Which DC Superhero Almost Appeared On Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern? ( Photo Credit – Instagram )
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What if the Green Lantern (2011) featured the Superman himself? Back in the early 2010s, there was a moment when Superman was set to make a cameo in Green Lantern. But it didn’t happen. Green Lantern wasn’t exactly the success story DC had hoped for. Starring Ryan Reynolds as the shiny, green-suited Hal Jordan, the film came with a big budget and even bigger expectations.
But after earning only $220M worldwide—against a budget of $200M—Green Lantern didn’t exactly end up a ‘wow’. But that wasn’t always the plan. According to Slash Film, the script initially had something else in mind—a Superman cameo. In 2010, Green Lantern writer Marc Guggenheim alluded in an interview, revealing that early drafts of the script actually had a Superman (aka Clark Kent) cameo. Talk about nerdy gold.
“Without trying very hard, you could probably find the leaked script on the internet. [The Superman cameo] is in the leaked script. It survived several drafts,” said Guggenheim. The idea was all but confirmed at that point. So why didn’t it happen? Budget cuts. But Guggenheim wasn’t ready to let go of the dream. “The Clark Kent cameo is still near and dear to my heart. I really wanted it to be in the movie… You never know—it can still happen. If Tom Welling has a free hour or two, you never know.”
He was talking about Smallville’s Tom Welling, who, at the time, had become the Clark Kent of a generation. Imagine him meeting Ryan Reynolds‘ Hal Jordan in the same universe. A Smallville/DC movie crossover? It sounds like the geeky dream sequence that could have been the highlight of 2011. Unfortunately, that crossover moment never made it into the final cut.
Instead, Green Lantern ended up as a failed franchise starter, and we were left wondering what could have been. Would that Superman cameo have saved the day? Probably not, considering how the film turned out, but it sure would’ve made things a lot more interesting. In hindsight, that cameo would’ve added a little extra sparkle to the green CGI mess we got. But, as Guggenheim said, you never know. Maybe there’s hope for a Smallville reunion in a Green Lantern reboot if anyone still remembers that thing.
So, in the end, we got a Green Lantern movie without Superman, but we can always dream of what could’ve been. Maybe Green Lantern 2 (if we ever get one) will finally let us see those two icons share the screen—because, in 2024, superheroes crossing over is just how we roll.
