DC Database
Register
Advertisement

Quote1 Ordinary people, they operate within a certain set of parameters, right? Rules. Limits. Then there's blokes like me, yeah? We cheat. Quote2
John Constantine src

John Constantine is an occult detective from Liverpool, England and a member of the Justice League Dark. His violent and anti-social attitude makes him a formidable anti-hero, and he's known for doing whatever it takes to get the job done.

Early Life

John Constantine was born in Liverpool, England. During his childhood experiments with magic, he attempted a spell taught to him that would make him a powerful magician. However, he was not told that the spell required a sacrifice; while performing it, his family home caught fire and resulted in the death of his mother and father.[3]

Mucous Membrane Prime Earth 0001

Mucous Membrane

In his young adulthood, Constantine was a wild, silver-tongued punk with no idea what he was destined to become. Though he had a knack for being a conman, Constantine had continued show interest in anything of the occult, but did not take it past a hobby[4] until he began a relationship with police officer named Margaret Ames. The two bonded by going on amateur magical adventures together until Constantine decided she deserved a normal life and left her without explanation.[5]

Later, Constantine and his first love Veronica Delacroix formed a mystical-themed punk band named "Mucous Membrane" with their friend Gaz Lester. The three lived the rock star lifestyle and began getting more serious with the magic they practiced together until a spell went terribly wrong, causing Delacroix to slowly lose her connection to the mortal world. Constantine was unable to stop it and the band, in turn, fell apart; as a result of this incident, Constantine became determined to focus on his skills as a magician.[6]

Shady Past

At some point, John fell in love with a young woman named Maureen, but her involvement with John eventually lead to her committing suicide, something John would always blame himself for.[7] John also had a casual relationship with the demon Blythe, but the two never got more serious than the occasional shag.[8]Eventually, John ran into the traveling hippie convoy that a young psychic Mercury and her mother Marj belonged to. John and Marj became lovers for a while before John caused the convoy to break up and left.[9]

Constantine furthered his magical studies in the city of Newcastle until he and the Newcastle Crew attempted to save a young child, Astra Logue, from the demon Nergal, only to fail the spell and send Astra right into Nergal's clutches. This event was one of Constantine's greatest failures,[10] and he checked himself into Ravenscar Asylum to recover from the experience, but was mistreated by the staff while there.[9]

Finding himself cursed from ever returning to London again by a demon he had crossed, Constantine instead returned to one of the places he had first learned magic - New York City.[11] There or sometime before, he met Giovanni Zatara who, using his guilt to get John to help him in his plan against the eventual arrival of the Upside-Down Man and the Otherkind, becoming his secret pupil unknown to his daughter.[12]

Magical Beginnings

After he learned everything he could of the occult and magical in Europe before traveling to New York City to learn under one of the greatest mages in the world - Nick Necro, who had himself studied under the great Giovanni Zatara and Baron Winters. Nick's girlfriend at the time was Zatara's daughter Zatanna, who was herself a powerful magician. When John first laid eyes on her, he fell in love, too.

There or sometime before, he met Giovanni Zatara who, using his guilt, got John to help him in his plan against the eventual arrival of the Upside-Down Man and the Otherkind, becoming his secret pupil unknown to Zatanna.[12]

The three of them studied together, battling occult threats like the Cult of the Cold Flame. Nick, however, soon became obsessed with the search for the fabled Books of Magic and, in his obsession, betrayed his friends and allied himself with the Cold Flame.[13] John and Zatanna dated for a time afterward until they were eventually driven apart when John caused her father to die during a spell gone wrong.[14] Before their breakup, Zatanna casted a spell on John, commanding him to be a better person.[15]

Great Darkness

At one point in time, Constantine encountered the power of the Other Place, a Dark Multiverse realm that is the source of all dark magic, when a piece of the darkness broke free and nearly burned Heaven to the ground. Three lives were destroyed by John's magic, simply trying to commune with the darkness, in an attempt to understand it.[16]

