Lanterns has been a breakout mainstream hit for HBO and the DC Universe, however the run is about to come back to an finish with the season finale. Nonetheless, Lanterns Episode 7 proved to be a intelligent spin on the standard penultimate episode system. John Stewart (Aaron Stewart) and Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) have been compelled to lastly settle their points in probably the most dysfunctional method doable. John partnered up with Hal’s backup consciousness (the “Halogram”), which was saved in his ring, because the pair investigated the actual Hal Jordan’s demise. That investigation took them to some unusual locations (actually and figuratively) and compelled some massive private reveals from each of them.
For longtime DC followers, Lanterns Episode 7 was all a full basket of Easter egg teases. T Seeds have been planted that might turn into a lot larger occasions later within the DCU, together with the following massive story arc we might see in Lanterns Season 2. There was additionally one sequence that appeared prefer it may very well be the supply of a significant Batman villain’s origin story, one who has direct ties to the Inexperienced Lanterns, in addition to the Darkish Knight.
Lanterns Units the Stage For Scarecrow’s DCU Debut
In “The Jordan Boys’ Legacy”, John and Halogram uncover what Hal Jordan left inside his thriller vault. Seems, Hal had a portal system to an alien planet and a few (very mandatory) exploration gear, which helped him make an extended journey to a distant place the place he was maintaining his previous mentor, Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen), hidden away. Attending to that place was no picnic for John and Halogram, and the ultimate leg of the journey proved to be the worst.
Hal had secretly hidden Sinestro on the planet the place Antaan’s (Paul Ben-Victor) species bought worn out by the Manhunters. As John reveals, the imaginative and prescient he noticed of that cataclysmic occasion (again in Episode 2) made it clear that the Manhunters used a fuel that brought on fear-induced panic in Antaan’s folks, till they tore one another aside or jumped off of the skybound metropolis to their deaths under (a desert graveyard John and Halogram should traverse). There are remnants of the fuel nonetheless saved within the stormy rain clouds outdoors Hal’s secret holding facility, and since John ignores the poncho Hal saved together with his journey gear, the rainstorm makes John really feel the consequences of the fuel too. And it practically undoes him.
Lanterns is planting seeds for the Inexperienced Lantern mythos about Sinestro and harnessing the vitality of concern as a rival energy to the Inexperienced Lanterns. Nonetheless, the point out of a fear-inducing fuel and a sequence with John Stewart that clearly exemplifies what the fuel does makes it unattainable for any DC fan to disregard the very clear parallels to one among Batman’s oldest villains, the Scarecrow.
In conventional DC lore, Dr. Jonathan Crane is a sociopathic psychologist working at Arkham Asylum, who begins experimenting on inmates with fear-inducing hallucinogens. Crane hoped to grasp the “artwork of concern” and weaponize it, finally touchdown on a scarecrow-themed alter ego and gas-based chemical combine that causes intense fear-based hallucinations. Scarecrow’s toxin is so potent that it’s been recognized to kill folks in the identical method because the fuel we see in Lanterns.
A Lanterns Scarecrow Connection Makes Sense For the DCU
All it takes is one small pattern of the Manhunters’ fuel to be discovered, and we’re off to the races. A DCU replace on Scarecrow might see Jonathan Crane as a analysis scientist or consulting psychologist who will get a pattern of the fuel and decides to make Gotham Metropolis his “lab.” It doesn’t even require a visit to an alien world: Zoe Macon (Poorna Jagannathan), the Manhunter hiding out on Earth, might simply have a stash of that fuel within the arsenal she and her husband, William (Garret Dillahunt), saved underneath their property. Ten years after Zoe died and the Battle of Rushville was fought, who is aware of the place a mysterious canister of that fuel ended up?
Other than connecting the worlds of Batman and Inexperienced Lantern, a revised origin for DCU Scarecrow also can make good on some newer DC lore we haven’t ever seen tailored for the display: Scarecrow as an agent of Sinestro. Within the 2009 – 2010 DC comedian e-book occasion “Blackest Night time,” Scarecrow served as one of many ‘deputized’ wielders of an influence ring to defend Earth in opposition to the undead military of the Black Lanterns. Being a grasp of concern made Scarecrow a pure option to wield the yellow ring of concern utilized by Sinestro and his military, the Sinestro Corps. Scarecrow had loads of enjoyable utilizing the ring and having Sinestro as a pacesetter.
Clearly, the DCU would have a special spin on the story, however the ensuing bridge may very well be the identical: if Sinestro unleashes the ability of concern on the universe, Scarecrow might simply be one among his disciples. Or, if Clayface is getting his personal film, Scarecrow might probably get his personal function too. A Lanterns connection would assure it an early viewers.
Lanterns is airing on HBO and streaming on HBO Max.