For the longest time, fans of Arrow – myself included – have been yearning to see John Diggle put on a Green Lantern ring. Of course, this seemed like merely a pipe dream once he adopted his own superhero identity, that being Spartan, and was also integrated into DC Comics canon.
Then, we were given a glimmer of hope when the Flash of Earth-90 met Diggle during last fall’s “Elseworlds” crossover and asked him where was his ring. Obviously, this was a thinly-veiled way of saying that Diggle’s Earth-90 doppelganger is actually John Stewart, a proud member of the Green Lantern Corps. And considering how that fella featured prominently in the beloved Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series, it’s safe to say he’s the definitive lightsmith in the eyes of many.
So, while we continue pondering Easter eggs, yet another connection was made during last night’s episode of Arrow. You see, Ernie Hudson guest starred as a General Stewart who happens to be Dig’s stepfather. Aside from that, no other Green Lantern references were made, but we know what the producers were getting at.
Here’s what David Ramsey himself had to say to ComicBook.com about possibly policing the galaxy:
“I think John Diggle has always been a nuts and bolts guy. His world of being a military guy — a grunt, really — has just expanded more and more and more and more and more. And now he is a part of this huge fraternity of otherworldly characters that’s really out of his wheelhouse. I think that has always been fun for me to play. I think that John Diggle has become more and more at ease with working with the more otherworldly aspects of crime fighting, but I think as time goes on, you have more and more opportunities that you can deal with it. It’s like ‘okay, now you’re dealing with people who can fly, or can move faster than time, who can go back in time.'”
He continued:
“For someone like John Diggle, it expands his world bigger and bigger and bigger. That’s why I think, we don’t know what’s going to happen with Green Lantern. It’s always fun to sort of tease that, but it’s also a fun idea, that someone as normal as him — the idea that he could be part of this huge tapestry of galactic characters is interesting. Again, that’s something that we don’t know is ever going to happen, but the teasing of that is what I think makes that so special. This guy is not part of that at all, but to make him part of that is a really interesting idea.”
Even after tuning in for “Spartan,” I’m not entirely convinced that Earth-1’s John Diggle will ever become a Green Lantern. Still, we should remain open to the possibility of meeting his Earth-90 counterpart during the upcoming “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event. Perhaps that guy had a better relationship with his stepfather while growing up and took on his last name, “Stewart.”
Arrow airs on Monday nights on The CW.
