This article contains SPOILERS for Lanterns, Episode 6.The first season of Lanterns is nearing its end. The fifth episode, “Lights Out,” featured a climactic battle in the middle of Rushville, NE. It ended with the death of the alien Manhunter (Poorna Jagannathan) and a brawl between Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre). In the end, John stripped Hal of his power ring but refused to become the next Green Lantern.
The sixth episode, “Bad Optics,” jumps ahead in time to 2026, showing us what Hal and John have been up to since their violent parting. They catch up briefly at a diner in Rushville and discuss the current Green Lantern: Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), whom we first met in the 2025 Superman movie. It’s unclear exactly how long this “gym teacher” has been Green Lantern by this point, but he’s had time to implement some of his own reforms, including installing a beacon in Rushville that allows the citizens to summon him if there’s ever any more alien activity.
This might remind some viewers of the Bat-Signal, which the Gotham City police force can use to summon Batman whenever he’s needed. The thought has crossed Hal Jordan’s mind. Hal says that Guy Gardner has, “ripped off that Bat-guy over in Gotham, too. Put a beacon right in the middle of the f***ing town here, so people can summon him.”
In addition to continuing the show’s already-legendary reputation for cursing, Hal’s comment tells us some important things about the burgeoning DC Universe. First of all, we have confirmation that Batman exists in this continuity. We already knew that Gotham City existed; Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald), the sheriff in Rushville, used to live there. Moreover, if Hal Jordan is referring to Batman as “that Bat-guy,” we can conclude that Batman hasn’t been fighting crime for very long, since he isn’t famous enough for someone like Hal Jordan to know his name. That said, it’s possible that Hal just isn’t in the loop; he was in jail for 10 years after the incident in Rushville, after all.
James Gunn, who has been building out this new DCU alongside Peter Safran, has long promised that a Batman movie called The Brave and the Bold was in development, but we haven’t heard anything solid for a while. Earlier this year, Gunn shut down rumors that the project was canceled. When it does come out, we’ll meet the Batman that Hal Jordan is referring to in this episode.
This Batman is entirely separate from the version we met in 2022’s The Batman, where he’s played by Robert Pattinson. A sequel to that movie, The Batman Part II, is due out in 2028.
As for Lanterns, there are only two episodes left in the first season. The seventh episode will air on HBO and HBO Max this upcoming Sunday, September 27. A second season is reportedly in development but has not been formally greenlit.
- Release Date
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August 16, 2026
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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Chris Mundy
- Directors
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Alik Sakharov, James Hawes, Stephen Williams, Geeta Patel
- Writers
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Damon Lindelof, Chris Mundy, Tom King, Vanessa Baden Kelly, Justin Britt-Gibson, Breannah Gibson
