WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Green Lantern #4 by Geoffrey Thorne, Tom Raney, Marco Santucci, Michael Atiyeh & Rob Leigh, on sale now
The Green Lantern Corps has been adjusting to a radically different change to their status quo with the destruction of the Central Power Battery, the depowering of the Corps, and the possible demise of the Guardians pushing the heroic army to their absolute limit. However, one of the depowered Lanterns might already be on the path to becoming one of DC’s Guardians of the Universe.
Green Lantern #4 just hinted John Stewart might still have a power boost he received from the Guardian Ganthet in the Post-Crisis DC Universe.
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John Stewart was one of the many Green Lanterns who was traveling across the cosmos when the Central Power Battery was mysteriously destroyed. As a result, he was depowered and left astray in the wild galaxy. Luckily for him, he was saved by the kindly Saqari. Spending months with her and her child, John heals from his injuries and throws himself into protecting the pair from a pack of marauding pirates. While briefly unconscious, John witnesses what appears to be hidden memory from the period when Hal Jordan wiped out the Green Lantern Corps. In it, John confronts Ganthet and asks for his “ascension” to be removed. But Ganthet explains this cannot be undone, only that the memory of it and what it means can be erased for a time. This seems to reference a major period in John’s life.
In the Post-Crisis DC Universe, John Stewart ended up being the star of Green Lantern: Mosaic by Gerard Jones and Cully Hammer. When a disturbed Guardian of the Universe uproots cities from across the galaxy, he creates a strange mosaic world. John Stewart was chosen as the Green Lantern of this strange sector, and quickly adapted to the challenge. Creating a sense of unity on the world, Stewart was elected to the position of Guardian — the first mortal to be given such a responsibility. He eventually left this position however and lost his Guardian powers when a Parallax-possessed Hal Jordan destroyed the Central Power Battery and effectively destroyed most of the Green Lantern Corps. However, it seems that this element of John’s history might not be as over as he believed.
In fact, it appears that those powers might become John’s greatest asset. John’s connection with the Guardians was highlighted in Green Lantern #1, with John even taking up a position of command over the other members of the Corps at their request and briefly speaking with them as a peer. If John’s ascension is indeed still a part of him, he could find a way to restore his own Power Ring, if not others. He could even be the key to uncovering what happened to the other Guardians when the Central Power Battery was destroyed. Now locked in a perpetual state of undeath, the other Guardians have more or less been removed from the playing field and could even be on the verge of actually dying. If they do, then this secret power boost for John could make him even more important in the grand scheme of things.
In effect, John could potentially replace the Guardians at the head of any restored Green Lantern Corps — even giving him a reason to be off-Earth, allowing room for someone like Jo Mullein to take on a more full-time position as a protector in Earth’s sector of space. It could also make any future Guardians a great deal better connected to the Green Lanterns who fight for them. While the death of the Guardians would shake the universe to the core, it could allow John to step up in an exciting new way.
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