For the past few years, there has been some argument between Constantine fans as to how to properly say John Constantine’s last name. There is one possibility that might satisfy both fans of the comics and the Arrowverse; John is intentionally confusing the issue to obscure his True Name.
John Constantine first appeared as a supporting character in Swamp Thing, advising the Guardian of The Green on various mystic matters while manipulating him towards his own ends. Constantine quickly took on a life of his own and earned his own solo series, Hellblazer, which became the longest-running series in the history of DC Comics’ Vertigo line for adults. His adventures were adapted into a 2005 film starring Keanu Reeves and a 2014 television series starring Matt Ryan, which was later absorbed into the Arrowverse.
With Ryan’s Constantine now part of Legends of Tomorrow and fans of Reeves’ Constantine adaptation clamoring for a sequel, the man called ConJob has never been more popular in the public eye. Yet the question of how to say his name still sparks infighting among readers of the comics and fans of the live-action media on both sides of The Pond. While there is no easy or correct answer to the argument, careful consideration of the rules of magic in the DC Universe suggests one possible peacemaking solution.
Con-stan-tyne Or Con-stan-teen?
The comics have made it clear on multiple occasions that John Constantine pronounces his last name so that it rhymes with “pine” or “line.” This makes sense as that is the most common pronunciation in John’s native country of England. In fact, there was a running gag throughout the early years of Hellblazer about John becoming easily irritated by Americans who mispronounced his name.
The 2005 Constantine film, by contrast, had Keanu Reeves and the rest of the cast pronounce John’s last name so that it rhymed with “keen” or “dream.” This pronunciation is more common in the United States and Canada and could be explained away by this version of John Constantine being American rather than British. Problems arose, however, when the Constantine television series began depicting a British John Constantine who pronounced his name in the American fashion.
The Constant Controversy
While this may seem like a silly point to argue about to a layperson, the pronunciation of John Constantine’s name is a serious point of contention among fans of the character. Comic readers and the British favor the “Con-Stan-Tyne” pronunciation out of national pride or a belief that the source material (where John makes a big deal about people getting his name wrong) trumps the interpretations. Fans of the film and the television series, however, claim that the John Constantine of the Arrowverse goes with the more common pronunciation since he’s not the type to put on airs or just doesn’t care enough to correct people after years of living in America. Both arguments have merit, but they both also ignore the importance of names in the magic of the DC Universe.
The Magic of True Names in the DC Universe
Real-world magic traditions place great importance on the true names of people and things. To know the name of a thing is to command power over it and many cultures believed that magicians could gain power over a person if they knew their true name. This idea goes back to the time of Ancient Egypt, where one legend spoke of Isis gaining power over Ra by learning his true name. While some traditions believe this only applies to gods, angels, demons, faeries and other magical creatures, many magicians take on aliases so as to prevent their true names from being used against them.
These rules have been shown to apply to the magic of DC Comics’ cosmology on multiple occasions. The imps of the Fifth Dimension, like Superman’s enemy Mister Mxyzptlk, are bound by their names and can be commanded by evoking their names in different ways, such as getting them to say their own name backwards. Saying words backwards is also how Homo Magi (like Zatanna Zatara) work their most powerful spells. The Thunderbolt genie, commanded by Johnny Thunder, could only be commanded by the seventh son of a seventh son saying a magic word which was later revealed to be the genie’s true name backwards. John Constantine’s most famous failure, the Newcastle Incident, came about because he summoned one demon to fight a weaker demon and botched the ritual, by assigning the wrong name to the demon whose sigil he called upon. This resulted in an innocent girl named Astra Logue being sent to Hell and John spending several years in an insane asylum because of what he saw during his failed attempt to save her.
Theory: John Mispronounces His Name So It Can’t Be Used Against Him
While there is some difference between the reality of DC Comics and the Arrowverse, the world of comics and the world of television have more in common than not. As such, it seems safe to presume that with characters like Mister Mxyzptlk and John Constantine sharing the same space and possessing the same powers in the Arrowverse, that the same rules of magic from the comics should apply unless otherwise stated. Given that, one possibility presents itself as to why the British John Constantine should pronounce his name in the American fashion; he is deliberately obscuring his True Name.
The surest proof of this came during Crisis on Infinite Earths, when John Constantine was called upon to resurrect the fallen Oliver Queen. With the destruction of all reality generating a good deal of psychic turbulence, the ritual Constantine usually worked to retrieve a dead soul from Purgatory wasn’t working. This led Constantine to travel to Earth-666 so Constantine could call in a favor from Lucifer Morningstar; an encounter that ended with The Devil pronouncing Constantine’s name “Con-Stan-Tyne” and John quickly correcting him. Lucifer laughed and shrugged this off, saying he didn’t really care, but John was clearly disturbed by what Lucifer had done.
Suppose that John’s anger at the pronunciation of his name was not because The Devil got it wrong, but because he got it right? This seems more in keeping with John’s character and Lucifer’s as well. To Diggle and Smoak, it would seem that Lucifer was merely trolling John Constantine by pretending he wasn’t important enough for him to bother remembering his name. For Constantine, however, Lucifer was making two points dramatically clear; that he knew John’s true name and he did not appreciate the familiar tone John took in calling in a favor, even if it was fairly owed.
While this scene was likely intended to be a nod to the comics and the controversy among fans as to how the name of Constantine should be said, it takes on a whole new meaning if one considers the importance of true names in the magic of the Arrowverse. It would seem to confirm that John Constantine, famed as a master of misdirection, intentionally mispronounces his own name as a means of protecting himself but still arranged it so that his name became something to be feared in the world of the occult. It also pays homage to the adversarial yet professional relationship Constantine developed with the ruler of Hell in the comics, though it remains to be seen if he’ll make an appearance in Season 5 or 6 of Lucifer.
