HBO’s Lanterns has confirmed to be the most effective new additions to James Gunn’s DC Universe. The sequence brings collectively Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and drops them right into a decade-hopping homicide thriller set in a small rural city the place nothing appears proper. Sequence creators Tom King, Damon Lindelof, and Chris Mundy tastefully plucked refined components from Inexperienced Lanterns comedian ebook mythology and imbued them into what appears like a grounded noir with True Detective vibes.
On the middle of all of it is a mysterious Manhunter. To not be confused with the DC hero of the identical title, the Manhunters are a military of synthetic police created by the Guardians of the Universe lengthy earlier than the Inexperienced Lantern Corps. After going rogue, their mission of sustaining order violently devolved right into a genocidal campaign. Lanterns shifts that historical past ever so barely by turning the live-action Manhunters into artificial shapeshifters able to deep-cover infiltration, making the key identification of the one hiding out in Rushville the core rigidity of the present.
Given Lanterns is a homicide thriller wrapped in a superhero story, nobody is above suspicion. Earlier than the following episode airs, let’s check out among the most compelling theories as to who is likely to be the Manhunter, and what that may say about their final aim in Lanterns.
8
Zoe Macon
Whereas there are fairly a number of potential suspects, the almost definitely candidate appears like Zoe Macon (Poorna Jagannathan). Followers have cause to be suspicious of her. From the second she’s launched, Zoe provokes a relationship with John Stewart and begins to insert her means into seemingly mundane moments. There’s one thing too handy about her proximity to the Lantern investigation. It typically appears like she’s protecting tabs on Hal Jordan, permitting her entry to each of the present’s central Lanterns. If the Manhunter’s aim is to realize the belief of the heroes and undermine them from the within, Zoe’s in a reasonably good place to make that occur.
Nevertheless, that perfection additionally makes her setup because the Manhunter a little bit too apparent, and there’s a good deeper DC idea to the character that makes her potential reveal significantly extra attention-grabbing. Somewhat than being the Manhunter, Zoe might really be Sinestro’s daughter, Soranik Natu, performing as an informant for her imprisoned father on Earth. Her relationship with John would nonetheless be steeped in deception, however it might tie her straight into the bigger Inexperienced Lantern mythology with out making her the last word antagonist. Maybe that’s precisely the type of misdirection Lanterns desires us to fall for, however Sinestro’s obvious curiosity in John is sort of telling.
7
William Macon
If Lanterns goals to persuade us that somebody is the Manhunter, William Macon (Garret Dillahunt) is likely to be the best promote. He leads an anti-alien militia, lives on an infinite compound that’s armed to the enamel, and owns alien-detection expertise superior sufficient to shock even Hal Jordan. Extra importantly, William’s hatred of extraterrestrials feels nearly too excessive. What higher rationalization than a Manhunter’s programming turning its obsession with eliminating threats right into a human campaign?
One factor that doesn’t add up, although, is that Manhunters are sometimes portrayed extra as stealth operatives within the comics, but William Macon is as loud because it will get. By aggressively recruiting and closely arming a militia, he is broadcasting his consciousness of extraterrestrials to anybody who will hear. The extra intriguing angle positions him because the DCU’s William Hand (Black Hand). Beneath this idea, Macon’s operation is only a entrance, and his mysterious monetary benefactor is the precise Manhunter (which we’ll get to shortly). Macon in the end may not be the mastermind, however he might very nicely be a mere pawn in a bigger scheme.
6
William Macon’s Mysterious Benefactor
Typically essentially the most suspicious character in a thriller is the individual we haven’t really met but. William Macon repeatedly references a rich benefactor funding his compound and operations, offering the city superior surveillance expertise and certain different high-grade devices we haven’t seen but. If Macon is being positioned as a purple herring, his benefactor might be the actual reply to every part.
Whereas some counsel this benefactor character might be Lex Luthor, given his well-established curiosity in alien expertise, the Manhunter idea provides a bit extra weight behind the thriller. The speculation posits that the Manhunter might be hiding someplace on Macon’s property, whereas utilizing his wealth, sources, and anti-alien obsession as camouflage. Macon thinks he’s getting ready humanity for an alien invasion, however In actuality, he might already be taking part in into the Manhunter’s fingers. The speculation makes the mysterious benefactor far scarier than a mere human with deep pockets.
5
Sheriff Kerry Kane
Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) has one of many strangest backstories in Lanterns. Coming from the imply streets of Gotham Metropolis, she needs to be a complete fish-out-of-water character, however one way or the other appears proper at dwelling in rural Nebraska. Serving as sheriff of Rushville, she has unbelievable entry to the city and several other sources that might make it simpler for her to mix in. Transferring from Batman’s yard to a small city like Rushville additionally provides Kane the proper cowl when attempting to vanish into an unsuspecting neighborhood. The Manhunter idea takes that one step additional. As an outsider, Kane might have arrived on the town particularly to watch the individuals round her whereas quietly embedding herself in native regulation enforcement.