New 52

Justice League Dark

Secret Origins Vol 3 11 Textless

Justice League Dark

 Main article: Justice League Dark: In the Dark

Alerted by a magical shift in reality, John and a group of other magicians united to fight the Enchantress, who was causing havoc in the world in search of her lost host, June Moone.[17] After the group had successfully fused Enchantress and June once again, the magicians went their separate ways, having grown annoyed with their conflicting personalities.[18]

Later, however, after they all once again experienced visions of an apocalypse, the magicians once again assembled and declared themselves an official (albeit unnamed) team under Constantine's leadership. The visions came true in the form of Cain's vampire invasion, and the magicians, together, were the only ones capable of stopping vampires from taking over the world. Constantine and Deadman went to Purgatory to retrieve the recently killed vampire-hero Andrew Bennett and, after Bennett's return, successfully killed Cain and saved the world. Afterward, the team would later be codenamed - "Justice League Dark" - by Steve Trevor.

Trinity War

 Main article: Trinity War

About one year after he had first arrived in New York,[19] Constantine was alerted to the fact that a magical artifact - Croyden's Compass - was being targeted by the evil magical organization he had fought in the past - the Cult of the Cold Flame.[20] After going on a world tour for its pieces and fighting a few high ranking members of the Cult, Constantine successfully destroyed the compass and returned to New York.[21]

Constantine Vol 1 5 Textless

Constantine and the power of Shazam

Upon his return to America, Constantine walked into a conflict when the mysterious Pandora attempted to contact heroes and villains she thought might be able to open her box. Constantine had his own plans though and, knowing that if the hero Shazam were to touch Pandora's Box, it would disrupt all the magic in the universe, temporarily stole Shazam's powers away from him. With the powers of Shazam at his fingertips, Constantine was ambushed and defeated a member of the Cult of the Cold Flame before having to return his powers back to Billy.[22] Mortally wounded from battle, Constantine was begrudgingly saved by Papa Midnite, who saw John as a lesser of two evils when compared to the impending threat of the Cold Flame.[23]

The Cult continued their assault against Constantine while he attempted to juggle the war over Pandora's Box. Stealing all of Constantine's magical artifacts from his base in New York, the three leaders of the Cold Flame transferred all of the items' magical value to themselves. Mister E, one of the leaders, then attempted to finally kill Constantine, believing him to be at his weakest but was instead vanquished by Constantine, E's powers then transferring to the final two remaining leaders. With the invitation to take E's spot as leader of the Cold Flame, Constantine agreed, secretly planning to take the cult down from the inside-out.

Constantine then returned to handle the war over Pandora's Box, gaining possession of the box in the chaos and watching as its true purpose was unleashed - summoning a doorway for the Crime Syndicate from Earth 3.

Forever Evil

Constantine Vol 1 9 Textless

Fighting evil incarnate

With the Crime Syndicate's takeover and the apparent destruction of the Justice League, villains roamed free across the Earth and a new threat, the magical embodiment of evil named Blight, was formed. Constantine was among the few heroes that had escaped the Syndicate's grand entrance and began assembling a team of other magic users to fight Blight in New York City and relocate his lost love Zatanna.

Together, the team then managed to contain Blight themselves and set their sights on rescuing the heroes that were being kidnapped and stored in Nanda Parbat by the Crime Syndicate. Reaching the building's core, Constantine became locked in an intense battle with one of his former mentors and greatest enemies Nick Necro, working with Secret Society. Constantine successfully killed Necro and worked the free the captive heroes.

With the world saved from the Crime Syndicate, Constantine returned to the House of Mystery only to realize the House had chosen a new connection during his adventure - Zatanna. Constantine bitterly gave up command of the newly reformed Justice League Dark to the woman he had worked so hard to rescue, choosing to go back to working alone yet again.[24]

World's End

 Main article: Earth 2: World's End

Constantine Vol 1 18 Textless

Between two worlds

With the world finally safe for heroes again, John set his sights back on taking down the Cult of the Cold Flame. Having become a full-fledged leader within the cult when he took down Mister E, Constantine began to secretly ally himself with other independent magicians who might be threatened by the Cold Flame.[25] However, a failure in Papa Midnite's spell caused the entire plan to collapse, and John was transported cross-dimensions to Earth 2 as it crumbled during Darkseid's attack.[26]

