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John Constantine

Origins - John Constantine was born in Liverpool, England, on May 10, 1953. His mother, Mary Anne, died giving birth to John and his stillborn twin brother because of an earlier abortion forced on her by John's father, Thomas had weakened her womb. 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. Whilst in the womb, John strangled his twin brother with his own umbilical cord. As a child, one of John's first acts of magic was to hide all of his childhood innocence and vulnerability in a box to rid himself of it. Later, in the 1960s, a teenage John ran away from home, but not before a botched curse on his father caused him to become withered and frail. John eventually made his permanent home in London in 1969, rooming with Francis "Chas" Chandler, a young man who has since gone on to become John's closest and longest surviving friend. During the 1970s, John became involved in occult circles in London, and visited San Francisco, where he met, and subsequently began a relationship with, the female magician Zatanna. The two remain friends more or less although John feels partially responsible for her father Zatara's death. It is rumored that Zatanna had a child by Constantine, but whether that is true or not is questionable. He also became enamored of punk rock; after seeing the Sex Pistols at the Roxy Club in London in 1977, John cut his long hair and formed his own band, Mucous Membrane, whose members included Chandler (as a roadie), a drummer named Beano and fellow Liverpudlian Gary Lester. On tour with Mucous Membrane at the Casa Nova Club in Newcastle, he found the aftermath of a magical orgy gone horribly wrong: an abused child, Astra, had conjured a hideous monster that took revenge on the adults who were tormenting her, and the monster refused to leave. A habitual smoker, John contracted lung cancer during the Dangerous Habits arc. After several failed attempts to save his own life and royally pissing off the first of the fallen in the process by cheating him out of a friend's soul John made a deal with each of the three rulers of hell. He promised his soul to each of them, and each was too eager to own the infamous John Constantine's soul that they all individually accepted without any real question. To bring his plan in to motion, John was forced to commit suicide by slitting his wrists, bringing each of the Fallen forth to collect on their deals. None of the three were willing to give up their claim on Constantine's soul, and they knew if he were to die they would go to war over it thus ripping Hell apart. Tricked, the demons were forced to save John's life and subsequently remove his lung cancer in the most painful manner possible to ensure he continued living. Upon their exit, he flipped them the bird. No matter how his own life goes, John stays committed to battling evil if it is in his own best interests. Although a compassionate humanist who struggles to overcome the influence of both Heaven and Hell over humanity and despite his occasional foray into heroism , Constantine is a foul-mouthed, British cynic who pursues a life of sorcery and danger. His motivation has been attributed to an adrenaline addiction that only the strange and mysterious can sate. He also seems to be something of a "Weirdness Magnet". Constantine is shown to be someone with a wide and international circle of contacts and allies, and is supremely adept at making friends. He has had many girlfriends as well, and mentions past boyfriends. At the same time, his close friends inevitably suffer or are outright killed simply by being in his life; this has left a severe mark on him. In Hellblazer #69, when the King of Vampires killed the man next to him and casually asked if he'd been a friend, John replied "Must be. He's dead." While Constantine has worn many clothes over the years he was originally portrayed as often wearing a blue pin-stripe suit, tan trench coat and occasionally gloves. As the series progressed his trademark attire became a grungier (or perhaps the same just older) trench coat , white shirt and black tie, but has recently returned more to his earlier fashion. Constantine chain-smokes Silk Cuts cigarettes, consuming thirty or so a day. Constantine is unusual among comic book characters in that he has aged in real time since his creation. During the first year of his solo series, Constantine celebrated his 35Th birthday. Five years later in 1993, he turned 40. It has since been calculated that John turned 56 on May 10, 2009. In the book, it is mentioned multiple times that the aging process of Constantine himself might be different due to the demon blood that he obtained from Nergal.

Powers and Abilities - Unlike most comic book magicians, Constantine rarely uses magical spells, unless he has to, especially in combat. Constantine faces most of his challenges relying primarily on his cunning, his vast knowledge of the occult, manipulation of opponents and allies, and an extensive list of contacts. Constantine's blood is demonically tainted, initially by a blood transfusion from the demon Nergal, and later by sex with a succubus. His blood has been shown to have healing properties. It also acted as a defense mechanism when attacked by the King of the Vampires (Hellblazer #69). Although John has generally been shown to lose most fights against a superior combatant and generally avoids physical battles he has been known to win fights, either by using a magical weapon or by fighting dirty. His magical abilities include divination, demon summoning, cursing, psychic mediation, golemancy (creating golems), oclumancy (erasing memories), necromancy, illusions, hypnosis, sleight of hand, and escapology.

Weaknesses and Limitations - John is not in great shape physically, has the average strength of a man in his late 50's, and is not a very knowledgeable hand to hand combatant. He is deathly afraid of needles.