UPDATE: We now know who filed the strikes. The DMCA notice, obtained by Cosmic Book News, came from HBO Max’s own brand social team — not legal, not an enforcement vendor — and swept six posts in a single filing, including the meme, our press account, and the viral post calling out the first takedown. Its stated description of the infringement: “people discussing the spoilers.” Full story here.
UPDATE 2: The sweep has spread beyond X — WBD’s enforcement vendor MarkScan struck our YouTube channel over a one-minute commentary video, claiming the “entire video” as WBD content, and Facebook removed the same video via a notice naming no rights owner. Full story here.
Well, that escalated. Hours after a Lanterns plot leak claiming Hal Jordan dies at the end of Episode 1 hit Reddit, a copyright strike on a fan’s meme about it has fans convinced the leak is legit, and turned a spoiler thread into a full-blown Streisand effect problem for Warner Bros.
The Meme That Got Nuked
Earlier today, X user Daniel Dami Biu (@damiebi10) posted about the leak alongside a fan-made meme: classic Green Lantern comic art of Hal hoping he doesn’t get humiliated, next to a factory stamped with the DC logo and labeled the “Humiliation Factory.”
Per Biu and the fans sharing it around, the image used zero footage or imagery from the actual show, just decades-old comic art and a joke about how DC keeps treating Hal Jordan.
The post pulled in around 10,000 views before the image suddenly vanished, replaced by X’s notice that it had been removed in response to a report from the copyright holder.
Biu then received a formal DMCA takedown email, which he promptly posted.
“LMAOOoOo dawg. This company is unserious,” Biu wrote.
He followed up with the conclusion the rest of the internet was already reaching: “They tried to nuke my account. That means it’s REAL.”
‘The Leak Is Real’
That read is now spreading fast.
Green Lantern fan account @G_O_A_T_Lantern — one of the first to circulate the Reddit leak — put it bluntly: “Alright so the leak is real,” pointing out that the struck meme contained no imaging from the series and pinning the takedown on Warner Bros.
That post cleared 21,000 views within hours, outpacing the original leak thread.
The same account had already weighed in on the leak itself, writing that if Hal Jordan really dies in Episode 1, the DCU’s creatives are “doing everything it can to make sure the DCU fails.”
The Reddit account where the rumor was also posted earlier is also sticking by what they heard and refusing to take down the post.
Why The Takedown Backfired
Here’s the thing about DMCA-ing a meme: studios strike leaked footage, leaked scripts, and leaked stills.
They don’t typically lawyer up over a joke built from old comic art, unless the joke lands too close to something real.
Fans know that playbook, which is why the takedown is now being treated as a bigger confirmation than the Reddit post ever was.
The DMCA notice itself doesn’t name who filed it, but with the meme built entirely on DC comic art and the DC logo, fans didn’t need long to point the finger.
It also doesn’t help that this is the same marketing cycle that already saw the Lanterns trailer yanked offline after it leaked the August 16 premiere date early.
Every time Warner Bros. tries to stuff something back in the box on this show, the story gets bigger.
As for the leak itself: two timelines, the Manhunters as the season’s threat, and Hal Jordan killed at the end of the premiere — the two-timeline detail already matching what showrunner Chris Mundy has confirmed, and Hal’s death matching what we said coming out of WonderCon back in March.
Two Weeks From Hall H
All of this lands with the Lanterns Hall H panel set for Friday, July 24, where Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, and the show’s creative team will face a room full of fans who now think they know how Episode 1 ends.
If the plan was to keep Hal Jordan’s fate under wraps until San Diego, that window is closing fast.
Cosmic Book News will be at Comic-Con covering the panel, so stay tuned.
Lanterns premieres Sunday, August 16 on HBO and HBO Max.
