Is Lanterns Setting Up A Tragic On-Again/Off-Again Green Lantern Villain?
Unfortunately for the both of them, the romance between Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris is violently complicated.
Six episodes into the season so far, HBO Max’s Lanterns has consistently threaded the needle between paying homage to the Green Lantern mythos of the comics while also remixing certain elements to provide an original take for James Gunn’s new DCU. For every reference to Mogo the Living Planet or every hint at the complicated relationship between Hal Jordan and Sinestro, they’ve balanced it out with a new depiction of John Stewart’s home-life or a deep dive into the backstory of a wholly original character.
Naturally some die-hard comic book fans are upset at the changes, but it has been interesting to see the show’s writing team weave 60-plus years of comic book history into a new narrative for a new cinematic universe. The most recent episode of the show featured a cameo from Carol Ferris, Hal’s longtime love-interest in the comics, who briefly stops by Hal’s funeral to drop off his eulogy. While the scene hints at the romantic history between the two, it’s highly unlikely we’ll get to see the full context of their relationship play out on-screen — because Carol Ferris has done a surprising amount more in the source material than just being a love interest.
Who is Carol Ferris?
While it’s obvious that Hal Jordan and Kerry have feelings for each other, Carol Ferris will always be his first flame.
Debuting in Showcase #22 (created by John Broome and Gil Kane), the same comic that introduced the world to Hal Jordan and the new sci-fi direction for the Green Lantern Corps, Carol Ferris spent the first three years of her existence as a comic book character being set up as a traditional superhero love interest. The daughter of Carl and Christine Ferris, Carol was the vice president of her father’s company, Ferris Air, and initially hired Hal Jordan as a test pilot before slowly starting to develop feelings for him. For quite a while Carol and Hal had a complicated will they/won’t they relationship due to two reasons: her ignorance of Hal’s secret identity as the Green Lantern (who she was also in love with), and her refusal to date one of her employees.
In 1962, one of the most important aspects of Carol’s character would be introduced: her persona as the villainous Star Sapphire. In Green Lantern vol. 2 #16, Carol was selected (much like Hal) to become the queen of the Zamarons, a race of immortal alien warriors; unfortunately for them, Carol refused to leave Earth due to her love for the Emerald Knight. Undeterred by this, the Zamarons kidnapped Carol and brainwashed her using a superpowered gem that transformed her into the Star Sapphire, essentially a second personality empowered with abilities similar to the Green Lantern’s own.
Could Star Sapphire Appear in the DCU?
Carol has struggled with the villainous persona forced upon her by the Zamarons for almost as long as she’s existed as a character.
After her initial defeat the Zamarons decided that Carol was unworthy of the mantle of queen, but inadvertently left behind the gem and subconscious remnants of her power. Naturally, this paved the way for Star Sapphire to return again and again. There have been several periods of time in which Carol has seemingly been cured of the persona; one of these involved the development of a separate third personality, a masculine entity known as Predator (eventually revealed in a much later retcon to be the volatile avatar of love from which the Zamarons draw their power) who became separated from Carol’s body and faced off against the Green Lantern for her affection. After Predator’s defeat, he re-merged with Carol, a process that once again awakened the dormant Star Sapphire within her and turned her into a more ruthless villain than she’d ever been before, evidenced by her murder of John Stewart’s lover and Green Lantern Corps member Katma Tui.
The Star Sapphire persona was once again purged from Carol by Hal Jordan (during a period of time where Jordan was forced to be the literal Angel of Vengeance known as The Specter to atone for his villainous actions as Sinestro), and it remained dormant for decades until Geoff Johns began his legendary Green Lantern comic book run in 2004. Not only did Johns bring back Hal Jordan to the Corps but he also introduced the concept of the Star Sapphire Corps — instead of being brainwashed and empowered by a magic gem, the Zamarons created their own Central Power Battery and rings, one of which sought out Carol Ferris. This time though her Star Sapphire persona was far less villainous and functioned as something of a circumstantial ally to the Green Lanterns, who she aided in the DC Comics crossover event known as the Blackest Night.
The massive 2008 crossover event even briefly saw Wonder Woman become a member of the Star Sapphires to fight off the zombified Black Lantern Corps.
The version of Carol we’re introduced to in Lanterns, played by Amie MacKenzie, is aged up to match Kyle Chandler’s depiction of a grizzled Hal Jordan. While it’s unlikely, it’s possible that a future Green Lantern appearance could explain that Carol did actually become the Star Sapphire during Hal’s decades long service in the Corps, which might even explain the estranged relationship they’re implied to have in the show. Regardless, Carol’s short appearance in the show is a tip of the hat to one of the most complicated love stories in DC Comics, and indicates that some of Hal Jordan’s greatest adventures might have still taken place, just before the events of the show pick up.
