Jayne Wichayanuwat 1

Aaron Neugeboren
English 10-02
June 14, 2016
History of John Constantine

There are many characters that is created in DC universe, including hero and antihero.

Hero is the word that defines human that some has have supernatural powers and some are not, but

both are saving the world from many villains by many ways. Hero also should have a good

behaviour while they are doing their job and even in their everyday life to be a role model for kids.

But some heroes do not have a good behaviour and do bad things. This kind of hero is called

‘antihero’. Antihero is a person who is lack from the same hero idealism, these kind of person often

possess dark personality traits such as disagreeableness, dishonesty, and aggressiveness. These

characters are usually considered "conspicuously contrary to an archetypal hero”. John Constantine

is one of the most famous antihero fictional character from DC universe. The life of John

Constantine reveals in the comic book called Hellblazer (1988–2013), Constantine (2013–2015). In

the TV series called Constantine (2015), a little bit in Arrow (2012 - present) and the live-action

film called Constantine (2005).

John Constantine was born on 10 May 1982 in Liverpool, England. he is an exorcist,

demonologist and petty dabbler of the dark arts. When John was born, his mother was died while

giving birth to him. Her death caused John’s father to develop a deep resentment towards John,

whom he blamed for Mary Anne's demise (John’s mother) , and led to him calling his son "Killer"

throughout his whole life. Additionally, whenever his father came home from drinking at the bar, he

would hit John in the face and remind him that his mother died because of him. Also, to punish him,

John's father would put out cigarettes by burning them on John's arms. (Constantine, 2012)

During John's teenage years, he met a nun named Anne Marie, who introduced him

into the occult world and developed his interest in the dark arts. The two also became lovers. John

then began reading every book he could find on the occult, learning how to conjure dead beings in 

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the hopes of one day conjuring his mother (John Constantine, n.d.). And At some point in his life,

he met and became friends with both Chas Chandler and Esrin Fortuna, the latter of whom he

eventually came to owe a substantial sum of money.

He also had a brutal encounter with sorcerer Felix Faust which he survived but left

Faust with a grudge against him, and also heard of the voodoo priest Papa Midnite. He also heard of

Damien Darhk, leader of H.I.V.E., and came to fear him so much he considered leaving whatever

city he was seeking to destroy a preferable option to fighting him.

However, one night,A demon possessed a girl named Astra, the daughter of a friend of

John's and he and his friends Anne Marie Flynn, Gary Lester, Ritchie Simpson, Judith and Chas

Chandler attempted to stop it. John, however, decided to summon a more powerful demon named

Nergal and extort him into dragging the lesser demon back to Hell (Riesman, 2014), but

unfortunately Nergal was able to seize Astra and killed her violently in front of everyone then

pulled her soul into Hell damning her for eternity. This action severally traumatized John and he

placed himself in Ravenscar Psychiatric Facility for the Mentally Deranged out of guilt. The rest of

the crew also came to resent John, some more than others, but regardless his actions and Astra's

death haunted them all for the rest of their lives.

About John’s personality. Because he is having witnessed the horrors of the world

John is very cynical and seemingly unconcerned with the value of human life, often deflecting his

real feelings with sarcastic jokes even towards the possibility of his own death. Due to the number

of people who have died around him John prefers to work alone and anyone he does work with, he

avoids attachment so he won't be as hurt if they get killed but John is noted for being brutally honest

with people, even angels, and never being shy of his opinion of the women he encounters. It's been

shown a few times he openly expresses an attraction to Zed and after meeting Team Arrow he

openly refers to all the women of the team, Laurel, Felicity and Thea, as "pretty girls". This also 

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causes Thea to develop an attraction to him calling him a "specific kind of yummy", much to

Oliver's discomfort. He also has a sarcastic personality, telling Oliver he would have dropped by

sooner if he had known Oliver knew so many pretty girls. (Arrow, 2014)

Despite his apart bleak view of the world and cynicism John is a very honorable man

as he is always there for the few friends he has, helping Chas to retrieve his daughter from Felix

Faust and helping Oliver Queen to restore Sara Lance's soul (Constantine, 2015). He also did a

protection spell on Oliver despite his refusal to have attachments to people when he saw Oliver had

a pure heart.John tends to be a pessimistic realist as when Oliver thanked him for bringing Sara

back he simply told Oliver he owed him only for Oliver to rebuttal that instead of that, they should

always have each other's back when need be, not as business acquaintances, but friends.

