Ryan Reynolds eviscerates 'Green Lantern' with 'Reynolds Cut' of his superhero bomb

Green Lantern may have been treated like a joke by critics and audiences when it hit cinemas in 2011, but Ryan Reynolds has made it a point to have the last laugh.

Rather than hide from the movie’s failure, the star has cheekily embraced its status as a superhero also-ran, regularly poking fun at DC’s Emerald Knight on social media and in his hit Marvel franchise, Deadpool.

With Zack Snyder currently hard at work on the #SnyderCut version of Justice League for HBO Max, Reynolds took to Twitter to premiere the Reynolds Cut of Green Lantern.

Where the Snyder Cut will expand the two-hour theatrical version of Justice League — which was taken over by Joss Whedon after Snyder left the film — into a three-and-a-half-hour behemoth, the Reynolds Cut reduces Green Lantern’s 123-minute runtime to a mere 27 seconds.

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Opening with a post-credits gag from Deadpool 2, where the time-traveling Merc with a Mouth shoots Reynolds before he can even suit up as Green Lantern, Reynolds’s preferred version of the film speeds through his alter ego’s tragic origin story and his initiation into the galactic Green Lantern Corps.

In a major plot twist, the Reynolds Cut’s big climax reveals that Tom Cruise has been playing GL all along. That may prove prescient: it’s been a longtime rumour that Warner Bros. would like to enlist the Mission: Impossible star to headline a Green Lantern reboot.

Speaking of Snyder, the Reynolds Cut ties Green Lantern into Justice League continuity. The “film” ends with a tableau shot of the core JL team — Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, The Flash and Cyborg — regarding their newest applicant. It’s worth noting that the Green Lantern Corps did play a role in the theatrical version of Justice League, and Snyder supposedly had additional plans for the character... plans that may or may not involve Reynolds.

If the Reynolds Cut really is a stealth preview for the Snyder Cut — as well as being a funny gag — Twitter is on board.

In brightest day, in blackest night, no chance to make fun of Green Lantern shall escape Ryan Reynolds’s sight.

Green Lantern is currently available to buy or rent in the UK.