The trailer for Lanterns revealed one of the Green Lantern Corps’ most iconic (albeit silly) characters is DCU canon. The new teaser was met with mixed reactions from many fans, with a great deal of criticism for being a grounded detective series in the style of True Detective, rather than the cosmic epic of many famous Green Lantern comics. That said, the final line in the trailer not only hints at a fan-favorite DC character but also suggests that, despite the serious set dressing, the HBO series won’t be afraid to embrace the comics’ more fantastical elements. At the end of the Lanterns trailer, when John Stewart asks Hal Jordan if he’s ever spoken to the other Lanterns. Hal responds, “I’m the only human. They’re aliens. One of them’s a f***ing squirrel.” That squirrel in question is a reference to Ch’p, an alien whose species just happens to resemble Earth squirrels. Created by Paul Kupperberg and Don Newton, Ch’p debuted in Green Lantern #148 in January 1982. While he looks like a squirrel, he is actually a member of the H’lvenite species. Ch’p is a protector of Sector 1014 in the Green Lantern Corp, and is one of the most iconic members of the Green Lantern Corp. in the comics. The character has appeared in animation many times, including Green Lantern: First Flight, a non-speaking role in Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, and was reimagined as a human squirrel named Chip, who gains superpowers in DC League of Super-Pets, voiced by Diego Luna.

Ch’p from Green LanternsDC Comics

The reference to Ch’p in the Lanterns trailer feels like it is a setup for a joke later on in the series, one where Ch’p will appear. Despite the teaser trailer taking place primarily on Earth, the fact that Ulrich Thomsen will play the Green Lantern villain Sinestro does imply that there will be cosmic characters and locations in Lanterns, possibly in the form of flashbacks to Hal Jordan’s early days in the Green Lantern Corpa. In the comics, Ch’p was trained in the same class of Green Lanterns as Hal Jordan, so it would be a fun reveal that, despite mocking him to John Stewart, Ch’p might be one of Hal Jordan’s closest friends.

While the reference to Ch’p could be seen as Lanterns mocking the Green Lantern mythology like the infamous “yellow spandex line” from the first X-Men movie, it also suggests that, despite the toned-down color palette and aesthetics, the DC Studios series is not ashamed of the comic book source material as fans suspect. Ch’p’s inclusion would fit right at home in the DCU, which already features the superpowed dog Krypto and Eagly, revealed to be the mythical prime eagle. Even if Ch’p doesn’t become a major recurring character in the DCU, the reference to him in the Lanterns trailers continues a trend set by Creature Commandos, Superman, and Peacemaker of teasing a wider universe by name-dropping or teasing fan-favorite characters, even if they never actually appear.

Network

HBO

Showrunner

Chris Mundy

Directors

James Hawes