Green Lantern: The Animated Series

Plot

The series focuses on the adventures of Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814, and his partner Kilowog. Jordan steals a space ship controlled by Aya (an AI) and travels to "Frontier Space" together with Kilowog. This is the edge of the Guardians of the Universe' territory, where Green Lanterns are being killed by Red Lanterns. Atrocitus, their leader, wants revenge for the destruction of his world by the Manhunters, created by the Guardians, but who were also shut down by the Guardians. During their adventure, the groups meets Red Lantern Razer. They take him as a prisoner, but eventually adopt him as a teammate after he helps them defeat Atrocitus. Razer also falls in love with Aya, but after Atrocitus is defeated and Razer rejects her, Aya decides to eliminate all life in the universe.

At the end of season one, Jordan discovers that Aya is born out of a living being and that she is alive. He tries to convince her to end her universal genocide, but fails. Razer gets severely injured when he tries to kill Aya, as she defends herself by firing a laser beam. Hal convinces Aya that what she is doing is wrong and she saves the universe and heals Razer, but in Aya's anger, she recreated the Manhunter army and downloaded a copy of herself into every single Manhunter. Aya launches a computer virus that destroys the Manhunters and herself.

Razer refuses to believe that Aya is dead because she was not a complete robot after all, but alive; and a living being cannot be destroyed by a computer virus. He starts a galaxy-spanning search, in the hope to find her somewhere in the universe. A Blue Lantern ring follows Razer, but if he will receive it is left ambiguous.

Characters

Main characters

Hal Jordan / Green Lantern (voiced by Josh Keaton) – The main protagonist, Hal Jordan is the first human to become a Green Lantern, and is considered one of the best. He is an almost fearless and skilled Lantern. He has a history of disobeying orders and disregarding rules to achieve success. His superiors see him as a loose cannon, but they are willing to overlook his transgressions due to his skill and accomplishments. At the start of the second half of Season 1, he was replaced by Guy Gardner as the Green Lantern of Earth, but was promoted to Honor Guard Corps for his victory over the Red Lanterns.

Kilowog (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) – A veteran Green Lantern, Kilowog is a close friend of Hal and is in charge of training new Green Lantern recruits. Kilowog accompanies Hal in Frontier Space. He is a member of the Honor Guard, and is less willing to abandon the rules of the Corps. Kilowog is often skeptical of Hal's actions, but he is completely loyal to Hal.

Razer (voiced by Jason Spisak) – A reformed Red Lantern who is original to the series. Razer was a follower of Atrocitus but began to question him, eventually turning against the other Red Lanterns after they placed a bomb on a colony planet. They forced Razer to activate it to prove his loyalty, subsequently destroying the planet. The guilt-ridden Razer sought out Hal and tried to provoke him into killing him as penance. Hal, however, took him prisoner. After Razer proved himself and discovered Kilowog managed to save most of the colonists, he is invited to join the team and make up for his past actions, now fueling his Red Power Ring with the rage he feels towards Atrocitus. Over the course of the series, Razer falls in love with Aya, who based her appearance on his dead wife Ilana. He confessed his love for her at the end of the episode "Loss", but took it back in the episode "Cold Fury", saying that he only felt love because she looked like Ilana, although the truthfulness of this is unclear. At the end of the episode "Dark Matter", Razer refuses to believe that Aya is truly gone and vows to scour the galaxy for as long as it takes to find her. As he flies off into space, a Blue Lantern ring appears and flies after him, implying that Razer, now filled with hope rather than rage, will become a Blue Lantern.

Aya (voiced by Grey DeLisle) – The Interceptor's AI, Aya was created by Scar as an empathetic alternative to the Manhunters. After being infused with a fragment of an entity inside the Green Lanterns' Central Battery, Aya developed sentience, leading her to transfer data without Scar's permission. Scar confronted Aya, wiped her memories, and installed her into the Interceptor. Throughout the series, Aya develops feelings for Razer. After Razer rejects her, Aya shuts down her emotions and assumes control of the Anti-Monitor and the Manhunters before traveling to the beginning of the universe in an attempt to eliminate all emotion. However, Aya was never able to completely seal off her emotions and regained her senses after wounding Razer. With the Manhunters still a threat and each possessing a copy of her coding, Aya releases a virus to wipe all versions of the Aya program from existence, including herself.

