John Stewart

"The Guardians chose you because they had faith in you! Not in the ring, but in John Stewart!"

- J'onn J'onzz

John Stewart was recruited by the Green Lantern Corps and trained for ten years, before returning shortly after Abin Sur's death. He became a founding member of the Justice League. He is also the father of future JLU member Warhawk.

History
John Stewart left home to enlist in the United States Marine Corps at a fairly young age. Relatively little is known of John's military service, save that he met and befriended Rex Mason during that time.

After leaving the service, John Stewart was selected by the Guardians of the Universe to join the Green Lantern Corps. Early in his Corps career, John would train under the veteran Green Lantern Katma Tui, with whom he shared a brief romance.

As Sector 2814 was already under the protection of Green Lantern Abin Sur, John was eventually reassigned to another space sector; his activities during this time are largely unrevealed, but John was among the Green Lanterns that brought down their renegade corpsman Sinestro, stripping him of his power ring. Some time later, following Abin Sur's demise at the hands of Sinestro, who by that time had sworn a blood oath against the Green Lantern Corps, John returned to his home sector. Abin Sur's designated successor, Kyle Rayner, would himself require training before being assigned a sector of his own. John Stewart was therefore sent to stand guard over Sector 2814, while Kyle Rayner was sent to Katma Tui for training.

Not long after John's homecoming, he would answer the fateful summons to join six other heroes in opposing the Imperium invasion. In the aftermath of that crisis, John readily agreed to Superman's suggestion that the seven heroes band together as the Justice League.

John was the focal point of one of the League's earliest missions. A detachment of Manhunter Robots were sent to Earth to take John into custody, to answer charges of inadvertently destroying an inhabited world. The League followed, ready to stand up for their comrade despite John's insistence that he be held accountable for his actions. The League was able to prove that John was innocent, and that the entire situation had been engineered by the Manhunters as part of a plot to exact revenge upon their former masters — the Guardians. John continued to serve with distinction in the Justice League, forming a strong bond with his comrades. In particular, John grew closer to Hawkgirl; although the two clashed at first, their shared military/police backgrounds provided common ground, and in time, the two became romantically involved.

This romantic attachment would be shattered by the Thanagarian invasion. Hawkgirl's apparent treachery, and apparent engagement to Thanagarian Commander Hro Talak, all but broke John's heart. Despite this, John remained with the Justice League through its expansion — although he at one point appealed, unsuccessfully, to the Guardians for reassignment.

However, John attempted to put himself back together and started seeing Justice League member Vixen. He also grew a goatee. While he attempted to make it seem as if he was over Shayera, other members on the Justice League noticed that this was not the case. To make things even more complicated for John, Shayera came out of hiding to stop Solomon Grundy after he had risen from the grave a second time. When Solomon Grundy had been put to rest by Shayera, John angrily informed reporters that not only was Shayera allowed back in the League; she was never actually kicked out in the first place.

As fallout from the Thanagarian invasion, the League voted whether to reinstate or revoke Shayera's Justice League membership. Not wanting to cause any further problems or distrust, Shayera voluntarily resigned from the League before hearing their verdict. However, the League had actually voted 3-2 to allow Shayera to remain in the League. John recused himself from voting due to his personal feelings toward Shayera, so Superman broke the tie because he believes in second chances.

Things didn't get any easier with Shayera back in Justice League. When the time traveler Chronos came back in time to steal Batman's utility belt, John, Wonder Woman and Batman chased him back to the Old West where they assisted him and a group of western heroes against Tobias Manning. Chronos managed to get away again, but this time he went back to his own time where he warped it, resulting in the devastation of the Justice League of that time. The trio chased him again where they met up with the last members of the Justice League: Batman II, Static and Warhawk.

While there, John discovered his unsettling future: he would become the father of Warhawk, and the mother would be none other than Shayera Hol. As a result of Chronos' tampering, the space-time continuum itself began to unravel, causing Wonder Woman to vanish during the mission. John himself was briefly replaced by Green Lantern Hal Jordan in another timeshift, but John returned in time to help Batman and the others stop Chronos and restore the time back to normal. John and Batman returned to their time as the only ones bearing the knowledge of what had happened in the mission.

