Of all the Justice League heroes, the Green Lantern has scarcely been seen on screen in live-action, but new concept art has revealed the design of a Lantern Corps hero who was scheduled to appear in Zack Snyder's Justice League. After Snyder exited 2017's Justice League, the director was given the chance to finish his version of the film in 2021, with an extended four-hour version released on HBO Max. Snyder's Justice League lineup included core DC heroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Cyborg, but plans to include a Green Lantern hero in the movie were ultimately scrapped.
Several Lantern Corps heroes have been featured in DC projects over the years, with some of the most well-known being Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner (who Nathan Fillion will soon portray in 2025's Superman). However, the Lantern Corps recruits heroes from all across the galaxy, and the group features several aliens, like the well-known Green Lantern, Tomar-Re. Concept art shared by artist Jerad S. Marantz on Instagram has revealed the intended design for Tomar-Re in Zack Snyder's Justice League.
Tomar-Re is of the Xudarian people, a bird-like alien race from the planet Xandar. He was previously introduced in live-action in the 2011 Green Lantern film, where Geoffrey Rush voiced him.
Merantz (who also worked as a character designer on the Green Lantern film) said that Tomar-Re was one of his "absolute favorite Green Lanterns," adding that it was unfortunate the character was "cut from the film."
"Tomar-Re! One of my absolute favorite Green Lanterns. Almost forgot about this guy. I got the chance to do a pass on the character for Justice League a while back. He was unfortunately cut from the film, but we did get to see a deceased Kilowog in the Snyder cut.
Working on Justice League was an incredible experience with Costume Designer [Michael Wilkinson]! He is easily one of the best in the industry. Justice League was definitely a career highlight."
The concept video features Tomar-Re in various designs of the Green Lantern suit, and variations with and without the green eye mask.
Tomar-Re was initially intended to appear in the final scene of Justice League, where the Green Lantern would accompany fellow Lantern Corps member Kilowog to visit Bruce Wayne at his lake house. This idea was reportedly re-worked several times with different variations of characters, with Wayne T. Carr even cast as John Stewart for one version of the scene.
Ultimately, Tomar-Re and the Green Lanterns were erased from the scene entirely, with Zack Snyder's Justice League using Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix) for the interaction instead.
However, the Lanterns remain in existence in the DCEU and were referenced briefly in Justice League during a flashback scene that saw the Lanterns, Amazonians, Atlanteans, and other groups fight back and fail against the forces of Steppenwolf.
Will Tomar-Re Have a Second Chance in the DCU?
With the book closed on the old DCEU, plenty of characters are being given a second chance at life in James Gunn and Peter Safran's new DCU under DC Studios - and the future for the Green Lanterns already seems bright.
Following Fillion's appearance as Guy Gardner in Superman, the DCU also has a Lanterns TV series in the works, which has already cast several famous Green Lanterns, including Aaron Pierre as John Stewart and Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan. Tomar-Re has not yet been confirmed for Lanterns, but the door is definitely open for the alien member to appear, particularly as Tomar-Re is a known mentor in the Lantern Corps and a friend of Hal Jordan in the comics.
The new DCU's focus on the Green Lanterns from the get-go suggests that the intergalactic space corps heroes will be an essential piece of the puzzle in the latest cinematic universe, which hopefully means even more Green Lanterns will make their way to the screen eventually.
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