How Powerful is John Constantine?

*Originally published on 9/22/09

When I was in college, my roommate got me into Hellblazer, a dark mature comic that centered around cynical every man John Constantine. While there is profanity, nudity and violence, the story is actually well written and Constantine goes through a lot of evolution as a character. I've only picked up a couple of the trades, though I intend to get the others at some point in the future.

My roommate was convinced that Constantine is the most powerful mystic in the DC Universe. Yes, the Vertigo titles do take place in the main universe, though you'd hardly notice it as DC tries to keep those titles separate for fear of little kids picking up a Hellblazer comic and seeing all the dark material that lies within it.

Most of the magicians in the DC Universe think that Constantine is lying about his mystical abilities, that he's nothing more than a con man who's all talk. It's odd, because, if anything, Constantine underplays his mystical abilities. Yes, he'll conjure a spell from time to time, but he far prefers to outwit and con his opponents rather than just cast a spell. In that sense, he is a sort of con man, but he is definitely more powerful than he lets on.

I believe that Constantine is one of the most powerful mystics in the DC Universe, but I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that he's the most powerful out of all of them. You have Dr. Fate, who essentially acts in a similar capacity to Dr. Strange; Zatanna, who can do anything as long as she says it backwards; and lesser known character Tim Hunter, who appeared in the Books of Magic series. Where is he anyway?

I digress. All of the above listed characters are extremely powerful. Constantine is a potent mystic, but I don't know if I'd say he was that powerful. I was kind of disappointed when he was never mentioned during the Day of Vengeance arc, where a mad Spectre hunts down all of the magic users. His rampage is so great that it actually affects the mystical energy of the planet itself. I understand not having Constantine appear in the series as that would lead to kids thinking Hellblazer might be kid friendly, but a mention of it within the pages of Hellblazer itself would've been nice.

It's one thing for other mystics to think that Constantine is a fake, but I'm pretty sure an agent of the Lord (which the Spectre is) would know that Constantine actually does have some magical chops. As he's routinely outsmarted the Devil, it might be possible that he's got even God fooled. That would be impressive.

It's hard to gauge just how powerful Constantine is as we've never seen him try a spell that really pushed his abilities to the limit. It would be interesting to see him take on a foe that actually tested him on that level.