Green Lantern’s Plan To Beat The Justice League is Better Than Batman’s

Batman has pretty famously fought his coworkers in the Justice League on several occasions; it may come as a surprise that the famed tactician’s own League punching contingency plans are put to shame by no other than the cartoonishly reckless Green Lantern. From hallmark comic stories like Batman: Endgame or Tower of Babel to big screen adaptions, taking down DC’s premier superhero team has almost become second nature for Bruce Wayne. As a regular human, Batman somehow has to keep up with his teammates, and making him a supernaturally efficient strategist has been the go-to way to do that for a while now.

If Batman and his hallowed prep time is the brain behind the Justice League, then Hal Jordan is definitely one of its fists. When “No Fear” is a hero’s entire mantra, being brash is expected. Hal takes that to the extreme. Whether he’s flying headfirst into a horde of vicious Yellow Lanterns or punching the personification of fear in the face, Green Lantern is a “shoot first, ask questions later” kind of guy. Making a few key pages in Joe Kelly and Brent Anderson’s Green Lantern Legacy: The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan all the more surprising.

While Hal is without question one of the most reckless Green Lanterns, he’s got a pretty stellar plan in place for taking on the Justice League. The first items on his agenda are the psychic Martian Manhunter and “faster than thought” Flash. Both of whom are kept at arm and mind’s length through the constructs and psychic shielding from Hal’s power ring. Humorously, Batman himself is the next target, as Hal transports the “most dangerous” Leaguer off the playing field as soon as possible. Green Lantern has several more tricks up his verdant sleeves, such as using Flash as a weapon and tricking Superman into thinking he’s got Kryptonite.

Green Lantern’s plan is clever and also demonstrates a keen understanding of his teammates. From harnessing Flash’s innate reflex to just run faster when a fight gets hairy to Superman’s split-second reaction of fear at the sight of Kryptonite, it’s a strategy that could only be made after years of friendship and observation. He even made contingencies for fighting another Lantern, which shows a surprising amount of forethought on Hal’s part. That he quickly acknowledges that Batman is the biggest threat and acts accordingly is something that Bruce himself would agree with even as he was being blasted out of the way.

 As long as comic fandom exists, fans will always pick out one character who can solo the Justice League or the Avengers. Everyone has their favorite, and everyone has an innate need to see that favorite beat up their teammates. Frankly, Batman gets to beat up on other heroes all the time. So it’s nice to see another character get some of that friend-punching kind of attention. That it was a character as cool and versatile as Green Lantern this time around was just icing on the cake.

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