Warning: Spoilers for Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic #4!
DC Comics has finally shown audiences how John Constantine is going to meet his demise in DC canon. Constantine is no stranger to brushes with death, but now readers can imagine how his death will take place in the Batman Beyond timeline. Earlier in the series, Terry’s new sidekick, Kyle the Catboi, reveals that Constantine was his secret mentor — and now he’s revealed just how the sorcerer will leave the world.
Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic #4 by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, Max Dunbar, Rain Beredo, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou elaborates further on Kyle’s revelation about John’s curses from the second issue. When the Batman Beneath traps the new-age dynamic duo in a nightmare-fueled dream, Kyle is forced to relive the ups and downs of his relationship with Constantine. For Kyle, that journey begins in childhood when an older Constantine finds him in an alleyway after being jumped by a gang of cats who discourage him from hunting for being too small.
But the journey ends, of course, with the Constantine’s death — safe at home in his bed.
John Constantine Dies Naturally — But Passes on All His Curses
When Constantine meets Kyle, he uses magic to force the other, cruel cats to vanish. Kyle asks if John can teach him how to do that, and, before he knows it, he’s the Hellblazer’s squire. In the years that follow, John helps Kyle perfect his craft, and their bond grows as Kyle becomes attached to his mentor. Tragedy strikes when Constantine is bed-bound and frail, finally on his deathbed. But before he passes on, Constantine passes his curses to his mentee: “If I die with all those curses on me, my soul’ll get split between a hundred demons and a thousand angels.” His final words are “Now stop the mewling and let me die,” before he hops down a sewer and into the Green.
That last part may have been a product of the Batman Beneath’s nightmare meddling, as Kyle says himself “this isn’t how it happened.” Still, based on what was established previously in this series, it can be inferred that, if nothing else, Constantine did die on his deathbed and did pass his curses to Kyle. What’s most fascinating about all this is the nature of Constantine’s death in this universe. The average reader may expect a character of Constantine’s caliber — or maybe just a superhero in general — to go out in some sort of blaze of glory. But that’s not the case at all; he dies like a human.
The Significance of Constantine’s Death
Constantine dies as any other man would die in his old age. Depending on the reader and their perspective, the dichotomy this presents and the death itself may be tragic, disappointing, or even oddly poetic. It highlights how unpredictable death can be when even one of the world’s most complicated heroes, John Constantine, meets an unpredictably humane and almost peaceful demise.
