Arrow: How John Diggle Really Is Green Lantern (But Only On Some Earths)

Arrow seemingly affirmed a long-running fan theory that original Team Arrow founder John Diggle is the Arrowverse’s equivalent of the Green Lantern John Stewart. While earlier episodes have dropped similar hints to the two characters being linked, the storyline of season 7, episode 19, “Spartan”, made the connection clear.

Green Lantern and Green Arrow have been a team since writer Dennis O’Neil first joined Oliver Queen and Hal Jordan together in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76. It was during this same series that the character of John Stewart was first introduced in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #87 and a tradition of Green Arrow teaming-up with various Green Lanterns began. When the character of soldier-turned-bodyguard John Diggle was created to act as Oliver Queen’s right-hand man on Arrow, he was meant to be a modern-day Little John, much as Oliver Queen was based on Robin Hood. Still, may comic fans have hoped that John Diggle might wind up wearing a Green Lantern ring before the series’ conclusion, as a nod to John Stewart.

Arrow‘s showrunners have clearly been aware of the fan theory, but didn’t begin adopting it into the show until season 7. During the Elseworlds crossover event, Supergirl, Team Arrow and Team Flash briefly joined forces with the Barry Allen of Earth 90 – the setting of the 1990’s The Flash show starring John Wesley Shipp. As this version of The Flash is introduced to the heroes of Earth-1, he seems surprised to see a familiar face among them, clearly recognizing John Diggle and asking why he wasn’t wearing his ring. The implication was clear – on Earth 90, John Diggle was a Green Lantern!

“Spartan” went a step further in establishing a connection between John Diggle and John Stewart. The opening scenes of the episode see Team Arrow intercepting agents of the Ninth Circle that are trying to steal classified military documents. While successful in thwarting the theft, our heroes are left with no idea of the villainous group’s ultimate goal in acquiring this specific information. This leads to Diggle reluctantly suggesting they consult with a general he knows who would be privy to that information. This general is eventually revealed to be John’s stepfather, whom he never got along with, and his name is General Roy Stewart.

While this isn’t quite the same as putting a Green Lantern ring on John Diggle’s finger, it does tie him into a Stewart family, and deepen the Elseworlds reference. Perhaps on other Earths in the Arrowverse, a younger John Diggle developed a better relationship with his stepfather and took his surname willingly or was officially adopted by General Stewart and given his name? In either case, this is sure to set fans speculating about the possibility that we may finally see Diggle become Green Lantern sometime before the end of Arrow season 8.

Arrow continues Mondays on The CW.