Who Is Ch'p? The Squirrel Green Lantern, Explained

It's early in the game, but James Gunn's DC Universe has been a triumph onscreen thus far with 2025's upbeat and uplifting "Superman," and HBO's one-two punch of "Creature Commandos" and "Peacemaker." Rather than jam one hastily developed project after another into the pipeline à la the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gunn is taking his time and allowing viewers to gradually get the lay of a land where the stakes can be life-or-death and unabashedly silly at roughly the same time.

The range of talent Gunn has brought together for projects like "Supergirl" and "Clayface" is impressive, but I have the highest of hopes for the DC Universe's upcoming HBO series "Lanterns." Having grown up with a Gil Kane-drawn poster of the entire Green Lantern Corps adorning my bedroom wall (okay, not "entire," because there are over 7,000 members), I dreamed of getting a "Star Wars"-scale superhero motion picture epic. That dream kinda came true in 2011 via Martin Campbell's "Green Lantern" starring Ryan Reynolds, but while I enjoyed the movie overall, the vast majority of viewers and comic book fans did not. Critics panned it, and moviegoers stayed the hell away.

Campbell's film erred by throwing non-fans into a vast DC universe policed by the Green Lantern Corps. Who the heck were Tomar-Re, Parallax, and Kilowog? The eight-episode series "Lanterns" is apparently going to ease audiences into this world by throwing the two most well-known Lanterns, Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), into a road trip detective story. But while this show will start out earthbound, that doesn't mean the freakier elements of the Lantern Corps will go unmentioned. So who's this "f***ing squirrel" Jordan talks about at the end of the trailer?

First introduced in 1982, Ch'p hails from the planet H'Iven, which was nearly destroyed by Doctor Ub'x and his Crabster army. (Please stick with me.)

On the verge of being executed, Ch'p was given the ring worn by his now-dead predecessor. He slipped the noose, defeated Ub'x, and traveled to the Lantern home base of Oa, where he was instructed by a Lantern known as Kilowog, who you may remember from the Martin Campbell/Ryan Reynolds movie. Ch'p was involved in and survived the Crisis on Infinite Earths, but his wife, believing him dead, married his best friend, which drove him into a deep sorrow and, ultimately, to Earth. The rest of his story is awfully tragic (I won't spoil it here), which leaves me wondering if showrunner Chris Mundy will get to introduce the character and deal with that aspect.

Most likely, Gunn will bring in Ch'p further down the road, but I can't help but wonder if we've already met Ch'p. We know that Gunn is already playing fast and loose with DC Comics mythology, right? What if that squirrel that Superman goes out of his way to save in the 2025 film turns out to be Ch'p? You'd have to rewrite the rules of the universe a good deal, but, again, that's not a problem for Gunn.

In any event, "Lanterns" will enter the streaming ring when it hits HBO in August. If you'd like a quick glimpse of Ch'p in action in a non-DC Universe animated movie, check out "DC League of Super-Pets," which is currently streaming for free on HBO Max and Hulu.