With this knowledge, John became awkward around both Vixen and Shayera. It wouldn't be until over a year later that he would inform Shayera of his discovery, after witnessing himself of the reincarnation of Bashari in Egypt. However, John refused to be destiny's puppet and decided to stay with Vixen until he chose otherwise.

As one of the founding members of the League, John served as a voice of leadership within the organization throughout some of its most trying times, including the Cadmus crisis and the ongoing conflict with Grodd's Secret Society.

Personality
"And he's such a marine! You should see his underwear drawer. He folds his socks!"

- Vixen

John Stewart is at heart a professional soldier, a man of duty. He takes his roles as a protector of Earth, a member of the Green Lantern Corps, and a founding member of the Justice League with the utmost seriousness. At times this has led him into conflict with comrades like the Flash or Supergirl, who do not appear to share this serious attitude. His sense of responsibility is beyond reproach, as seen during his trial in the Ajuris system; John believes that beings entrusted with great power must be held accountable for their actions, including himself.

John's long absence from his homeworld has left him with some difficulty fitting back into normal Earth society, but his experiences with the Justice League have helped him to deal with this to some degree.

Compared to some Green Lanterns (such as Katma Tui, who has taken him to task on the matter), John tends to be fairly straightforward in the use of his Power ring, eschewing complicated or innovative ring-constructs in favor of simple beam-blasts or defensive barriers. John's simple, efficient approach is likely a result of his military training. Beneath John's hard-nosed military exterior, there remains a certain (and normally well-hidden) streak of playfulness and sentimentality. On the rare occasions he allows himself to let his guard down, he is not above using his Power ring to play in the snow, fondly recalling the comic-book heroes of his youth, or even admitting to a certain weakness for his favorite film Old Yeller.

Powers and abilities
"I can still pull my weight, you know. There's more to me than just a fancy ring."

John Stewart possessed no innate superhuman abilities, apart perhaps from a nearly-indomitable will. He was also unfailingly honest and virtually without fear. These qualities made him an ideal candidate for membership in the Green Lantern Corps.

John's military experience provided him with a strong grasp of tactics, and made him a skilled combatant — armed or unarmed. On two separate missions he went into battle without his ring, and fared well

Equipment
Like all members of the Green Lantern Corps, John Stewart was issued a power ring and a lantern-shaped power battery. Thus equipped, John was extraordinarily well-prepared for the mission of maintaining order within his assigned space sector. Midway through his Justice League career, he was re-taught in its use by Katma Tui, who criticized him (and other Corps members) for using their Rings "like jackhammers."

Love interests
"Is it mutual?" "What's not to love?"

- Vixen and Shayera Hol

During his training with the Corps, John fell in love with his trainer Katma Tui, whom he left when he returned to Earth. John entered into a relationship with Hawkgirl which came to a sudden end with the Thanagarian invasion. He would later form a relationship with fellow League member Vixen, which was complicated somewhat by the former Hawkgirl's return to active service with the League. A meeting with his and Shayera's future son, Warhawk, has done little to alleviate John's conflicted feelings. Carter Hall's interest in Shayera hasn't helped much, either. John eventually did rekindle his love for Hawkgirl, and they had a son together, Warhawk.

Background information
In the DC Comics, John Stewart was an architect who was selected by the Guardians to be the backup Lantern for Hal Jordan after Guy Gardner was seriously injured. Originally, Jordan was to be the Green Lantern for, but Stewart was chosen in an effort to bring in diversity, although much of his background was modeled after Jordan's, including his military experience and his role in taking down Sinestro. Though not very well known among comic fans, Stewart's career in the Lantern Corps has been quite notable, with Stewart being the first mortal to be ascend to the rank of Guardian of the Universe. Jordan is both a Green Lantern and a member of the Justice League of America. His presence on and  has helped to raise John Stewart's profile among comic fans.