John Stewart

John Stewart is one of the superheroes known as Green Lantern in American comic books published by DC Comics. One of the first African-American superheroes to appear in DC Comics, the character was created by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams, and first appeared in Green Lantern (Volume 2) #87 (December 1971/January 1972). The concept for the character came from Adams' idea of a substitute Green Lantern that better reflected the racial makeup of the world's population.

John Stewart, a college graduate and architect, was conceived by Adams to portray a better representation of black people in America, with Adams also diverging from the usual lighter coloring of black characters to depict him as dark-skinned, basing Stewart's design on actor Sidney Poitier. Stewart was introduced in his debut issue and origin story as an anti-authority figure symbolizing Black Power politics. He notably refused to wear a mask, breaking superhero tradition.

The early 1980s saw Stewart become the main Green Lantern. In 2007, Geoff Johns changed the character to be a former U.S. Marine in Green Lantern (Volume 4) #26 following his 2001 Justice League cartoon depiction, with which Bruce Timm removed Stewart's original "militant", "Black Panther Party"-esque characterization in favor of a military background.

Quick Facts

Full name

John Marshall Stewart

Species

Metahuman

Publisher

DC Comics

Debut

Green Lantern (vol. 2) #87 (January 1972)

Creators

Dennis O'Neil; Neal Adams

Alliances

Green Lantern Corps
Justice League
U.S. Marine Corps
Indigo Tribe

Also known as

Green Lantern
The Master Builder
Darkstar
Emerald Knight

Lore & Background

John Stewart is an architect, later "retconned" into a veteran U.S. Marine from Detroit, Michigan, who was selected by the Guardians as a backup Green Lantern to then-current Green Lantern Hal Jordan after the previous backup, Guy Gardner, was seriously injured after getting hit by a car while trying to save a civilian. Although Jordan objected to the decision after seeing that Stewart had a belligerent attitude to authority figures, the Guardians stood by their decision and chided Jordan for his supposed bigoted outlook on the issue.

Jordan explained that he just felt that even though Stewart might have the integrity for the task, he "obviously would have a chip on his shoulder bigger than the rock of Gibraltar." Jordan's opinion was that Stewart's first mission began badly. His assignment was to protect a racist politician, and Stewart, while averting an accident, took advantage of the situation to embarrass Jordan in the process. When an assassin shoots at the politician, Stewart does not intervene with Jordan in response to the attack, which initially makes Stewart seem suspect.

However, it turns out Stewart had good reasons for this apparent dereliction of duty because he was stopping a gunman from killing a police officer in the outside parking lot at the event while Jordan was pursuing a decoy. When Jordan confronts Stewart about his actions, Stewart explains that the politician had staged the attack for political advantage. Jordan then concludes that Stewart was an excellent recruit and has proven his worth. For some time, Stewart occasionally filled in as Green Lantern when Jordan was unavailable, including for some missions of the Justice League. After Jordan gave up being Green Lantern in the 1980s, Stewart took over as the primary Green Lantern of Earth.

Reader's Guide

The central conflict of his involvement is the tension between his Corps obligations and his Earth-based responsibilities. Central factions include the Justice League, the Green Lantern Corps, and the Young Justice team itself.

Did You Know?

The character's original name was Lincoln Washington, chosen by editor Julius Schwartz, but Neal Adams objected to it as a slave name and renamed him John Stewart.
Geoff Johns retconned Stewart into a former U.S. Marine in Green Lantern (Volume 4) #26 (2007), following Bruce Timm's depiction in the 2001 Justice League cartoon.