Dwayne Johnson Adds Fuel To The Green Lantern Fire

By David Wharton | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

GLIf you’ve been anywhere near one of the series of tubes that make up the Internet recently, you’re probably aware that Warner Bros. and DC have been trying to chase Marvel’s coattails and establish their own interlinked cinematic universe. Man of Steel was the first step, and the next will be the movie alternately referred to as Man of Steel 2 or Superman vs. Batman. In addition to Ben Affleck as Batman, that movie is set to introduce Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, and possibly characters like the Flash and Green Lantern, as a prelude to a Justice League movie in the vein of Marvel’s massive Avengers team up. Last month rumors broke that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson might be slipping on a power ring as Green Lantern — specifically the John Stewart incarnation. Now IGN points to an Instagram post from Johnson that may add fuel to the (green) flame.

Johnson had recently revealed that he had been meeting with DC about some sort of project, although that tweet didn’t provide any real clues. It simply said:

Obviously there are tons of projects or characters Johnson could be talking about playing for DC and Warner Bros., and in fact we know he was at one point trying to get a Lobo movie put together, based on DC’s cigar-chewing alien bounty hunter badass. He’s also been rumored for the role of Black Adam (Captain Marvel/Shazam’s villainous counterpart). Johnson’s certainly got the physique to play a ring-slinging galactic super-cop, not to mention good acting chops and a natural charm. Honestly, the fact that he hasn’t been cast as a superhero yet is kind of surprising.

Then IGN spotted an Instagram post from Johnson, which went up a few months back. In among a post about a producer friend of his, Johnson included the hashtag #JohnStewartCanStillWhupSupermansAss. Now, that could very well just be Johnson playing up the rumors for entertainment’s sake, but those rumors haven’t only been coming from Johnson’s social media presence; ThinkMcFlyThink’s Peter Georgiou suggested that buzz was making its way around Hollywood circles in general.

For Johnson’s sake, he soon responded to IGN’s GL post with the following:

So, is Johnson playing coy about a real possibility or just egging us on? For my part, I think Johnson would do just fine as a superhero of some sort, although I’ve never envisioned Stewart quite as bulky as the Rock. But with Henry Cavill as Superman, the controversial casting of Affleck as Batman and Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, and the much lesser-known Gadot as WW, it would make sense for Warners to throw a proven box-office draw like Johnson into the mix. He’s earned a reputation as a guy who can save floundering franchises, so maybe he’ll help DC establish a new one.