The Only Hal Jordan Explainer You Need Before Lanterns

We already met Nathan Fillion's delightfully awful Guy Gardner in "Superman," and now HBO's "Lanterns" is introducing us to two more DC Universe iterations of classic Green Lantern characters in Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre). Out of the three, Hal is by far the most important and prominent character in the Green Lantern lore, and watching Looper's video explainer above is a perfect way to understand why he's such a big deal.

There's every chance that Chandler's version of Hal will ultimately stand out as the best live-action version of Green Lantern. In the comics, the character is a former test pilot who acquires the Green Lantern ring from the fallen Lantern Abin Sur and becomes Earth's first proper member of the Green Lantern Corps (technically, Alan Scott precedes him as an Earth-based Green Lantern, but he's a somewhat special case who exists outside of the Corps). As a founding Justice League member and a particularly powerful Lantern, Hal has been a focal point of many major DC stories over the years.

Hal Jordan's live-action history is, unfortunately, far from spotless. In 2011, the much-derided "Green Lantern" delivered a truly unfortunate depiction of the Green Lantern Corps that even Ryan Reynolds couldn't save as Hal. The film is widely considered to be among the worst superhero movies ever made, with its massive failure seemingly playing a part in keeping Hal and the Green Lanterns away from major live-action projects for the last decade and a half.

That's a shame considering how important the character is in many DC stories, both ones set on Earth and in the space-themed part of the universe. Based on the trailers, the grounded, buddy cop duo approach of "Lanterns" and Kyle Chandler's jaded take on his character may be just the ticket to put Hal back on the pedestal he deserves to be on. Looper's video above is the best way to get you up to date with Hal's history before watching the show.