Our movie screens will soon be graced with yet again another superhero, this time in the likes of the Green Lantern. Three frontrunners have emerged in the race to star in the Warner Bros. movie – Bradley Cooper , Ryan Reynolds, and Justin Timberlake. No I didn’t stutter, Justin Timberlake is a contender. Warner Bros. have spent the past five months searching for the right actor to play Hal Jordan, the hot-shot Air Force pilot who is chosen by a dying alien to be his successor in an intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern. And hey – the latest DC Comic Hero even gets to wear a super-powered ring!! Reports are that Timberlake, Cooper, and Reynolds all had holding deals with the studio, which expired this past monday. This will force the studio to make a decision soon, as the three will be free to accept new roles. They all have done two rounds of screen tests, surviving other finalist including Michael Fassbender, Henry Cavill, and Jared Leto. The decision to be made is said to be a difficult one, with director Martin Campbell, producer Donald De Line, and the studio each having a different favorite.

Another issue keeping the movie grounded is the budget. Currently, the full-blown space epic is expected to cost at least between $150 million and $200 million dollars, with the possibility of it winding up even higher. Warners would like to have the production costs at a reasonable level before proceeding, which they better figure out soon as the studio has scheduled the movie for a December 2010 opening.

My personal pick would have been Chris Pine for the role, but since that isn’t going to happen, out of the three I’d have to go with Bradley Cooper. Reynolds is already associated with Deadpool in the movie “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” with a spin-off in the works, and Justin Timberlake just doesn’t seem like the super-hero type to me, although I do think he is a decent actor. I wonder just who will edge the others out to become the defender of Space Sector 2814.

Image Via: Film Drunk