After a quiet start to 2026, DC Studios is looking to dominate the summer. It all starts when Supergirl hits theaters on June 26, picking up where the titular character left off in 2025's Superman. Kara Zor-El will hand off the baton to John Stewart and Hal Jordan when she's done, with HBO's Lanterns set to premiere on August 16. But it won't be all sunshine and rainbows when the two heroes get together on the small screen.
The first trailer for Lanterns paints a certain picture of Hal and John's relationship. Having been on the job for a number of years, Hal seems like most veteran cops in TV and movies, just counting the days until retirement. A rookie then gets dropped in his lap, and he has no choice but to take him under his wing in order to solve a mystery.
However, the latest Lanterns trailer flips the script. The new look at the HBO show begins with Hal and John butting heads over how the Green Lantern Corps chooses its members. John believes that Hal should've had to work for his power, while Hal explains that he's just been playing the cards he was dealt.
And the vibe shifts from tense to confrontational after that. Hal explains that the only way John will get his hands on his ring is if he dies. That bombshell doesn't sit right with John, who speaks to Laura Linney's mystery character later in the trailer and reveals that he thinks he would be a better Green Lantern than Hal. The woman then eggs John on, telling him to go and secure his prize.
All signs point to John and Hal duking it out before they work things out, if they ever do. It's not the first time DC Studios has put two characters on a collision course with one another. In fact, the rivalry in Lanterns will be the third major one to grace the DCU in the last year.
Superhero Rivalries That DC Studios Has Already Set Up In The DCU
Superman and Lex Luthor
The moment that James Gunn decided would be perfect to usher in a new era for DC on the big screen was the Man of Steel's fight with the Hammer of Boravia in Superman. After years of unchallenged success, the titular hero lost, and audiences soon learned that billionaire Lex Luthor orchestrated the whole thing. Lex made his disdain for Superman clear from the jump, using all of his vast resources to come up with a way to destroy the alien from Krypton.
Superman didn't pay Lex much mind at first, but then the Fortress of Solitude was broken into, and Krypto was kidnapped. As soon as Superman entered Lex's office and confronted him, the rivalry became a two-party affair. The two characters spent the rest of the movie being a thorn in each other's sides. But Lex didn't have enough firepower to bring the Man of Steel down, and he ended the movie behind bars.
Lex and Superman's rivalry is so important to the DCU that the characters won't spend any time apart. They will reunite for 2027's Man of Tomorrow, a movie that will see them put aside their differences and fight a common enemy, Brainiac. The good times are unlikely to last, though, as Lex is sure to go back to his old ways after Earth is safe once again.
Rick Flag Sr. and Peacemaker
Christopher Smith was a good company man in The Suicide Squad. Amanda Waller tasked him and the rest of Task Force X with burying all the evidence of Project Starfish, and he intended to see that mission through. Rick Flag disagreed with letting ARGUS get away with experimenting on children, so he and Peacemaker came to blows. When the dust settled, Rick was dead, and Peacemaker wasn't much better off.
During the entirety of the first season of his solo series, Rick's death haunted Peacemaker, as he knew he had killed a stand-up guy. The guilt ate at the titular antihero so badly that he turned over a new leaf and tried being one of the good guys. But Rick's dad, Rick Flag Sr., didn't buy Peacemaker's change of heart in the show's sophomore outing. After becoming the head of ARGUS, he used all of his resources to hunt down his son's killer and threw him in a portal to another dimension.
Peacemaker Season 2 ended with Chris marooned on Salvation, away from his friends and with no hope for escape. With no third season of the HBO Max series on the horizon, it will be up to Flag Sr. to keep the rivalry alive when he returns in Man of Tomorrow. His role in the movie is a mystery at this point, but he might be looking for villains who can keep Peacemaker company in his new home.
