Lanterns Episode 4: 5 Best Easter Eggs, Ranked

Lanterns Episode 4, titled The Weenie, finally reveals the identity of the Manhunter hiding in Rushville. It’s Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan). It also has Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) finally teaming up for real before the reveal creates another rift between them. The episode also packs in some Easter eggs that echo the lore and the wider pop culture. 

They include a rodent Green Lantern (after Episode 2 referenced a planet-sized GL), a villain of the Corps, a homage to a famous Apple TV series, and the background of a lead character. The Easter eggs are ranked from bottom to top.

5 John’s Art School Background Nods to His Comic Book Career

When John was introduced in Green Lantern #87 (via DC Comics), he was a Detroit architect. Later, his military background was retconned thanks to the Justice League animated series. But his knowledge of architecture is why his constructs are so intricate and structurally detailed.

In Lanterns, he didn’t study architecture (that we know of), but he did go to an art school. And that does connect to the character’s long-established ability to create such complex constructs using his will. While Hal is instinctive and improvisational, John’s mind is trained to think in terms of design and precision.

4 Creepy White Room Slaughterhouse Channels Severance

At one point in the episode, while hunting for the Manhunter, the two Lanterns reach a slaughterhouse. The workers behave as though they were robots. Then they enter a squeaky-clean, almost sterile room. A cow is transported into the room through a portal and is then messily dissected by lasers. The scene is almost certainly an echo of Apple TV’s Severance. As they leave the room, John remarks casually, “That’s why I’m a vegan.”

3 Hector Hammond Is a Classic Green Lantern Villain

We are led to think a man called Hector Hammond, who the duo finds in the slaughterhouse, is the Manhunter. He starts a countdown that would blow up John’s parents’ house. But Hal calls his bluff and bullies him into stopping the countdown. Hector then admits that he is not the Manhunter. But Hector Hammond is actually a real GL villain. First appearing in 1961, he became known for his enormous brain (literally) that gives him super-intelligence and psychic abilities.

2 The Darkness Guns Echo a Green Lantern Weakness From Comics

Hal and John infiltrate Will Macon’s compound, and the militia uses weapons that fire darkness, completely shutting down Hal’s ring (that John is wearing) and preventing him from creating constructs.

The guns themselves are new to Lanterns, but the idea behind them has a comics connection. In 2008’s Green Lantern #25, Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver introduced the Black Lantern Corps. Their black rings wield an energy associated with the absence of color and light. Since black is outside the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum, Black Lantern energy can greatly weaken the powers of other Lantern rings.

1 Hal’s Squirrel Green Lantern Is Actually Ch’p

Hal at one point casually mentions that he even has a “f***ing squirrel” among his fellow Green Lanterns. That squirrel is almost certainly Ch’p. It’s the tiny alien Green Lantern from the planet H’lven. Created by Paul Kupperberg and Don Newton, Ch’p first appeared in Green Lantern #148 in 1982 and became one of the Corps’ most recognizable non-human members (via DC Comics).

Which Lanterns Episode 4 Easter egg did you catch first? Let us know your picks in the comments.