We've been trying to get Ryan Reynolds to recite his "Green Lantern" oath -- the iconic pledge that starts, "In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight" -- for a very long time and thought we'd finally get him to do it at [article id="1644381"]Comic-Con[/article].

He turned us down in November when we named him the [article id="1627058"]actor we were most thankful for in 2009[/article]. And he declined again a few months later when we caught up with him at the Sundance Film Festival. He demurred still a third time while walking the red carpet at the Academy Awards.

So we were hoping a fourth time would be the charm when Reynolds swooped into Comic-Con this weekend to unveil previously unreleased footage from the upcoming DC Comics superhero flick. Alas, our hopes were soon dashed when the 33-year-old yet again skipped out on an oath recitation for our cameras.

"You're going to see the oath," he assured MTV News.

With hope flickering again, we wondered if that meant Reynolds would finally debut the oath during the "Green Lantern" panel at the Con.

"You might. You may. I'm not sure," he answered. "They're going to get the oath in a great way, but it ain't going to be right now."

No, but it happened shortly after our talk, when a young boy at the panel asked Reynolds if he would recite the oath. Unable to say no, Reynolds launched into the monologue. It was a heartwarming moment for a young fan, and the crowd assembled in Hall H erupted into applause when he finished.

We guess Reynolds got over his earlier uneasiness, which he neatly summarized to us at the Oscars in March. "Do you have any idea how much trouble I'd get into if I just belted out the oath right here?" he laughed.

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