The sixth instalment of DC’s Tomorrowverse is titled “Green Lantern: Beware My Power.” These are independent films produced mostly by Warner Bros Animation under the DC Universe Original Movies banner. The film, which was written and directed by John Semper, shines the long-awaited spotlight on John Stewart’s persona.
The film is a part of the same universe as “Superman: Man of Tomorrow,” which debuted in 2020. One of the most well-known heroes in the DC universe is John Stewart, a Green Lantern. He played important roles in the Justice League animated series, so seeing him take centre stage in the film is a treat.
Dennis O’Neil and Neil Adams invented the persona of John Stewart, who initially appeared in Green Lantern issue 87 from 1972. The film vividly depicts John Stewart’s beginnings and his transformation into a Green Lantern. Without further ado, let us get started with the explanation of the movie’s ending in today’s video.
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A SOLDIER, LANTERN & HERO – GREEN LANTERN: BEWARE MY POWER (2022)
The story begins with marine sniper John Stewart, who had been recently discharged from his duties. John has post-traumatic stress disorder, especially after his last mission in Afghanistan, where he survived by a very small margin. He is engrossed in his trauma, as we see his fight in Afghanistan in a flashback, and gets triggered when a man asks him to step aside from the lane. Things are rough, and John finds it extremely difficult to get back to a normal life. That night he finds a crashed alien spaceship near his residence.
He quickly approaches the spaceship and finds a small blue injured alien coming out of it. It is a Guardian named Ganthet, who perishes repeating the phrase ‘you must’ to John. As the Guardian disappears, a ring leaves the Guardian and places itself on John’s finger. John, perplexed, tries to take it off, but the ring talks to him, giving him a Green Lantern corps uniform. John talks back, and the ring informs him that he has a few missions left before he can go to Oa: Halting five genocides in the sector and stopping the Bgztlian (Balition) war.
John gets frustrated and, out of rage, creates a huge hammer and slams it onto the ground. He finally calms down and asks the ring if there is anyone who could explain what is happening. The ring responds with a yes and takes him to the Justice League watchtower where Martian Manhunter, Vixen and the Green Arrow are discussing an intergalactic disturbance that has been spreading of late. John passes the watchtower’s security with ease as he is now a Green Lantern, but when Martian Manhunter spots him and sounds alarm, the other two members attack him.
John dodges a few blows from Vixen and blocks Green Arrow’s attacks. Martian Manhunter then wraps him up using his shapeshifting abilities, but John creates the sword construct and is just about to cut through Martian Manhunter when Green Arrow stops him. The four finally talk in peace, and John asks them how to get the ring off. The ring reveals that before John, it belonged to Hal Jordan, which implies that Hal was either dead or in trouble. Oliver, being Hal’s closest friend, volunteers to visit the Guardians and inquire about Hal.
Despite his dislike, John joins him on the quest as he needs to know how to get the ring off. John takes him to the crashed spaceship, and being a noob with the Green Lantern’s power, makes a rough landing, which Oliver doesn’t like. To his shock, the crashed spaceship is now as good as a new one, to which Oliver explains how Oa’s advanced tech are Nanites enabled, which are capable of self-repair.
John and Oliver both get on board, and the spaceship takes them to a destroyed Oa, where all Green Lanterns are dead, along with the Guardians. The two are in shock and try to look for answers before Shayera Hol aka Hawkgirl or Hawkwoman attacks them. She is immensely powerful and moreover, fuming with rage. The two earthlings seem to struggle before John gets triggered by his PTSD and uses lethal force on Hawkgirl, making her pass out.
The three get down to discuss why the hostile situation, as Hawkgirl had mistaken the two to be part of the ‘Rannian’ attack. She introduces herself as a Thanagarian warrior of the first order. She explains her part of the information about how this demise was brought to Oa. She plays a visual captured by the Oan security cameras showing how a Rannian ship arrived before the destruction happened.
Although she insists, the two are not convinced enough to believe it, as only the spacecraft can be seen and not any Rannian. They instead ask Hawkgirl her purpose of visiting Oa, to which she answers that her spacecraft was destroyed in the battle and she had arrived to seek help from the Guardians in their war against the Rannians, but it was too late. Hawkgirl then narrates to them the history of their war against the Rannians and how, after years of struggle, both Thanagarians and Rannians settled on a truce.
The alien races started the joint scientific venture led by Sardath from the Rannians and Benthdar from the Thanagarians on Zeta beams. These teleporting beams could bridge the gap between the worlds and also boost their economy. During its test, which Green Lantern Hal Jordan monitored, the teleporting machine worked fine, but suddenly it started malfunctioning.
Hal tried but failed to stop the massive Zeta beams from transporting the entire Thanagarian planet to the Rannian space, thereby upsetting its climate and killing many of its inhabitants. He too, got caught up in the blast. Hawkgirl, along with the other Thanagarians, believed that Sardath was behind this, following which the war between the two species resumed. Green Arrow and John Stewart then decide to reach out to the Rannians for further explanation as they still believe it can be an accident.
