Guy Gardner’s Superman isn’t Nathan Fillion’s first Green Lantern role

Nathan Fillion has occupied a rare space in fandom, one that very few artists occupy. Like Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and Bruce Campbell before him, he’s a favorite among nerds because he can play a certain type of character with cocky enthusiasm. He first made his mark on television as music box repairman Johnny Donnelly in “Two Guys and a Girl,” and captured the hearts of fans as Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds, captain of the ship Serenity, in Joss Whedon’s sci-fi short. Faye series “Firefly”. Fillion’s television profile gradually rose during the 2000s, as his portrayal of thriller novelist Frank Castle on the ABC series “Castle,” opposite Stana Katic as Detective Kate Beckett, became a top 20 Nielsen rated hit. He was so likable in these various roles, that comic book readers began to regard him as any hero with charming charm.

For this reason, a large group of fans became hooked on the idea of ​​Fillion as Hal Jordan, an Earth-born member of the Green Lantern Corps, before the Warner Bros. film was optioned. for 2011. They pushed hard on the studio and DC to make him the iconic hero, and while the part clearly went to Ryan Reynolds, Fillion didn’t go home empty-handed. No, no, it’s not about Fillion’s acting Guy Gardner Sports Bowl In James Gunn’s upcoming “Superman” movie. More than a decade before his appearance at this concert, Fillion wore the ring in a different setting.

Because filmmaking is largely a business, and because 2011’s “Green Lantern” cost Warner Bros. For $200 million, the studio has cast a younger, fresher star than Fillion to play the title character. in the past, Due to the bombing of “Green Lantern”.This worked well for Fillion. If he had attached his star to this film, it would have become a joke in the industry. This was before “Castle” became so popular, which led to him being cast as the lead in a failed television series and An equally unpopular spinoff as the star of a big-budget superhero movie would have made Fillion look like something of a bad luck charm for future entertainment.

Instead, DC Fillion found a comfortable, low-key home as the voice of Hal Jordan in the direct-to-video animated features “Green Lantern: Emerald Knights” and “Justice League: Doom.” Both films were loved by their fan base and critics (the former has an 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while the latter has a perfect score of 100%), and Fillion had a great time making them both. As he told Slice of Science Fiction in 2012:

“This kind of work, it makes me happy. It makes me smile. When I do these voice-overs, I like to live in the moment. You suspend reality for just a second. You know what Green Lantern is like, you know the situations, you know the characters that surround him, so I like to I live that moment for half a second and it’s like I’m there… and that makes me (smile).”

Fillion already made comic book fans smile, if not guffaw, with his brief but devastating appearance at his film’s premiere. “Superman” movie with an extended look by James Gunn, Which is just another reason the film is gearing up for a July 11, 2025 release. Is it too much to ask Fillion Gardner to get his own movie? WB may be cool with the idea given the bad magic the 2011 film generated (which lost nearly $120 million for the studio), but there are probably a million comic book nerds who could make them think differently. If Gunn’s film rightes the wrongs of the Man of Steel franchise after the failed revival from directors Bryan Singer and Zack Snyder, Guy Gardner could have his day.