Just gonna point out that it's canon that John isn't the Righteous Man. Like, I still maintain he wasn't righteous period, but that's a different post. What I mean is that it's actually confirmed that he legitimately could not have started the apocalypse the way Alastair claimed. I mean a) Cas said that Alastair told the truth, but only about whether Dean started the apocalypse; he didn't confirm that John could have done it instead, or that he actually lasted the full hundred-or-so years either. But b) Cas outright said "The righteous man who begins it is the only one who can finish it." And it's supposed to be finished by the skirmish royale between Michael and Lucifer, who are supposed to be paralleled in their vessels (Righteous Man vs... idk what Sam's title is... Boy King of Hell?). As far as we know --- at least at the time of s4!SPN canon --- there was no way for John to fulfill this prophecy. It had to be Sam and Dean.
TL;DR: I revoke John's Badass For Not Breaking the First Seal card because he legit just couldn't have done it. (Also, he's not righteous, but that's a separate post.)