Guardians of the Universe

Ganthet (voiced by Ian Abercrombie)

Appa Ali Apsa (voiced by Brian George)

Sayd (voiced by Susan Blakeslee)

Scar (voiced by Sarah Douglas)

Green Lantern Corps

Mogo (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) – A sentient planet that imprisoned criminals on its surface for many years before becoming a Green Lantern.

Salaak (voiced by Tom Kenny) – A multi-armed Green Lantern senior administrator from Sector 1418.

Ch'p – A squirrel-like Green Lantern from Sector 1014.

Tomar-Re (voiced by Jeff Bennett) – A bird-like alien from Sector 2813 and a member of the Green Lantern Honor Guard.

Guy Gardner (voiced by Diedrich Bader) – Hal's replacement as the Sector Lantern of 2814 after Hal's victory over the Red Lantern Corps and promotion to the Corps Honor Guard. Quickly promoted to Honor Guard duty, Guy is placed in charge of the Corps during the Battle of Ranx, much to Hal's chagrin. He states that after being promoted, he was replaced by John Stewart as the Green Lantern of Earth.

Sinestro (voiced by Ron Perlman) – The Green Lantern of Sector 1417. Considered one of the greatest Green Lanterns (though unconventional in his tactics), he is Hal Jordan's idol and mentor. He has shown to be willing to kill enemies, in violation of Green Lantern protocols.

Chaselon (voiced by Tom Kenny) – A crystalline Green Lantern from Sector 1416.

Iolande (voiced by Tara Strong) – The queen of the planet Betrassus in Sector 1517. When Hal and Kilowog arrived on her planet to recruit its resident Green Lantern, Dulock, to fight the Red Lanterns, one of her generals attempted to force her hand in marriage, which Dulock openly challenged. When her brother Ragnar murdered Dulock to obtain his ring, it instead passed to Iolande, who resolved to remain her planet's queen and its protector.

Red Lantern Corps

Atrocitus (voiced by Jonathan Adams) – The leader of the Red Lantern Corps. Due to his planet's destruction, the power of the Red Ring and ruthless crusade of revenge against the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps, Atrocitus never found true happiness as he was willing to destroy other worlds no matter the cost.

Zilius Zox (voiced by Tom Kenny) – A sycophant who is almost never far from Atrocitus's side, constantly offering him praise. After Atrocitus is arrested, Zox becomes the new leader of the Red Lanterns.

Bleez (voiced by Grey DeLisle) – The only female Red Lantern depicted, Bleez comes from a winged race and prefers to rely on her own wings to fly rather than her red ring.

Veon (voiced by Jason Spisak) – A one-eyed Red Lantern who apparently possesses some measure of psychic ability.

Skallox (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) – A brutish Red Lantern with an ongoing rivalry with Kilowog, his physical equal.

Cleric Loran (voiced by Corey Burton) – A slug-like alien who was created for the series. Loran does not appear to possess a Power Ring, but maintains a chapel dedicated to Atrocitus on the Red Lantern's base.

Ragnar (voiced by Will Friedle) – Ragnar is a character who exists in the mainstream of DC Comics, but only becomes a Red Lantern in Green Lantern: The Animated Series. He was responsible for the death of his planet's resident Green Lantern, Dulock, in hopes that his ring would choose him. After failing to become a Green Lantern and seeing his sister Iolande chosen in his place, Ragnar's rage attracts a red power ring and makes him a Red Lantern.

Blue Lantern Corps

Saint Walker (voiced by Phil Morris) – The first Blue Lantern in the universe.

Brother Warth (voiced by Brian George) – An elephant-like alien and the second Blue Lantern.

Star Sapphires

Carol Ferris (voiced by Jennifer Hale) – Hal Jordan's love interest and vice president at Ferris Aircraft. In "...In Love and War", she becomes a Star Sapphire and learns Hal Jordan is a Green Lantern. In "New Guy", she breaks up with Hal after she realizes that his duties to the Green Lantern Corp complicated their relationship. In "Love Is a Battlefield", Carol is brought back to Zamaron, decides to keep her ring to honor Ghia'ta, and renews her relationship with Hal.

Queen Aga'po (voiced by Grey DeLisle) – The queen of Zamaron and leader of the Star Sapphires.

