Why Green Lantern: Beware My Power's Sinestro Has DC Fans So Confused

The Green Lantern gets a bad rap. Unlike other members of the Justice League who have appeared in numerous live-action iterations, received countless animated films, and headlined their own videogame franchises (no, this isn't all about Batman, but also it kind of is?), poor GL has starred in exactly one movie. It was a bad movie, sure, but that wasn't the character's fault. That felt more like a studio thing. He's a superhero with a magical ring that can physically manifest anything he imagines via his willpower. That's incredible. Fortunately, someone out there agrees because "Green Lantern: Beware My Power," a new animated feature retelling the origins of Jon Stewart's stint with the ring, is on the verge of release. 

Fans will probably best remember Jon from his tenure on "Justice League" and "Justice League: Unlimited," the two early 2000s animated productions that, quite frankly, have yet to be matched in terms of pure unbridled coolness. And while there's yet to have been a live-action version for Jon (as noted by Hype Beast, Wayne T Carr's cameo in the role for Zack Snyder's movies was sadly cut), the fact that he's getting his first animated feature is not insignificant. In a recent trailer for the upcoming project, fans were treated to a cast of familiar characters, like Green Arrow (of unrelated green-ness) and Hawk Girl. The antagonist for the piece was shown to be Sinestro, but there are a few things about the villain that didn't quite add up for fans. 

In a subreddit dedicated to DC animated properties, u/StoneKidman hosted a conversation to discuss "Green Lantern: Beware My Power." In it, u/ZenFlameX said, "I'm so confused [as to] how Sinestro is able to defeat the might of a group of green lanterns (at least 12 by looking at the rings Hal took). I know he has the yellow ring but it can't be THAT powerful right?" They were not the only one surprised by the power scaling, either. The original poster commented to say, "The guardians didn't bother using their power? Sinestro just rained down yellow arrows and that's all it took? Just him?? Parallax didn't even do anything except take up all the rings he didn't even drain the main power battery like the comics to become Uber powerful." Others were confused as well, piping in to say that their understanding of Sinestro simply didn't align with what the trailer depicted. 

Specifically, the trailer shows Sinestro singlehandedly murdering a crew of Green Lanterns — including Hal Jordan — and committing genocide on Thanagar (the planet where Hawk Girl came from). Now, superhero and supervillain powers and abilities tend to fluctuate depending on the need of the story. That's just a thing that happens, right? Right, but rarely is Sinestro ever shown having such power under his command. For anyone who hasn't picked up a comic, or justifiably avoided the Ryan Reynolds film, Sinestro is a pretentious dude with horrible facial hair and a yellow ring fueled by anger. In comparison, the green rings are fueled by willpower. 

Either Sinestro discovered Ultra Instinct or channeled his inner Bruce Banner.