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Greetings Popversians, and welcome to Lore Corner! Each week, video producer Ashley V. Robinson and staff writer Grant DeArmitt are going to take you deep into the pre-existing lore behind some of pop culture's most exciting adaptations, such as James Gunn's Superman! And in particular, the inclusion of fan-favorite DC jackass Guy Gardner. Enjoy!

We're just a little over a week away from the debut of the DCU's Superman, and with it, a host of fan-favorite superheroes who are already active when the movie begins. One of those characters is Justice Gang member and Green Lantern Guy Gardner, played by director James Gunn's pal and frequent collaborator, Nathan Fillion.

But Fillion's Gardner has a future mapped out for him in the DCU long after the Superman credits roll - the character is confirmed to make an appearance in the HBO cosmic mystery Lanterns. So we figured that, for this week's Lore Corner, we'd dive into what Fillion's DCU character is shaping up to look like, and more importantly, how Superman's Guy Gardner sets up HBO's Lanterns.

Guy Gardner sets up a tenuous relationship between the US government and the Green Lanterns

As you know if you're even a moderate comic book fan, the Green Lantern Corps are a kind of galactic police force, answering to the authority of the nigh-immortal Guardians of the Universe. This means that they've come into conflict with the US government many times over the decades of comic book history, and Fillion's Gardner seems to hint that that will be the case in Lanterns.

Why do we say so? Well, take it from Nathan Fillion himself. In an interview with Collider, Fillion talks about the DCU appearance Gardner will make before Lanterns (but still after Superman) in season 2 of the HBO Max original Peacemaker. Speaking of Gardner's relationship to US government employee Maxwell Lord (played by Sean Gunn), Fillion says:

"Yeah, it’s clear from their relationship that the two of them do not get along. Not a fan of each other. [...] I think they have a lot to prove. I think they’ve got chips on their shoulders. And I think it’s just a powder keg when they get together."

Now to be fair, Gardner is kind of like that with... well, everybody. But as a representative of the Green Lantern corps on Earth, we think he'll make the US government in particular think that the whole organization is full of jerks.

Which, to their point, is entirely possible, as Fillion confirmed you don't have to be a hero to wield a Lantern ring.

Guy Gardner sets the Green Lantern Corps up as morally gray

Oh yeah, it's not just the US government that's going to be wondering about the moral fortitude of the Lantern Corps - it's the viewers at home. Again, comic readers know that Green Lanterns have found themselves on the wrong side of history on more than one occasion (take, for example, the role the Guardians played in the disastrous Rise of the Third Army), and it appears that Gardner's comrades might be getting the same morally malleable treatment in the MCU.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Fillion clarified that it doesn't take a noble heart to become a Corps member. "What's important to know is," says the Firefly star, "You don't have to be good to be a Green Lantern; you just have to be fearless. So Guy Gardner is fearless, and he is not very good. He's not nice."

Now, if that surprises you as you head into this summer's Superman and, moreover, the James Gunn and Peter Safran-led DCU, you might need to reevaluate what to expect out of the comic book characters therein. Not every "hero" is going to act in perfect accordance with everyone's definition of heroism, a truth that Gardner's character seems poised to smoothly work into the upcoming HBO show.

Guy Gardner's character change hints at a darker corner of the DCU

Even when the fanbase's awareness of Lanterns was in its infancy, before Aaron Pierre was announced as John Stewart and Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan, folks knew that the series would be darker in tone, with official comments buzzing around the internet that the series would take notes from HBO's prestige crime drama series True Detective. How it would be dark, though, was a little less clear - I mean, isn't the show in part about aliens with laser powers?

Again, we can look to Fillion's comments on Gardner and begin to get hints at an answer. 

"I think [Gardner] feels a little bit higher strung in Lanterns," Fillion told Entertainment Weekly. "I've done a scene in Lanterns, we filmed it already, where he's contently smug. It's neat to see him in different environments and how those different environments will affect a character."

So let me ask you this - if Guy Gardner is as self-confident as he appears to be in all the Superman trailers, which very clearly present multiple threats to the entire Earth, what kind of enemy would make the character "more high string?" Could it be a force so great as to make even Superman's enemies pale in comparison? Or even more frightening - could Gardner's history of general assholery catch up to him? Could the real horror of HBO's Lanterns lie in self-reflection?

There's no way we can answer that question at this stage of Lanterns' existence, but we can tell you this - we'll almost certainly have a better idea once we see how Guy Gardner's cinematic debut goes down next week.

Superman (and his frenemy Guy Gardner) soar into theaters July 11. Lanterns is expected on HBO in early 2026. 

Enjoy our guides to how to watch the recent DCEU, the Arrowverse, and James Gunn's upcoming DCU.