Green Lantern (DCAU)
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John Stewart (as voiced by Phil LaMarr) is one of the founding members of the Justice League. His characterization differs from the comics version by being a former Marine and having not been explicitly revealed to have studied architecture. In a development not seen in any other version of the Green Lantern mythos, Stewart's eyes glow green as a side effect of his 15 years of exposure to the power ring's radiation (the glow fades when the ring runs out of juice or if he is physically separated from the ring). Bruce Timm said this was done to give Stewart's face a more visually interesting look, as they decided to stick with the comic's tradition that Stewart refuses to wear a mask because he's not ashamed to let people know who he is. By many accounts, the ring is also effective against yellow, contradicting an age-old weakness of the Lantern Corps. This is in continuity with the earlier appearance of Kyle Rayner on Superman: The Animated Series (Producer Dwayne McDuffie has supplied a version of this historical facet in the choice of Stewart's favorite film. As McDuffie has said, he's always had a weakness for Old Yeller). There have been a few instances in the show of something yellow somehow counteracting the Lantern energy, but he is never explicitly said to have the comic's weakness, much like the show's J'onn J'onzz is never said to have his comic weakness to fire despite several quick moments across the series implying it. John Stewart is arguably the most-developed main character in the show after Batman and Superman, each of whom had their own solo DCAU television shows before Justice League even came into existence. The coincidence of having two main characters named John/J'onn (once referred to as "the two Johns") can lead to minor confusion; the closed captioning of some episodes misspell John's name as J'onn.
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[edit] Appearances
[edit] DC animated Universe history
[edit] Background
Much of the history of John Stewart can be determined through various comments and revelations over the course of the series. Stewart grew up in the urban, predominantly African-American neighborhood of Detroit. After the League is formes, he declines an offer of private housing on the Watchtower to rent an appartment in that neighborhood.
As a child, he was a big fan of Justice Guild of America comics, a fiction within fiction superteam mostly based on the Justice Society of America, which Stewart credits for teaching him what it means to be a hero.
He enlisted in the Marine Corps as a young man. Bruce Timm and the series creators consider this to be key to his personality, in which aspects of his discipline and training are often shown. It was here that Stewart learned how to lead, fight and strategize, as well as becoming a good friend of fellow Marine Rex Mason.
After his service ended, he was chosen to be a Green Lantern, and trained under the mentorship of Katma Tui, with whom he developes a romantic relationship. It is unknown how the relationship ended, although in Hearts and Minds he considers lighting up the old flame.
Since Sector 2814, which includes Earth, is already under the protection of Abin Sur at the time he finishes his trained, Stewart spends 15 years patrolling another sector in the universe. It was during this time when, pursuing space pirate Kanjar Ro, Stewart believed himself to be responsible for the destruction of the planet Ajuris 4 - later revealed to be a falsehood concocted by the Manhunters.
Short after Abin Sur is murdered by Sinestro in Superman: The Animated Series episode In Brightest Day and passes his ring on to Kyle Rayner, Stewart is transferred to take over 2814 so that Rayner could go off and train with the Corps.
Short after, answering a telepathic call from the The Martian leads him to join with other heroes to battle against an alien invasion force, which leads to the formation of the Justice League.
[edit] In the show
During the course of the series, Stewart would be the main focus in more stories than any of the seven members of the League: "In Blackest Night", "Legends", "Metamorphosis", "The Savage Time", "Hearts and Minds", "Secret Society", and "Starcrossed" (though he shares the focus with Wonder Woman in "Savage" and with Hawkgirl in "Starcrossed"). The most crucial development during this time was the love story between him and Hawkgirl (real name: Shayera Hol). Their similar personalities ended up attracting each other and repelling each other at the same time, to the point where they became a bickering couple before they'd even decided to admit their feelings. Shortly after they admitted their feelings for each other, "Starcrossed" occurred, revealing that Hawkgirl was a spy for the Thanagarian forces, and that she has betrayed their secrets to her home Thanagarians. Worse than that, she'd been promised/engaged to the leader, Hro Talak, before she even came to Earth. Over the course of the Justice League finale, Shayera and Hro fell out of love with each other and Shayera helped save Earth from destruction. After the battle, the League votes on whether to allow her back, but she resigns without John ever telling her that he still loved her, which, on top of everything else that had happened, deeply saddened him. During her self-imposed exile, the League expands to 57 members (in the retitled Justice League Unlimited) and Stewart, having shaved his head bald and grown a goatee as part of his personal quest to rebuild his life, gets a new girlfriend: superheroine and supermodel Mari Jiwi McCabe/Vixen. At first he treats this as a rebound relationship, but once Shayera returns to the League, he's conflicted by feeling for both women. These feelings are exacerbated in "The Once and Future Thing", when he travels to the future and meets his son with Shayera, Warhawk. He does not immediately share this revelation with her. Upon meeting Carter Hall, the would-be Hawkman, John makes the decision to inform Shayera of the son he met in the future. However, as his relationship with Mari had advanced, he makes the decision to not leave Mari just because destiny would seem to decree it; he tells Shayera that whatever happens needs to happen because of how they feel now.
