superman, and perhaps even before Guy received his power ring. Additionally, it’s also possible that Hal simply spends most of his time off-world, hence his lack of awareness about Guy. Then again, why wouldn’t he know about another human Lantern from the Guardians of Oa?
There’s also the funnier angle that Hal just really doesn’t like Guy and doesn’t consider him to be a true Lantern. After all, the only thing that Nathan Fillion has said thus far about his appearance in Lanterns is that Guy Gardner is “consistently an a-hole’ wherever he goes, including with his fellow Lanterns.
A darker theory could be that Guy’s potential murder, which could be the major catalyst for Hal and John’s investigation in the first place. That, in turn, would then make Hal the only human Lantern (besides John as a Lantern-in-training). Likewise, the death of a fellow Lantern right off the bat would certainly raise the stakes of the new DCU show.
At any rate, perhaps Lanterns will feature Hal and Guy meeting for the first time on screen. Whatever the reason for Guy’s omission in the trailer, it’s clear that it was deliberate. As such, it’s going to be fascinating to learn what Lanterns holds for Superman’s Guy Gardner and his future in the DCU.
Lanterns will begin streaming on HBO Max this August from DC Studios.