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Lanterns is arriving at a fairly interesting time for the DC Universe. The franchise is coming off of its first true misfire in Supergirl, which earned mixed reviews and bombed at the box office. While DC Studios remains confident in its long-term plan, there nevertheless is extra pressure on the rest of its 2026 slate to deliver. Lanterns could very well turn things around, but it’s been facing an uphill climb of its own. Marketing materials for the upcoming series have proven to be very polarizing, as fans are split on the grounded, True Detective-inspired approach. One common critique lobbied at trailers is a discerning lack of green in a Green Lanterns show. The latest look at Lanterns addresses that concern, but it raises a new one.
Recently, new posters for Lanterns circulated online (via X user Mikhail Villarreal). One of the main takeaways is that there is a lot of green on the one-sheets, but some fans believe they’re still missing something. Multiple responses to the posters on social media point out how Hal Jordan and John Stewart are not wearing their Green Lantern costumes. The characters’ civilian clothing was the topic of much discussion on Reddit threads, where fans had some unfavorable opinions.
“Poster for a Fox Sports morning debate show that no one watches,” wrote one fan. “They’re dressed like two contractors who are being forced back into dating and they just got asked about how they feel,” said another. “I just want to see them in their suits,” bemoaned another DC fan on a different Reddit thread. Check out the posters below:
Hal & John ꗞ pic.twitter.com/Sc5w0sZJWY
— Mikhail Villarreal🦇 (@TaurooAldebaran) July 7, 2026
Why Is Lanterns Marketing Hiding the Green Lantern Costumes?
Throughout the Lanterns marketing campaign, which includes two official teasers, we’ve only gotten a single glimpse of Hal Jordan in his Green Lantern suit. John Stewart has not been seen in the costume at all. It’s important to keep in mind that Lanterns will run for eight episodes, so there’s still a lot of footage fans haven’t seen in the promotional materials. It’s possible the HBO Max marketing team is holding things back to build up to a proper reveal that will have more impact on viewers. Trailers, especially ones for major franchise installments, have to walk a fine line between generating hype for the release and preserving key details. Members of the Green Lantern Corps. wearing Green Lantern costumes on a Green Lanterns show doesn’t necessarily seem like a spoiler, but we still have to see the story the series is telling.
That said, the fact that Lanterns is about a month away from release and we still haven’t seen John don a suit lends credence to the notion that he will not wear a full superhero costume until the show’s end. Remember, the initial tagline for Lanterns was “Only one can wear the ring,” potentially setting the stage for Hal Jordan to pass the torch to his successor (by either dying or stepping away). In Lanterns, the younger John is taken under the veteran Hal’s wing so Hal can show John the ropes and prepare him for being a Green Lantern. That dynamic is going to be an integral part of Lanterns, and the natural culmination of their arc would be John soaring high in his own Green Lantern suit.
We know that John Stewart actor Aaron Pierre is reprising the role in next summer’s Man of Tomorrow, so he seems poised to become the DCU’s main Green Lantern moving forward (what that means for Guy Gardner is anyone’s guess). Lanterns could help set the table for John Stewart’s return in Man of Tomorrow by essentially operating as an origin story for the character, ending with him ready to become Earth’s Green Lantern, capable of defeating any threats that come his way (including Brainiac). If John was wearing a Green Lantern suit from the beginning of Lanterns, it would undercut the emotion behind the character’s journey. Typically, costume changes are an efficient way to illustrate character growth. John begins Lanterns trying to prove himself worthy of the ring and finishes it as the hero he was born to be.
It will be interesting to see how much screen time the Green Lantern costumes get in Lanterns. One of the strengths of the DCU is its emphasis on comics-accurate, practical costumes, and after the disaster that was the digital suit in 2011’s Green Lantern movie, having the costumes shine on Lanterns would be a nice development for fans. However, Lanterns is also attempting to be a grounded sci-fi crime drama, which is why Hal and John appear to be conducting much of their investigation in regular, everyday clothes. As long as Lanterns lives up to its potential (and with the creative team behind it, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic) and tells a compelling narrative, viewers shouldn’t mind a lack of supersuits.
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