According to John is an exorcist, He has an ability to stop many types of demon. John

use to refer himself as merely a "dabbler" after his failed exorcism, He is a master of the occult and

mystic arts. Since his teenage years, John has accumulated vast knowledge and skill of magic,

mysticism, and the supernatural. He is well-versed in various words and phrases of multiple ancient

languages, such as Latin, which he will usually chant while performing certain rituals or

incantations (John Constantine, n.d.). Many incantations give him the ability to affect physical

forces, such as the inner workings of mechanisms, and the movements of others, allowing him to

move objects and control their motion and momentum with the proper incantation. He can exorcise

spirits that are demonic or ghostly in origin from their hosts by chanting incantations. Exorcism is

one of John's most prominent abilities.

In necromancy thing, John mentioned that he mastered necromancy during his teenage

years. With the help of Papa Midnite, he was able to allow the spirts of the dead to move on to the

afterlife. John is also capable of restoring a person's lost soul back into their body. In "Haunted",

John was able to restore Sara Lance's soul, and mentioned he had restored a person's soul once 

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before. John also has the power to use magic to manipulate fire by possesses some power over fire,

as shown when he ignited his hands with a lighter, and suffered no harmful effects from his hands

being engulfed in flames (John Constantine, n.d.). He also can summon various entities, and even

control them. He has summoned demons to fight other demons for him, and once summoned a

demon into his body to protect himself from a Invunche. John sometime uses magic circles that can

be used for rituals, as boundaries, or traps for certain creatures, such as when he used a magical

circle to trap the powerful demon, Furcifer, so he could banish it back to hell.

John once telekinetically closed and locked a door. He also used this power on

manifestation of a League of Assassins member, freezing his motion and suspending him helplessly

in mid air before killing it with a sword. John, along with Ritchie Simpson, knew an Egyptian ritual

that would allow them to travel to the reality of Jacob Shaw. John also performed a ritual that

transported himself, Oliver Queen, and Laurel Lance to the spirit world, to rescue the trapped soul

of Sara Lance. And John once mentioned that he could hide Liv from demons with a special spell.

(Arrow, 2014)

According to John Constantine’s journal, He is just the a normal man that has interest

in the weird thing which is the dark arts. John wants to help people with the thing that he interested

in and from the thing that he had learned. In a young age, Constantine sought refuge in the occult as

an escape from his hard life. It didn’t take long for him to discover he had a gift for it, but he also

learned the deadly price of the dark arts when his inexperience cost the life of another. Since then,

Constantine has vowed mastery over the occult and the demonic creatures that seek to abuse its

power. But in so doing, he’s also learned the hard truth about what it takes to stand against powerful

dark forces—a willingness to sacrifice anything and anyone. John then prefer to do things by his

own hand and trust no one.

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Bibliography

Constantine. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.dccomics.com/characters/constantine

John Constantine. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://arrow.wikia.com/wiki/John_Constantine

John Constantine. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Constantine

John Constantine. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/John_Constantine

List of magical powers. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://arrow.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_magical_powers

Riesman, A. (2014, October 23). The Secret History and Uncertain Future of Comics Character

John Constantine. Retrieved from http://www.vulture.com/2014/10/secret-history-of-john-

constantine.html#

The Visual History Of John Constantine: How DC's Resident Con Artist Evolved Over The Years.
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.techtimes.com/articles/67108/20150708/the-history-of-john-
constantine.htm