Lanterns Episode 4 Makes The Same Bizarre Mistake As Peacemaker

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

"Lanterns" Episode 4 seemingly reveals the Manhunter's identity as Zoe Macon (Poorna Jagannathan), who has existed in the immediate orbit of the main characters since their arrival in Rushville, Nebraska. Zoe approaches John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) early on, and initiates an affair before the young Lantern tryout has any idea who he's dealing with. In "The Weenie," Zoe returns to John one more time before saying an ominous goodbye and driving off — just to be seemingly blown up by a killer satellite. However, the episode soon reveals that the news of Zoe's death may be greatly exaggerated, and that the man who seems to be behind the satellite, major Green Lantern villain Hector Hammond (Jason Manuel Olazabal), is actually a minor minion called Hector Gutiérrez.

It's an interesting development, made more interesting because another DC show did the exact same thing only a few years ago. The "Peacemaker" Season 1 premiere closes with Christopher "Peacemaker" Smith (John Cena) hooking up with Annie Sturphausen (Crystal Mudry), a hair metal fan girl — who turns out to be one member of the season's primary antagonists, the alien Butterflies, and promptly fights Chris to the death. 

Sure, there are some differences between "Lanterns" and "Peacemaker" in their approaches to the villain hook-ups. John's interactions with Zoe have been cordial and non-hostile, at least so far. Meanwhile, Annie attacks Chris the second she finds out that he has compromising information about the Butterflies, and is almost successful in killing him. 

Even so, the basics remain the same: Both feature a protagonist who meets an interesting woman in a bar and get busy. However, both Zoe and Annie are secretly aliens with ulterior motives and clear knowledge of who they're targeting. 

It's a strange little coincidence, and because "Peacemaker" Season 2 brings the show into the new DC Universe from its old DC Extended Universe setting, this means that the DCU currently has two notable heroes who have unwittingly hooked up with the enemy. It remains to be seen whether the DCU will play into the similarities of these two incidents in the grand scheme of things — but at the very least, John and Chris will definitely have something to talk about should they ever meet.