Since he was cast, fans have been crafting theories about just which DC Comics villain Garret Dillahunt will be portraying in the DC Studios’ streaming series, Lanterns. Trade Reports identified the character as William Macon,”a self-righteous, conspiracy-minded man who masks his ruthless ambition behind a charming and calculated facade,” but fans weren’t buying it.
One popular theory was that William Macon was actually William Hand, a character who has been antagonizing Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps since being introduced in 1964. And it looks like that theory may well be proven correct.
In an Instagram story, Dillahunt shared a photo that has fans believing he will indeed be portraying Black Hand in the show.
William Hand was a key antagonist in the Blackest Night storyline, where he served as the herald of Nekron, the embodiment of death.
From the start, our driving force has been to deliver a layered drama – rooted in nuanced storytelling and rich world building – that balances tension and mystery with honest, authentic emotion. The goal is to create something that feels timeless and grounded without sacrificing the magic of the source material.
–Lanterns showrunner Chris Mundy
Hand’s powers are rooted in his obsession with death and his ability to manipulate it. He first appeared as a small-time crook with a device that could absorb energy from Green Lantern rings. His destiny changed when he was chosen as an agent of the Black Lantern Corps, a group of undead beings animated by the black power of death. As a Black Lantern, he can kill and reanimate the dead, turning them into subservient Black Lanterns. His primary weapon is a black power ring, which is fueled by the absence of emotion, life, and light.
Characterized by his necrophilic tendencies and a morbid fascination with death, a villain like Hand falls in the Goldilocks zone for an HBO Max streaming series baddie. He’s often depicted as mentally unstable and obsessive, with his sanity deteriorating as his connection to the black power ring grows stronger. His actions are driven by a deep-seated desire to see the universe brought to a state of complete lifelessness,
With fans looking for DC Studios to create some sort of adaptation of Blackest Night, introducing a villain like Hand alongside Ulrich Thomsen‘s Sinestro and Paul Ben-Victor‘s Antaan, when many believe to be Atrocitus (also seen in the picture shared by Dillahunt) could be an indication that some bits of that story may make their way into Lanterns.
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