Others counsel Kerry’s connection to Gotham means one thing totally totally different. She might really be tied to Batman in some capability or might even be associated to Katherine Kane, aka Batwoman. Her suspicious historical past is likely to be merely a DC deep lower moderately than proof of alien infiltration. The opposite main drawback with this idea is that the present’s flash-forward to 2026 appears to counsel Kane is genuinely human, however Lanterns has already taught us to not belief every part we see.
4
Billy Macon
I will be the primary to confess it: Billy Macon (Jason Ritter) is a wild curve ball, however he could also be one of the best instance of a personality most simply hiding in plain sight. Not solely is Billy the son of William Macon, however he’s additionally married to Sheriff Kane and serves because the city’s lawyer. Though he may seem aggressively abnormal on paper, if the Manhunter is in search of the proper human identification to embody with none potential hiccups, that mundanity makes him nearly invisible.
Taking Billy’s kind would give the Manhunter entry to just about each vital nook of Rushville. By way of Kerry alone, the alien would have a direct connection to native regulation enforcement, plus his father already nets him important manpower if ever wanted, to not point out the aforementioned alien-detection expertise. His job as an lawyer additionally provides him a superbly plausible cause to know almost everybody on the town with out seeming suspicious.
The issue is that Billy hasn’t been central sufficient to the story for the reveal to essentially devastate us. A Manhunter twist ought to ideally make viewers rethink a relationship we’ve turn into invested in, however Billy hasn’t had the identical type of build-up within the story but. Except Lanterns has intentionally saved him within the background, he could also be a little bit too apparent a vessel for a twist this massive.
3
Lianna
The newest reveal in episode 3 provides us one other character who’s suspicious nearly totally as a result of Lanterns refuses to point out us what she actually seems like. The Guardian, in any other case often called Lianna (Laura Linney), visits John Stewart’s mom as a way to “proper the file” and repair any lingering points brought on by the Inexperienced Lantern choice course of which have affected John’s father. To realize the mom’s belief, Lianna drops her human disguise and divulges her alien kind, however the digital camera solely reveals the transformation from over her shoulder. Whereas we’re purported to consider she’s a Guardian, the choice to cover her face has inevitably fueled the idea that Lianna is definitely a Manhunter.
It’s admittedly a little bit of a stretch, particularly as a result of the episode clearly establishes her connection to the Guardians and makes use of her encounter with the Stewart household to clarify John’s path towards turning into a Inexperienced Lantern. However Lanterns is a thriller field, and withholding a very powerful visible element of a supposedly main alien reveal feels just like the type of factor followers are going to obsess over. Possibly it’s merely saving the complete Guardian design for later into the sequence, or maybe we’re trying on the Manhunter and haven’t been proven sufficient of her face to appreciate it but.
2
The Total City of Rushville
This Manhunter idea is the place every part goes from believable detective work to full-blown science fiction nightmare. Assume Invasion of the Physique Snatchers. What if there isn’t a single Manhunter hiding in Rushville, however the complete city was changed with them?
The speculation means that the Manhunter escaped Abin Sur’s ship 40 years in the past, then spent a long time studying how people function and developed the power to duplicate itself. Somewhat than infiltrating the city as one individual, it slowly changed the individuals of Rushville till the complete neighborhood grew to become a machine-run imitation of itself, type of like season 4 of Westworld.
The most important piece of proof followers level to is the city’s bizarrely empty hospital, which is stocked with brand-new tools regardless of apparently having little or no use for it. In the best mild, that begins to look much less like a struggling rural hospital and extra like a facility constructed for one thing that doesn’t really need human medical care. It’s nearly actually the wildest idea on this listing, but when Lanterns actually desires to go cosmic horror with its Manhunter thriller, turning a whole rural American city right into a nest of synthetic beings can be one hell of a reveal.
1
Hal Jordan
There are literally two very other ways Hal Jordan might be related to the Manhunter thriller. The primary entails the present’s 2026 timeline, the place Hal is discovered lifeless with out his Energy Ring. Provided that Lanterns has already established that shapeshifting aliens can convincingly imitate people, some fans suspect the corpse on the finish of the very first episode isn’t Hal in any respect. It might be a Manhunter-created physique double planted particularly for John Stewart to find within the trendy timeline. The lacking ring solely amplifies the idea’s plausibility.
The second idea is much more sophisticated: Hal isn’t a Manhunter, however he’s what the Manhunters are literally after. Followers have seen that Hal’s routine consciousness backups mysteriously stopped in 2006, resulting in hypothesis that he has been slowly contaminated by Parallax, the bodily embodiment of worry. Beneath this idea, the Manhunters on Earth aren’t attempting to destroy humanity in any respect, however are trying to remove Hal earlier than no matter is inside him takes over.
That will make Hal the last word purple herring. He’s not the robotic in disguise, however probably the true antagonist of the sequence from the very begin.
Hi, I’m Rishab. I’m a passionate pc gamer and an avid video game content writer. I have been involved with video games for over 2 decades now, and even today, after playing an astronomical number of games over the years, I’m still eager for more. In my free time, you will find me enjoying a hot cup of coffee and playing my favorite relaxing fishing game, Dave the Diver.
