Curious about whether race played a role in the Green Lantern ring choosing Hal Jordan over John Stewart Sr. in Lanterns? Episode 3, “OutKast,” pulls back the curtain on this debate with a layered origin story. The ring rejected John Sr. after he admitted fear, and Hal Jordan passed the same test. However, Bernadette Stewart argues the Guardians failed to account for how race shapes fear in America.
Here is whether Hal Jordan became Green Lantern because he is white, covering the ring’s true criteria and the Stewart family’s perspective.
Did Hal Jordan become Green Lantern because he was white?
Lanterns Episode 3, “OutKast,” reveals why the Green Lantern ring chose Hal Jordan over John Stewart Sr. Some DCU fans claim race influenced the ring’s decision in the DC Studios series.
The episode confirms John Stewart Sr. first encountered the ring in 1986 as a candidate. The ring lifted him in a green construct before infant John and asked one question. John Sr. admitted he was afraid, and the ring rejected him for that answer. Hal Jordan then passed the same test by not admitting fear, earning the Green Lantern mantle.
Race does factor into the broader narrative surrounding the ring’s selection process, though. Hal Jordan did not grow up with the same fears John Stewart Sr. faced as a Black man. Bernadette Stewart confronted a Guardian about this disparity during the episode.
She argued the Guardians do not understand how race shapes a life lived with fear. The Guardian’s response confirmed they do not truly grasp terrestrial racial dynamics. The series portrays the Guardians as cosmically detached beings throughout the DCU’s larger mythology.
The rejection deeply affected John Stewart Sr., who grieved the missed opportunity to become a hero. His parents then imposed an extreme “fearless” upbringing on young John Stewart Jr. as a result. John’s brothers pointed out that their parents raised him “more White” than his siblings. They wanted to shield John from the same fears his father associated with being Black in America.
Bernadette carried a bias against Hal because getting the ring devastated John Sr. emotionally and psychologically. She pushed for harsher training to ensure the Guardians would deem John Jr. worthy someday. This decision stemmed from John Sr.’s rejection and his parents’ own lived experience entirely. The ring’s actual criteria never included race as a determining factor in choosing Earth’s Green Lantern.
