While Lanterns is based on the mythos of Green Lanterns, this cosmic corner of the DC Universe had been kept at an arm’s length in the show’s promotional material until recently, preferring to focus on a murder investigation in small-town Nebraska over anything like Oa or the entire DC Universe. That’s not a small departure. The last time this franchise went to the screen, it leaned all the way into Oa, and Ryan Reynolds’ much-derided 2011 Green Lantern film became something of a cautionary tale for the property. And this universe is big. Earth, for instance, is only one of the planets in Sector 2814, and there are 3,600 sectors in the universe.
However, the SDCC 2026 teaser for the DCU series (above) has finally opened the door a bit. In the teaser, John Stewart (played by Aaron Pierre) asks a rather loaded question of Hal Jordan (played by Kyle Chandler): “What do you know about Manhunters?” Hal does not have much of an answer, and the show clearly wants us to worry about them. The trailer also features Thaal Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen), who is locked away and asked questions in the manner of a red-skinned Hannibal Lecter, as well as an alien called Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor), who refers to the Manhunters as the most dangerous creatures to walk the galaxy. Let’s dive into who the Manhunters really are, why the Guardians of the Universe decided to kick them off their jobs, and what they might do now that they’re back.
Quick reference:
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Creators | Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King |
| Premise | A grounded DCU mystery series following veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan and new recruit John Stewart as they investigate a murder in the American heartland, uncovering a larger conspiracy with major implications for the DC Universe. |
| Cast | Kyle Chandler (Hal Jordan), Aaron Pierre (John Stewart), Kelly Macdonald (Sheriff Kerry), Ulrich Thomsen (Sinestro), and Nathan Fillion (Guy Gardner). |
| Release Date | August 16, 2026 |
Who Are the Manhunters in DC Comics?
The alien robot Manhunters made their first appearance in the DC universe in 1977. Before the formation of the Green Lantern Corps, the Guardians of the Universe had created the Manhunters as autonomous robot guardians to enforce laws within each of the 3,600 sectors of the universe. The term ‘Manhunters’ had actually appeared two years before this in Jack Kirby’s 1st Issue Special #5 in 1975, though it referred to a totally different, human character called Mark Shaw (more on him later).
Their primary characteristic is that of shapeshifting, wherein they can take any form, get into anywhere they want to, and seem to fit precisely into the murder-mystery framework the show is utilizing. In that first arc from 1977, the Manhunters were using Hal Jordan to make him think he had killed an inhabited world, in revenge against the Guardians.
The Manhunters make appearances throughout the mythos. Their failed rebellion against the Guardians was later incorporated into the origin of Atrocitus in the Geoff Johns era, and Johns also used Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman (one of Superman’s strongest villains), to gain control of some of the Manhunters and incorporate them into the ranks of the Sinestro Corps.
The results of that first failure also gave rise to the Millennium crossover event, in which Manhunter operatives pretended to be friends and family members of superheroes while infiltrating their lives (via DC Comics). One of these Manhunter operatives, Mark Shaw, would eventually reform and become a superhero called the same name. It should be noted from the outset that the naming invites confusion: this is not Martian Manhunter. J’onn J’onzz has a host of awesome powers, including shapeshifting, but is an individual Martian survivor with his own shape-shifting abilities and has nothing to do with the Guardians’ robot policemen; all he shares with them is the name and the shapeshifting ability.
Why the Manhunters Were Abandoned
It wasn’t because the Manhunters were weak that the Guardians retired them; it was because they were precisely what they had been programmed to be. Designed to remain unaffected by emotion so that it wouldn’t influence their decision-making process, the Manhunters were, for a good amount of time, efficient police officers. However, their rationale backfired on them. They were meant to rid the world of evil and knew that evil came from emotions, and so emotional beings themselves were the problem.
Ultimately, the Manhunters committed the Sector 666 massacre, where trillions of sentient lives were lost at the hands of the Manhunters who deemed that life is too chaotic ever to provide for peace. Opinions vary, but many consider this one of the biggest genocides in the DC Universe. The Guardians’ response was that the Manhunters were declared too rigid and were eventually replaced with the Green Lantern Corps.
The Manhunters, for their part, became disillusioned with the job long before that reckoning, concluding that evil was inherent in biological life and thus never completely removable. They also weren’t quietly retired as — according to later comics canon — they fled after their dismissal and infiltrated various civilizations throughout the universe, presumably including Earth while fuming over both their makers and the Corps which replaced them.
What Role Will the Manhunters Play in Lanterns?
The show is billed as a grounded detective story: it is both a murder mystery set in the heart of America and a dual-timeline story that spans 2016 and 2026. The shapeshifting intruder (or intruders) fits snugly into the plot. Creators Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King are aiming to portray the looming horror of how that policing failure committed by the Guardians is more than just a backdrop to a local murder.
The teaser hints that Manhunters have been identified as key suspects in the murders that John Stewart (one of Earth’s most intelligent Green Lanterns) and Hal Jordan are looking into. This is being compared with the Emerald Twilight storyline, which indicates that Hal Jordan could have a somewhat darker story arc in this rebooted DC Universe.
In the 1994 storyline, the loss of his hometown, Coast City, pushes Hal to madness, and he slaughters much of the Corps, kills Sinestro and Kilowog, and drains the Central Power Battery on Oa, emerging as the fear-fueled villain Parallax. Another theory is that Antaan could actually be Atros, also known as Atrocitus, the supervillain whose planet was destroyed by the Manhunters in the comics. These are only plot predictions for the DC show, and thus far, we only have a brief teaser to judge by.
Think the show will stick to the comics’ Manhunters, or take them somewhere new? Sound off in the comments!
Lanterns premieres on August 16, 2026, on HBO and HBO Max.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
from FandomWire https://ift.tt/t53RA2f
No comments: