Tom King Reveals Why Lanterns Changed John Stewart's Origin Story
“We tweaked his origin story to give him that thing that Batman has, that thing that Spider-Man has: a hook.”
Lanterns has kept viewers on their toes with its timeline-hopping story, which takes us back and forth between 2016 and the present day. But even by 2016, Lanterns dropped us in the middle of Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart’s (Aaron Pierre) story, following the unlikely duo as they investigate a potential alien invasion in Rushville, Nebraska. At this point, Hal Jordan is already well into his career as Earth’s Green Lantern — with the fight with one of his biggest foes behind him — and has reluctantly taken on John Stewart as his “apprentice” to eventually take on the mantle.
But Episode 3 of Lanterns takes us even further back. A flashback-heavy story done in the style of Damon Lindelof’s best Watchmen episodes, Lanterns Episode 3 reveals John Stewart’s origins, and why exactly he’s ok with this humiliating job shadowing Hal Jordan. But wait, things are a little different than they are in the comics, aren’t they?
“John's origin has been fudgeable, a little bit. Different people have done different things with it,” Tom King told Inverse ahead of the show’s premiere. “But to me, it does go back to his original. There's something in that original origin story; he and Hal did not get along well at first... So all that stuff is from the comics.”
But exactly does Lanterns draw from the comics, and what did it invent for the show? Let’s dive into it.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Lanterns Episode 3.
What is John Stewart’s Origin in the Comics?
John Stewart’s origins are changing once again, and not just in the DCU.
Introduced in 1971, John Stewart was an unemployed architect from Detroit, Michigan, who was selected by the Guardians as a backup Green Lantern to Hal Jordan after the previous backup, Guy Gardner, was seriously injured. Through John’s early tenure as backup, he and Hal often clashed — as a Black man in America, John was pretty justified in being fairly anti-authority (and as one of the early significant Black superheroes, he was intentionally written to represent the Black Power movement, and would often confront police for harassing Black people).
He would be promoted to be the main, full-time Green Lantern in the 1980s, and in the 2000s, became the face of Green Lantern to thousands of kids who saw him every week in Cartoon Network’s Justice League and its various spinoffs. The Justice League animated series originated John Stewart’s backstory as a former U.S. Marine, because creator Bruce Timm thought his origin as a militant Black Panther-esque character “wasn’t relevant anymore.” John’s newfound military background would officially become canon in the comics when Geoff Johns retconned his backstory in 2007's Green Lantern vol. 4 #26.
And in Lanterns, John Stewart’s shifting origins would actually both be worked into his backstory.
John Stewart’s Lifelong Path To Being Green Lantern
John’s mother Bernadette meets one of the Guardians and negotiates John’s place as the next Green Lantern.
In Lanterns Episode 3, we learn that Hal Jordan got the Green Lantern ring after the Guardians of the Universe plucked him from his bed in the middle of the night and asked him one question: “Are you afraid?” Hal immediately answered no, and his fearlessness earned him the ring.
But Hal wasn’t the first human being put through this test. It turned out that earlier in the night, the Guardians had also picked out John Stewart Sr. (J. Alphonse Nicholson), who answered “yes” to their question, immediately disqualifying him. It wouldn’t take long before he and the rest of the world would find out the reason behind this nighttime alien incursion, as Hal Jordon immediately rises to fame as the world’s first visible superhero. But this sends John Sr. into a depressive spiral, which starts to negatively affect his wife Bernadette (Jasmine Cephas Jones) and their newborn son.
However, Bernadette reacts much more impassively to the Guardians, who visit their home a second time, offering a giant diamond as an apology for any emotional turmoil they’ve caused. Angered by their halfhearted gesture, Bernadette challenges the visiting Guardian (Laura Linney), pointing out that capturing a Black man in the middle of the night and asking if he’s afraid stacks the odds against him — he’s a Black man in America, she argues; he lives his whole life afraid.
John Stewart Sr. was originally offered the ring before Hal Jordan, but failed the test.
Impressed by Bernadette, the Guardian offers a second chance for the ring to John and Bernadette’s infant son. Thus begins John Stewart’s lifelong preparation to be the ideal Green Lantern candidate. Bernadette and John immediately begin training him from childhood to be fearless, making him endure regular target practice (with an apple on his head being the target) and various other distressing situations. This transforms young John into a stoic man, who joins the U.S. Marines and becomes one of its star recruits.
But one mission ironically causes him to cross paths early with Hal Jordan: After spending months staking out an international fugitive, his mission is disrupted by Hal dropping in and flying away with his target. The ensuing blowback leads to John taking the fall and getting dishonorably discharged from the Marines. Returning home despondent, his mother encourages him to pursue art as he always wanted as a kid, before their training began. John enters architecture school, which is where he’s attending when he’s finally approached by the Guardians with the test he’s been waiting for his whole life. He naturally passes with flying colors, but is given one last hurdle: he won’t be given the ring by Hal Jordan; the Guardians want him to take it from him...by force.
“We tweaked his origin story to give him that thing that Batman has, that thing that Spider-Man has: a hook,” King said, comparing John Stewart’s upbringing in Lanterns as a “Tiger Woods, Williams’ sisters kind of thing.”
The Guardian offers John his difficult new mission.
“ John's one of the greatest [superheroes] we've ever had,” King continued. “And we play with that in the [writer’s] room. And the idea that he comes from one of those families where the parents are like, ‘You're the chosen one, and I'm going to make you into that person.’”
King credits Vanessa Baden-Kelly with crafting John Stewart’s new origin and the idea that “sometimes you have to raise your hand.”
“I remember reading that the first time,” King recalled. “I was like, oh my God, that's the show: That the ring chose Hal and he's like, ‘Yeah, of course.’ He doesn't think of the privilege of that idea. But John's family's like, ‘No, you gotta chase it. You gotta get it. There's a difference between him and [you]. I know it's not fair. That's the way the world is.’ And a lot of parents have that conversation with their kids, and it's a hard conversation to have.”
But now that John has gotten to know Hal, does he have it in him to take the ring from him? Has all his training to be fearless been worth it? That’s a question Lanterns will have to answer over the next few episodes.
