John Stewart is one of Earth's Green Lanterns, a member of the Green Lantern Corps' Honor Guard. He is noted for being an excellent sniper as well as a skilled architect.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, most of John's life was marked by poverty and clashes with police. His mother was a community organizer, who tried to make things better, and inspired John to try and make the world a better place. In order to pay his way to college, he joined the Marine Corps. His mother didn't like it, as he became part of "the man". He excelled and was an excellent marksman, and soon became a sergeant. He did one tour of duty in the War on Terror, before being deployed to a storm-stricken Gotham City to help evacuate refugees from the Seaside Coliseum. His team falling afoul of Anarky, and the brash nature of his commander, Lt. Tasker, forced him to take the lead in a less violent course of action. He eventually swayed the crowd and managed to save the day.[2] Due to the fact he had laid hands on a superior officer, John was forced to retire from the Corps. However, his heroics at the Coliseum granted him an honorable discharge.
Wanting to build a better world, John got an architecture degree. Despite his mother's wishes, he didn't work in Detroit; instead, he moved to California. One of his first projects was a project for Ferris Aircraft. What he did not know was that, for a long time, the Guardians of the Universe had been watching him, hoping to recruit him for the corps. They sent a Manhunter to the facility to test him. Stewart provoked a fight, which he would have lost had he not received a Green Lantern Ring. He was brought to Oa, where the Guardians lauded his inner conflict and his drive. However, they feared that if he had cause, he would even challenge the Guardians.
John was on the front lines during the Corps' conflict with the New Gods of New Genesis. When Highfather decided that mortals could not wield the power of the emotional spectrum and sent his armies to take one ring from each corps to try and complete the Life Equation. He and his fellow corps members attempted to fight back against the New God armies but were easily trounced in battle as their constructs were shattered by the might of the New Gods.
In an effort to find weapons that could defeat them, John, along with Kilowog and Sinestro went to Qward in order to see if one of the Qwardians could forge them weapons that could defeat the New Gods. After a short skirmish with a Thunderers of Qward, he managed to convince the Thunderer to forge him a blade of White Light that was said to match the weapons of the New Gods. However, when the New Gods caught up with them they were completely trounced and John was forced to reluctantly make use of a Star Sapphire Ring in order to teleport himself and some others out of the area. Thus becoming the first official male Star Sapphire in history.
However, it was not long before he and his fellow Green Lanterns found themselves trapped on New Genesis without their rings. John and his fellows later took part in the final battle on New Genesis and aided Hal Jordan in catching and holding up the flying city.
Following their escape from the end of the last universe, the Green Lantern Corps find themselves stranded in unknown space, with low numbers, and no real knowledge of their current location and the state of intergalactic affairs. With John as their leader the corps begin attempting to set up a real base on Mogo and reluctantly John allows Guy Gardner to go off on a scouting mission alone, knowing he's dumb enough to go against orders regardless. However after around 24 hours with no contact from Gardner, on the urging of Kilowog John mobilized the corps and they set off from Mogo to find their lost lantern.
Through their search, they run across a caravan of citizens who both explain the current state of the universe (wherein the Sinestro Corps now stand in the Green Lanterns' place) and declare their intention to fight back against the Sinestro Corps' oppression. However, John quickly declares that now that the Corps is back in action, that they can handle this and with that the Lantern's charge off towards the Warworld for battle. However, as they reach the planet and prepare for a battle they realize they're a bit late as they run right into a group of now friendly Sinestro Corpsman led by Soranik Natu who seem to have procured Guy Gardner.
With Hal and Kyle Rayner back in the corps and the threat of the Sinestro Corps now non-existent, John sets about consolidating the numbers they do have and returning the Lanterns' to their rightful place as defenders of the galaxy. However, after a dangerous run-in with the mad lantern of the Orange Lantern Corps Arkillo, the two corps decide to unite for the greater good an a Yellow Lantern Power Battery is built next to the Green Lantern Battery on Mogo to show solidarity. However after tension breaks out between the two corps and Guy Gardner of all people is forced to lecture them, John decides that from here on out, to get the two corps acquainted, that each Green Lantern will be paired with a Yellow Lantern in their sector.
This fused corps gets it's first taste of action when after two lanterns go missing in a far-off sector the time traveler Rip Hunter appears in the middle of the command center on Mogo from the future. After the initial surprise wears off Rip explains who he is and why he's there, it seems that in the future he and John become good friends and when the corps is beginning to slowly die out, gives him a ring containing a message so he may go back to the past and help prevent it. However, shortly after his arrival another traveler from the future, this one much more sinister, the future sun of Soranik and Kyle Zarko, arrives with an army of crystal creatures.After a short battle, they subdue the entirety of the corps excluding Hal who heads off to the world they seem to be coming from.Though John attempts to muster up a resistance alongside his fellow lanterns, he and the others are quickly incapacitated and Hal takes the future ring in order to find out Zarko's lineage. Eventually, Hal manages to destroy Krona's Gauntlet, thus finishing off the crystal army and saving the Corps.
Shortly after the corps receives a distress call from the Vault, a neutral constructed bank world in the midst of being raided by space pirates. John mobilizes the Delta shift of the now consolidated corps and sends them out to help.After the raid is swiftly and effectively put down and John silently celebrates about how far his project has come, John and Hal Jordan head to the science cells to interrogate the leader of the raid Admiral Bolphunga. There while attempting to interrogate him he reveals that he will blackmail the corps if John and Hal don't let him go by revealing the fact that a Green Lantern murdered a member of the Sinestro Corps. While Hal doesn't believe it John realizes the importance of the situation and goes to confer with a few others on letting Bolphunga go before his blackmail broadcast goes out that night. Hal and John argue a bit about whether or not to believe the pirate but John states he has come too far for everything he has worked for to fall apart over something like this and he has to investigate the claim. John then sends Guy and Arkillo on a mission to destroy the base of Bolphunga's raiders before the broadcast can be sent.
Current Version:
Emerald Knight
Former Version:
John Stewart (Green Lantern)
John Stewart (Star Sapphire)
John Stewart (Ultraviolet Corps)