Finding his Earth 2 counterpart, a version of himself who lived a happy life with his friends without the curses of magic, Constantine connected with the counterparts of family members he had lost before designing a spell he thought could transport himself and as many Earth 2 residents as possible back to his world before Darkseid finally destroyed the planet. The spell was destructive, causing Constantine to watch as some of his friends and family's counterparts died in front of him again along the way, but, nonetheless, he made it back with some of the survivors and resettled back into his life in New York City.[27]

The Fight for New York

 Main article: Constantine: The Hellblazer Vol 1

Having gotten comfortable with his life in New York, Constantine was contacted by the ghost of his old friend Gary Lester, who asked for his help to fight a monster that was killing roaming souls.[8] After failing to trap the monster and getting Gary's ghost killed, [4] Constantine traveled to Manchester to request the assistance of his and Gary's former friend Georgiana Snow, now a skilled paranormal detective.[28] The two tracked down the monster to discover they were actually fighting the spirit of their old friend Veronica Delacroix, and, in usual Constantine fashion, the conman tricked Georgiana into killing Veronica's ghost for him so he wouldn't have to live with the guilt. No longer on speaking terms with Georgiana, Constantine returned to New York.[29]

Constantine The Hellblazer Vol 1 6 Textless

Saving New York

Taking jobs as a freelance exorcist to pay the rent, John lived a relatively normal life for a while, and began dating a man he had met in the city named Oliver. However, this brief period of calm was soon interrupted when Oliver's life was endangered by Papa Midnite, who forced Constantine to help him get his club back from the demon Neron.[30]

Having uncovered Neron's plot to take over New York and make himself rich in the underworld with all the souls he could reap, John called for the assistance of some of his former Justice League Dark comrades to sully Neron's plans and chase him out of New York. Constantine's boyfriend Oliver, whose daughters had been used as leverage to keep Constantine out of Neron's plans, had independently made a deal to save them from the demon and was dragged to Hell before Constantine's eyes. Though John had managed to save all of New York City, he was alone yet again.[31]

DC Rebirth

The Hellblazer

 Main article: The Hellblazer Vol 1

Finding it was time to make a change from New York, Constantine returned home to London even though he was still cursed to never return. Confronting the demon who cursed him, Constantine managed to reverse the spell and begin his new adventure in his home country.[1]

Constantine was not in London long before being contacted by Swamp Thing, looking to collect on a favor: Abby Arcane had gone missing from the Rot, and Swamp Thing wanted Constantine to find her. Constantine, reconnecting with an old "friend" of his named Mercury, soon discovered that Arcane's disappearance was connected to an evil Djinn that lived in London named Marid, who plotted on changing human history. Constantine and Mercury traveled to Paris to find more information on how to fight a Djinn but, by the time they got their hands on the information, they were confronted by Marid. In the fight, Mercury and Constantine were separated and, since John had no idea how to find Mercury again, returned to London.[32]

Return to the League

 Main article: Justice League Dark: The Last Age of Magic (Collected)

John, like many others in the magic community sensed the oncoming changes in magic, approached Zatanna about the matter.[33] Later, having gotten the information, John approached the Swamp Thing, now member of the second Justice League Dark, critisizing him on his plan to retire in a time like this. However their conversation was interrupted by the summoning of the Upside-Down Man. Attacking the being with the rest of the League he was defeated, having his demon blood pulled out. Luckily Diana was able to banish the being before any more harm could be done.[34]

He later aided the League to stop the Hecate from taking ahold of magic.[35] Alongside Alec, John attempted to stop Nabu who had sided with the Otherkind, but was sealed within the Helm of Fate, giving the Swamp Thing time to warn of the Otherkind's near approach.[36]

With the League’s defeat of Nabu, Constantine was freed. Soon after, having discovered John’s inclusion in her life was by the plan of her father after his death. Explaining to her that he was at his lowest when he became his pupil, the two reconciled, only with the promise that the two never speak again after John helps her free her father from the Otherkind.[37]

