Credit: Inside the MagicJosh Brolin, the Marvel legend behind the Mad Titan Thanos, has reportedly shot down an offer to star in a major new series in the James Gunn DC Universe.
While Josh Brolin may not have quite the name and face recognition of Marvel Cinematic Universe stars like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, you can’t argue that he’s not one of the most pivotal actors in the franchise to date.
The MCU has always gotten a bad rap for being unable to consistently provide nuanced, interesting villains; for every Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), you’ve got an instantly forgotten Dark Elf king or whoever the demon thing in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) ended up being.
It makes it all the more impressive that Josh Brolin essentially carried the MCU forward through his layered, complex portrayal of Thanos, the alien warlord who was so convinced of the rightness of his need to bring ecological balance to the universe that he completely forgot that the Infinity Stones could just make infinite resources.
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Considering Brolin had to play the entire role in purple motion capture, he did an undeniably great job in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and a whole bunch of other appearances.
Apparently, Josh Brolin likes playing a complicated purple bad guy and is less interested in a green space cop. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor has turned down the lead role of Hal Jordan in the upcoming HBO series Lanterns.
Despite his previous connection to Guardians director and current DC Studios creative chief James Gunn, it seems that Brolin turned down the job within days of receiving an offer.
Lanterns is one of the many post-Zack Snyder projects currently in the works at Warner Bros. Discovery, which is looking to rebuild its challenge to Marvel after the collapse of the DC Extended Universe with the help of James Gunn.
The eight-episode series has already landed showrunner Chris Mundy, who is best known for the Netflix series Ozark. Mundy will co-write with Damon Lindelof, who previously created the HBO spinoff series Watchmen, and Eisner Award-winning comics author Tom King, who is particularly acclaimed for his work on the Vision series.
The lattermost series is reportedly a key inspiration for the upcoming Paul Bettany WandaVision spinoff at Marvel Studios.
Apparently, the Lanterns series will have a “gritty” crime procedural tone while still also involving intergalactic space cops armed with rings that give them the ability to harness the power of their imaginations into unfathomable power. Apparently, HBO is desperate to get that True Detective buzz back, no matter what IP it has to drag into it.
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It has been rumored that the Hal Jordan role that Josh Brolin turned down has also been offered to Matthew McConaughey, who is himself an alumnus of the HBO True Detective franchise.
Hal Jordan is the most famous character in DC Comics to bear the name of Green Lantern and has been previously portrayed by Brolin’s former Deadpool co-star, Ryan Reynolds. Perhaps someday Reynolds will figure out a way to mention that he doesn’t think that movie was very good in one of his new films.
Lanterns will reportedly involve Hal Jordan mentoring John Stewart, another iconic DC Comics Green Lantern, as they jointly investigate a murder on Earth, despite them having the entire 2814 sector to protect. Filming is expected to begin in January, but not with Brolin.
Who do you think should play Hal Jordan and/or John Stewart?