Superhero stories usually make the choice pretty easy: heroes protect innocent people, villains threaten them. However, ‘Lanterns’ appears to be having a little more fun with that formula. At the centre of the mystery is Zoe Macon, a supposed Manhunter whose existence initially makes her look like the obvious danger.
Yet the more Hal Jordan and John Stewart discover about her life in Rushville, the harder that conclusion becomes to defend.
The Guardians Have Some Explaining to Do
Zoe hasn’t spent years terrorizing the Nebraska community. Quite the opposite. She reportedly saved Macon’s life by curing his cancer, while the local hospital has become almost unnecessary because people in the town simply aren’t getting sick.
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That creates a fascinating contradiction. Why would an organization supposedly dedicated to protecting life want to eliminate someone who has spent years preserving it? This is where ‘Lanterns’ can tap into one of the most uncomfortable parts of Green Lantern mythology.
The Guardians of the Universe created the Manhunters as their robotic law-enforcement force. The experiment eventually went horribly wrong, with the Manhunters deciding that organic life itself was the problem. Their rebellion and massacre became one of the darkest stains on the Guardians’ history.
Now, centuries later, the Guardians appear ready to deal with another Manhunter by simply destroying it. That is what makes Guardian Lianna’s behavior particularly suspicious. Instead of calmly helping Hal and John understand what Zoe actually is, she manipulates John and pushes him toward taking action against his own mentor.
Suddenly, the question isn’t simply whether Zoe can be trusted. It’s whether the people demanding her destruction deserve to be trusted either.
John And Hal Could Be Forced To Pick A Side
The most interesting part of this story may be John’s growing independence. He isn’t blindly accepting everything the Guardians tell him, and Hal himself appears increasingly uncomfortable with the orders coming from Oa.
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That could turn ‘Lanterns’ into something bigger than a murder mystery. Zoe represents the possibility that an artificial being can develop empathy, while the supposedly enlightened Guardians risk repeating the mistakes that created the Manhunters in the first place.
And honestly, that is a much more interesting conflict than simply having another evil alien to punch. If the season ends with Hal and John questioning the institution they serve, ‘Lanterns’ could leave viewers wondering whether the Green Lantern Corps has been protecting the universe or protecting itself.
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