Tom Cruise in Contention to Play Tiniest Green Lantern

Once upon a time, Green Lantern was the most popular title book being published by DC Comics, even outselling perennial bestseller Batman. This was due to a combination of factors, mainly that writer Geoff Johns had taken inspiration from the entire history of the character to create a sprawling space opera and Grant Morrison hadn’t started his run on Batman yet. Around the same time, Marvel had a big hit at the box office with Iron Man, so DC’s owner Warner Brothers dusted off the Green Lantern movie that had been in development for ten years and actually made it.

The film, Green Lantern, starred Ryan Reynolds and was absolutely horrible. Michael Goldenberg had been brought in to rewrite the script Greg Berlanti, Mark Guggenheim and Michael Green had written, and having read the original script, I can tell you it was much better than the one they shot with. Between the weak story, weak villain and overuse of CGI, even for the concept of the Green Lantern, the film was a flop.

Now DC has a whole slate of terrible movies (and Wonder Woman, which was okay if you like action movies where every scene is in slow motion) and they want to bring back Green Lantern, a character whose absence in Justice League was exceptionally obvious. And since their movie needs a star, they’re looking to crazy midget Tom Cruise to reinvigorate the franchise. At least, that’s the conclusion Screen Rant came to when news hit that Warner Brothers was looking to get Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie for their rumored Green Lantern Corps movie.

I guess the move makes sense, Hal Jordan is an Air Force pilot and Tom Cruise was in Top Gun, and there was the time Hal Jordan jumped on Oprah’s couch talking about how much he loves Carol Ferris.

In reality, this course of action is exactly why Warner has failed to produce any good movies based on DC properties. They’re looking for a big star for their big property and they’re just going to give the script to someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. Marvel got to where they are today by taking risks on directors who broke the traditional Hollywood blockbuster mold and actors who fit the parts even if they weren’t A-list stars; it wasn’t until after they were successful that they insisted on rigid adherence to a formula designed to please audiences.