The three reach a desolate planet and nearly get hit by a Zeta beam. What follows the Zeta beam is a Rannian man. Hawkgirl, being a Thanagarian, attacks the man, and they both engage in a fight only to be stopped by John and Green Arrow. Upon questioning, the man tells them that the Rannians would never attack Oa as, for them, the Green Lanterns are heroes. The man reveals his identity as Adam Strange, but Hawkgirl does not believe it as they all know that Adam Strange is dead.
Adam then explains that the Zeta beams are attracted to him and have been teleporting him to far ends of the Universe at random. To get further answers, the four start for Rann, only to find them amidst a never-ending war with Thanagar. They get hold of a spaceship drifting towards a sun named Red Dwarf and acquire information from it… after Thanagar was brought into the Rannian atmosphere, they faced several climatic catastrophes. Sardath re-engineered his Zeta beam into a destructive device equivalent to a planet destroyer.
Hawkgirl and Adam Strange examine the information, including a clip where the Rannian ship attacked Oa and the Green Lanterns. Although it was a Rannian ship, the energy signatures were very identical to the Thanagarian spaceship that bombarded the United Galactic Council Headquarters. This clearly indicates that someone had been impersonating both Thanagarians and Rannians and igniting hostility between the two.
Upon further investigation, it is revealed that Sinestro is behind all this. After a fight between Sinestro and his team, John Stewart’s ring is taken and the rest are locked up in a cell where they find Hal Jordan. Oliver is delighted and hugs Hal. The new team of five escape and manage to locate Sardath, who is preparing his Zeta ray emitting device to erase Thanagar. Sinestro is defeated and in his last words, says “My master is going to kill you all.” Meanwhile, Hal finds Sardath, who gives him the core of his Zeta technology.
The only other place where the information would be available is in Sardath’s mind, and so Hal kills Sardath. The team is in shock while Hal points his weapon towards them. Before he can shoot, John Stewart stops him and explains that all this while Hal was not Sinestro’s prisoner but his master. Hal summons immense power within him as he is shown to wear several Green Lantern rings.
He tells them that after he was hit by the massive Zeta beam, Sinestro found him. He was too weak to fight and so he asked his ring to flee to find help. He did not want Sinestro to get his ring, but Sinestro had other plans. He infected Hal with an alien parasite known as Parallax in hopes of controlling him, which instead opened his eyes and gave him a new purpose: to become the perfect Guardian.
Hal and Sinestro then arrived at Oa and destroyed it, killing every Green Lantern and Guardian. Hal procured all the Green Lantern rings from the dead members and became the wielder of such massive power. He quickly overpowers Hawkgirl, Green Arrow, John and Adam Strange while explaining to them how with the Zeta ray technology, he can wipe off the entire Universe and build it again. John Stewart continues fighting with Hal and finally removes all of Hal’s Green Lantern rings. Hal sneaks behind and tries to stab John, but Green Arrow shoots an arrow which kills him.
While they were all fighting, the Zeta ray was calibrating for shooting Thanagar. But Adam Strange manages to come in its way and gets teleported again to somewhere far across the Universe. John, Hawkgirl, and Green Arrow get back on Earth. They say goodbye to each other while Green Arrow tries to mask his pain for killing his best friend, Hal.
THE ENDING EXPLAINED
Apart from highlighting John Stewart, the movie gives us a glimpse of the true extent of Hal Jordan’s power. The form Hal attains towards the end is very much similar to what he attained in the movie ‘Green Lantern: First Flight’ during his final fight with Sinestro. Although the power generated by Hal was very much from within generating from his willpower, in ‘Beware my power’, he attained it by wearing several Green Lantern rings of his dead comrades.
Adam Strange gets teleported to somewhere like he was in the beginning of the movie. He sacrifices his life to save the planet. The movie ends with Green Arrow, John Stewart, and Hawkgirl returning to Earth. It’s not shown if John has been recruited to the Justice League yet, and Oliver is shown to adjust to the pain of killing his dear friend Hal Jordan.
WHY SHOULD YOU WATCH GREEN LANTERN: BEWARE MY POWER?
Narrating a story with Green Lantern John Stewart at its center is something new, and it is perfectly done. Hal Jordan, the greatest Green Lantern ever, turns evil after being infected with Parallax. Despite being a Green Lantern, Hal’s weakness for the Yellow Light of fear has been recurring in the DC universe, and this time things didn’t turn out well for him. The best part was how the movie showcased Oliver’s loss.
The subtlety of the moment is well depicted, which brings depth to the character. Jeff Wamester’s direction is spot on, and this can be easily put into the list of his finest works after Justice Society: World War II. The entire initiative of giving us a much-awaited origin story for John has paid off as there is no such vivid explanation available. Making superheroes with similar abilities is itself challenging where the individual persona is the only distinguishing element.
Green Lanterns are chosen for their undying willpower, and John has proved himself. His willpower to survive the war in Afghanistan by a narrow margin, his willpower to get back to normal life and his willpower to survive served the purpose. The intricate detailing is what makes the movie a special one, especially with the ending where John asks Oliver for a meal but Oliver denies it. The movie is highly recommended and a must watch for DC fans.
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