Who Is Hector Hammond In Lanterns? The Classic DC Comics Villain, Explained

Contains spoilers for "Lanterns" Season 1, Episode 4 — "The Weenie"

"Lanterns" keeps its story surprisingly grounded for a show about aliens and galactic peacekeepers with magic rings, but it's also not afraid to nod at some of the stranger classic elements from the comics. The show has name-dropped the weirdest Green Lantern, Mogo, and has also featured an interesting version of Hal Jordan's (Kyle Chandler) mentor and nemesis Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen). It's also thrown in a representative of the comparatively obscure Green Lantern villains known as the Manhunters as the show's apparent primary antagonist. However, all this does very little to prepare you for the entrance of one character who you might have expected "Lanterns" to steer clear of. 

One classic Green Lantern enemy that fans might not have seen coming on "Lanterns" is Hector Hammond (Jason Manuel Olazábal). The villain is reimagined here as the CEO of Atlas, the high tech slaughterhouse company that also built the killer satellite in "Lanterns" Season 1, Episode 4. In reality, he turns out to be Hector Gutierrez, a front for the real Manhunter. 

"Lanterns" featuring any version of Hector Hammond is surprising. An iteration of the character played by Peter Sarsgaard is a key antagonist in the 2011 "Green Lantern" film, which stars Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan and is one of the worst superhero films ever made. Since Hal is already a main character on "Lanterns" and fellow 2011 movie alum Sinestro also makes an appearance, bringing in even more characters from that badly received film is a surprise — especially because the show otherwise cleverly avoids the worst mistakes of the "Green Lantern" movie.

While Hector Hammond is one of  Green Lantern's major enemies in the comics, he's radically different from the guy we see on "Lanterns." He is a villain who wields considerable psychic powers, but they come at a steep cost: Hector has a huge head and it renders him completely unable to move by his own volition. Not that Hector needs to move much: He has vast telekinetic powers, along with strong telepathic abilities and other mental superpowers such as illusion casting.This is somewhat alluded to in the 2011 movie, which shows Hector's head growing larger as his power expands.

While seeing Hector on "Lanterns" is surprising, the way the show actually handles him is clever. Making him a mere patsy for the real Manhunter — who the episode all but confirms is actually Zoe Macon (Poorna Jagannathan) — is highly entertaining, and the fact that he's not actually even called Hector Hammond seems like the DC Universe's way to bury the memory of the unfortunate movie villain incarnation of the character.

"Lanterns" Season 1 is available on HBO and HBO Max.