Episode 6 of HBO's Lanterns has effectively resolved a major continuity question within James Gunn's new DC Universe by confirming that events from The Suicide Squad are canon. The episode features character John Stewart referencing a "giant starfish" attack when discussing disaster preparedness for his city, clearly alluding to Starro's rampage from the 2021 film. This matters because The Suicide Squad was produced under the old DC Extended Universe before Gunn took over, leaving its status ambiguous in the rebooted continuity.

Gunn had previously described The Suicide Squad as an "imperfect memory" and maintained that only productions from Creature Commandos forward represent pure canon. However, he established a rule that when new DCU projects acknowledge events from older films, those events automatically become canon. The Lanterns reference therefore confirms that Starro's attack occurred in the new timeline, though potentially with different details than depicted in the original film. Beyond settling canon, the episode explores how ordinary citizens in the DCU respond to a world where superhero catastrophes occur regularly, with John's presentation showing how Midway City must prepare for threats that nearby Metropolis has Superman to handle.