2011 Superhero Movie Derailed Studio Plans After Flopping at Box Office
15 years ago today, Warner Bros. and DC attempted to kickstart a Marvel-style cinematic universe with a movie that has since gone down in history as one of the biggest superhero movie flops of all time.
On July 17, 2011, Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds landed in theaters with a thud, adding another misfire to the actor's comic book film resume. His work as Hal Jordan came after playing Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity and a mute version of Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine; neither film was well-received critically.
Green Lantern dropped at an interesting time for Warner Bros., which was coming off bombs including 2004's Catwoman, 2006's Superman Begins, and 2010's Jonah Hex. At the same time, it had massive success with Christopher Nolan's solo Batman movies, with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight both already released in theaters.
Marvel had already released a number of solo superhero films, too, with Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger all out by July 2011. Those films, of course, culminated in The Avengers in 2012.
According to reports, Green Lantern was supposed to be the start of a similar MCU-style universe for DC. Then the movie came out.
Green Lantern Bombs
On paper, Green Lantern seemed like a good idea.
Since Nolan was still working on his Batman trilogy, and Bryan Singer's recent Superman Begins failed to take off, DC turned to another member of the Justice League to get their own cinematic universe going. And with Marvel gambling on lesser-known Iron Man to launch their series of interconnected films, who's to say that approach wouldn't pan out for DC, too?
Martin Campbell was tapped to direct and was on a bit of a hot streak at the time. The director had recently helmed Pierce Brosnan's Bond film GoldenEye, The Mask of Zorro, and Daniel Craig's highly-regarded inaugural 007 movie, Casino Royale.
Despite the chilly reception to Blade: Trinity and Wolverine, Reynolds was also coming off the recent success of romcom The Proposal with Sandra Bullock. Lively, meanwhile, was still riding high on Gossip Girl at the time, and won accolades for her work in Ben Affleck's The Town.
Rounding out the impressive cast were Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, and Angela Bassett, the latter appearing as Amanda Waller in a role that likely would have expanded into future films.
With a massive budget of $200 million, the movie only made $237.2 million. At the time, TODAY noted that it needed to make closer to $500 million to be "financially solid."
Reviews weren't kind, with the movie currently sitting at 25% on Rotten Tomatoes. It also has a 45% rating from audiences, who clearly didn't love it either.
DC Future In Peril
Warner Bros. was really hoping for a new franchise.
A year before Green Lantern was even released, Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, and Marc Guggenheim were hired to work on the screenplay for a sequel, after a tease about Sinestro becoming a more central villain was revealed in the post-credits scene.
A Superman movie and a Flash movie were also in development at the time, though neither version ever materialized.
Instead, the universe went in a darker direction, as Zack Snyder was tapped to direct a story from David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan for 2013's Man of Steel.
That movie launched the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), which continued with Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Aquaman, Shazam!, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, The Suicide Squad, Black Adam, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
The DCEU then got a soft reboot from James Gunn and Peter Safran, with the pair introducing their own Green Lanterns in both 2025's Superman and the upcoming TV show Lanterns.
Reynolds, meanwhile, would finally feel superhero success after campaigning hard for his own standalone Deadpool movie. Both of those R-rated films were box office giants, before he became part of the MCU proper with the smash hit Deadpool & Wolverine in 2024.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
2026 The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 7:00 AM.