How is Noah a Manhunter? ‘Lanterns’ finale finally explains Zoe’s role in his origin
‘Lanterns’ opened its first season with a body on a Nebraska football field. Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) was discovered dead in Rushville in 2026, ten years after a Manhunter attack ruined the town. Hal had made it his life’s mission to kill Manhunters due to their violent history. Episode 4 then revealed that Zoe Macon (Poorna Jagannathan), a Manhunter posing as William Macon’s human wife, had survived the Guardians’ purge of her kind. She was thought to be the last Manhunter till the finale, called ‘Dirt and Stars,’ proved otherwise.
Noah Macon (Shea Pritchard), Zoe’s grandson and a football star in Rushville, is the second Manhunter. Episode 5 first hinted at this when Zoe gave instructions to a young Noah (Cary Christopher) during the 2016 attack. The finale reveals the secret through his mother, Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald). Years before, Zoe had saved Kerry’s life and replaced her severed finger with Manhunter technology, and Kerry was soon pregnant. She raised Noah as a human, and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) later tells her that she did a good job raising him.
Noah’s Manhunter side also kept Hal alive. After the fire at his house, Noah used the same technology to heal his burnt skin as had healed John in 2016. Interestingly, Hal later followed Noah through a portal to Antaan’s planet. Noah also broke Thaal Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen), Hal’s former mentor, out of space prison. The Yellow Lantern founder then created a lantern for Noah, who belonged to the corps of guards whose rings were fueled by fear, unlike the Green Lanterns, whose rings were fueled by willpower.
During John’s interrogation of Sinestro, he notes that Noah would have ambushed Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), another Green Lantern, and stolen his ring. The Halogram, the projection of Hal’s spirit, then tells Sinestro that Noah has a conscience. Fast forward to 2026, and Noah ambushes John on his return to Earth. During the drive back to Rushville, Noah says he killed Hal to keep him from exposing him to Kerry. He further says he is trying to overcome his violent programming and asks John to kill him. He tells John that if he could see into his head, he would never stop screaming. John works out that Kerry shot Hal after encouraging her to leave town with Noah, and he spares them both. Plus, John later tells Kerry that the world will need somebody to stop Noah if he gives in to his worst instincts.
John ends the episode as an unsanctioned Green Lantern with Hal’s ring and Sinestro’s lantern, and he tells Guy to take the stars while he handles Earth. This sets up how he becomes the sole Green Lantern in DC Studios’ ‘Man of Tomorrow,’ the Superman sequel. However, HBO has not yet renewed the series for a second season, and the eight-episode first season aired on HBO and HBO Max from August 16 through October 4.