The other unique aspect of Stewart's character is his loyalty to his old neighborhood where he grew up. Because he spent years in space on Lantern duty, he sometimes feels like a stranger when home; he often relates events around him to similar things he saw out on his duty. He doesn't entirely trust the Lantern's incredible power, and is constantly looking for ways in which to reapply his Marine modes of thought and action into his work (training the Leaguers in "Secret Society", joining Easy Company in "The Savage Time", giving up the ring in "Hearts and Minds"). In "In Blackest Night", Stewart resigns himself to the treatment of the residents of Ajuris 5, claiming that superheroes need to be held accountable for their actions. In "Metamorphosis", he deals with the opposite problem, noting how wealthy and carefree his old Marine pal Rex Mason is, and wonders if being a Lantern has cost him social and romantic opportunities. The episode "Only a Dream", explores Stewart's fears over how his hometown has become as alien to him as the farthest reaches of the galaxy, and how he worries about the Lantern energy being the only thing of focus in his life. He conquers this fear (as Dr. Destiny harms his friends, John runs into the huge Lantern nearby and absorbs the energy into himself, making it his tool instead of himself being its tool), but he is still bitter. It would seem he blames himself for giving up real heroism (being a Marine) for just being a vessel for this boundless Lantern energy; in The Savage Time, Stewart's ring runs out of power and he is separated from his comrades, and is forced to join up with an American military unit in Germany, where he is given the chance to utilize his Marine training and see just how far he can go without the ring. To date, he never truly comes to terms with this, and may be why he spends so much time with the Flash (even though Wally tends to annoy him) because he is someone who reconciles his powers with a happy life on Earth (although Flash is coming to some realizations about that, too).
[edit] Design
[edit] Controversy and opinion
When Bruce Timm first announced the lineup for Justice League, there was a good deal of commotion over the choices of John Stewart and Hawkgirl. [1] Regarding Stewart, the first complaint was that he had been included simply to have a black man on the team. Fans were angered for one of two reasons; they were not including the "real" Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, or they were not keeping in line with the continuity established in Superman by including Kyle Rayner. Timm did admit that one of the reasons for Stewart's inclusion was that he brought diversity to the team, but also felt that Stewart was a more interesting character (arguably, Jordan was too much of a square-jawed überhero and Rayner would be too similar to their Flash). Timm was fond to point to Dennis O'Neil's original incarnation of the character, who was an angry and edgy character, and it was from that position that they ran with it. They felt a character like this would bring conflict and interesting stories to the show. In addition, Stewart's being lesser-known amongst the Lanterns allowed the writers to shape the character more freely as they saw fit. Jordan would later appear in the JLU episode "The Once and Future Thing, Part 2: Time, Warped".
The other major controversy, especially amongst Internet fans, was Stewart's use of the ring. After the first few story-arcs, complaints began rising furiously over John's adherence to "beams and bubbles". Many felt they could accept this new character, but were disappointed with the limited imagination with which the power ring was used, as it had the power to conjure virtually any object or form of energy, an ability used more creatively in the comics. The show itself addressed this concern in later episodes; in "Hearts and Minds", Katma admonishes John for "using his ring like a jackhammer", a trait she attributes to half of the Corps. Additionally, Stewart is much more free with his ring use when he's off-duty, as seen in "Comfort and Joy" when he makes himself a snowboard and has a superpowered snowball fight with Hawkgirl. Timm has admitted that they could have been more creative in the first season with Stewart's power-ring usage, and in the latter parts of the second season and beyond, Stewart has shown more creativity with his ring. By the time of "Starcrossed", Stewart is shown creating giant fists, an axe, and even a giant electric drill. In his defense, fans of the show have theorized that, as Stewart was a Marine, he would favor the results of his actions over the aesthetic interest of it, and that his military thinking would motivate him to act first and consider later. That would help explain why he would favor hitting someone with a simple beam from his ring than inventing some new kind of device to achieve the same effect. It should also be noted that in the episode "Kid Stuff" where Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman are all turned into children, Stewart is revealed to have an expansive imagination as a child, further supporting the view that it is Stewart's military training that leads to his efficient use of his ring.
