So we found out earlier that The Joker was based on the guy who played Major Strasser in Casablanca. Weird, but OK, fine.
But c’mon: now we’re supposed to believe that the Green Lantern was based on… Paul Newman?
So claims Shawn Levy in a footnote on page 86 of his new biography of Newman:
Among Newman’s neighbors in Queens Village was a comic book artist named Gil Kane who saw in Newman’s face the makings of an iconic American hero and actually designed his most famous character, Hal Jordan, aka the Green Lantern, after Newman.
Judge for yourself. Here’s the cover of Green Lantern #2…
And here’s Newman some years later, in the film Harper:
Same lower lip, same chin, similar forehead wrinkles. I guess it’s him. Maybe.
In unrelated news, actor Ryan Reynolds has just been cast as the next Green Lantern.