In the comics, Green Lantern has always been about will power.
At Comic-con on Saturday morning, in a packed-to-capacity Hall H, Warner Bros’ Green Lantern the movie was all about the star power.
Ryan Reynolds gave the cheering thousands just that.
Coming onstage to the panel, Reynolds, no stranger to the hero complex from his role as Deadpool in 2009’s “Wolverine” – not to mention his marriage to “Iron Man 2’s” Scarlett Johansson – immediately got the crowd in a frenzy by telling them how much he liked playing Hal Jordon.
“You get to throw a punch, tell a joke and kiss a girl,” Reynolds laughed, “maybe for two or three more movies.”
The brief footage shown from the sci-fi superhero adventure, which still has three weeks of shooting to go in New Orleans, barely showed Reynolds in the now-famed suit, but inched out the Lantern origin story and a very deftly handled fight scene. To applause, director Martin Campbell promised that the final product would give them a lot of the costume and the power of the mighty ring … a ring that Reynolds handed out to one lucky fan.
Reynolds told the audience that, as both fighter pilot Hal Jordan and as Green Lantern, he turned to the work of Harrison Ford, among others, for a sense of how to playing an iconic hero.
"Gossip Girl’s" Blake Lively, an admittedly seasoned Comic-con goer, charmed the fanboys and girls
with her take on Carol Ferris, the Lantern’s lover and, at Ferris Aircraft, Hal Jordan’s boss.
“She’s a strong woman, which is unusual in these type of movies,” Lively said.
A fan fave from roles in flicks like “Kick-Ass,” which was the subject of more than one tongue firmly planted in cheek question, Mark Strong inject a bit of Brit into the proceedings. The actor also told the crowd that the story, especially where his character Sinestro goes from Hal Jordon’s mentor to nemesis, was what really attracted him to the evolving role. Reynolds himself said pretty much the same thing, discussing the shift Hal Jordon makes from “being a cocky guy” to a “full fledged Green Lantern.”
Crowd questions of a possible Justice League movie, staring the ringer Guardian as well as Batman and Superman, got the Hall even more highly pumped. “The success of Green Lantern, DC Creative head Geoff Johns said, “will lead the charge for everything DC Comics does.”
Among this crowd, which burst into screams of joy when Ryan Reynolds recited the Green Lantern oath, that’s a battle cry they are certain to get behind.
