The big difference between Hal and the others that you listed is that Hal is simply one member of the Green Lantern CORPS.
The original Green Lantern stories didn't introduce another Lantern until issue 6. At least 200 pages of story allowing the protagonist to be established.
And the "multiple copy syndrome" is a staple of Silver Age DC. Superman, Supergirl, Kandor, etc. Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman. Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl. And so on. I don't mind these large family structures in the comics but they don't work very well cinematically. Keeping the hero
unique is important.
The GLC existed in the comics LONG before Geoff Johns came along, Hal has NEVER been unique in that regard.
I know this. But post-crisis DC originally made it a point to get rid of these large family structures. Every Kyptonian besides Superman was killed off or wiped out of continuity. The Green Lantern corp was decimated leaving only Kyle. Johns brought back Hal and the GLC. I have no problem with this since comics pander to a niche audience anyway so they can do whatever they want in the books.
Also, the vast majority of complaints that I've heard are that we didn't see ENOUGH of the Corps or spend enough time on Oa. You have this cool looking alien world with these interesting an diverse creatures, and GL is essentially a space cop, yet you spend most of the movie on Earth, that was their mistake.
And whose complaints are these? Comic book fans? In any case, more OA scenes would not have fixed the film. The OA scenes did nothing but make Hal look like an incompetent boob. The people I saw the film with came away from those scenes thinking Sinestro was a hell of a lot cooler than Hal. They said they should have just made the movie about him instead! That's a clear sign that you failed to develop the protagonist when the audience thinks the future villain is much more interesting than the hero.
They already started on the wrong story elements by going with the test pilot background(NEVER been a fan of the this origin - an artist like Kyle makes a lot more sense for someone with a power ring). Anyway, making Hal an annoying *****e(trying to imitate Tony Stark I guess) was the wrong way to go. The angsty/horny/screw-up Hal from Emerald Dawn was never a very compelling or likeable character anyway. Don't know why they went that route as the foundation for the DCU.
And Hector Hammond as the villain? Who the hell thought THIS would be a good idea in movie form? Appropriate for 30/40 yr old comic book fans maybe(John's core fanbase). It's decisions like these that have me convinced that Johns has NO idea how to write for a movie audience. He's a fanboy that writes for fanboys(I'm one of his fans btw). He should never have been placed in charge of DC Creative.
Your complaint appears to be the OPPOSITE of most people, they wanted MORE Oa and more GLC, not less.
No. My complaint is they should have developed the CHARACTER first. Keep him grounded on Earth and explore how to use his powers. Have him overcome the typical introductory villain as well. The Green Lantern Corps is a nice concept but it's a bit overkill for newcomers. Save that for a sequel AFTER you've developed the protagonist and his cast of characters on Earth. Have the audience LIKE him first before introducing more characters with the same powers. The Sinestro example being the MAIN reason. My little brother's friend asked me if Sinestro had his own comic after watching the movie...How wrong is that? Congrats WB/DC, you made the villain cooler than the hero. Dark Knight did the same thing. Everybody was talking about Ledger's Joker after the movie came out. Difference here is that Dark Knight had the added benefit of Batman already being well established in Batman Begins. Green Lantern failed to do this and started introducing characters much more interesting than Hal from the get-go.
