Hello, my friends. With the arrival of a new year, it’s time to shine some bright days upon these black nights. Not only that, but a new Emerald Knight will find himself alongside other figures as they deal with a crisis amongst the cosmos. On that note, I welcome you to another entry of…
We find ourselves back in the TomorrowVerse as noble figures from various worlds will find themselves dealing with an interplanetary clash as they try to get to the bottom of why this conflict has come about. As such, it’s time for us to delve into my many thoughts upon the movie known as…
Originally debuting on July 22, 2022, at the San Diego Comic-Con, it would ultimately get released on Blu-Ray & 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray four days later. Just like with “Catwoman: Hunted”, it also came out on DVD, though only outside of North America. With Jeff Wamester in the director’s chair and John Semper & Ernie Altbacker in charge of writing the script, what kind of conflict awaits our featured corps man? Let’s charge up, blast off and find out.
Following the title card, we begin with a fierce shootout in the Middle East. A group of Marines are pinned down by a bullet barrage from some opposing terrorists, with one of them preparing to fire a bazooka on them. Suddenly, each one of those adversaries are systematically gunned down by John Stewart (voiced by the live-action Hawkman himself, Aldis Hodge). Just as he asks a teammate named “Jimbo” for some new targets, he soon discovers that he’s been killed in action. Suddenly, he’s approached by a pair of terrorists as John manages to shoot one of them. However, the other figure is able to disarm him with his knife before attempting to stab him. Stewart managed to block the fatal strike, though with his left hand.
Just then, it’s revealed that this was a traumatic flashback as John snaps out of it. A guy then tells him to move out of the doorway as Stewart snaps and pins him to the side. Thankfully, he quickly regains his senses and lets him go before he calmly walks off.
As he strolls through the seedy city streets, he soon comes across an alley where a rambling hobo is getting accosted by two goons just for being on their turf. From there, they douse him in gasoline and prepare to light him on fire. John steps in to intervene as a fight breaks out, to which Stewart has little trouble dealing with them.
After the homeless guy runs away, the two creeps arm themselves with a broken bottle and a pipe before they reengage him, but he’s mainly able to deal with them. Suddenly, a pair of police officers arrive to stop this fight as they fire their stun guns at John and successfully subdue him while the two thugs flee.
As Stewart is getting arrested, he gets patted down before they discover his Military ID card. Despite the male officer (who’s named Mike) saying that he can relate to him since he also did a tour in the Middle East, John doesn’t utter a word. The female cop then tells her partner that Stewart had won the Medal of Honor and has a lengthy Citation list of his military accomplishments. Not wanting to endure some backlash from both the press and social media, they ultimately let John go.
Meanwhile, a damaged spaceship is entering Earth’s atmosphere as a fatally wounded Guardian of the Universe named Ganthet (voiced by Jason J. Lewis) has located his targeted subject. Back with John, he returns home following some grocery shopping. As he’s about to head in, he spots the disabled spacecraft before it crash-lands into a nearby junkyard. He runs over to check it out before he heads inside the spaceship and finds the wounded Guardian.
After being carried to safety, the wounded being wakes up and tells Stewart that he’s finally found him. John is stunned that the alien figure knows him, but Ganthet is unable to inform him any further as he succumbs to his wounds and passes on. Suddenly, his body ignites and withers away until only his robes remain.
Just then, a glowing green ring emerges from the tattered clothes and approaches Stewart before telling him that because he has “singular will”, he’s now a member of the Green Lantern Corps. From there, it places itself onto John’s finger. John tries to pull the ring off to no avail before he notices a glowing light from beneath his shirt, to which the Power Ring (voiced by Sunil Malhotra) informs him that it’s his uniform. Stewart starts to freak out from this sudden turn of events, while the Power Ring tries to contact Oa to no avail. From there, it informs John to stop a series of hostile activities, yet Stewart tells him to “pound sand”. Suddenly, the ring forms a giant green hammer as it slams the ground while also tugging on John before the construct disappears.
Stewart unsuccessfully tries once again to pull the ring from his finger before he calms down and asks it for someone that he can talk to who could also help him. The Power Ring confirms that as it proceeds to lift John into the sky and cover him within some green light before taking him into space. Despite getting shocked by this sudden action, Stewart is ultimately taken to the Justice League Watchtower. Shortly after he enters the space station, he begins to look around.
