Should Jack Black appear in The Flash movie as Green Lantern? Well before Ryan Reynolds played the superhero on the big screen, Black was attached to star in a comedic version of the movie, with former Conan O’Brien writer Robert Smigel writing the script. Back in 2015, the actor/comedian/musician spoke about his brush with the superhero genre. “There was a really funny script, an awesome script that I wanted to do, by the genius Robert Smigel [Triumph the Insult Comic Dog]… but they didn’t want to pull the trigger,” said Black when referring to DC and Warner Bros.
Jack Black’s version of Green Lantern never came to be, and DC fans have been left wondering what could have been. “They were making zillions of dollars with all their other superhero movies – they didn’t want to mess with that formula,” Black said in 2015. However, the Ryan Reynolds-led Green Lantern isn’t exactly what one would call a cinematic masterpiece, with Reynolds still trashing the movie at every chance he gets. In theory, The Flash movie could bring Black on as the superhero, even if it’s only for a cameo.
The Flash is finally filming after years in development hell, and it has been confirmed that we will see multiple versions of Batman in the movie, including the return of Michael Keaton alongside Ben Affleck. “The cinematic multiverse is going to be born out of this movie,” writer Christina Hodson said back in August. “It’s born out of Barry’s story.” The Flash is going to restart everything, which means Jack Black could very well appear in the movie. But should DC and Warner Bros. recast Green Lantern with Black?
As for his chances of ever playing Green Lantern, Jack Black wasn’t optimistic when asked about it in 2015. “Yeah, they’re not going to call me,” he declared. With that being said, a lot has changed in the past six years, and The Flash is setting up to completely change the DC Universe on the big screen. Barry Allan is “someone who has the power of changing events of the past, but by doing so, can deteriorate the very fabric of the space-time continuum,” said Christina Hodson. For some DC fans, this would be the perfect opportunity to bring in Black and have him flex some of his Nacho Libre muscles.
For other DC fans, they want to erase what Ryan Reynolds did with the Green Lantern movie and have the studio reboot the character in a serious way. Jack Black isn’t the first choice from fans to make that happen, though that’s not to say he couldn’t pull off a dramatic superhero role. When the time comes, the studio will likely go with a younger actor to introduce Green Lantern to a new generation of comic book movie fans. As to whether or not Green Lantern will even be in The Flash, that is unclear, but Jack Black has seemingly been preparing just in case. Last month, Black posted a video of himself taking on the role of Marvel’s Thor, proving that he can do just about anything. While we wait to see if the actor will appear in the long-awaited movie, you can check out his hilarious God of Thunder video below, thanks to Jack Black’s official Twitter account.
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