After Aaron Pierre's John Stewart dug up the grave of Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan and took his power ring, the hologram of his consciousness returned, amusingly credited as Halogram. As the two set off to investigate Jordan's murder in Episode 7 of Lanterns, "The Jordan Boys Legacy," a handful of new suspects have come to light.
The episode also provided more evidence for the previously suspected culprits in Jordan's murder. At the same time, the looming conclusion of the season finale, thanks to trailers and still-unused footage, raises another possible answer that some fans won't see coming. As of now, aside from one of the suspects, all of them have a valid motive, means, and opportunity.
Ranking The Most Guilty Suspects
1. Noah Macon
Easily the most suspicious person on this list, who no doubt killed Hal Jordan because he was on to him being a Manhunter. Shea Pritchard's Noah Macon could have been aware of John Stewart's presence in Rushville, maybe that he even attacked Jordan, too, which would make him a suspect and slow down the former trainee's investigation into the identity of Jordan's murderer.
In the latest episode, young Macon also decided not to choose a hat signifying his career path, one of which was for the Navy. A path that would pave the way for his previously mentioned ambition in politics, since a military background would make him more appealing to American voters, especially to the people of Nebraska. Perhaps Macon decided to delay choosing, since he didn't want to tip his hat to Stewart too soon, considering how effectively he took out Zoe.
2. Kerry Kane
According to Hal Jordan, his gut is never wrong, and so far in Lanterns, it really hasn't been. So, when Halogram suspected that Kelly Macdonald's former Gothamite Kerry Kane was the one to kill him due to "The way she touched my face, the way she was looking at me," he claimed to "know guilt" when he saw it. However, Halogram initially suspected Stewart before Kerry, leading Stewart to accuse Jordan's ghost of being paranoid.
As for why Kerry Kane would kill Hal Jordan, it's possible he discovered that Noah was a Manhunter and planned to report him to the Guardians of the Universe in a desperate attempt to reclaim his ring. However, the only wrinkle to her being a suspect is that she was the one who called John Stewart back to Rushville, but perhaps she subconsciously wanted Stewart to discover the truth out of guilt since she still clearly loved him.
3. Hal Jordan
The most surprising revelation in this episode was that Hal Jordan's father had purposefully killed himself in his supposed test flight accident, and the same as his father before him, which he dubbed the namesake of the episode, "The Jordan Boys Legacy." Halogram told Stewart about how his father had left a suicide note for him, fearing that Jordan had followed in his father's footsteps.
However, there's quite a bit that contradicts the idea of Jordan committing suicide. For one, Jordan didn't leave any such note behind for Stewart or anyone else, although Halogram still speculated if "there was anything in there that would lead me to my own note." But most importantly, the end of the episode had a young Hal Jordan picking up the ball he threw again, which had symbolized his father's pain and regrets that he felt were "fucking exhausting" to hold onto.
It showed that, unlike his father and grandfather, Jordan wouldn't give up on life, even if he had to hold onto all of that pain for the rest of his days.
4. The Guardians of the Universe
If it wasn't already obvious from Laura Linney's Lianna and her conduct as a Guardian in Lanterns, these blue-faced control-freaks are as spineless and hopeless as Sinestro thought of them to be, and believe it or not, they're even worse in the comics. They have caused multiple universe-ending catastrophes with their unending arrogance, with the Guardians even once stripping Hal Jordan of his ring just because he killed one of their own after they went mad with power.
It wouldn't be beneath them to kill Hal Jordan, especially if he still had some sort of connection to the recently escaped Thaal Sinestro and whatever he was planning on Antaan's dead planet. It might also explain why none of the other Lanterns, like Guy Gardner, were aware of his death, and why they were barred from attending his funeral, even aside from it being bad PR for the Corps.
5. Thaal Sinestro
Despite Sinestro being Hal Jordan's archenemy in the comics and betraying the trust of him and the Guardians of the Universe in Lanterns, he is by far the least likely suspect on this list. Not only did Sinestro have an alibi trapped on Antaan's homeworld, but he didn't seem too shocked by Jordan's appearance, to the point that he unquestioningly held a hologram at knife point.
It's possible that Jordan and Thaal were working together, since the former Green Lantern did have a portal linked directly to the planet Sinestro happened to be trapped on. Not to mention that he knew ahead of time to bring a poncho for the fear-intoxicated rain, meaning that he had scouted out the planet beforehand. Perhaps something went wrong between the two, and Thaal saw Jordan as a liability and killed him.
But that wouldn't explain why he was trapped on the planet or why he was unsurprised by Jordan's survival. However, there's one more option that could render this whole mystery moot.
BONUS: Hal Jordan Faked His Death
The trailers for the finale have raised the question of whether Hal Jordan is really dead, since he appears on the ground with a familiar mark on his arm. The same mark that John Stewart received after her was put into the Manhunter's machine to heal his burnt-up, near-dead body. However, it's unclear whether the machine could resurrect the dead or clone an entirely new body to use as a prop to fake his death.
Whatever the case, the only way for the machine to properly work was to use it in conjunction with Manhunter blood for the intended user. If we assume Noah is the Manhunter, he would be the only one capable of using the machine. But then that only raises another question: why would Noah want to save, revive, or clone Hal Jordan?