Doomsday Clock

 Main article: Doomsday Clock Vol 1

After Superman is framed and rendered comatose, Constantine joined the group of heroes heading towards Mars to confront their mysterious enemy. The heroes meet and engage Doctor Manhattan, but they are easily defeated.[38]

Infinite Frontier

Roy Harper Cry for Justice
Incomplete
There's something missing here. This section of the article is incomplete, and contains information, but requires more before it can be considered complete. You can help DC Database by editing this page, providing additional information to bring this article to a higher standard of quality.


Powers

  • Magic: John is a highly skilled sorcerer, having been practicing magic since he was a teen. He quickly mastered all the magic that Europe had to offer and went to America to train under Nick Necro, a notable magician. He has claimed to be a magician of the fourth degree, however he has cast spells that exceed this level of magic.[39] John is skilled in various forms of magic, most notably Black Magic, a dangerous and malevolent form of sorcery that is known to come at a high cost to its practitioner.
    • Astral Projection: John is able to create astral projections of himself.
    • Chronokinesis: John knows a blood magic spell that allows him to temporarily stop time.[40]
    • Cosmic Awareness[1]
    • Dimensional Travel: John is capable of creating portals to other dimensions and realities. He can also use spells to banish demons back to Hell.[8] John can open portals to other realities in the multiverse, as well as into magical dimensions in the Sphere of the Gods. Through a complex spell, John can even travel into the Collective Unconscious and bring others with him.[41]
      • Intangibility: John can temporarily displace items into a pocket dimension to avoid attacks. By doing this when attacked by a sword, John displaced the sword, allowing it to pass right through him unharmed.[42]
    • Deflection: John can activate a spell called a "turnabout charm", which deflects any injury he suffers onto the person who inflicted it.[19]
    • Divination: John can use various divination spells, such as using his cigarette to track magic energy.[43]
    • Disintegration: John was able to use magic to incinerate a cultist.[20]
    • Elemental Control: John can use magic to manipulate the elements for various purposes, such as:
      • Chlorokinesis: John can use magic to command plants to attack his enemies, such as causing sharp tree branches to extend and puncture a group of enemies.[44]
      • Electrokinesis: John is able to use magic to manipulate electricity for various effects. One spell allows him to electrocute a person with his cigarette.[45]
        • Electro-Blast: John is capable of using magic to project bolts of lightning from his hands.[41]
      • Photokinesis: John was able to create a burst of blinding light, which was powerful enough to harm a group of vampires.[46]
      • Pyrokinesis: John can use magic to manipulate fire for a variety of effects.[47] He is able to engulf his hands in flames, as well as turn the small flame from his lighter into a flamethrower.[13] He is also able to shape natural flames to his will to create intricate pyrokinetic constructs.[48]
    • Eldritch Blast: John can project powerful blasts of magic energy from his hands as energy bolts, beams, and even highly destructive explosive blasts.
    • Energy Construct Creation: John can use magic to form solid energy constructs, such as shields or bridges.[50][47]
    • Enhanced Senses: John is able to sense the presence of magic.[51] He can also see supernatural beings that others cannot, such as ghosts.[8]
    • Exorcism: John is able to forcibly remove possessing entities such as demonic spirits from the body they are possessing.[52]
    • Illusion Casting: John is able to create illusions to fool people. He was able to trick Darkseid into thinking he was dead, and cast a universe wide illusion, convincing Darkseid that it was a dead dimension he had already consumed.[39]
    • Infection: John can use a spell that allows him to poison the ice in a person's drink, killing them.[53]
    • Invisibility: John is capable of turning himself invisible and cloaking items.[54]
    • Necromancy: John is capable of using magic to summon and communicate with the dead.
    • Power Absorption: John knew a spell that allowed him to temporarily steal the powers of Shazam.[22]
    • Sigil Magic: John can use magic sigils for various purposes, such as creating protection circles that shield him from harm once entered.[46] He knows a sigil that is supposedly powerful enough to kill a god.[55]
    • Summoning: John is capable of summoning demons and other entities through various spells. Some of John's spells require him to invoke spirits and demons to fuel the spell.[56] John even knows a spell that allows him to summon Swamp Thing at will.[57]
    • Synchronicity Wave Traveling: John has an instinctual supernatural ability to be in the right place at exactly the right time. This has led John to uncanny luck, like winning incredible amounts of money from gambling, avoiding harm, and more times than not - to meet the right kind of ally to help prevent or stop an apocalyptic event from happening.[58]
    • Telekinesis: John can use various "binding spells" to telekinetically freeze and restrain people. One spell allowed him to use a cigarette to bind a vampire to a wall, by flicking it on to him.[46] He was also capable of telekinetically causing a gun to jam.[19]
    • Teleportation: John is able to teleport himself, others and items, to various locations, and even across dimensions.[46][54]
    • Telepathy: John mentioned that he has rewritten his landlord's brain to think that he'd had already paid rent.[52]
    • Transformation: By utilizing a spell called the Blackmare Curse, Constantine can temporarily transform into a demon conjured from his own soul.[59]
  • Demon Blood (Formerly): Before it was ripped from his body by the Upside-Down Man, John's body contained demon blood, which is what allowed him to channel magic and cast spells without facing the cost of it, as well as withstand a level of magic that a human body cannot normally handle.[55]

