Only one Justice League team member survived Pariah's massacre in Justice League #75: Black Adam, who barely scraped himself off the battlefield. But there is another long-time Justice League stalwart who's still alive and poised to play a big role in Dark Crisis.
Hal Jordan, AKA Green Lantern, was away from Earth during the fight. And while his colleague John Stewart has been serving as the Justice League's GL in recent years, Hall is still one of the team's most storied members. Now he's among the remaining heroes of the DC Universe who have to carry on in the wake of the Justice League's apparent 'death.'
According to Dark Crisis writer Joshua Williamson, Hal has a major role to play.
In an interview with Newsarama, Williamson says, "Hal has his own adventure throughout this story, and without giving away spoilers, the stuff Hal ends up doing is really important. There are a lot of big-time fan moments coming with Hal and Green Lantern."
Williamson also hints that Hal's big moments can be seen on cover art for Dark Crisis and its tie-in books, like The Flash. Newsarama can reveal the 1:25 variant cover for The Flash #786, the final Dark Crisis tie-in issue, by Daniel Sampere and Alejandro Sanchez. It looks like Hal and Wally are in pretty significant trouble…
"Hal Jordan… I think, at times, has been reluctant for legacy. At some point, he just totally embraced it. He has all his people with him and he's been very much about bringing in new Green Lanterns. He's not precious about being Green Lantern," Williamson says, regarding Hal's arc in Dark Crisis. "You look at Sinestro, and his arc of, 'I'm the best Green Lantern and I have all the best methods. I'm the greatest Green Lantern, so only my way rules.' That led him to becoming Yellow Lantern.
"Hal went the opposite direction, where he was like, 'I'm not the only Green Lantern of Earth. You can continue to grow this thing. It doesn't have to be just me and only me.' I wanted to show that here," Williamson continues. "He kind of plays this role of somebody who's just, 'Come on, people. Let's go. We're all friends here. Let's go.' He's a little bit of a loose cannon sometimes, but he's the one who's like, 'I'm going to find my friends, and I'm going to do it by adding.' Part of legacy sometimes can be adding, not taking away. Hal kind of represents that piece."
In Dark Crisis #1, Hal appears to help Jon Kent and Wally West in a fight, then demands to know the Justice League's status. He warns the younger heroes not to trust Black Adam or his account of the final fight with Pariah and seems overall doubtful that his team could really be dead. However, he also doesn't seem convinced they're alive. He sends Wally out to track down Barry Allen and decides to hunt down the Justice League's killer himself.
As for Hal's overall arc in Dark Crisis, Williamson didn't give too much away – but the variant cover for The Flash #786 suggests Hal ends up in more trouble than he expects.
For more, including the status of other characters in the DCU as Dark Crisis begins, see our interview with writer Joshua Williamson and artist Daniel Sampere today at 3 p.m. ET.
Hal Jordan is Newsarama's best Green Lantern of all time.