Over within the main control room, Oliver Queen a.k.a. Green Arrow (voiced by Jimmi Simpson) tells his teammates that an incident over in Space Sector 814 is slowly growing out of hand and that it could potentially reach Earth. As such, they need as many able bodies as they can get to deal with this. However, J’onn J’onzz a.k.a. Martian Manhunter (voiced by Ike Amadi) says that both Superman and Wonder Woman won’t be able to return from their off-world missions for a week. Not only that, but Mari Jiwe McCabe a.k.a. Vixen (voiced by Keesha Sharp) informs him that they’re also unable to contact Batman. Suddenly, John accidentally strolls in as the Justice League mistakes him for an intruder.
From there, Vixen uses her Tantu Totem to gain the agile striking speed of a tiger and leaps in after him, yet Stewart manages to shield himself with a tough construct. Martian Manhunter simply phases through it and subdues him with a full nelson, yet John uses his ring to form a hand construct and pulls J’onn off of him.
Mari then uses her Tantu Totem to acquire the ramming strength of a rhinoceros as she charges into him with enough force to send him flying before J’onzz returns and subdues him again. Just as Stewart creates a knife with his ring, Oliver manages to shoot a non-lethal arrow and disorient him.
Just as Queen holds John up with a regular arrow, Vixen then notices his new outfit as they recognize him as a Green Lantern, since the Watchtower’s security alarm didn’t go off. However, Stewart says that he’s trying to remove the Power Ring from his finger. Mari then mentions that the Guardians of the Universe haven’t informed them about the new Green Lantern, to which Queen says that those same figures haven’t gotten in touch with them within the past year. Martian Manhunter then asks the Power Ring who its previous owner was, to which it tells them that it was Hal Jordan. Fearing that Hal is possibly dead, Oliver demands to know how John acquired his friend’s ring. After Stewart introduces himself, he explains the situation to them. From there, J’onn wonders why a Guardian of the Universe would make his way to Earth and hand over a Power Ring in the first place. Oliver refuses to believe John’s story, but Vixen says that her Tatum Totem is similar to the Power Ring in that they wouldn’t wind up with anyone who was unworthy. Thinking that this is somehow connected to the hostile activity out in deep space, she then says that they should check it out for themselves. However, J’onzz says that they can’t leave Earth unguarded. Not to mention, he has to stay behind to operate the Watchtower since Flash is also away on a mission. Queen offers to go check out the crashed spaceship and fly it to Oa if it still works, since he wants to learn what’s happened to Hal. However, he doesn’t want to take John with him. Stewart then asks them if they can help remove the Power Ring from his finger to which Martian Manhunter explains that he’s witnessed other Green Lanterns remove their own rings by themselves and that the possible reason that he’s unable to do so is that it was reprogrammed. As such, the Guardians of the Universe could help him instead, to which John tells Green Arrow that he’s going to Oa with him.
Later, John helps Oliver reach the crash site before they discover that the spaceship has completely repaired itself. They then proceed to enter its cockpit before Queen (thanks to his informative past with Jordan) turns the entire computer system on. Green Arrow then says that he could possibly fly the spacecraft to Oa, but they would need the proper coordinates. As such, he tells Stewart to have his ring put the planet’s location into the spaceship’s navigational system and fly them there. Thankfully, the Power Ring is able to access the spacecraft and proceeds to blast them off towards their destination.
During their warp speed travels, the ring proceeds to inform John about the Green Lantern Corps’ history. The Guardians were one of the universe’s first intelligent lifeforms and they discovered that lesser species would be “prone to chaos & violence”. As such, they created an intergalactic police force in order to maintain order amongst the stars. Also, each Green Lantern was chosen from the numerous alien races for having three common traits: “Intelligence, Willpower and Fearlessness”. Just then, they arrive at Oa as Oliver warns Stewart that the Guardians aren’t too fond of humans before they prepare to head out.
Once they land, they soon discover that the Corps’ base has been decimated and that all of their Green Lanterns have been killed in battle. Queen then realizes that this is why the Justice League hasn’t heard from the Guardians of the Universe as he and John proceed to investigate their surroundings. Just as they reach a particularly fallen Green Lantern, Stewart suddenly has a brief flashback to his time in the Middle East where he stood over his fallen Marines. Fortunately, he manages to regain his senses as he discovers a central building.
Our two men then head inside as it turns out to be a museum that commemorates past Green Lanterns, yet it’s also in similar tatters. They then approach a certain statue as Green Arrow recognizes him as Sinestro, to which he informs John that this guy trained Hal into becoming the Corps’ “greatest Green Lantern” before he descended into a villainous fiend. Stewart then says that he’s heard of Jordan, yet there had to have been other Green Lanterns who’ve achieved similar success. Soon enough, he discovers Hal’s damaged statue as the adjacent informative box claims Jordan as “the greatest Green Lantern in the universe”. Shortly afterwards, Oliver finds a Power Battery and tells John that he’ll need it in order to recharge his ring, despite the fact that he’s trying to remove it. From there, Queen heads out to investigate on his own.
