HBO’s Lanterns has spent its first season building a major alien villain named Antaan, only to resolve his story without ever showing who he really is. The show’s fifth episode, titled Lights Out, reveals that Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan) is the Manhunter all along, and confirms that Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor) was seduced by the Manhunter on his alien world. That seduction led to the destruction of his entire race, bringing him to Earth in search of vengeance against the Guardians.
Antaan was built to be much more than what he ended up being. He shares almost everything with a well-known DC villain named Atrocitus, the head of the Red Lantern Corps. That villain is an alien warlord from Sector 666, who was locked away on the planet Ysmault after trying to get back at the Guardians of Oa for their past wrongs. His rage shaped a red lantern that guided all his actions, and he was actually behind Abin Sur’s death, which finally made Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) become the next Green Lantern of Sector 2814.
The Similarities Between Antaan and Atrocitus
The resemblance between Antaan and Atrocitus has led many Lanterns viewers to speculate whether they are actually the same person, with one merely using a different name as a cover, much like the Manhunter pretends to be Zoe. Their life stories match almost point for point: both saw their home planets destroyed by the Manhunters, both set out to get even with the Guardians, and both came to accept becoming the alien version of a suicide bomber as the price of their vengeance.
The show did not reveal the truth about Antaan. Instead, Episode 5 settled his story, and his death lands with no force. It is difficult to avoid asking why he received so much attention if his ending leaves so little impression. True, his history gives weight to the danger of the Manhunter, but the payoff is so slight that perhaps the show would have been better off casting someone else entirely as Atrocitus.
Atrocitus Already Exists in the Comics
The likeness between Antaan and Atrocitus is notable enough to suggest that the Red Lantern leader served as an inspiration for the creators behind Green Lantern: The Animated Series — Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King. While Antaan does not directly copy Atrocitus, his presence is significant; he shows up often in the series, functioning as the villain whose desire for vengeance sets Hal Jordan on his travels across the stars.
It’s odd, though perhaps not at all surprising, that it was the animated series and not the high-profile HBO adaptation that got the story beats right for the last two Green Lantern adaptations to share so many of the same ones.
A Well-Made Show That Misses the Cosmos
Fans have found Lanterns both thrilling and demanding. It is gratifying to see Green Lantern, who became the subject of ridicule following the failed Ryan Reynolds-led film in 2011, finally treated with respect by people beyond the comic book crowd. The actors playing John Stewart — Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre’ among them — have been widely hailed as skillful, compelling renderings of their DC originals.
The Green Lantern film captures the space-operatic scale of GL lore better than Lanterns, which takes a grounded approach to its intergalactic hero. That absence is especially frustrating given how much HBO’s adaptation. Perhaps that is why Antaan’s version of the character was positioned to open the door to that very cosmic side — and yet that door was simply closed, with the character tossed aside instead.
It gets treated as either a subversion or a plot device, but it just ends up being irritating for anyone who wants to see real Green Lantern action. People can say whatever they want about Zack Snyder’s DCEU, but this series might have fit in a bit better there, given its more deconstructive approach to DC superheroes.
What the Demise Actually Changed
- The show never reveals the true form of the extraterrestrial terrorists closing in on the American heartland
- Antaan’s demise is anticlimactic and unmemorable
- The show’s creators chose to resolve the character rather than confirm his identity as Atrocitus
The Schedule
| Day | Time |
|---|---|
| Sunday | HBO and HBO Max |
Lanterns has been constructed with care, yet it falls short of what it could be. The gap is the distinction between a drama rooted in reality and an epic set among the stars, and the series has opted for the former while barely touching the latter. The creators possess every element required to make Green Lantern feel truly vast — they simply elected not to use them. That is the source of the letdown.
Three episodes remain, and we shall observe how Lanterns resolves itself — maybe there are still more space adventures to be had before the season ends.
See the video the story is built around at Collider.
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