What exactly makes a hero? We know you need the drive, like being endowed with great power or having to avenge someone. We know you need friends and allies because no one person can stand alone against the hordes of evil. Finally you need to make a difference, like being a symbol of hope or changing a life. But what about the hard decisions, the decisions that no person could ever make? The impossible choice is the true test of a hero; it’s not killing a giant dragon whose limbs shatter mountains and back shaves the sun, it’s the moral conundrum that a hero has to make for the greater good even if doing so destroy them. There is such a hero that runs across the comic mythos and his name is John Stewart, the Lantern of sector 2814.
After the original Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, joined the Justice League he was spread pretty thin, and so the Guardians (the guys who run the Green Lantern Corps) assigned a new Green Lantern to Earths sector, Guy Gardener. Guy Gardener however got seriously injured by a monster called Doomsday; the Guardians needed yet another back up for Hal Jordan, and so the role fell to US marine John Stewart. Taking up the mantle John was found to be one of the best Green Lanterns, he was formidable in combat, intelligent and intuitive, and he had immense willpower to carry on the mission at hand.
Unfortunately on one of John’s first missions he was sent to protect a planet called Xanshi, unfortunately he was unable to and entered into a deep depression. After some time John Stewart began to forgive himself for failing and was entrusted by the Guardians to overlook a planet called Mosaic World, an amalgamation of different worlds. John eventually led Mosaic world to becoming a strong formidable society amongst the different races. John became so powerful that he became the first human Guardian known as the Master Builder. With this power his abilities rivaled those of an intergalactic god. That’s right he became a freaking god. However when a crazed Hal Jordan destroyed the Power Battery, the Green Lantern Corps Energy source, he lost these godly powers.
After some time the long established enemies of the Green Lantern Corps, the Sinestro Corps, targeted to destroy earth. One member of the Sinestro Corps known as the sniper was tasked to set up camp three sectors away to take down the Green Lanterns from afar. It was virtually impossible to get close to him because he’d kill you before you even had a chance. But John was able to close in on him by using clever tactics and his experience in the army.
Through his many adventures and losses John Stewart finally decided to get over his loss of Xanshi and visit the graveyard planet and pay his respects. However at this time the entity of death revived all of the planets inhabitants as Black Lanterns, along with John’s deceased wife. Refusing to join them the controlled corpses attacked John. John fought off the entire planet; one guy, fighting a planet infested with super powered zombies. Yeah, that happened. After defeating the Black Lanterns, John raced back to earth to warn the others of the Black Lanterns existence. Without John Stewart, the world, nay the universe would have been destroyed by Black Lanterns. After the defending forces were amassed John Stewart led a portion of them into battle.
When the Green Lantern Corpse was nearly wiped out by the Black Lanterns, a crazed Guardian by the name of Krona started to create Green Lantern rings poisoned with fear in order to control them. John along with the three other earth Green Lanterns were able to remove their rings before they were infected. Taking the mantle of other colored rings, the four Lanterns began to battle the entire core alone. John was given the task of taking on Mogo, the living Planet. Mogo had been changed into a manufacturing Planet to create the poisoned rings and infect more people to become Green Lanterns. John quickly saw that the only way to stop Krona from becoming too powerful would be to kill Mogo. Making the hard choice John had destroyed the legendary Lantern to save the universe yet again.
Currently in the comics John Stewart and fellow Green Lantern Guy Gardener are fighting off a new threat, a race of aliens that feed off willpower. While battling the alien race, John was captured with other Green Lanterns. The Lanterns were tortured and beaten and interrogated savagely until one of the Lanterns was willing to give up information that would kill many more Green Lanterns. John made the hard decision again breaking out of his chain and killing his fellow Lantern to save the Corps.
John Stewart also made an impact on comics because of his race. He was the first black superhero to not have the world black in his title, like Black Lighting, Black Panther, Black Tarantula, and Black Manta. In fact his original inception sought to create a strong African American hero that didn’t have the negative stereotype and generic attitude that was portrayed by black characters in comics. So the main embodiment of John Stewart is to give the finger to racism.
So let’s do a recap on the man we have just come to know. An ex-US marine who is honorable and an all-around badass? Check. A master tactician and leader, intelligent and powerful enough to lead a planet and become an intergalactic god? Check. He’s a master anti-sniper able to take down a man who was thought to be impossible to kill? Check. He was able to fight off an onslaught of super powered zombies, who resembled everyone that he has ever cared about including his wife and his people? Check. He makes the hard decisions that no one else can make for the greater good by sometimes having to destroy a planet and fellow Lanterns? Check. His main existence is to give a big F U to racist bigots and prove that stereotypes don’t have to exist? One big check. So next time you’re watching that atrocious Ryan Renyolds movie just hit the pause button and go read the Green Lantern Corps comic book and read about a true hero, John Stewart the Lantern of Sector 2814.
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