Abilities

  • Deception: John Constantine is an excellent con artist and negotiator. These skills are often more useful than his magical ones. Constantine faces most of his challenges relying primarily on his cunning skills.
  • Escapology
  • Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic)
  • Hypnosis
  • Indomitable Will: John possesses the willpower to resist being possessed by Deadman.[42] He was also not corrupted by Pandora's box.
  • Intimidation
  • Investigation: John is a highly skilled detective, specializing in occult investigations.[60]
  • Multilingualism: John speaks some amount of French. Though he claims the only thing that stuck from his French classes was "il, elle, nous sommes", this was probably a lie.[61] He also knows a little of British Sign Language, which he learned when he met his son, Noah.[2]
  • Occultism: John possesses extensive knowledge of magic and the supernatural.[19][62][3] He's stated to have read every Necronomicon and Book of Chaos written by the most ancient practitioners of dark magic.[63]
  • Prestidigitation
  • Singing: Before Constantine became an experienced magician, he was the lead singer in the punk-grunge band Mucous Membrane.[6]
  • Surveillance: John is is a keen observer, capable of surveying and spying on people without them noticing.[60]
  • Throwing[64]
  • Weaponry: John doesn't usually wield weapons, however he has displayed skill with knives, as well as an axe, which he used to kill vampires.[64]

Weaknesses

  • Cancer: Constantine has a unspecified cancer that was once held at bay by demon blood until it was extracted out of him by Upside-Down Man.[65]

Equipment

  • Dream's Sand Pouch (Formerly): After Dream was captured and his objects were stolen from him, Constantine found Dream's sand pouch in San Francisco at a garage sale, and took it home until it was stolen by his then-girlfriend. John stated he only used a few grains of the pouch's sand, which took him an entire month to get out.[66]
  • Magic Gauntlets (Formerly): Constantine won a pair of enchanted gloves in a card game with a demon, that allow its user to fight non-corporeal beings hand-to-hand. However, John gave them to Batman because he "doesn't like fighting with his hands".[67]
  • Helmet of Fate (Formerly)

Transportation

Weapons

  • Moonblade: The Moonblade appeared as one of John's arsenal of magical weapons. The blade is said to shape with the different faces of the moon (Longsword when its full moon, dagger when its new), and just like the twin blade, it can kill anyone with one clean hit. John used it to kill Mister E. Those killed by the moonblade has their spirits stored in it, making them the perfect slaves for Constantine.
  • Yellow Power Ring: (Formerly)


