10 Problems No One Wants To Admit About Green Lantern
8. John Stewart Has Been Criminally Underused Since Justice League
Warner Bros. Animation
If you were raised on the DC Animated Universe - i.e., shows like Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond and Justice League - you probably have a thing for John Stewart. Maybe not a 'thing' thing, but like, a thing all the same.
John was the Lantern in both Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, and was brought to life by Phil LaMarr. The show's creators actually faced pushback from fans for John being included, but several seasons and dozens of wonderful episodes later, and they'd more than justified Stewart's inclusion.
Introduced in 1971, John Stewart has always had to settle for second-best when it comes to his comics. He's been a staple of the DCU for decades but he's never really been afforded the opportunity to lead a comic like either Hal or Kyle has - at least not for as long a period - and when the perfect opportunity for him to be the main GL came around after Justice League, DC didn't take it.
Instead, John has constantly been overlooked in favour of others - particularly Hal. The ex-marine deserves better.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
