HBO’s ‘Lanterns’ Just Made a Major Departure From DC Comics With This Character’s Backstory

Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Lanterns Episode 3.

On this week’s Lanterns, we were sent back in time to finally uncover just how John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) was chosen as Hal Jordan’s (Kyle Chandler) inevitable replacement. Longtime DC Comics fans probably didn’t see this new origin story coming, especially since it hardly resembles anything we’ve seen from the character in the comics previously. If you’re new to the Green Lantern mythos and curious as to how John Stewart traditionally got his ring, here’s what you need to know.

‘Lanterns’ Ignores John Stewart’s Comic Book Origins

In Lanterns Episode 3, we learn that John Stewart’s story began when his father (J. Alphonse Nicholson) failed the test from the Guardians of the Universe when Abin Sur’s ring was searching for a candidate. Having been floated around as a potential replacement, John Sr. succumbed to fear when asked by the giant green bubble if he was afraid — whereas Hal Jordan did not. Instead, John Sr. slowly loses his mind, pushing his family away until a lone Guardian (Laura Linney) reveals herself to John’s wife, Bernadette Stewart (Jasmine Cephas Jones), and the two make a bargain. While John Sr. is no longer qualified to become Green Lantern, he and Bernadette will raise their youngest son, John Jr., to be fearless. If they succeed, he will indeed become the next Lantern of this sector. All John’s life, he is told he will one day replace Hal Jordan, leading to his joining the U.S. Marine Corps and fighting to prove himself.

While it is true that (according to his current origin) the Guardians of the Universe did watch over John from a young age, he wasn’t molded so intently by his parents. In fact, in the pages of Green Lantern, John and Hal are only about a dozen or more years apart in age. When John Stewart first appeared in the early ’70s in Green Lantern #87 (during the famed Green Lantern/Green Arrow run by Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams), he was portrayed a bit rougher around the edges than the usual military persona he embodies today. Here, John was more of an anti-authority figure who the Guardians chose after Hal’s original backup, Guy Gardner, got hit by a bus. An out-of-work architect willing to give something new a try, John challenged Hal’s perspective on what it takes to be a Green Lantern. After accepting the “backup” job, John disappeared for a while, returning on occasion to help when Hal was off-world or busy. However, he would later take over as Earth’s official Green Lantern in the early ’80s, carrying the ring through the famed Crisis on Infinite Earths and beyond.

Eventually, the Zero Hour event shifted some of John’s backstory. In Green Lantern #147, we learn a bit more about his Detroit upbringing when he reveals that his father taught him to hold society in contempt. As a drunk, his father beat his mother until eventually abandoning the family — including his younger brother Damon and sister Rose. Eventually, their mother passed, and they moved in with John’s Aunt Loretta. When he was a teenager, John took a joyride with his brother that resulted in the death of their sister, a memory he repressed for years. While these events don’t explicitly connect with his being chosen as a Green Lantern, they further contributed to the man he became, wanting to make a difference with his life for the good of others rather than the bad. Of course, John’s backstory was reworked even further following his inclusion in the DC Animated Universe via Justice League and its sequel series Justice League Unlimited.

John Stewart Grew Into One of the Most Powerful Green Lanterns, but He Didn’t Start That Way

When Justice League removed John’s backstory as a civil rights activist and made him an ex-Marine instead, the comics ran with the change. We first see John’s backstory alluded to by Geoff Johns in Green Lantern #26, but the concept wasn’t explored again in earnest until later. Eventually, John’s origins are retold in the New 52 in Secret Origins #9 in a story titled “The Architect” by Charles Soule. Here, John’s background as an architect (now for Ferris Aircraft) remains intact, but the rest of it has changed. He grew up in Detroit with his sister Eleonore (who died when they were kids) after being raised by their single, widowed mother, Shirley. John’s mother was a community organizer who pushed him to fight for what he believed in, and so he eventually joined the Marines. However, John was honorably discharged for breaking rank (as seen in Green Lantern Corps #25), leading him to receive his education on the G.I. Bill. It’s also revealed that the Guardians had been watching him for some time.

Eventually, they tested John by sending a Manhunter after him, and after he defeated the robotic adversary, he was inducted into the Green Lantern Corps — initially, he was Hal Jordan’s backup, eventually becoming his partner. While John Stewart’s origins have shifted over the years, Lanterns is perhaps the biggest departure from the usual material, even if it does echo some of the aspects of his modern origin. Indeed, the HBO series has gone so far as to add that John (as a rookie) can maintain constructs without the use of the ring. While that has also been done in the comics, it was only after many years of training and achieving almost godlike status due to direct contact with the Source (the creative energy behind the DC Universe). As for a “green” John Stewart with limited power ring experience? It seems like Lanterns may be jumping the gun a bit to convince audiences that John Stewart may not need a ring after all. At this point, we’ll have to wait and see how the character’s new DCU origin contributes to his franchise fate.

New episodes of Lanterns air on HBO and HBO Max every Sunday.

Lanterns

Release Date

August 16, 2026

Network

HBO