How Lanterns Perfectly Introduced Carol Ferris, an Enemy/Lover from Hal Jordan’s Past

4 min readPART OF WHAT is so refreshing about the new DC Universe is that the world James Gunn and company are building out feels so completely lived in. In Superman, we met a Clark Kent who’s already been doing what he’s doing for a little while; no time was wasted watching him apply for a job at the Daily Planet, or meet Lois Lane for the first time, or any of these other things. They just were part of the fabric of the character from the get-go.That’s been a consistent factor throughout the projects in the connected universe to date, and Lanterns is no different. The hit HBO series is largely a show about John Stewart and Hal Jordan (Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler), and so much of the focus has rightfully been on those two characters and their relationships with both one another and the world. But there’s also the fact that the first Green Lantern we met was actually in Superman—and that was Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion). Lanterns, then, inherently plants another question: How does he wind up holding the mantle in the present day, and not one of them?Those kinds of layered situations are standard in this well-built landscape. By the time we first meet Hal Jordan—in the show’s 1996 timeline, when John is just a kid—he’s already become Earth’s first Green Lantern. 20 years later, in 2016, when he’s training John, we can only imagine the adventures he’s gone on, the bad guys he’s fought, and the many lives he’s lived.And, so, when his own life seemingly comes to an end in the 2026 timeline (after he’s been blamed for the disaster in Rushville and spent 10 years in prison), his funeral is a bit of a hotbed event. Does anyone want to be there? Will anyone be there?It turns out that at least one person from Hal’s past—a woman named Carol Ferris, played by Amie MacKenzie—decided to show up. Hal doesn’t have any family or significant other (which leads John to be the one to read his self-written eulogy), but Carol is certainly a person who’s a part of his past. The name Carol Ferris alone is one that’s very important to Green Lantern comic readers, and a very important figure in the history of Hal Jordan, Green Lantern, and all of DC Comics.Who is Carol Ferris in Lanterns and DC Comics?DC ComicsLanterns doesn’t tell us what, exactly, Hal and Carol ever got up to—but if their DC Comics history is any indication, it must have been quite a doozy.In the DC Comics, Hal works in his position of test pilot for a company called Ferris Aircraft. That company is owned by a magnate named Carl Ferris, and his daughter, Carol, operates as the company’s vice president. Carol, who was first introduced in 1959’s Showcase #22 comic, eventually takes over as Ferris Aircraft’s president from her father, which is complicated by the fact that Hal has been chosen as Earth’s first Green Lantern.Long story short, in the comics, there are multiple different types of aliens from the planet Oa. In the Lanterns show, we mainly hear about the Guardians of the Universe (who we meet in the form of actress Laura Linney), who created the Manhunters (whoops!) and choose the Green Lanterns. In the comics, the Guardians of the Universe are primarily little blue men, while their rivals from Oa are called Zamarons, and are all women.Eventually, out of their pure desire for conflict with the Guardians, the Zamarons discover that Hal has been chosen as Earth’s Green Lantern. And due to both her proximity to Hal and her crush on him, Carol is chosen by the Zamarons as someone whom they both put into a trance and give special powers to with a stone called the Star Sapphire. Carol is then basically in a trance to try to kill Hal. As you might suspect, this proves difficult.But as you also might suspect, this dynamic evolves through the years and years of DC Comics. Hal and Carol have a bit of an on-and-off affair throughout the course of comics history, and sometimes Carol is able to lose the trance, or keep the Star Sapphire powers without the whole “wants to murder Hal under hypnosis” angle.Both characters find love elsewhere as well, as Hal has taken many other love interests (including others who have taken on the Star Sapphire title), and Carol was intertwined with Kyle Rayner, another Green Lantern (and perhaps someone we will meet in a future DC Universe production). But their long-running back-and-forth relationship makes a lot of sense as something to include just a taste of in Lanterns—because it really makes this world feel like a real one.Evan is the culture editor for Men's Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE. He loves weird movies, watches too much TV, and listens to music more often than he doesn't.