Following the news that a live-action TV series based on DC Comics' Green Lantern was heading to HBO Max, the cast of characters was revealed and teased a unique selection of Green Lanterns that also gave fans an idea of the kinds of comic stories that may be adapted for the upcoming series from Seth Grahame-Smith, Marc Guggenheim, and Geoff Johns.
Green Lantern will feature a well-rounded grouping of classic and new members of the Green Lantern Corps like John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Alan Scott, Kilowog, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz and Sinestro. Each of these characters has featured or starred in a number of epic comic events that could be adapted for the upcoming HBO Max series.
10 Cosmic Odyssey
While 1989's Cosmic Odyssey mini-series united popular DC heroes with powerful New Gods it also featured an important moment in John Stewart's history as Green Lantern that could and should be referenced in the series.
Stewart was a very successful Green Lantern when he was first chosen, which made him overconfident and led him to reject assistance while trying to save the alien world of Xanshi. He failed, the world was destroyed, and the humbling tragedy eventually leads to John Stewart becoming one of the GLC's greatest leaders.
9 Mosaic
Following a twisted experiment by a mad Guardian of the Universe that supplanted a number of alien cities onto an alien planet to study how their cities coexisted, John Stewart was assigned to watch over the new planet in Green Lantern: Mosaic.
The HBO Max series would have a number of stories to tell from the comic itself as Stewart worked to bring the various civilizations together with some of his allies in the GLC and even deputized youth from his new planet that ultimately resulted in Stewart's evolution into a short-lived Guardian of the Universe.
8 Sinestro Corps War
Sinestro's inclusion in the HBO Max series is definitely interesting considering his greatest enemy Hal Jordan wasn't featured in the initial line-up reveal for the series. Still, Sinestro does bring a number of potential comic storylines along with him.
While he famously turned on the GLC and became a villain to Jordan, he soon escalated his villainy by founding his own Lantern Corps with the yellow energy of fear that kicked off the Sinestro Corps War and a number of grand space-based comic storylines.
7 War Of The Green Lanterns
Krona was the long-time enemy of the Guardians who played a central role in the War of the Green Lanterns as he managed to take control of the GLC alongside the evil entity known as Parallax, with only a few members of the Corps left uncorrupted.
While the rebellious GL's were led by Hal Jordan, the majority of the HBO Max cast appeared in the event as well, and each even donned rings from other Corps during the confrontation, which could make for a very dramatic live-action moment.
6 Rise Of The Third Army
Simon Baz is slated to appear in the HBO Max series alongside his Green Lanterns partner Jessica Cruz as two of the newest members of the Green Lantern Corps, though Simon Baz joined during an interesting time for the GLC that could be adapted for the upcoming series.
After the Guardians of the Universe decided the GLC was a failure, they created a new mindless Third Army that was able to infect and assimilate their victims to replicate and grow the army exponentially. The Guardians' twisted new creation was powered by Volthoom, which would further lead to the "Wrath of the First Lantern" event.
5 Forever Evil
While the Forever Evil event featured mostly villains and spun out of the team-heavy event Trinity War which would be difficult to adapt, it did introduce a new version of the Crime Syndicate of Earth-3 into the New 52 universe.
The team was an alternate reality version of the Justice League. Power Ring's death would lead to Jessica Cruz's dark beginnings as a new Power Ring before she was welcomed to the GLC. It wouldn't be easy to adapt the storyline for Jessica Cruz's origins to worn on the small screen, but it would be worth it to see the Crime Syndicate in live-action.
4 The Lost Army
John Stewart again featured heavily in the Green Lantern: The Lost Army mini-series as the leader of a group of Lanterns that included Guy Gardner and Kilowog exiled in an unknown universe prior to the Rebirth comic relaunch.
The series featured different Corps (Gardner was wearing both a Red and Green Lantern ring at the time) and introduced new and old enemies in a fairly self-contained story that might be the perfect way for the HBO Max series to keep a tight focus on the characters while exploring new territory in deep space.
3 Lights Out
The "Lights Out" event introduced the giant and powerful character known as Relic, who was a survivor of a previously failed universe who had witnessed the dangers of harnessing the power of the emotional spectrum and dedicated himself to making sure it wouldn't happen to the new universe.
Relic began to drain the power sources of the various Corps and attack them after they failed to heed his warnings. "Lights Out" would not only introduce a huge threat to bring the assembled Green Lanterns together but also provide the opportunity to explore the history of their power.
2 Zero Hour
While Hal Jordan was noticeably absent from the cast reveal, that doesn't necessarily mean the most popular Green Lantern won't ever appear on the show, especially if he's being reimagined as a series big bad.
Hal Jordan once controversially turned on the GLC during the "Emerald Twilight" event that left the Corps defeated and depowered. Hal Jordan then used the stolen emerald energy to become Parallax (later revealed as a corruptive entity) and attempted to rewrite the entire timeline during the Zero Hour: Crisis In Time event.
1 Blackest Night
"In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night..." is the beginning of the Green Lantern Corps' familiar oath which references an ancient prophecy that further explored the newly developed emotional power spectrum with the addition of the dark Black Lanterns.
While the comic storyline ran across the DC universe and featured a number of reanimated deceased characters as Black Lanterns, the HBO Max series could build up to a "Blackest Night" event over a few seasons to give proper resonance to the return of formerly deceased heroes.