Lanterns Cleverly Avoids Blowing Up The DCU (For Now)

Published Sep 17, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT

Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock.

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James Gunn’s DC Universe got off to a smashing start last summer with the release of Superman. Casual moviegoers and comic book devotees alike were taken with David Corenswet’s Man of Steel and the wider DC universe that Gunn was building. After a decade’s worth of dark, brooding Superman movies about a mopey Superman who doesn’t really want to be Superman, Gunn’s Superman was refreshingly bright and colorful and optimistic, with its feet planted firmly in a comic book world with kaijus and pocket universes and interdimensional imps.

But it’s been a rocky road since the success of Superman. Supergirl was criticized for being the exact opposite of Superman — taking a bright, colorful comic and adapting it into a dull, dreary, drab movie — and the early teasers for Lanterns had some DC fans worried that this franchise was getting too dark and gritty and grounded. That first trailer barely had any superhero action, Power Ring constructs, or even the color green, so it didn’t bode well for a Green Lantern show.

Far from a Supergirl-sized blunder, Lanterns has turned out to be just the breath of fresh air the DCU needed. It’s grounded enough to keep us invested in the human emotions and relationships at the heart of the story, but it still has all the fun and action of a typical superhero show. It’s the best of both worlds, combining the anything-goes sci-fi mayhem of a Green Lantern comic with the haunting human drama of an HBO murder mystery like True Detective or Mare of Easttown.

Lanterns Avoids A Tone Problem By Embracing The DCU's Comic Book-isms

Via MovieStillsDB

One of the best things about Gunn’s DCU is its willingness to experiment with different tones and genres. The MCU has been criticized for adhering to a rigid house style in its bland CG visuals and cookie-cutter storytelling, but the DCU is doing space adventures, murder mysteries, and horror movies all in just its second year.

But it still has to feel like a single, unified reality — one world where all of these stories are taking place concurrently — and Lanterns has pulled it off. Before the series premiered, there were some concerns that it would be too grounded and realistic, putting a Power Ring on True Detective and calling it a superhero show. But, five episodes in, after we’ve seen Earl and the Manhunter and the Guardians of the Universe and the space prison holding Sinestro, I think it’s safe to say we’re still in a very comic-booky world.

Lanterns is the third DCU project to feature a pocket universe. Superman had a pocket universe created by Lex Luthor as an interdimensional prison; Peacemaker has a pocket universe that he inherited from his dad; and, in episode 2, Lanterns revealed that Hal’s “vault” is actually a pocket dimension where he stores his Lantern. The DCU is jam-packed with pocket universes, because it’s such a “hard sci-fi” concept that it acts as a kind of shortcut to establish a heightened comic book world, the same as a kaiju or a clone or a dimensional rift. It’s an easy way to put a grounded whodunit like Lanterns in the same universe as an action-adventure spectacle like Superman.

Clayface Might Cause The Problem Everyone Thought Lanterns Would

The DCU isn’t out of the woods yet. It’ll face its next challenge on October 23, when Mike Flanagan’s Clayface movie hits theaters. This is a relatively low-budget production for a studio as big as DC, and it’s tapping into the lucrative horror market during the spooky season.

But Clayface could damage the DCU in the way everyone feared Lanterns would. It could make this universe feel tonally inconsistent, especially since it’ll be our first look at the DCU’s Gotham.

Lanterns