Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the first three episodes of DC's Lanterns.
As with any good mystery show, Lanterns begins with an unexplained and shocking death. For years, superhero fans have accompanied Hal Jordan through countless adventures across comic books, animated TV shows, and even one underwhelming live-action movie. However, the character's time in the DC Universe has come to an end, as the first episode of the HBO show ended with Hal's lifeless body sitting on a bench, and with a bullet wound in his head.
Currently, we don't know what happened to Earth's first Green Lantern or why he met such a grim fate. Even John Stewart and Kerry Kane seem to be confused by the true nature of this tragic event. Unfortunately, Lanterns has refused to acknowledge the hero's death ever since, leaving fans to wonder who could've pulled the trigger in the first place. However, a new theory has surfaced thanks to the third episode of the show.
Lanterns episode 3 suggests John Stewart may be responsible for Hal's death
It's always the one you suspect least.
I'll be the first to admit the chances of John actually killing Hal are insanely low. However, the show just revealed that he had plenty of reasons to do so. Before the Green Lantern ring chose Hal to become Earth's protector, it flew across the planet and considered other potential candidates, one of whom was John Stewart Sr.
Whenever the ring presents itself to someone, it always asks the same question: "Are you afraid?" and if the person happens to answer with a clear and astounding "no," they become the next Green Lantern. Unfortunately, John was scared, which meant he wasn't selected, and Hal Jordan eventually took the spot. From that very moment, the Stewart family was anything but normal.
John Stewart Sr. was deeply traumatized by this close encounter of the third kind, and nobody believed his story. Worse yet, he started to resent Hal Jordan to the point where he shot the TV with a gun the moment the Green Lantern appeared on his screen. John's wife, Bernadette Stewart, was ready to leave him. But before that happened, Bernadette came across a Guardian—one of the creators of the Green Lantern rings.
The Guardian told Bernadette the truth, and then implied that John Stewart Jr. could grow to become a Green Lantern, especially since he would inherit the genetic material of his father, who was considered a potential candidate by the ring. From that very moment, it became Bernadette and John Stewart Sr.'s personal mission to raise their child to be fearless and disciplined, in the hopes that he could grow up to become the next Green Lantern.
This completely changed the course of John's life: he was treated differently from his siblings, he had to sleep in a different room, he never went to school, and sometimes his father put an apple on top of his head and shot it with a rifle to teach him to be calm. John Stewart Jr. was even left in dangerous parts of town and had to return home all on his own. He lost his entire childhood, just because of his father and mother's resentment toward Hal Jordan.
At the very least, John had a very clear life goal: to become the next Green Lantern. He joined the Marine Corps, trained hard, and was about to execute a mission that could've pushed his career forward. Unfortunately, everything went sideways the moment Hal Jordan intervened and completed the objective by himself in a not-so-discreet manner. Someone had to take the blame for the chaos caused by Hal, and John happened to be that person.
In a single moment, everything John was working toward crumbled beneath his feet, and it was all due to one man: the Green Lantern. Fortunately, the Guardians kept their word and interviewed John to replace Hal and become Earth's next protector. But while most parties agreed to this deal, Hal didn't, and explicitly told his successor that if he wanted the ring, he would need to take it from his corpse.
To make matters more complicated, Hal was always very cold, and sometimes even abusive toward John. Lanterns is trying to establish Stewart as a potential culprit behind the Green Lantern's death, but will that actually happen? Well, it's unlikely, especially considering how John shed a tear when he saw Hal's corpse. Still, it is one of the dozen possibilities in this mystery show, and we can't wait to discover what the true answer is.
New episodes of Lanterns drop every Sunday on HBO Max.
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