John Stewart is one of the best Green Lanterns out there. Even among the plethora of human and Earth-based wielders of the green power rings, John has stood out and made a name for himself. He’s the cool, calm, and rational one above all else. He’s the leader that can get everyone together and unite them under his vision, which has been meticulously crafted to save the day no matter what threat they’re facing. John Stewart is the definition of a hero who others can rely on, but just like that, he’s dead.
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Green Lantern (2023) #27 showed the Green Lanterns and the rest of the depowered Lanterns of the universe facing the apocalyptic threat of the Sun-Eaters, who are set on eliminating all Lanterns and emotion from the universe. With no other option, John Stewart did what he did best and inspired everyone, even to the point of giving up his life. Not only was it a beautiful moment, but it was a perfect narrative end to his character, making up for his biggest mistake of all.
A World Lost to Arrogance
While John is known as the staunch and reliable guy today, back when he first got his ring he was a lot more of a hardcase. He was brash and arrogant, taking any chance to show everyone that he was someone you don’t want to mess with. Unfortunately, that would come back to bite the universe in a big way in the Cosmic Odyssey mini-series. A being known as the Anti-Life Entity set up a world-ending bomb on the planet Xanshi, and only John and Martian Manhunter were around to stop it. However, John thought Manhunter was slowing him down and thought he could handle everything himself, and trapped the martian in a construct while he went to save the day.
His arrogance would be everyone’s undoing, as when John found the bomb, it had been painted yellow. Back then, Green Lantern rings couldn’t affect anything yellow, so he was powerless to stop it as the bomb exploded, sending the entire planet careening into the sun, with only John and Martian Manhunter as survivors. This mistake haunted John for the rest of his life, and fundamentally changed him from an overzealous rookie with something to prove to a true hero who put unbelievable thought and care into every decision he made. Now, after thirty-six years, he’s truly closed the circle on this mistake.
A World Saved by Heroism
With the Sun-Eaters coming and the Green Lantern Corps severely underpowered to fight them, John was left in charge and made the hardest call of all. He gathered all of the captured criminals of the universe who once wore power rings and gave an impassioned speech about standing up to save the universe. But even after getting everyone on his side, there was the problem of all the other emotional spectrum Power Batteries being non-operational. Thankfully, John had a plan for that too. The events of the John Stewart: The Emerald Knight comic had infused him with a near limitless amount of willpower energy, and he put it to the test.
John said his final goodbye to the living construct of his dead sister Ellie, telling her he knew she wasn’t really his sister, and that he wanted her to live a good life after he was gone. Then, with everything he had, John let the emotional energy out and resparked the Lanterns of all colors. Rings poured out to restore their respective Corps, and every Lantern in the universe got ready to fight the Sun-Eaters. Ellie was even given a Blue Lantern ring. Not only was this an awesome showcase of John’s power and character, but of how far he’s come.
John Stewart, in his tragic arrogance, let a planet die. Now, in his maturity and faith in both the Corps and the inherent goodness of everyone, he sacrificed his life to give them all a fighting chance. John failed to save Xanshi, but here he finally managed to save another world and its people, and those people will go on to save the whole universe. It’s a perfect circle, with John finally closing the book and making sure that this time nobody died on his watch. What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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