The Green Lantern power ring is one of the most powerful weapons in the DC Universe. It can fly across galaxies, translate alien languages, create constructs limited largely by the imagination of its bearer, and seek out individuals capable of overcoming great fear. But according to one of the writers behind HBO’s Lanterns, it’s also super sexist.
Vanessa Baden Kelly, who wrote the controversial third episode of Lanterns, “OutKast,” revealed during an interview with Collider that she repeatedly argued in the writers’ room that John Stewart’s mother, Bernadette, should have been selected as Green Lantern if the ring were not sexist.
“The thing that I would always say in the room is that if the ring wasn’t sexist, Bernadette would have been chosen, because she really is just the most fearless of everybody,” Kelly said.
It’s a remarkable statement that provides additional context for an episode already generating controversy among DC fans.
Lanterns Completely Rewrites John Stewart’s Origin
“OutKast” dramatically changes the traditional Green Lantern mythology surrounding both John Stewart and Hal Jordan.
The episode reveals that when Abin Sur’s ring arrived on Earth, it initially approached John Stewart Sr. before ultimately selecting Hal Jordan.
John Sr. is asked whether he is afraid. When he admits that he is, the ring moves on.
A Guardian later visits the Stewart family and tells Bernadette that whatever made her husband a potential candidate could also exist in their children. That revelation ultimately inspires John’s parents to spend years conditioning their son to overcome fear so that he can eventually become a Green Lantern.
John Stewart as Green Lantern – YouTube, Comics Explained
The methods are extreme.
John is subjected to frightening situations throughout his childhood, including his father shooting an apple positioned above his head, his parents leaving him in a dangerous neighborhood, and forcing him to find his own way home.
Bernadette also tells John that birds are secretly watching him for the Guardians and reporting whether he demonstrates fear.
Yet the episode simultaneously frames the Green Lantern selection process itself as fundamentally unfair.
“Do you understand how unfair it is to ask a Black man in America if he’s afraid?” Bernadette asks a Guardian.
She later argues that Hal Jordan was able to pass the test because “he’s been privileged enough in this life that he didn’t have to know fear.”
The Ring Is Apparently Sexist Now Too
Defenders of the episode have argued that Bernadette’s statements represent the perspective of a damaged and obsessive mother rather than the objective position of the series.
Kelly’s comments complicate that defense considerably.
The writer not only described Bernadette as “the most fearless of everybody,” but specifically said that she repeatedly characterized the ring as “sexist” for failing to select her.
Kelly also explained that the ability to overcome fear cannot be separated from a person’s circumstances.
Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan in the Lanterns trailer – YouTube @HBO
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“It’s not that they don’t have to be afraid; it’s that they have to have the ability to overcome fear, but that is a trauma thing,” she explained, using the example of someone repeatedly witnessing crime in their neighborhood having a fundamentally different relationship with fear than an outsider entering the same area.
That interpretation fundamentally changes the traditional concept behind Green Lantern.
The ring’s search for someone capable of overcoming great fear is no longer simply a test of courage and willpower. Lanterns instead appears interested in examining whether the test itself unfairly favors certain candidates based upon race, sex, and life experience.
And Bernadette is hardly being dismissed by the people responsible for the episode.
Jasmine Cephas Jones, who portrays Bernadette, described the character as “the superhero without the cape” and called the episode a “love letter to the unsung hero of the mother,” particularly Black mothers.
Lanterns Continues Putting Green Lantern Mythology Under the Microscope
There’s an obvious problem with describing a Green Lantern ring as sexist.
DC Comics has featured numerous female Green Lanterns over the decades, including Jessica Cruz, Jo Mullein, Arisia Rrab, Katma Tui, and others.
The entire premise of the Green Lantern Corps is that its members can be drawn from countless species across thousands of sectors throughout the universe. Yet Lanterns appears determined to reinterpret that mythology through the lens of institutional privilege.
Hal Jordan’s selection is questioned. The Guardians’ methods are questioned. The concept of overcoming fear is questioned. And now, apparently, even the Green Lantern ring itself needs to answer accusations of sexism.
The Green Lantern Corps working together – YouTube, Comics Explained
Kelly may have intended the remark as provocative shorthand for the writers’ room rather than establishing a literal canonical rule that Green Lantern rings discriminate against women.
But the comment nevertheless offers a revealing look at the creative thinking behind “OutKast.”
Lanterns is not merely telling the story of how John Stewart became a Green Lantern. It’s rewriting the system that chose Green Lanterns in the first place—and asking audiences to view one of DC Comics’ most iconic symbols of courage and willpower as another institution whose supposed biases need to be confronted.
Do you think the ring in Lanterns is sexist? Sound off and let us know!
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