Stewart then proceeds to look around before he notices the Power Ring moving around on his finger. As such, he’s finally able to remove it. Suddenly, a winged figure flies in and attacks him. He manages to dodge in time and tries to use his Power Ring, forgetting that he just removed it. Fortunately, it’s lying within reach as he reclaims it, puts it back on and forms a shield. However, she’s able to easily smash through it with her mace. He then forms a brick wall to protect himself, but she’s slowly able to smash her way through the construct.
Fortunately, Green Arrow is able to distract her with some arrows as she redirects her effort towards him. Just then, John forms a Military Humvee construct and smashes it into her, ultimately pinning to a wall. With it physically straining her, the Power Ring reminds Stewart (while he briefly flashes back to his near-fatal Middle Eastern moment) that lethal force is unauthorized. Oliver notices that their adversary is about to lose her life as a result of John’s action as he tells him to stop. Fortunately, Stewart complies and lets her breathe.
She then says that he should’ve finished her off, especially since she believes that they were part of the “Rannian Attack”. However, John says that they’re trying to find out who caused this destruction upon Oa. After some proper introductions, to which our men learn that she’s a Thanagarian warrior named Shayera Hol a.k.a. Hawkgirl (voiced by Jamie Gray Hyder), Queen calls for a truce in order for them to properly explain their situations to each other.
Over within a technological hub, Shayera shows off the last piece of Oan security footage before the system was disabled, which showed a Rannian spaceship landing on the surface. She assumes that it contained a kill squad from said planet instead of their diplomats, but Stewart isn’t entirely sure of said claim. Green Arrow agrees with him, since the footage didn’t show the occupants of said spacecraft. Hol then says that her spaceship was decimated in battle and that she came to Oa in order to acquire aid from the Guardians of the Universe in her home planet’s war against Rann, but she was also too late. John then tells her that she should be absolutely sure that she’s targeting the right subjects for her vengeance quest, to which Hawkgirl proceeds to explain the cause of the whole Rann-Thanagar conflict.
Following “years of bloody war”, both sides finally managed to agree on a fine level of peace. To help solidify this unionship, they worked on a joint project that would be overseen by Thanagar’s Banth Dar (voiced by Mara Junot) and Rann’s Sardath (voiced by Simon Templeman). In particular, they formed the Zeta Beam in order to bridge both worlds and benefit their economies. With Hal Jordan (voiced by Nolan North) in attendance to witness this momentous occasion, Banth Dar proceeds to activate the Zeta Beam as it successfully teleports a spaceship from Thanagar to Rann.
Suddenly, the Zeta Beam station’s controls have been compromised as it suddenly redirects itself and fires onto Thanagar, causing major damage and the loss of some lives. Over on the station, Banth Dar is unable to regain control over the Zeta Beam since she and her fellow comrades are locked out of the system. Sardath then contacts Jordan as he tells him that something has gone wrong upon the station and that he must prevent it from firing again. Hal tries to use his ring in order to plug the Zeta Beam up with his green light of willpower. Unfortunately, it’s too much for him to contain as he gets consumed by the massive energy force. From there, Shayera explains that the Zeta Beam ultimately teleported Thanagar to Rann, which disrupted both planets’ ecosystems. She then says that Hal and millions of her own people died on that day, while Sardath (who’s been branded as a war criminal) slipped away.
Despite her explanation, Stewart thinks that the whole incident was accidentally caused, especially since Oa’s security footage of a Rannian spaceship didn’t prove much. Oliver also agrees with him and decides that they should talk with the Rannians and get their side of the tale. Despite Hol telling them that the nearest outpost is several light years away, John says that they have their own spaceship and that she can go with them if she agrees to not attack them, to which she ultimately complies.
As they warp speed towards the outpost, Queen finds Stewart spending some time with his Power Ring as it turns out to be a training exercise for Green Lanterns. Green Arrow is perplexed as to why he’s still wearing it, even though he’s now able to remove it, to which John says that he still needs to access the spaceship in order to get them to their destinations. Just then, the Power Ring informs him that it’s low on power. Oliver says that he’ll need to recharge his ring as Stewart retrieves his Power Battery. From there, Queen instructs him on the proper repowering process before John sticks his hand into the battery and speaks the Green Lantern oath. Despite finding the oath to be hokey, Stewart is surprised to discover that the whole process has worked.
Soon enough, the group reaches the outpost as they find more of her fellow Thanagarians brutally slaughtered. Suddenly, they hear a loud thunderous noise as a Zeta Beam pops up and heads right towards them. Fortunately, they manage to get out of its way before it drops off an individual before dissipating.
