"Green Lantern" concept art...

[TemporalFlux]

The point is, a good guy named "Sinestro?" That's just such a goofy, over-the-top comic-book villain name that it's hard enough to take seriously when applied to a villain, let alone to a hero. Audiences who come into this with no knowledge of the mythos are going to go, "Why the hell did they give this heroic character a blatant bad-guy name like 'Sinestro'?"

Personally, I would play off that aspect. Universal translators can parse out general speech, but proper names are always going to be a tough nut for a translator to crack. Is the guy's name really Sinestro, or is that just what it sounds like to Hal (and by extension us)?

Also, let's not forget that Sinestro is just a surname; the character's full name is Thaal Sinestro. They could always pull a "Batman Begins" and just call him Thaal for most of the first movie. The villainous name could be saved for the end of the first movie (after we've seen some development of Sinestro), and that would then help finish the set up for the sequel where Sinestro shows his true color.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

In the DCAU stuff they didn't even pronounce Sinestro to sound like sinister. It was pronounced Sin-ess-tro. If they go that way for the movie then it's unlikely anyone will remark how sinister his name is unless they see the spelling or something.

 

[JacksonArcher]

In the DCAU stuff they didn't even pronounce Sinestro to sound like sinister. It was pronounced Sin-ess-tro. If they go that way for the movie then it's unlikely anyone will remark how sinister his name is unless they see the spelling or something.

That's how I've always thought it would be pronounced.

 

[Christopher]

I never imagined it would be pronounced any other way, but the connection to "sinister" (as well as "sin") is still self-evident even with that pronunciation. Not to mention that character names ending in "-o" after a variant of a familiar word automatically have a cheesy "cartoon villain" sound to them (Magneto, Electro, Bizarro, Computo, Destro).

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

but the connection to "sinister" (as well as "sin") is still self-evident even with that pronunciation.

No, it's not - unless you already know it.

As for the parenthetical silliness...I have a friend named Cynthia. To the best of my knowledge no one has ever inferred any villainy or even taken particular notice of the pronunciation of the first syllable of her name.

If anyone on the show is at all concerned, they can hang a lantern on it (so to speak).

 

[Christopher]

If anyone on the show is at all concerned, they can hang a lantern on it (so to speak).

That I could live with. All I'm saying is that the name is a bit hard to take seriously and it would help to at least acknowledge the fact rather than trying to play it straight and pretend it's not an issue.

 

[Checkmate]

I never imagined it would be pronounced any other way, but the connection to "sinister" (as well as "sin") is still self-evident even with that pronunciation. Not to mention that character names ending in "-o" after a variant of a familiar word automatically have a cheesy "cartoon villain" sound to them (Magneto, Electro, Bizarro, Computo, Destro).

Wow. You really can't get past the whole "I've seen it in type so I have it associated with 'sinister' in my head" bit, can you? When pronounced it sounds very little like sinister, and it can be masked even more simply by shifting the emphasis of the syllables.

As for the latter point, that's even more ridiculous. Plenty of people have names that end with an o. Mario, Carlo, Antonio, Lorenzo, Sergio, Roberto, Leo, Gino, Fernando, etc.

Get over it already.

 

[DontFeedPhil]

Is it me or does the concept art for the Guardians look an awful lot like Bob Newhart in the face?

 

[Agenda]

If they can get away with names like Magneto or Doctor Doom for multi-million dollar movie franchises, then Sinestro should be no problem. I don't get the concerns, here.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

As for the latter point, that's even more ridiculous. Plenty of people have names that end with an o. Mario, Carlo, Antonio, Lorenzo, Sergio, Roberto, Leo, Gino, Fernando, etc.

Yep, there's that too - male names ending in "O" aren't even uncommon.

sin-EES-tro solves the problem entirely.

 

[Captaindemotion]

If they can get away with names like Magneto or Doctor Doom for multi-million dollar movie franchises, then Sinestro should be no problem. I don't get the concerns, here.

Or to quote J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-man 2: 'A guy called Octavius ends up with 8 limbs. What're the odds?!'

I still like Dennis' Left-handed joke.

