Arrowverse’s New Green Lantern Theory Explained (And Debunked)

Fans of the Arrowverse and Green Lantern are jumping to conclusions in the wake of the latest episode of Black Lightning and the revelation that Dr. Lynn Stewart has a brother named John. The new fan theory making the rounds is that the John in question is John Diggle from Arrow, but this is largely based upon one of the biggest misunderstandings in the world of comics.

The Black Lightning season 4 episode “The Book Of Reconstruction: Chapter Three” saw both Dr. Lynn Stewart and Jefferson Pierce continuing therapy, both as a couple and alone, to work out the conflict in their marriage. In Lynn’s individual session, she had a breakthrough regarding how she had always seen herself as an outsider within her own family, due to everyone else in her family having served in the military; something Lynn was discouraged from doing, due to her being a skilled enough student to pay her way through college with scholarships. In discussing this, Lynn mentioned having been jealous of her brother John, who enlisted in the US Army and shared a bond with her parents that she never had.

Many fans assumed this was confirmation of an older fan theory that John Diggle would eventually become a Green Lantern. An original character created for the Arrowverse, John Diggle became Oliver Queen’s right-hand man and brother in arms in the battle to save Star City from the forces that sought to corrupt it. Given that he shared a first name and a military background with the Green Lantern John Stewart and that, in the comics, Oliver Queen had been best friends with the Green Lantern Hal Jordan, some fans suggested that Arrow eventually build to Diggle becoming a Green Lantern. It was an idea that the writers of Arrow teased with the revelation that Diggle’s stepfather was a General named Roy Stewart and the Barry Allen of Earth-90 seeming to recognize Diggle before asking where his ring was. The fan theory was seemingly confirmed in the series finale of Arrow, where Diggle was last seen approaching a meteor that crashed near him and discovering a box containing a glowing green object; presumably a Green Lantern ring.

While it’s a fun idea, drawing a connection between Lynn Stewart and John Diggle is based on one of the biggest misconceptions in DC Comics history; that John Stewart and Lynn Stewart are siblings. While Black Lightning creator Tony Isabella did give Lynn the last name Stewart with the intention of maybe connecting her to the Green Lantern character in a future story, he never had the chance to do so in any Black Lightning comic he wrote, nor did any other Black Lightning or Green Lantern writer ever make the connection. The only setting where Lynn Stewart and John Stewart were confirmed to be brother and sister was in the reality of the Young Justice animated series.

Beyond that, the fine details of Lynn Stewart and John Diggle’s lives in the Arrowverse don’t line up. Diggle never made any mention of having a sister; a curious omission given how highly he valued his family, particularly his younger brother Andy. Another conflict is that Lynn spoke of her family all having served in the US Army. While Diggle was a Master Sergeant in the US Army, his stepfather was a General in the Marines; a distinction someone from a military family would be certain to make.

It’s been suggested that all of these details could have been changed in the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths and that reality could have been rewritten so that Lynn Stewart and John Diggle were siblings, in the same way that Diggle acquired twin children in the final episode of Arrow. However, it seems highly unlikely the writers would go through this much effort merely to tease an indirect connection to Green Lantern. Additionally, while David Ramsey is supposed to be making cameos as John Diggle in most of the Arrowverse series this year, he is not reported as appearing in Black Lightning, which would seem a certainty if he were meant to be Lynn Stewart’s brother.

About The Author

Matt Morrison
(1835 Articles Published)

Matt Morrison has been writing about comics since before the word
“blogging” was coined. He got his start writing for the
legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing,
before receiving his own column, The Mount. Since then he has gone on
to write for over a dozen websites, including 411
Mania, Comics
Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He holds both an MS in Information
Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the
University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book
history trivia, he has delivered lectures on the history of American
Comic Books, Japanese Manga, Doctor Who, and Cosplay at over a dozen conventions
and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels
for Librarians at the University of North Texas. In addition to his
work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the Editor In Chief of
Kabooooom.com and writes reviews for No
Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime review site
aimed at teachers and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog –
My Geeky Geeky Ways –
which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series
making up The Arrowverse as well as his
comedic Let’s Play videos. What little spare time he has is
devoted towards acting, role-playing, movie-riffing and sarcasm. You
can follow his adventures on Twitter, @GeekyGeekyWays.

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