David Corenswet's Superman Replacement Officially Revealed

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for HBO’s Lanterns episode 3.The DC Universe has a new biggest hero, as the franchise’s latest release just showed the world who could be taking over for Superman. While the DCU Chapter One started with the animated Creature Commandos series, its first major project, and movie, was James Gunn’s Superman. The film introduced David Corenswet’s Superman, positioning him to serve as the franchise’s main hero.

In Superman, Corenswet’s Clark Kent showed off his might through quite a few displays of power. One of those included resisting an anti-proton river and then saving himself, Krypto, Metamorpho, and Baby Joey from the strong pull of a black hole. As such, not only is Superman one of DC’s biggest characters, but his DCU version debuted with a bang.

That said, there will be many canon characters in the DCU, including several powerful and complex players from the pages of DC Comics. To outshine Superman as the franchise’s greatest hero does not mean that said character has to be more powerful than the Man of Steel. It can all come down to a matter of what it means for them to be a hero and how they take on that responsibility.

To that end, HBO’s live-action Green Lantern series, Lanterns, just released episode 3. After two hours that were mostly focused on the present-day Lanterns storyline, the show took a turn in another direction. Lanterns has just explored exactly what makes one of its main characters tick, and he has come out the other end bigger than ever.

Lanterns Confirms John Stewart’s DCU Origin Story

Lanterns episode 3 is all about why John Stewart became a Green Lantern. Aaron Pierre’s version of the character goes to an interview to know whether he will be picked as the new Green Lantern by the Guardians of the Universe, one of whom is played by Ozark‘s Laura Linney. In the past, HBO’s Lanterns goes in depth into what it took for John Stewart to be in that position. Earlier episodes of Lanterns had teased that Stewart was trained by his father to become a Green Lantern since he was a kid, with extreme methods that included shooting apples off his head.

In Lanterns episode 3, it is revealed that Stewart’s father was considered to be a Green Lantern before Hal Jordan was chosen on the same night. When asked whether he was afraid, he faltered, which Hal never did, and that moment altered the course of his life. Upon meeting Linney’s alien character, John’s mother believes her husband, with both deciding to raise John to be fearless and make him the perfect Green Lantern. We also see John as a sniper for the Marines and going to school. Based on that, Lanterns gives a pretty complete look at John’s origins.

Why Aaron Pierre’s Green Lantern Has Replaced David Corenswet’s Superman As The DCU’s Biggest Hero

Corenswet’s Superman is more powerful than Pierre’s Green Lantern, especially since he has yet to master all that the ring can do, or even get his own. However, Lanterns is setting up the character to be the new biggest hero in the DCU in one simple way. Superman was not raised by the Kents to be a soldier or a superhero, he progressed naturally. When we catch up with him in 2025’s Superman movie, the Man of Steel had been active for three years. That goes directly against what we now know was the case for John Stewart’s upbringing.

Lanterns episode 3 makes it clear that John’s entire life was tailored so that he would be fearless and become a Green Lantern, fixing his father’s mistake. He even learned about that nearly-impossible goal when he was just five years old. When John finally gets to explore his creative side in college, he is not even initially happy at that, as he feels like a failure because of how his time with the Marines ended.

As such, we now have one of the most powerful superheroes in the DCU, given the potential of the Green Lantern ring, who is incredibly creative, a perfect fit for the energy constructs, and was trained since he was a child to excel and be the best hero of all. Given that Corenswet’s Superman had a completely different upbringing, Lanterns sets up John Stewart to be the most prepared and one of the most powerful DCU heroes, taking away Clark Kent’s spotlight for now.