Matchbox02

I think there’s a certain tension between John Stewart as a character and GL fans that needs to be discussed tbh. When the DCU began, everyone said John shouldn’t be the main GL because he doesn’t have enough material to work with in order to lead a franchise on screen. He’s not as expansive as Hal Jordan is in the comics and is only utilized extensively in the cartoons which doesn’t do a lot to service him either. The greatest material John has to work with was written by a pedophile whose legacy is so tarnished that his book won’t even get reprinted for distribution and has been buried in history with zero possibility of mention let alone adaptation. In short, John is severely LIMITED. The Lanterns writers agree, and decides to add more to his character whilst still maintaining core aspects of who he is (his strong identity as a black man, his past in the marines, his love for being an architect and creating in general, his disdain for authority). They integrate the Guardians and Manhunters into John’s origin to tackle themes of parenthood, generational trauma, psychological programming, and shattering systems of control which marks him as a direct threat to this galactic authority that’ll have repercussions in future storylines. He’s formed a connection with Sinestro and has inherited an unsanctioned Lantern from him that both completes his arc of learning to embrace fear after having it mentally blocked out and leaves the door open for further exploration in their dynamic. They did all of that without stealing any material from Hal as well (assuming John doesn’t become Parallax or something). And y’all still take issue with that, because now it’s not accurate enough to the comics. The uncomfortable truth is that a lot of y’all don’t actually want John to be pushed in a position where he could be a main character with an engaging overarching story and new material made specifically for him. You want him to be a side character because you believe that’s where he belongs so you can tolerate him more. It’s so obvious that it’s not even funny. Obviously that doesn’t mean you have to like everything they’re doing with this version of the character whether it be narrative choices or casting, but to hate on the intention of making him a more prominent figure instead of restricting him to what YOU YOURSELF believe to be a limiting role? Is really weird.