Zack Snyder's Justice League was finally released on HBO Max last week, but the film's tumultuous behind-the-scenes journey is still making headlines as fans petition Warner Bros. to #RestoreTheSnyderVerse. Snyder has been fairly open about the difficult working relationship he had with Warner Bros., having initially stepped away from the film in 2017 after the tragic loss of his daughter because he had no energy to fight the studio. The director also recently revealed Justice League originally contained a Green Lantern cameo, but Warner Bros. had him remove it. Now, according to rumors, fans know Moonlight star Trevante Rhodes was Snyder's choice for Green Lantern.
The Snyder Cut does actually contain two very brief Green Lantern cameos. Since The Green Lantern Corps is essentially an interstellar law enforcement agency, many different characters have taken up the mantle, some of whom we will see in the upcoming HBO Max series. The first Lantern we see is Yalan Gur, who makes an appearance during the epic battle that occurred thousands of years ago as part of Darkseid's first attempt at conquering earth. Gur is savagely struck down by Darkseid, having his ring hand severed by the villain. The second is Kilowog, whose dead body can be seen when Cyborg has a vision of a future where Darkseid has won and Superman has been taken over by the Anti-life equation.
However, we now know that Snyder had originally intended for another, more influential Green Lantern cameo in the form of Jon Stewart. The character, a US marine originally from Detroit, is one of several humans to take up the mantle of the Green Lantern and was actually DC Comics ' first Black superhero. Created in the early 1970s by writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams, Stewart's original design was based on trailblazing African American actor Sidney Poitier. The character has not appeared in any live-action media but played a large role in the DC animated shows Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, where he was voiced by actor Phillip LaMarr.
According to previous interviews with Snyder, he actually went against Warner Bros.' wishes and shot this scene in his driveway last year. While the director has not confirmed the identity of the actor who portrayed Jon Stewart, sources close to Fandom Wire claim that Rhodes was the actor in question. While Warner Bros. wanted Snyder to cut this scene, the director didn't like the idea of removing a person of color from Justice League and even threatened to quit the film. Eventually, he compromised and replaced Green Lantern with Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix). The original scene takes place at the very end of the film when Martian Manhunter reveals himself to Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) at his lake house, but originally it was supposed to be Green Lantern instead of Martian Manhunter.
Snyder has not confirmed that Rhodes was the actor who played Green Lantern, so the news should be taken with a grain of salt. However, if Rhodes was the actor in question, he seems like a good fit. Rhodes is perhaps best known for his leading role in the Oscar-winning film Moonlight, where he played the oldest version of the lead character.
In recent years, Rhodes has made a name for himself acting in supporting roles in films such as Shane Black's The Predator and the Netflix original film Bird Box. Apparently, there was speculation back in 2017 that Rhodes would be dawning the green ring, but at the time the actor claimed it was just a rumor.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is streaming on HBO Max now.
Source: FandomWire