The Canceled Green Lantern Show That Young Justice May Have Made Canon

“Young Justice” brings back not only the characters, but the team that made “Green Lantern,” with co-creators Jim Krieg and Giancarlo Volpe writing the episode, Christopher Berkeley directing, and Sam Liu also returning to storyboard the episode. Even Spisak returns to voice Razer, and it feels like no time has passed. He infuses the character with the weight of everything that happened in the original show and the years of disappointment over not being able to get a proper conclusion to his story.

While Kilowog and Tomar-Re are busy with the summit, Razer, who is now a Blue Lantern, has apparently lost all hope after failing over and over to find the character Aya over the years. Even if you haven’t seen “Green Lantern,” or haven’t rewatched it in the 9 years since it ended, the episode makes it easy to understand the emotional history of the characters, as well as the emotional stake when Razer embraces his rage again and returns to being a Red Lantern. 

After fighting the New God Metron and destroying half of New Genesis, Razer realizes the error in his ways and learns to hope once again, which is when the episode does the coolest possible thing — giving Razer his Blue Lantern while he’s still wearing his red ring. The result is a very cool magical girl-style transformation where Razer’s costume fuses and becomes half red and half blue, a cathartic moment of resolution to a decade-old story.

Does this mean the entire show is canon? Well, kind of. “Young Justice” co-creator Greg Weisman said the “Green Lantern” show is “adjacent” to the canon of “Young Justice,” much like “Catwoman: Hunted.” This means the writers can draw from that show whenever they want without being obligated to take it all and retroactively fit both timelines. Though it is not the perfect resolution fans may have hoped for, it is still a miraculous thing. When Razer says goodbye to Kilowog and sets out to search for Aya again, the scene has a much more hopeful tone, because “Young Justice” has done the impossible over and over, and it could do it again.

“Young Justice” is streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering on Thursdays.