What If Green Lantern Was More Than Just A Character In A Movie?

In America, many of our heroes are real. Some of these real heroes include firefighters, police officers, and the men and women of our military, who seem to have a higher calling to serve their country with courage and valor as part of our military armed forces.

These people do many jobs that others either cannot or just are not physically and mentally equipped to do in real life.

But what about the heroes that are a part of the world of comic book entertainment?

There have been several movies over the years that have featured such notable comic creations as Superman, Batman, The Fantastic Four and even The Man without Fear – Daredevil -- our fantasy heroes brought to life on the big screen for our viewing pleasure.

And now there is a hero who with but a thought and sheer force of will, could make all things possible with just a thought… and that hero is the legendary Green Lantern.
 

The Green Lantern Movie

There was much to like in this movie…if you’re a fan and familiar with the character and the history behind him. But if not, you may find the film a little lackluster. The film opens with a back story explaining the history of the creation of the Green Lantern Corps by the Guardians of the planet Oa, and the oncoming threat of the entity known as Parallax.

The legend of the passing of the ring of one dying Green Lantern corps member Abin Sur to Hal Jordan is still treated with the reverence that it deserves, and there is just a touch of humor as Jordan tries to come to grips with the idea that there actually are intelligent alien beings in the universe.

What did not work for me was the fact that I saw the movie in 2D rather than 3D, which I think may have enhanced several effects featuring the CGI Parallax creation that just were not meant to be viewed in a 2D world.

Green Lantern’s History

Originally conceived by Martin Nodell and Bill Finger, the original Green Lantern Alan Scott would first appear in All-American Comics #16 in July of 1940. Scott, was a railroad engineer, who survived a railway accident and mysteriously came into possession of a magical lantern that whispered the promise of great power, and so Scott created a ring that when touched to this lantern gave Alan Scott various powers. And this rings limits were confined to objects that were not made of metal, and that it needed to be charged within a 24 hour period.

And so the first Green Lantern was born. Scott would later be joined by a reluctant airplane test pilot named Hal Jordan. Jordan saw his father die in a plane accident, and the memory of that always stayed with Hal and in many respects haunted him also.

Hal Jordan

Hal Jordan is often thought to be one of the greatest Green Lanterns of all time in the DC Comics universe, as his heroic defense of his sector of the galaxy including Earth led to many heroic adventures, which were written and drawn over the years by many notable DC writers and artists. Jordan was killed much in the same way as Superman was, and later resurrected in the miniseries Green Lantern: Rebirth. This would eventually re-launch the Hal Jordan Green lantern comic, and eventually involve Jordan and the Green Lantern corps in several notable DC Summer comic events including the blockbuster Blackest Night and Brightest Day series.
 

A Green Lantern in our Reality
 

Here is a what-if that may have only been thought about with Superman, but what would our world be like with a Green Lantern in it. Think about this for a minute okay…here is a human being, with a ring that responds to his thoughts, and his strength of will to do the almost impossible.

Imagine the oil spills that we have had to deal with over the past few years. Rather than taking months to put a cap on a leaking oil rig, Green Lantern could very easily put something in place that could be a permanent solution, while also cleaning the oil spill with just a thought.

And we won’t go into the sort of device that Green Lantern would use to accomplish this, just use your imagination because that’s what he’s doing to get the job done.

What about our dependence on foreign oil? Imagine a Green Lantern setting up an endless supply of oil that was mined from the natural resources that America already has at its disposal. And solar energy would be something that could be developed much more quickly using available sources and a little help from Green Lantern and maybe even Superman.

A Dose of Reality
 

It would be spectacular if these things came to pass…at least for a little bit of time, but the reality in this situation is that America would actually upset the balance of economic power that is the corner stone of the World’s Global Economy. Imagine the chaos that would ensue if all of a sudden the US no longer needed the support of our Arab allies and their natural oil resources.

Would the United States become the country that everyone else came to for their petroleum needs? What might happen to the economy of those Arab countries where we had gotten our oil from? Could they actually go belly up and start a campaign of terror against the US for destroying their economy and their way of life? 

In the real world things are so much more complicated, when everything that we do ends up affecting others…you have to wonder if a real hero may just have his hands tied because his efforts on our behalf could very well cause more harm on a global scale then it may be worth just to make America a better place for all of us to live in.