Was Superman Nearly in the Green Lantern Film?
Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the Movie urban legends featured so far.
MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: Superman and/or Clark Kent were originally going to appear in the Green Lantern film.
Long before there was even an Avengers film, Marvel Studios films featured cameos in them of stars of their other films, most famously Samuel L. Jackson’s cameos, but also Robert Downey Jr. showing up in Incredible Hulk (in a scene that looks like it will finally pay off nearly a decade later in Captain America: Civil War):
Before Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, DC films, on the other hand, tended not to have much overlap.
However, was there nearly a Superman cameo in the 2011 Green Lantern film?
Read on to find out!
As it turned out, a Superman cameo WAS planned for the film, with him being a possible candidate for a Green Lantern ring. Marc Guggenheim, he of DC’s awesome TV series like Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, spoke to Rick Marshall at MTV early in the filming of the movie:
“Honestly, it changes on a daily basis. Whatever information I gave you today would be obsolete in a week, and maybe come back again in two weeks,” said Guggenheim. ” And even if it wasn’t in flux at the script stage, it would still be constantly in flux because you can film it, put it in the original cut, and eventually it could end up on the editing room floor.”
But then, a year later, he told Marshall again:
“Without trying very hard, you could probably find the leaked script on the internet,” he laughed. “[The Superman cameo] is in the leaked script. It survived several drafts. Ultimately, it was cut for budgetary reasons. We took it out in one of our later drafts. After my interview with you, of course.”
“The Clark Kent cameo is still near and dear to my heart. I really wanted it to be in the movie,” he added, only to joke, “You never know — it can still happen. If Tom Welling has a free hour or two, you never know.”
Awww, that’s too bad, that would have been fun. It’d be interesting to see who they would have cast (Welling or Routh). At least Guggenheim has the pleasure of having LOTS of DC characters appear on both Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. I bet he gets a real kick out of that. I know I do!
The legend is…
STATUS: True
Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com.
That would have been really cool! For all its flaws– and they are many– I admit that I enjoyed the Green Lantern movie overall. Even its most vociferous detractors would likely agree that Mark Strong was a fantastic Sinestro! It’s a shame that role will almost certainly be recast in the upcoming GL movies.