Ultimately, it’s revealed to be Adam Strange (voiced by Brian Bloom). After he notices Hawkgirl amongst the group, the two of them immediately fight each other. Eventually, he turns his attention towards John who’s able to protect himself and Oliver from Adam’s ray gun with a shield construct. However, this distraction allows Shayera to hit him with her mace, causing him to get disarmed and also lose his jetpack. She then pins him down and prepares to finish him off, but Stewart manages to contain her within a green sphere while Queen uses a bolo arrow to subdue Strange.
With the situation under control, Stewart then asks Strange about the Zeta Beam. However, he refuses to answer. Hol then mentions her accusation of his fellow Rannians murdering the Guardians of the Universe, but Adam is shocked to hear about the Guardians’ demise. From there, he explains that the Zeta Beam is somehow attracted to him, and it constantly teleports him to various parts of the galaxy with little control on his part. Hawkgirl says that it doesn’t change the fact that the Rannians murdered everyone on Oa, but Strange says that it can’t be true since Rann serves as an ally to the Guardians of the Universe and that the Green Lanterns are heroes to his people. He then says that if he can reach High Command, he’ll be able to prove his point. Shayera doesn’t initially believe him to truly be Adam Strange, yet he says that despite his disheveled look, he’s still the genuine article and that he’s been displaced ever since the Zeta Beam initially took him from his home world. Green Arrow then asks him how he wound up here, to which Adam says that the Zeta Beam had randomly brought him to this particular point. Ultimately, John decides to give him a chance as he frees Strange before they all take their leave towards Rann.
During the journey, Stewart continues to pass some time by doing more mental activities with his Power Ring. Suddenly, the group comes across a vicious space battle that’s seen the loss of several Rannians & Thanagarians. John then asks for a reminder of what caused the two worlds to go to war against each other in the first place, to which Hol says that the Rannians (under a falsely peaceful experiment) teleported their home world towards Thanagar in order to conquer it. Strange rebuts by saying that Rann’s capital city was decimated first by her people, to which Hawkgirl says that it was from a past war that ended with a peaceful gesture during his absence, until their alliance fell apart via the recent Zeta Beam incident. While Oliver wants them to flee before either side notices them and attacks, Adam spots a badly damaged derelict that’s getting slowly pulled into a red dwarf star. He says that he wants to access its main computer via his DNA scan, but its defense system targets their spaceship before they receive an incoming message.
They pick up the transmission from the wounded captain of the somewhat-crippled spacecraft as Kantus (also voiced by Jason J. Lewis) doesn’t believe that he’s seeing Strange in front of him. After a quick scan however, he’s amazed to discover that Adam is still alive. Kantus then assumes that Hawkgirl is his prisoner, but Strange tells him that they’re trying to solve a mystery that involves both of their worlds and that they need his help via his spaceship’s computer system. Kantus manages to provide them access, to which John has his Power Ring acquire all relevant information pertaining to the Rann-Thanagar War. When Stewart says that he wants to know why Rann attacked Oa, Kantus says that his people didn’t commit this assault. Shayera doesn’t believe his claim, but Kantus says that it won’t matter since her people will eventually get wiped out. He explains that Rann’s best scientist is developing a weapon that will obliterate Thanagar and finally end this war. Strange realizes that Sardath is the one building this endgame device before he asks where they can find him. However, Kantus says that he’s not amongst a small group of key people who knows his location.
With his damaged battle cruiser about to get completely destroyed by the red dwarf, Stewart learns from his Power Ring that Kantus can save himself if he reroutes the spaceship’s power towards the engines. John gives the order as the crippled spacecraft manages to pull free from the red dwarf’s gravitational pull. However, they soon learn that Kantus has no intention of flying back to Rann. Instead, he pulls a kamikaze move and crashes his spaceship into a Thanagarian spacecraft as both vessels get decimated in a fiery explosion. With nothing left for them to do here, our main group proceeds to warp speed out of the battle zone.
Later, Stewart & Queen discover Shayera and Adam working together. Strange explains that when the Zeta Beam teleported Thanagar into Rann’s atmosphere, both worlds ended up suffering from “catastrophic climate disasters”. With this being the main cause of the reignited war, Adam says that Sardath has repurposed the Zeta Beam into a planet-destroying weapon. While they’re still unaware of where Sardath is located, they did find an interesting discovery concerning the attack on Oa. While the spaceship that attacked the planet had a Rannian design, they looked over the drive signature that it left behind and discovered that it was similar to a Thanagarian-looking spacecraft that attacked the peace talks over at the United Galactic Council Headquarters several years ago. Not only that, that same drive signature popped up at the site of several unprovoked attacks. John then realizes that someone is impersonating both sides in order to fuel this conflict. Hol then explains that she & Adam calculated the direction that the drive signatures left behind following the surprises assaults and that after some triangulations, the enemy spaceship ultimately fled towards a singular sector. As such, Adam says that they must head there in order for them to get their answers.
