Hey everyone!
Welcome back to top 10 nerd!
The channel where we talk about all things nerdy!
If you’ve been here before, you’re probably familiar with our alternate versions lists
– we’ve got a lot – and this time around, we’re switching it up a bit by focusing
on one particular alternate version of Green Lantern – John Stewart.
And facts about him!
John is a fan favourite Green Lantern, and one of the more memorable ones next to Hal
Jordan, with the two having a complex relationship of their own together, which we’ll be touching
on a bit in this video.
So with all that in mind, let’s jump into our list of the top 10 alternate versions
of Green Lantern – John Stewart Shocking Facts edition!
10 Founding Member John is a founding member of the Justice League,
as is revealed in the animated series of the same name, and comes up in in Justice League
Unlimited as well.
In addition to this, the DCAU actually altered their timeline to make John the first green
lantern, skipping over Guy Gardner and Hal Jordan.
This choice was primarily made because of the hero’s increasing popularity, and because
DC wanted to have more diversity in their cast of characters in the show.
9 Architect Initially when the character was introduced,
Stewart was an architect.
This was later retconned, with his new origin being that he was veteran US Marine from Detroit.
His abilities in engineering and architecture weren’t entirely removed though - after
the Marines, he became an architect, and his expertise in creating accurate energy constructs
down to the bolt is due to his knowledge in the subjects.
He also had a hand in building the new Hall of Justice and the JLA Watchtower, and aiding
in rebuilding Coast City.
He’s even earned the name Master Builder amongst his Green Lantern peers.
8 Doesn’t Wear A Mask This one should be fairly obvious, but John
Stewart is one of the only Green Lanterns who doesn’t wear mask.
This was a choice on Stewart’s part, with him declaring that he had nothing to hide
– something he states when he first became a Green Lantern, knocking the mask out of
Hal Jordan’s hands.
This was all while saying a few statements that some have read as problematically skimming
the line of introducing him as a stereotypical black character when he’s given his green
lantern uniform, with Stewart saying, I quote, “These aren’t any threads James Brown
would wear, but they beat my usual salvation army special!”
and “I won’t wear any mask!
This black man lets it all hang out.”
7 Back Up John Stewart is the backup Green Lantern to
Hal Jordan.
After the previous back up Guy Gardner was hit by a car and injured while trying to save
a civilian, the Guardians sought to replace him, and chose John.
This didn’t fly too well with Hal Jordan; he felt that John had too much of an aggressive
attitude towards authority figures, and spoke out.
In response, the Guardians told him he was being bigoted and stood by their decision.
6 Publication History Speaking of, let’s talk a little bit about
how John became the back up for Hal.
Debuting in Green Lantern vol 2 issue 87 in 1971, John’s creation came to be when artist
Neal Adams came up with the idea of having a substitute Green Lantern in place if anything
ever happened to Hal Jordan.
When discussing it with editor Julius Schwartz, the two decided that this Lantern should be
black, with Adams later revealing that that choice was due to wanting to properly represent
the racial makeup of the world’s population.
I quote, “we ought to have a black Green Lantern, not because we’re liberals, but
because it just makes sense.”
5 DC’s First Black Superhero Because of Adams and Schwartz, John Stewart
became the first black superhero in the DC universe.
In 1971 – yeah, let that sink in.
Prior to that, Marvel had already introduced Black Panther and Black Goliath.
Up until then, DC had introduced black characters, but not as superheroes, and only had a handful
of non-stereotyped characters like Jackie Johnson, a World War 2 soldier who was a member
of the Easy Company, first appearing in Our Army At War issue 113 back in 1961 as a supporting
character.
John wasn’t the first black superhero to headline his own title at DC though – instead,
Black Lightning would appear later that decade in 1977 with his own self-titled series.
John would get his time to shine though – in 1992, he was featured in Green Lantern: Mosaic,
which had an 18 issue run and was a hit.
4 Sinestro Murdered Him In the Injustice Gods Among Us Year 2 comics,
in issue #23, Sinestro murders John.
But it’s a bit more complicated than just evil defeated good.
During the Year Two story arc, the Green Lanterns are summoned by the Guardians to collect Superman,
who at that point has taken control of the world and enforced his own brand of peace
with his Regime.
Sinestro and the yellow lanterns are part of the regime, and when the Green Lanterns
are taken prisoner, John joins the Regime but eventually he tries to help put an end
to the war between Superman and the other heroes.
This causes Sinestro to kill him, and Guy Gardner is blamed.
3 His First Mission Let’s jump back a little to the conflict
between Hal and John.
John’s first mission was to protect a racist politician from a potential assignation.
The two were to work together, and when the politician was shot at, Stewart wasn’t there
to respond to the attack, leading Hal to suspect that perhaps his intentions were based on
a personal bias.
But turns out that the reason Stewart wasn’t there was because he had his hands full stopping
a gunman who almost killed a police officer at the same event.
Turns out the politician had staged the attack as a means of gaining a political advantage
– a fact that Stewart had managed to discover – and that he had in fact saved the day
while Hal was hunting down a decoy.
This gained Hal’s respect, and he felt that Stewart had proved his worth after all.
2 Oan Honor Guard Turns out Stewart never stopped proving his
worth - his distinguished service in the Corps led to him being awarded a position on the
Oan Honor Guard, which is an elite group of Green Lanterns that are not restricted to
protecting just one sector.
He’s not the only familiar Green Lantern whose a part of that group either – Guy
Gardner, Kyle Rayner and even Hal Jordan have been members of this group, with Gardner being
one of the groups more prominent members for his ability as a ‘trouble-shooter’.
In addition to that, Stewart has also been given the position of chief trainer for new
Lanterns recruited into the corps.
1 He Kills Unlikely many other heroes in the Green Lantern
Corps, or heroes in the DC universe in general, John Stewart kills.
Sort of.
More so only when necessary.
He’s capable of killing when the situation calls for it.
For example, he destroys Mogo the living planet in order to save the universe and prevent
Mogo from creating an army of Krona-controlled Green Lanterns.
He also killed a fellow Lantern when that Lantern was about to give in to torture and
reveal a bunch of important secrets to their enemies.
Regardless, it’s safe to say that Stewart acts out of the greater good, and will go
to all costs in order to defend it.
There we have it friends!
Is John Stewart your favourite green lantern?
If not, who is?
Let us know in those comments below.
We’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to John, so if you dug this list and
want a part 2, let us know in those comments below!
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In the meantime, thanks for watching!
I’ve been Kelly Paoli and this has been top 10 nerd.
Catch you all in the next one!