Ghia'ta (voiced by Jennifer Hale) – A Star Sapphire and Aga'po's niece. She thought love was just a way to help people become happy by bringing loved ones together, but she later learns the true meaning of love and teaches it to her people. In "Love is a Battlefield", she is killed defending Hal from Atrocitus. Aga'po tells Hal, Carol, Razer, and Kilowog that her niece did not die in vain, but to protect the true meaning of love and will be honored as the greatest Star Sapphire of Zamaron, with Carol saying they will remember Ghia'ta as a hero.

Galia (voiced by Vanessa Marshall) – A Star Sapphire of the same species as Kilowog.

Orange Lantern Corps

Larfleeze (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) – A greedy alien criminal and the sole member of the Orange Lantern Corps.

Glomulus – A construct of the Orange Light.

Machines

Anti-Monitor (voiced by Tom Kenny) – An enormous robot created by a renegade Guardian, the Anti-Monitor has an insatiable hunger and feeds on literally everything. After going rogue upon creation, his creator banished it to an alternate dimension, but this only caused that dimension to be fed on. Eventually, the Anti-Monitor returned to his own dimension, resurrected the Manhunters, and began wreaking havoc before Aya decapitates him and takes over his body.

Manhunters (voiced by Josh Keaton) - Emotionless robots created by the Guardians to serve as soldiers of the Green Lantern Corps, but they were mistakenly given imperfect programming which caused them to determine that since crime is caused by emotional responses despite there being good, all beings with emotions must be evil. They wiped out an entire sector before the Guardians stopped them, and the Red Lantern Corps was formed to avenge this genocide. The Manhunters were revived by the Anti-Monitor in the second half of the season. After Aya destroys the Anti-Monitor, she names herself the leader of the Manhunters and copies her data into them.

LANOS (voiced by Brian George) – An artificial intelligence who replaces Aya on the Interceptor after she is removed for dissection. He is known for an annoyingly cheerful personality and recklessness. LANOS sacrifices himself to save the others from Aya by ramming the Interceptor into her and sending them both through hyperspace.

Development

In early stages of production, the show was conceived as a "Bruce Timm-does-CG-project". Phil Kent, chairman and CEO of Time Warner's Turner Networks unit, originally announced that Green Lantern: The Animated Series would be a part of Cartoon Network's original programming. A preview of the show was featured at the 2010 New York Comic Con featuring test footage, characters/story description, and art work. Timm, who produced the entire DC Animated Universe, was attached as producer of the show. Timm was originally reluctant to use CG instead of traditional animation, but eventually came around. A total of 26 episodes were ordered for the first season. By the time of New York Comic Con, thirteen had already been planned, and five had already been recorded. The series was not intended to be an origin story, due to Warner Bros. already releasing a film based on the characters' origin. The series is the first television series by Timm and the first series featuring Green Lantern to be rendered using CG. Originally, Sinestro was not allowed to be used, but this was later overturned in 2013, and Sinestro finally did appear. The producers said that if the series was a hit, other Lanterns like Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner might be introduced.

Green Lantern: The Animated Series is an epic space adventure that has something for everyone, and we are delighted for fans to see it November 11 on Cartoon Network. We can't wait to show the world this fresh take on an iconic hero – one that represents not only the first Bruce Timm series to be produced in CG, but also the first time Green Lantern has been rendered in CG.