Later, they arrive in the asteroid-filled space sector as their spaceship scans the surrounding area. While they don’t pick up any anything unusual at first, they soon find themselves under attack by a barrage of missiles coming from a seemingly innocent asteroid. As such, our main group is forced to take evasive action as they ultimately dodge every last projectile. Hawkgirl manages to access their spacecraft’s main weapon in order to give them cover before Stewart believes that the opposing weaponry is trying “to protect something or somebody”. Oliver soon discovers that one of the asteroids is actually a shielded structure as they proceed to fly into it.
After discovering a hidden base, they soon land and head out to investigate. Suddenly, they get ambushed by a group of Yellow Lanterns as Lyssa Drak (also voiced by Mara Junot) leads the charge for the group. A massive brawl breaks out before they make quick work over her and the lizard-looking creature. Suddenly, more Yellow Lanterns approach them as the fight resumes. Soon enough, Lyssa and the lizard being rejoin the battle.
Eventually, Stewart finds himself up against an alien creature with a hypnotic third eye. He manages to entrap John within his menacing stare before he prepares to slay him with his sword. Thankfully, Stewart snaps out of it before he defeats his foe by smashing him between two solid constructs. John then forms a sharp pike and prepares to stab him, with even Shayera wanting him to deliver the deathblow. Thankfully, he decides to spare his enemy.
Unfortunately, he’s then held up at gunpoint by Sinestro (voiced by Rick D. Wasserman) who then orders the rest of our heroes to drop their weapons. With no other choice, they’re forced to comply before Sinestro forces Stewart back towards his comrades. After revealing that he discreetly took John’s Power Ring from him, Sinestro proceeds to knock them out in a flash of bright light.
Later, Stewart wakes up as he discovers that he and his comrades are within a cage. Not only that, but the bars are highly electrified. The group is then met upon by Sinestro as Green Arrow reminds John that his own Power Ring is weak against the color yellow, to which Stewart says that the ring informed him of that detail and that he’s already familiar with his own personal struggle against the color barrier. Hol then asks Sinestro why he’s not finishing them off, to which he says that he may find some use for them before he takes his leave.
Just as Strange says that they could dig their way to freedom, another occupant says that he’s already gotten started as it’s revealed to be Hal Jordan. With Green Arrow surprised to see his friend again, he then introduces him to his teammates before mentioning that John is the current wielder of his Power Ring after a Guardian of the Universe traveled to Earth in order to give it to him. Stewart then informs Hal that all of Oa’s occupants have been decimated as Jordan assumes that Sinestro was behind the attack, to which Hawkgirl adds her group’s assumption that he disguised his spaceship as a Rannian vessel before attacking the planet. Jordan then mentions that Sinestro sabotaged Sardath’s massive experiment, thus reigniting the Rann-Thanagar War. As for how he wound up imprisoned while his Power Ring ultimately made its way to John, he explains how it all went down.
Hal was tasked with looking over Sardath’s experiment, but unbeknownst to everyone on board, Sinestro managed to sneak his way onto the base and discreetly sabotage the whole operation. After Jordan was unable to contain the Zeta Beam, he was flung onto the ravaged Thanagarian landscape before the whole planet got transported towards Rann’s atmosphere. He was then met upon by Sinestro who looked to relieve him of his Power Ring, yet Hal managed to use his last conscious moment to send it away before he passes out. From there, he remembers waking up within this cell and that he’s been here ever since. As for how the Power Ring wound up with Stewart, the Guardians of the Universe reacquired it before they decided to reassign it to its current owner.
From there, the group starts to figure out how they’re going to escape. While Jordan looks forward to stopping Sinestro, Oliver tells him of a bigger crisis that’s about to occur on Rann as Sardath is going to use his Doomsday Weapon to obliterate Thanagar, with Adam adding onto the fact that the planet will be decimated by the same weaponized Zeta Beam and that it’ll be operated from a private location that only the Rannian High Command is aware of. Suddenly, they discover that Sinestro was overhearing their conversation via a holographic projection of himself. Hal says that he’ll never get Rann’s Doomsday Weapon, due to their highly advanced defense system. However, Sinestro decides to go after it anyway before his holographic form vanishes.
