The Manhunters' comic history could hold the secret to Lanterns
DC's shapeshifting, genocidal robots create untold story potential for the HBO series.
As the Green Lanterns comic series, Lanterns, progresses, the mystery in Rushville, Nebraska, deepens, revealing a potentially dangerous secret: a Manhunter lives among them. Green Lantern rookie John Stewart, played by Aaron Pierre, is clueless about the significance of the name, as he hasn't been briefed on the subject. The enigmatic alien Antaan, portrayed by Paul Ben-Victor, casually drops the term and orders his followers to inject a memory of a "holocaust" caused by a Manhunter on Antaan's homeworld years ago.
This traumatic event aims to familiarize John and the audience with the Manhunter threat. The Manhunters, who predated the Green Lantern Corps, were synthetic peacekeeping androids created by the Guardians of the Universe, one of whom is likely played by Laura Linney on the show. They were able to assume any form, infiltrating societies undetected.
However, the Manhunters rebelled against their creators and carried out a multiplanetary massacre, wiping out a sector of space, as detailed in the Green Lantern story arc "Secret Origin." The Manhunters are linked to William Macon, played by Garret Dillahunt, a seemingly upstanding militia man installing alien detectors in Rushville.
It is possible that Macon received the Manhunter technology from a mysterious benefactor, a connection that could complicate the show's storyline. Antaan claims that survivors of the Manhunters' reign of terror infiltrated Earth, forming a death cult, using their shape-shifting abilities. This revelation, combined with the fact that Green Lantern Abin Sur apprehended a Manhunter responsible for the destruction of Antaan's planet and died in Nebraska, suggests that the Manhunter in question could be hiding in Rushville.
The implications of this revelation are significant, as the Manhunters' artificial intelligence allows them to assume any identity, potentially even that of someone close to John and Hal. The show's creators, Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King, may be drawing from various comic book sources, such as Paul Kirk and Mark Shaw, both of whom have been known as Manhunters, to add complexity to the plot.
As the stakes rise, John's 48-hour deadline to identify the rogue Manhunter intensifies the suspense and uncertainty in the series.
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