Cast

Main cast

Josh Keaton – Hal Jordan / Green Lantern, Manhunters

Grey DeLisle – Aya, Queen Aga'po, Lady Catherine, Amala Rev, Biara Rev, Bleez

Kevin Michael Richardson – Kilowog, Red Lantern Rings, Dulock, Mogo, Skallox

Jason Spisak – Razer, Veon

Additional voices

Jonathan Adams – Atrocitus

Ian Abercrombie – Ganthet

Diedrich Bader – Guy Gardner

Dee Bradley Baker – Larfleeze

Jeff Bennett – Tomar-Re, Duke Nigel Thorntonberry

Susanne Blakeslee – Sayd

Clancy Brown – General Zartok

Corey Burton – Cleric Loran, Leph

John DiMaggio – Kothak

Sarah Douglas – Scar

Robin Atkin Downes – Steam Lantern

Robert Englund – Myglom

Will Friedle – Ragnar

Brian George – Appa Ali Apsa, M'Ten, LANOS, Brother Warth

Jennifer Hale – Carol Ferris / Star Sapphire, Gi'ata

Tom Kenny – Zilius Zox, Salaak, Byth Rok, Anti-Monitor

Wayne Knight – Captain Goray

Juliet Landau – Drusa

Vanessa Marshall – Galia

Phil Morris – Saint Walker

Rob Paulsen – Goggan

Ron Perlman – Thaal Sinestro

Kurtwood Smith – Shyir Rev

Reception

Critical reception

Green Lantern: The Animated Series, since its first showing at the 2011 Comic Con, has received positive reviews. Chris Sims of ComicsAlliance commented that he'd never been a huge fan of Green Lantern, but rather of DC Animated Universe creator Bruce Timm, and when he heard that Timm was producing the series he began looking forward to it, saying that the one-hour premiere "does it right". Tony Guerrero of Comic Vine said it was "a good first episode and definitely worth checking out". Brian Lowry of Variety praised the animation style, saying that "Warner Bros. has gone full bore into the CGI dimension with a bold, sleek design that more than anything resembles The Incredibles".

Home media

The series was released on DVD in two volumes by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The first volume was released on August 28, 2012 and the second volume was released on June 25, 2013. The entire series was released in a Blu-ray set on March 14, 2014, from Warner Archive.

Other media

Comic books

A series of 15 numbered issues was published between 2011 and 2013. Its 32-paged debut comic, Green Lantern: The Animated Series #0 was released on November 30, 2011, written by Art Baltazar with art by Dario Brizuela. The first issue received mixed to positive reviews, with one reviewer giving a B+ stating it is "good kids material" and "a fun way to introduce new readers, especially younger readers, to the Green Lantern universe without having to worry about the violence level". The issue gathered a high sales debut, with an approximate 13,500 copies sold. A story from one of the issues was included in the DC Nation 2012 Free Comic Book Day comic. Similar with the DC Animated Universe where original characters like Harley Quinn, Renee Montoya and Livewire transitioned into the mainstream DC Universe, Razer and Aya were also integrated into the mainline continuity.

Green Lantern: The Animated Series (2013-01-09): Includes #0-5.

Green Lantern: The Animated Volume 2 (2014-01-08): Includes #6-11.

Green Lantern The Animated Series True Colors

Green Lantern The Animated Series Counterfeits

Green Lantern The Animated Series The Invisible Destroyer

Green Lantern The Animated Series Bounty Hunter (ISBN 978-1-4342-4835-0/EAN-5 90000)

Green Lantern The Animated Series Tattooed Man Trouble!

Green Lantern The Animated Series Trouble in the Arena! (ISBN 978-1-4342-4787-2/EAN-5 90000)

Green Lantern The Animated Series Hal Versus Atrocitus

Green Lantern The Animated Series Goldface Attacks!

In other media

The Justice League Action episode "Barehanded" introduced a variation of Aya, voiced again by Grey DeLisle. This version is Space Cabbie's navigational computer, before leaving him in search of Hal Jordan.

Razer appears in the Young Justice episode "Encounter Upon the Razor's Edge!", in which he is shown to be continuing his search for Aya and becomes a hybrid Red/Blue Lantern. Young Justice producer Greg Weisman stated that Green Lantern: The Animated Series is canon "adjacent" to Young Justice, meaning a similar but distinct version of events happened in both shows.

Aya and Razer as a Blue Lantern appear in Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, with Aya voiced by Jennifer Hale and Razer voiced again by Jason Spisak.

Licensed merchandise

DC Direct released two limited edition maquettes, to accompany the official release of Green Lantern: The Animated Series in spring 2012. The first maquette is Hal Jordan, sculpted by Paul Harding, and was released on March 7. The other, Atrocitus, is sculpted by Dave Cortez and was released on May 23. Mattel had plans to manufacture action figures based on the series in 2011, but none were produced.

Video games

A horizontal shooter starring Hal Jordan was released in 2015 at the Cartoon Network site.

Soundtrack

La-La Land Records, the record label behind the Batman: The Animated Series soundtracks, released the show's soundtrack on July 31, 2012. The label would later release a second volume of music from the series on July 2, 2013.