While Nathan Fillion is playing Guy Gardner in Superman: Legacy, it is not his first time playing a DC Comics superhero. Indeed, it’s not even his first time playing a Green Lantern.
Vigilante in Justice League Unlimited
Fillion’s first turn as a superhero came in Justice League Unlimited, where he lent his voice to Greg Saunders, aka Vigilante. A cowboy themed hero, Saunders was the first DC Comics character to use the Vigilante name in 1941. An aspiring country singer, Greg wandered to New York City hoping to make it big, but he returned home to Wyoming to bring justice to the gang that killed his sheriff father. He was also one of the founding members of the Seven Soldiers of Victory.
Spy Smasher in Justice League Unlimited
The Justice League Unlimited episode “Patriot Act” also featured Fillion voicing the character of Spy Smasher, in the flashback sequence that opened the episode. Spy Smasher was Fawcett Comics’ answer to Batman, first appearing in the same comic that introduced Shazam. A millionaire inventor and brilliant detective, Alan Armstrong put his genius to use helping the American government to fight spies and saboteurs.
Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman (2009)
Before Chris Pine played the role in the DCEU, Fillion played Steve Trevor in the 2009 animated Wonder Woman movie, which featured Kerri Russell as the Amazing Amazon. The film, which presented the story of how Diana came to Man’s World to prevent Ares from starting World War III, presented an odd reunion for Fillion and Russell. The two had starred opposite each other two years previously in the romantic comedy Waitress.
Hal Jordan in Green Lantern: Emerald Knights
Nathan Fillion went on to play another heroic DC pilot in Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, taking on the role of test pilot turned superhero Hal Jordan in 2011. The anthology movie pitted the Green Lantern Corps against the mad Guardian Krona and related the stories of several legendary Lanterns, as the heroes recalled other great challenges they had faced.
Hal Jordan in Justice League: Doom
Fillion returned to voice Hal Jordan in Justice League: Doom in 2012. Adapting the classic Justice League arc “Tower of Babel,” the movie pit the Justice League against a legion of villains led by Vandal Savage, who stole the plans and weapons Batman had created to use against his allies should they ever go rogue.
Hal Jordan in the DC Animated Movie Universe
Fillion proved popular enough as Hal Jordan in his first two turns that he was brought back to recreate the role in the DC Animated Movie Universe. Fillion played a new version of Hal Jordan in 2013’s Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, which adapted the Flashpoint storyline from the comics. He went on to play the greatest of Green Lanterns three more times in the DCAU, with Hal Jordan appearing in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen.
TDK in The Suicide Squad
Nathan Fillion spent just as long working with filmmaker James Gunn as he did DC Comics. The two first teamed in Gunn’s directorial debut, the 2006 horror film Slither. The two became fast friends, and Fillion has made cameo appearances in many of Gunn’s other films.
Fillion continued this tradition when Gunn was given a chance to make his mark on the DCEU with The Suicide Squad. He was cast in the mysterious role of TDK, which was short for The Detatchable Kid. Inspired by the obscure Legion of Super-Heroes member Arm-Fall-Off-Boy, TDK had the unlikely power to detach his limbs from his body and operate them from a distance.
Unsurprisingly, this was less than helpful in a fire fight, and TDK was last seen being riddled with bullets on a Corto Maltese beach. He was never confirmed as being dead, however, making it possible, if unlikely, he might return in the future.
