Superman VFX Supervisor Redeems Green Lantern After 2011 Movie’s ‘Taint’

The Superman VFX supervisor shares the challenges of redeeming Green Lantern for the DC Universe after Ryan Reynolds’ 2011 movie. One of the big Easter eggs and references in the Superman movie was the introduction of the Green Lantern mythology, through the character of Guy Gardner, played by Nathan Fillion.

The introduction of Guy Gardner marks the first time since 2011 that one of the main Green Lanterns has been featured on the big screen, following the 2011 film with Reynolds as Hal Jordan. As Reynolds’ Green Lantern movie became one of the worst-received superhero films of all time, there were a lot of stakes in bringing the Emerald Knights into the DCU.

ScreenRant’s own Joe Deckelmeier recently interviewed Wētā’s Guy Williams, the VFX supervisor on Superman, with Green Lantern being one of the topics discussed during the interview. When asked about visualizing Green Lantern’s power set, Williams, who is a huge Fillion fan, admitted that the 2011 movie was something that he was trying to surpass:

Guy Williams: So, I’m a huge Nathan Fillion fan. Firefly is, I think, one of the best TV shows that was never properly appreciated. And his performance, as well as the rest of the cast, made that amazing.

So, when I first read the script, I was like, “Oh, Green Lantern.” You start thinking back to Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern, [and] no shade on Ryan, but that’s just not the best movie. You let that taint your brain. You’re like, “Oh, this is not going to be that good.” Then, you find out Nathan’s playing it. You’re like, “I love Nathan, but how is this going to work?”

Then, you find out the Green Lantern that they’re doing is Guy Gardner. I’m not as versed in comics as I should be, but my friend, who’s one of the supervisors on the show with me, was like, “Oh, no, this is perfect.” He’s like, “Guy Gardner is an a**hole. It’s the whole point of the character.”

It’s like you could feel the blocks starting to stack into place perfectly, and the puzzle just makes sense. And then it just comes down to us, [like], “Got to make it real. Got to make it Green Lantern. Can’t make it hokey.”

We replaced his body most of the time when he’s flying. Even though they did really good wire work, it still looks like a guy sitting in a harness. [It’s] a little bit awkward in the crotch area, so it’s easier just to replace.

But for the powers … the comic book description is, he takes the Green Lanterns’ light, and it’s light that turns into solid light, which doesn’t make sense. But comics don’t often have to justify their words. So, we knew that we wanted to look like light. We played around with it flowing like water, but still looking like light. We used lots of lens flare kind of stuff–like, when it first comes out of the ring, it’s more of an animated lens flare.

But then, when it creates the construct, we wanted to be really certain that you felt the construct was in camera, for lack of a better way to put it. This is the biggest challenge. Creating the magic [is] trivial. Creating something that’s magical that feels like it was there on set with you, and you can touch it, is a much bigger step.

So, we were like, “It wants to look like backlit jade or green glass, right?” We started playing around with all these materials, and you put just enough magic in it that it doesn’t just look like he [has] a green piece of glass in front of him. You ground it every chance you get; all the lighting is 100% accurate.

Another thing we did, since it’s an emissive surface and since we’re replacing Guy Gardner’s body, [is that] we’re actually reflecting green light back onto Guy so that you get a sense he’s holding the green-lit thing in front of them. It’s all [that] subtle attention to detail that you’re doing to try to say, “Yes, it’s green light turned solid, but it’s also not going to take you out of the movie as the one effect that was bulls***.”

Following the Superman ending, Fillion’s Guy Gardner is set to return in Peacemaker season 2, which premieres on August 21 on HBO Max. However, Fillion’s DCU hero will also be back in the upcoming DCU TV show, Lanterns, which is set to premiere on HBO in 2026.

It’s perfectly understandable that it was overwhelming to have to tackle Green Lantern after the reception of the 2011 movie, with the effects being one of the elements heavily criticized in Reynolds’ DC movie. Following the poor box office and critical reception for Reynolds’ movie, the DCEU movie timeline didn’t have the main Green Lanterns part of the franchise at all.

That is why it’s incredibly exciting to see that James Gunn and DC Studios are giving the Green Lantern mythology a big focus already in the DCU franchise, to make up for their absence in the DCEU era. Superman was a solid example of how to get Green Lantern’s power set correct, especially by not having the costume just be CGI like Reynolds’ suit in 2011.

After hearing Williams’ story about adapting Green Lantern’s powers for Superman, it’s clear that his hard work has paid off, as many were behind how the visuals looked for the Emerald Knight. That is why it will also be exciting to see how they go further with the Green Lantern lore in future DCU projects.

With several plans for the Green Lantern Corps in the DCU after the Superman post-credits scenes, there will be a lot to look forward to with both Guy Gardner, Hal Jordan, and John Stewart across film and TV. Hopefully, after his debut in Superman, fans will get a glimpse of Fillion’s return in Lanterns for 2026.

Superman

9/10

Release Date

July 11, 2025

Runtime

130 minutes

Producers

Peter Safran