 

[Christopher]

If they can get away with names like Magneto or Doctor Doom for multi-million dollar movie franchises, then Sinestro should be no problem. I don't get the concerns, here.

But they generally avoided using those names too heavily. Magneto was more frequently referred to as Erik, and Doom was referred to mainly as Victor or Victor Von Doom. The Dark Knight only used the name "Two-Face" once in the whole movie. They were able to dilute the comic-book goofiness by minimizing the use of the goofy names. But Sinestro has no other name. And it's goofier in his case because of the contrivance of an alien being having a name that sounds like a variation on an English word.

Keep in mind that a lot of people in the general public aren't comic-book geeks and wouldn't be as comfortable with a name like "Sinestro" as many of the people in this forum are. To a lot of people, it would sound silly. Comic-book movies have a long history of trying to tone down the silliness to make the characters more palatable to that broader audience, but sometimes it's harder than others.

 

[Mysterion]

Is it me or does the concept art for the Guardians look an awful lot like Bob Newhart in the face?

Okay, now I want to see Bob Newhart portray Ganthet in the movie.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Jesus H. Christ, are we really complaining about how "evvvvillll" the name Sinestro sounds? It's a comic-book movie, guys. Get over it.

 

[TemporalFlux]

But Sinestro has no other name.

And yet, just a few responses back I noted that his full name is Thaal Sinestro; it was mentioned in Green Lantern #47 (released in October 2009). All the movie has to do is call the character Thaal until they want to add the punch of Sinestro in there; and given that Geoff Johns has been consulting on the Green Lantern film, I think it's a damn good bet that's what the film is going to do with the name (Johns would be laying the groundwork in the comics right now).

 

[Checkmate]

Keep in mind that a lot of people in the general public aren't comic-book geeks and wouldn't be as comfortable with a name like "Sinestro" as many of the people in this forum are. To a lot of people, it would sound silly. Comic-book movies have a long history of trying to tone down the silliness to make the characters more palatable to that broader audience, but sometimes it's harder than others.

And also keep in mind (something you adamantly refuse to acknowledge despite it being said multiple times by multiple people) that "Sinestro" is only similar to "sinister" because you've seen it in print. The name itself only vaguely and kinda-sorta sounds like "sinister," and no more than common, everyday names like Cynthia do.

What if his sister is named Cynthia and she's mentioned a few times? Are you going to rally on about how "sinister" her name is, too? Especially over something as pedantic as it ending in the letter A because *SO* many female villains have a name than ends with an A, too? I mean you have Emma, Talia, Giganta, Tigra, Madame Hydra, and etc. Oh my God, no!

Your whole argument really does sound that stupid.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Keep in mind that a lot of people in the general public aren't comic-book geeks and wouldn't be as comfortable with a name like "Sinestro" as many of the people in this forum are.

You can keep saying that, but it simply makes it appear that you're not reading the posts of the other participants in the discussion.

There's not a problem here despite your insistence that there is, and the name will not be a problem for the audience.

 

[Broccoli]

If anyone on the show is at all concerned, they can hang a lantern on it (so to speak).

That I could live with. All I'm saying is that the name is a bit hard to take seriously and it would help to at least acknowledge the fact rather than trying to play it straight and pretend it's not an issue.

True, like most things in comic books, the name is silly. However, considering all the other stuff that happens in a typical Green Lantern story (and what apparently will go down in the movie), Sinestro's name is probably one of the least silly things in there!

Also, comic fans aside, I don't think the average movie goer will think about it all that much. I suppose a comparison to Iron Man can be made with the villain of Obadiah Stane. Comic fans will know he is a villain, but average movie goers did not, thereby making his turn to villainy a bit of a twist. Also, his name, Stane, spelling aside, suggests something ruined or putting a bad mark on, which is what he did to Tony in the movie.

In any event, like it was mentioned above, the movie can openly acknowledge the goofiness of the name the same way Spider-Man 2 did with Doc Ock.

And who knows, maybe the first movie will have him do villainous things, but without our heroes knowing about it.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The character's in the script. He's called "Sinestro." They've doubtless given this all the thought it's due.

 

[Broccoli]

But this is teh interwebs...we're suppose to over think things and assume that the people in charge don't know what they are doing...