Role Reversal

Sigh; I am old enough to remember when Hal Jordan was the stiff, obedient company-man, and John Stewart was the brash free-thinking rebel.

Somewhere along the line their roles got reversed.

And now John's stereotyped as the strict disciplined military type and Hal as the wacky lonely rebel.

When did this happen? How did this happen?

Hal Jordan started out as "a company man".  

He had no military background (too young for that), was wedded to his company (Ferris Air), and wanted to be wedded to its boss (Carol Ferris).  

He was the dutiful deputy of the distant Guardians from the planet Oa. He was not known for disobedience or imaginative problem-solving.

Although, granted, he was not without his moments of what is now called "lateral thinking."

In the Bronze Age, DC (especially writer Denny O'Neil) leaned into the characterization of Hal as an overty square "establishment" type (especially in contract to that newly hip Robin Hood, Green Arrow).

"Oh, THAT's what I forgot to do today: use my magical power ring to eliminate racism and fix the socioeconomic disadvantages of black people in America with a few well-placed giant green boxing gloves! Sorry, I'll get right on that."

The introduction of John Stewart (who was black and hip more rebellious and a lot smarter than Hal) to contrast with Hal was part of that process.

And I do mean a LOT smarter.

John was an educated professional (an architect); Hal was a pilot, which very much requires training, but is not an intellectual position.

Nice outfit, John.

John is literally introduced while confronting authority figures (oh, goodness!), which shocks Hal's delicate sensibilities.

These characterizations mostly held through the Iron Age but stumbled after Crisis on Infinited Earths.  Hal went crazy, rebelled against the Guardians, killed the GL Corps, etc.  Despite Geoff Johns' professed attempts to bring Hal back to "what he was before", the fact is Johns brought back a version of Hal Jordan quite different from the Silver/Bronze Age one.  He now had been in the military (which has since become pretty standard for real-world test pilots) but got expelled for being rebellious, had a tragic backstory, and was now known for improvisation in battle.

This is my favorite example.

This is a far cry from the man who used to hit his head hourly and once accidentally turned his sidekick into a seagull.

I say this EVERY time I am awakened suddenly, whether I am a seagull or not.

John Stewart underwent a reverse process.  No longer was an urban hipster with an ascot, an afro, and an architecture degree.  Because the Justice League cartoon turned into a hard-nosed close-cropped Marine sniper.

Played by well-known non-hard-ass, the fabulous Phil Lamarr.

This version of John Stewart was certainly a consistent and legitimate character; we all love animated John!  But, other than his 'race', he has next to nothing in common with the John Stewart of comics. They are essentially different characters who have the same name.  Later characterizations in other media have made valiant effects to reconcile these two versions of John Stewart, but it's always... awkward at best.

Lanterns tried its best to make "former Marine sniper goes to art school and becomes a highly-skilled architect" work.  But it's still comes off as an ad hoc hippogriff.

Hal, not just on Lanterns, but in the comics as well, is now your Brave and Bold Adventurer, bluffing his way through any situation with improvisational bravado.

Good luck, Hal.

I suppose you could make the case that Hal was ALWAYS like that.

He was always making it up as he went along.

But I still think it's important to remember -- or to learn -- that Hal Jordan and John Stewart started out as very different characters, indeed.