  • Constantine once had an protege named Chris, whom he abandoned to be killed by Sargon the Sorceress.[68]
  • Constantine is considered one of the most powerful magicians on Earth[69]; formerly, he was considered the strongest "magic blood" designation, a classification of magic wielders who carried magic blood to be able to withstand a level of magic ordinary humans cannot handle.[70]
  • Constantine doesn't know how to ride a bicycle and has never learned.[9]
  • Constantine hates the word "moist" and admitted he'll jump through verbal hoops to avoid saying it.[9]
  • Constantine doesn't like the band Coldplay. He considers their music to be "for bedwetters".[71]

Related

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Hellblazer: Rebirth #1
  2. 2.0 2.1 John Constantine: Hellblazer #12
  3. 3.0 3.1 Constantine #14
  4. 4.0 4.1 Constantine: The Hellblazer #2
  5. The Hellblazer #1314
  6. 6.0 6.1 Constantine: The Hellblazer #4
  7. Constantine #13 & Constantine #19
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Constantine: The Hellblazer #1
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 The Hellblazer #5
  10. Secret Origins (Volume 3) #11 & Constantine #6
  11. Constantine #3 & The Hellblazer: Rebirth #1
  12. 12.0 12.1 Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #10
  13. 13.0 13.1 Justice League Dark #0
  14. Justice League Dark #12, Swamp Thing (Volume 2) #50
  15. Constantine #13
  16. Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #3
  17. Justice League Dark #3
  18. Justice League Dark #5
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Constantine #4
  20. 20.0 20.1 Constantine #1
  21. Constantine #3
  22. 22.0 22.1 Constantine #5
  23. Constantine #6
  24. Justice League Dark #29
  25. Constantine #13 - 16
  26. Constantine #17
  27. Constantine #18 - 23
  28. Constantine: The Hellblazer #3
  29. Constantine: The Hellblazer #5
  30. Constantine: The Hellblazer #8
  31. Constantine: The Hellblazer #13
  32. The Hellblazer #1 - 12
  33. Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #1
  34. Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #2
  35. Justice League Dark and Wonder Woman: The Witching Hour #1
  36. Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #6
  37. Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #13
  38. Doomsday Clock #9
  39. 39.0 39.1 Constantine #23
  40. Justice League (Volume 4) #59
  41. 41.0 41.1 Justice League Dark #25
  42. 42.0 42.1 Justice League Dark #30
  43. Justice League Dark #12
  44. Constantine #16
  45. Constantine #15
  46. 46.0 46.1 46.2 46.3 46.4 I, Vampire #17
  47. 47.0 47.1 Earth 2: World's End #10
  48. All-Star Western (Volume 3) #25
  49. Aquaman & The Flash: Voidsong #3
  50. Grayson Annual #3
  51. Justice League Dark #23
  52. 52.0 52.1 52.2 Constantine: The Hellblazer #6
  53. Dark Nights: Death Metal The Last 52: War of the Multiverses #1
  54. 54.0 54.1 Constantine #10
  55. 55.0 55.1 Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #3
  56. The Sandman Universe Presents: Hellblazer #1
  57. Justice League Dark #19
  58. The Curse of Brimstone Annual #1
  59. Justice League Dark #27
  60. 60.0 60.1 John Constantine: Hellblazer #8
  61. The Hellblazer #8
  62. Constantine #11
  63. Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #5
  64. 64.0 64.1 Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #7
  65. Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #13
  66. Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #7
  67. Batman: The Detective #1
  68. Constantine #1
  69. Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #26
  70. DC Nation: Magic Masters
  71. The Hellblazer #7



Justice League 0002
Justice League member
DC Rebirth Logo

This character has been a member of the Justice League of America, or the Justice League in any of its various incarnations, sworn by a duty to act as guardians of America and the world by using their skills and/or superpowers to protect Earth from the clutches of both interstellar and domestic threats.
This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice League of America members" category.

Sinestro Corps 01
Sinestro Corps member
DC Rebirth Logo

This character is or was a member of the Sinestro Corps, chosen by Sinestro to counteract the Green Lantern Corps and spread terror throughout their sector with a Power Ring.
This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Sinestro Corps members category."

Advertisement