CONSTANTINE
Real Name: Johnathan Constantine
Occupation: Occult Expert
Place of Birth: Liverpool, England
Known Relatives: Thomas (father, deceased), Mary Ann (mother, deceased), Jack (paternal uncle, deceased), Dolly (aunt), Harry (uncle), Cheryl Masters (sister), Tony Masters (brother-in-law), brother (name unrevealed, deceased), Gemma Masters (niece), Tefe Holland (daughter), William (grandfather, deceased), Charles (grand-uncle, deceased), Alice (grandmother, deceased), Jack Constantine (ancestor, deceased), Harry Constantine, Lord George Constantine (ancestor, deceased), Lady Harriet Constantine, Lady Johanna Constantine, James Constantine, Conrad Constantine, Aloysius Quinn (ancestors, deceased),
Group Affiliation: None
Base of Operations: Mobile
First Appearance: (unidentified) Swamp Thing #25, (identified) Swamp Thing #37
History: John Constantine is the son of Thomas Constantine, a construction worker, and his wife, Mary Anne Quinn Constantine. His birth was especially traumatic, taking the life of his mother and his twin brother who failed to survive. Because he was unable to accept responsibility for his wife's death, Thomas blamed John, and the pair grew up with a deep dislike for one another. Left to raise John and his older sister, Cheryl, Thomas subsequently lost his arm in a construction accident, and John and his older sister Cheryl were sent to live briefly with their aunt and uncle in Northampton as he looked for work. Their increasingly alcoholic father subsequently did time in prison for stealing a female neighbor's underwear, but they moved back to Liverpool when their father was released.
As a youth, Constantine read and studied books on magic and the occult and often hung out with others with similar interests of his own. In the London punk scene, he became friends with Francis "Chas" Chandler. Chas became one of his closest lifelong friends. They became part of a music group called Mucous Membrane and while visiting the Casanova Club in Newcastle, England, he had a personal paranormal incident that affected him for the rest of his life. Astra Logue, the daughter of the club owner, used a recording of a demonic ritual that reportedly unleashed negative energies in the bar, and she vanished as a result. Constantine believed the evil forces she had unleashed had dragged her off to hell, and he felt guilty for not being able to rescue her. After the event, he spent two years in the Ravenscar Mental Hospital dealing with depression and his memories of the incident while being systemically abused and neglected.
Constantine was freed from the hospital by Harry Cooper, a crime lord exploring occult means to restore his dead son to life. Hearing of Constantine, he freed John from the asylum, but Constantine humored Cooper and indulged him if but only to gain his freedom. He left the hospital not completely cured, and he began traveling around the world aimlessly to explore cases of other paranormal events and making contacts with other magicians and paranormal experts, such as Giovanni Zatara, Dr. Occult, Mr. E and Terence Thirteen. He also had a brief fling with Giovanni's daughter, Zatana, and became particularly fascinated with an unidentified cryptid known as the Swamp Thing living in the swamps around Houma, Louisiana, a creature he identified as an Earth elemental.
Considered a loner, Constantine is both compassionate and cynical, often giving forth to foul-mouthed temperamental rants. A compulsive smoker, he has dealt with lung cancer, something he believes he has overcome through his knowledge of magic and the occult. His signature attire has been a blue pin-stripe suit, tan trench coat and occasionally gloves. Constantine believes he is trapped in the middle of a war between good and evil, evident from his encounter with the Brujeria cult who killed his girlfriend, Emma, and several of his friends.
Case Files: Casanova Club (date unrevealed); Houma Swamp (date unrevealed);
Powers/Abilities: (based on long-range observations by Stephen Strange)
John Constantine is a low-level adept mystic capable of casting spells and manipulating psychokinetic fields of force which he identifies as magic. Constantine can mentally control the laws of probability to his benefit, often affecting the laws of probability to those around him in negative ways. He can sense and call upon demonic energies, use diving tools to expand his mystical senses and cast spheres of negative energy ("bad luck") to affect others around him. He has limited powers of occlumancy to affect the memories of others or to mesmerize others into seeing illusions of his choosing. He also has skills in sleight of hand and escapology.
Source/Comments: John Constantine is a character in DC comics created by Alan Moore. Though based on Sting, he was portrayed by actor Keanu Reeves in the movie "Constantine" (2002).
Jamie Delano's Hellblazer stories identifies Constantine as being born in Liverpool, England, on May 10, 1953.
References for this bio come from the DC Universe Database Website and Who's Who In the DC Universe III.