#dean vs constantine

[norahastuff]

On today’s edition of Eric Kripke is the biggest self-confessed Hellblazer fan:

John Constantine, when he’s pulling Astra out of hell (or thinks he is anyway):

I grip her tight, dragging her through a blindness of fire and smoke. I lead the innocent from hell and into salvation.

Castiel on pulling Dean Winchester from hell:

I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition.

He wasn’t kidding around when he said Hellblazer was a big influence on Spn.

[norahastuff]

And of course Constantine who's never had a bad idea he didn't immediately act on, decides the best way to fix Dean's issues is to seduce someone. But who does he go for. Dean? Cas? Both? Sam???

You bring up a very interesting and likely scenario. Of course that would be his solution….hmm there is the fact that him and Dean both flirt with tall dark handsome men by using the same pet names:

So I’m going to go with Cas, purely because it would be hilarious to see Dean’s jealous reaction to Constantine calling Cas sunshine. Also Cas and Constantine have the same look, and you just know Constantine has a hidden fantasy about two identical trenchcoats and ties (colour aside) thrown on his bedroom floor. It’s like hooking up with someone who’s cosplaying as you and it fulfils a weird narcissistic desire of his.

[norahastuff]

I was thinking about how fun it would be for Constantine and Dean to meet and chat, but then my mind went to the sad place because Dean has been to hell and Constantine is doomed to hell when he dies, and both their lives suck so much.

This is very true, and while I would kill for a drunk angsty conversation about their respective damnations…there’s also the fact that Constantine would be super interested in how Dean escaped from hell, so he’d have to explain how Cas rescued him and the whole story of their relationship…

Well he layed siege to hell to find me.

And then he rebelled against heaven and his family for me.

Then he raided purgatory and became God because he didn’t want to tear me away from the domestic life I’d found, but I wanted nothing more than for him to just come to me so we could face our problems together.

I spent a year looking for him in purgatory even though I had a way home the whole time because I need him with me. Anyway he only left my side because he was trying to protect me. When he stayed behind in purgatory, I changed my memories to make it my fault, because I couldn’t handle the thought that he’d ever leave me.

I also broke through his mind control when heaven had brain washed him. 

And he gave up an army for me.

After about 20 minutes of Dean drunkenly listing all the major happenings of his and Cas’ relationship:

Constantine: That is one intense story mate. So how long have you guys been together for now?

Dean: Together? Me and Cas? No no way! We’re bros is all, I mean I can’t function when he’s not around, I stare longingly into his eyes a lot and I made him a mixtape of the music my parents fell in love over, but we’re just bros.

John:

X

So many glorious opportunities for John’s signature bisexual eyerolling.

[norahastuff]

I'm so happy I found your blog. :) You have SPN and my most recent obsession, John Constantine (and his various appearances). :D I just started vol 5, so I have a ways to go there

Hey thanks :) always nice to meet fellow Spn/Constantine fans. Tbh my knowledge Constantine canon/lore is not at my level of Spn obsession, but I’ve loved that idiot for years and him reappearing on Legends recently just reignited that. What with Kripke acknowledging the huge influence Hellblazer has had on Spn, I’ve always linked the two anyway and I find it really interesting to compare them. 

[norahastuff]

Have some more Dean Winchester and John Constantine parallels, this time from spn 5x03 and legends of tomorrow 4x01.

[norahastuff]

I love how Constantine is like a smooshed version of Dean and Cas. Obviously Cas's look is based on Constantine but I'l love to know how much of Dean's personality was based on Constantine's.

Honestly this has been nagging at me more and more these days. I recently fell into the Constantine bin again after having not read the comics for a few years, I’m reading Hellblazer again. Constantine is so Dean Winchester. I’m actually going to quote the first line of his characterisation entry on wikipedia:

‘‘a compassionate humanist who struggles to overcome the influence of both heaven and hell over humanity’‘

Remind you of anyone?

He’s cynical, sarcastistic, quippy and charismatic as hell. A working class protagonist.

I was going to write out this parallel but the wiki description is perfect so I’m just going to copy/paste again

‘’Constantine is shown to be someone with a wide and international circle of contacts and allies, and is adept at making friends. At the same time, his close friends inevitably suffer or are outright killed simply by being in his life; this has left a severe mark on him. In #69, when the King of Vampires killed the man sleeping beside him and casually asked if he’d been a friend, John replied “Must be. He’s dead.“ ‘‘

Dean in 7x17: ‘’We don’t even have friends, all our friends are dead’’.

Sam to dean in 8x05: ‘’All your friends are dead’’

The whole plot of ‘’Dangerous habits’’ is about how Constantine learns he’s going to die and his soul has been damned to hell. He can hear and feel the hellhounds that are after him. He’s really broken up and goes to seek comfort in the arms of Marj and her daughter Mercury, with whom he has a unique connection. 

I’d list the parallels, but this is essentially just Dean’s whole season 3 storyline.

John’s mother died during childbirth and he was raised by a horrible single father…

There’s the fact that the Colt is most likely based on ‘’The Ace of Winchesters’’, the gun introduced in Hellblazer

And then we come to the bisexuality conundrum. Constantine reveals he has had ‘’boyfriends and girlfriends’’ in issue #51, and his interest in men as well as women isn’t a topic of discussion again till ‘’Ashes and Dust’’ issue #170. It may not be a ever present element of the main plot but Constantine is bisexual.

Many people have read Dean as having queer subtext attached to him for quite some time now. Even if you don’t think that Dean is bisexual, it’s hard to argue with how much ambiguity there has been around his sexuality, almost from the beginning. If we’re taking into account all the parallels between Constantine and Dean, and we see a number of similarities why is it that we draw the line when it comes to sexuality? Regardless of whether the indvidual writers/showrunners ever intended to make Dean’s potential bisexuality a textual development, they have all heavily included elements to make it a viable reading of the character, especially Kripke.

There are many more similarities that I’m missing I’m sure. I love the comics but I won’t claim to be an expert. If anyone knows any more I’d love to hear them :) 

I can’t find the source at the moment, I’ll look for it and add it later, but Kripke stated on a couple of occasions that he was a huge fan of Hellblazer and had read all of it. He also claimed that Hellblazer had had a huge influence on Spn in general terms as well. 

We all know Cas’ look was based on John Constantine, but honestly, that’s the last aspect of the character that hadn’t yet been adapted on Spn. Like you said there is so much overlap between Dean and Constantine, that trying to make Cas more him would have been completely redundant. 

TLDR: John Constantine is basically liberated Dean Winchester with Cas’ fashion sense. All three of them are on the same network right now and I’ve never wanted a crossover more.