Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern film is often regarded as one of the worst comic book adaptations of all time, so it is extremely surprising to hear that the movie has already influenced James Gunn's DCU. The new DC Universe officially kicked off its movie slate with the release of Superman in July 2025. After a lot of DCEU entries left a bad taste in the mouths of fans, especially when it came to the portrayal of the Man of Steel, many were relieved to see a fresh take on the Kryptonian.
Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner played a major role in Superman, and it was established that he was a firm member of the Green Lantern Corps. Guy used his powers multiple times throughout the movie, but something many fans probably didn't notice was that his Green Lantern ring was directly inspired by the ring used in Ryan Reynolds' own Green Lantern movie.
DC Studios recently released an official art book for Superman titled Superman: The Art and Making of the Film. This art book provides some behind-the-scenes context to stylistic choices made for the DCU entry, such as the Green Lantern Ring used by Guy Gardner.
According to the art book, the "prop master" for Superman also worked on the props for Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern. Apparently, that person brought in some potential rings for the team to look at, and the one everyone decided on was Ryan Reynolds' ring "from that movie:"
We’re very much using a similar design from the Ryan Reynolds film ('Green Lantern,' 2011) because our prop master had actually done that film, and he came in with a whole slew of ring ideas, and we all kind of gravitated to this one right away and thought, 'Oh, this is beautiful,' and it felt simple and that there was a history to it. And he was like, 'Actually, this is from that movie!'"
The props department still created an entirely new ring for Guy Gardner in Superman, but the final product looked nearly identical to the ring from 2011's Green Lantern.
The art book showcased Guy's ring up close from two different angles. The Green Lantern symbol on the front of the ring is the most eye-catching part of the entire accessory, but the worn metal band is also on full display.
At an even closer look, some of the ring's textures are visible. It can clearly be seen that it looks as though the ring has been through more than a few battles. However, the most interesting part is that it even includes a lot of the minor details Reynolds' ring had.
For example, Reynolds' ring also has textured metal, and the Green Lantern symbol is raised up from the band at what appears to be the exact height that the symbol on Guy's ring is raised.
When comparing the rings side-by-side, the only major difference between the two rings is the metal part just to the sides of the Green Lantern symbol. On Guy's ring, the metal extends all the way to the Lantern symbol, whereas on Reynolds' ring, it comes to more of a point, leaving some room between the symbol and the band.
How Past DC Movies Will Influence the DCU
Although the DCU is its own franchise set in its own universe, past DC projects will still influence it. In fact, due to the similarities between the Green Lantern rings, at least one past DC movie has already made its mark on the new franchise.
However, it is also worth mentioning that Superman also took inspiration from one of its own films. To elaborate, Gunn's Superman was scored by John Murphy and David Fleming. However, those composers reused the classic Superman (1978) theme, and even some motifs from Hans Zimmer's Man of Steel score to bring the new Superman theme to life.
So, only one DCU movie has been released, and the franchise has already been influenced in multiple ways by the past. Therefore, fans can expect more past DC elements to make their way into the new franchise, as it seems as though Gunn is not against the idea of paying respect to the past.
