‘Lanterns’ Merchandise Reignites Speculation The Series Takes Inspiration From ‘Justice League: The New Frontier’
A seemingly extinct rumor is being dug up by Lanterns merchandising that could indicate Dino-Island is at “The Centre,” shall we say, of the show’s mystery.
The piece of merch in question is a green trucker hat with a Green Lantern ring emblem on the brow. There is one subtle difference to the usual Corps uniform, however: the Lantern symbol has a spiral of circles in the middle.
This variation, which might escape the untrained eye, was pointed out by a Redditor who was forced to take down his video. Nevertheless, the secret is out and the Internet is lighting up with speculation that these circles are a sign that The Centre will arise in the DCU.
“So, this is from the official DCU Lanterns show…” wrote @JoshDenofNerds on X. “A Redditor made a video pointing out that [it] might tease The Centre, and WB forced him to TAKE IT DOWN.”
That action could be a smoking gun, or it could be just another example of a studio being copyright-strike happy. Either way, it is suspicious when The Centre and the Darwyn Cooke story it is part of keeps coming up in the conversation.
The island of misfit mutant dinosaurs known as The Centre was the main threat in Justice League: The New Frontier, a Cold War-era, Elseworlds graphic novel that was turned into a DC Animated feature.
Very early on this year, and even before, James Gunn talked about an Avengers: Endgame-level event that would close his six-year plan for the DCU. Darkseid is presumably out of the question to fill the role of Thanos, and rumors of The Centre and a New Frontier adaptation persist.
Gunn ruled out the latter (for now), but that doesn’t mean we won’t see a version of the other somewhere, somehow. Any connection it had to Swamp Thing is probably out to pasture, yet Lanterns could still pull off a planetary threat most wouldn’t predict.
The Centre is a fitting rabbit for Gunn to pull out of a hat. Moreover, he stated in the past that Lanterns won’t be based on a specific ring-slinging adventure, and that he’s letting series co-executive producer Tom King tell the story how he wants.
The big question is, if The Centre is part of that story, are they building to something bigger with it, or using it for one throwaway arc, the way Gunn did with High Evolutionary and Ego?
