LANTERNS Showrunner Says Batman Mention Required “Shockingly Fewer Conversations” Than You’d Think

Batman officially exists somewhere in the live-action DCU, and Lanterns just made that crystal clear without turning the moment into some massive reveal.

Episode 6 of the HBO series drops a pretty great Batman reference during a conversation between John Stewart and Hal Jordan in 2026.

While the two are sitting at a diner, Hal starts complaining about Guy Gardner, the Green Lantern currently operating in the present day, and reveals that Guy borrowed an idea from Gotham’s resident vigilante.

Hal says Guy “ripped off that Bat-guy from Gotham. Put a beacon right in the middle of the f*cking town here, so people can summon him.”

It’s a fun reference to the Bat-Signal, but according to showrunner Chris Mundy, getting Batman into the conversation didn’t require the kind of extensive DC Studios negotiations fans might expect.

Mundy told GamesRadar+: "There were shockingly fewer conversations than you would think. It was in [the episode] right before it. John talks about some giant squid in Metropolis. And Kerry is from Gotham, which gets name-checked in episode 2.

“We wanted to make sure that we were name-checking the world, just because there is a greater world out there, that we wanted to say it was a real thing for our characters, and we didn't wanna make a big deal about it, in a strange way."

Batman previously popped up for a brief, non-speaking animated cameo in Creature Commandos, which is part of DCU continuity. The Lanterns reference, however, marks the first time Batman has been directly acknowledged in live action within this shared universe.

DC Studios hasn’t announced the actor who will play the DCU’s Batman. Alan Ritchson, best known for Reacher, has made it very clear that he’d love the job, and plenty of fans have been pushing for him to get a shot at Bruce Wayne.

Meanwhile, Robert Pattinson remains Batman in Matt Reeves’ separate universe. His version of the character belongs to DC’s Elseworlds projects and isn’t the Batman being referenced in Lanterns.

For now, we’ve got a Bat-Signal, Gotham City, and confirmation that some guy dressed like a bat is apparently out there doing his thing. That’s enough to keep the speculation machine running until DC is ready to properly introduce him.

Lanterns is airing weekly on HBO and HBO Max.