John Constantine timeline

This is a timeline covering the life of John Constantine. It includes all events from his youth and notable events from his post-Swamp Thing life.

The '50s

1953

• May 9: A foetal Constantine strangles his twin with his own umbilical cord. (Hellblazer issue 39)
• May 10: John Constantine is born in Liverpool, England. His mother dies in the process. (Hellblazer issue 39)

1958

• (Approximately) A young Constantine meets Nergal for the first time, though neither are aware of who the other is. Nergal gives John his first cigarette; John responds by stealing the entire pack. (Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer)

The '60s

1961

• Thomas Constantine is arrested for stealing women's underwear and sentenced to seven months in prison. John and Cheryl are sent to live with their Aunt Dolly and Uncle Harry in Northampton. (Hellblazer issue 35)
• July: John finds what he believes is a dead boy's fossilised heart. He later throws it into a junkyard and when the man who lives there doesn't react, John believes that he's killed him. (Hellblazer issue 35)
• Later, John and Cheryl are sent to live with their uncle Roy and aunt Jean. (Hellblazer issue 253)
• August: The god Mictlantecuhtli, looking backwards through time, appears before a young John. Thomas, having apparently been released from prison, dismisses it as a nightmare. (All His Engines)

1965

• (Approximately) A young Constantine is terrorised by Kenny Nelson, a psychopathic school bully who put out one of his own sister's eyes with a knitting needle. John calls forward Kenny's mother in a seance and reveals that Kenny murdered her in her sleep. Kenny, terrified, runs outside and has his legs crushed under a truck. The seance turns out to be a ruse: John got the information from Kenny's sister. (Hellblazer issue 213)

1966

• Katie Morgan moves to Liverpool after her father dies and leaves his family penniless. John and Katie date until John's headmaster threatens to have him sent to a juvenile prison. John, scared, blanks her until she eventually moves away. Later he curses the headmaster, who dies in a housefire. (House of Mystery Halloween Annual 2)

1967

• John works his first conscious spell by placing his childhood innocence in a toy house and burying it in a time capsule. (Hellblazer The Books of Magic issue 1)
• Constantine is expelled from school. His father, disliking John's interest in the occult, becomes increasingly abusive. John responds by binding his father's spirit to a dead cat; the spell weakens and almost kills him. John is able to pause the spell, but not break it, leaving his father weak and bitter. (Hellblazer issue 31)

1968

• John runs away to London for the first time.
• July: John meets a Oliver, another runaway. (Love Street issue one)
• John is caught and sent back home to Liverpool.

1969

• October 1: Having run away again, John encounters a priest who tries to cut off his penis with a razorblade. (Hellblazer Special 1)
• John finally makes it to London, where he meets Chas Chandler for the first time. Chas falls into his debt when John frees him of the horrible influence of his mother. (Hellblazer issue 84)

The '70s

1977

• Constantine forms Mucous Membrane, a punk band, with members including Gary Lester and Beano. Chas Chandler becomes their roadie. (Hellblazer Annual 1)

1978

John Constantine from the 'Venus of the Hardsell' video

• Mucous Membrane record a music video for their track 'Venus of the Hardsell'.
• While gigging at The Electric Banana in Camden, London, John meets Rich Eldridge for the first time. (Hellblazer issue 91).
• July: Constantine, Chas and another member of Mucous Membrane, Les, meet SW Manor, a young billionaire. He pays Constantine to steal a clock that can tell the future. The trio con him out of the money instead, earning Manor's ire. (Hellblazer issue 162)
• The Newcastle Crew discover the aftermath of Alex Logue's magic orgy; his abused daughter, Astra, has summoned a demon named Norfulthing that has slaughtered everyone but her. John summons a demon to kill it, but fails to name and bind it properly. It kills the beast but then drags Astra to Hell. The demon's name is Nergal. Constantine is driven insane and committed, but flits in and out of Ravenscar Secure Facility for the next two years. (Hellblazer issue 11)

1979

• John's niece, Gemma Masters, is born. Shortly afterwards Cheryl - who has fallen out with her husband - brings the kid down to stay with John. John turns them away, but not before putting a thick wad of money in their pockets. (Hellblazer issue 274)
• Epiphany Greaves arrives after being sent back in time from 2009 by Shade the Changing Man. She meets and beds a young Constantine, who has left Ravenscar yet again, until the Constantine from her time arrives to take her back. Shortly afterwards Doctor Proctor arrives to take the 1979 Constantine back to Ravenscar. (Hellblazer issue 271-274)

The '80s

1980

• Recuperating at the house of friend Brendan Finn, John meets Kit Ryan for the first time. (Hellblazer issue 75)

1982

• April 5: As a British naval taskforce leaves for the Falklands, Constantine leaves Ravenscar for what he incorrectly thinks is the last time. He meets a mysterious woman in London and subsequently dreams of his ancestor, Kon-sten-tyn. (Hellblazer Annual 1)
• Summer: Constantine is freed from Ravenscar once more by London gangster Harry Cooper and made to resurrect Cooper's dead son. He cannot, so instead he binds a demon to his will and implants it in the boy's body. (Hellblazer issue 130)
• (Approximately) Constantine meets Emma, an American artist, for the first time. They begin seeing each other. (Hellblazer issue 142)

1983

• John and Brendan Finn steal The Ace of Winchesters from New York voodoo gangster Papa Midnite for eccentric collector Jerry O'Flynn. (Hellblazer issue 76)
• John, Brendan and Kit Ryan drink together for the last time. John wouldn't see Kit again until a chance meeting in 1991. (Hellblazer issue 42)
• (Approximately) John's friend Seth abuses a girl called Anette. She summons The Third of the Fallen to kill him, then commits suicide. (Vertigo Jam 1)
• John meets Ghant for the first time. The pair, along with a policeman named Bentham, investigate a series of murders committed near Gruinard island. They discover that they are the work of a pregnant succubus, and manage to trap its children on the island. (Hellblazer issue 187-188)

1984

• Former Mucous Membrane drummer Beano begs John to help him deal with some ghosts in his house. The ghosts turn out to be a little girl and the man who murdered her. John lets the girl's ghost go to Heaven but is dragged to Hell by the man's. Constantine makes a deal - the details of which are unknown - to escape Hell and arrives back just in time to make his own funeral. (Hellblazer issue 77)
• The succubus Ellie and her angelic lover Tali come to John for help. He is able to deliver their child away from the eyes of Hell, but is surprised when angels arrive instead; they kill Tali and take the child. (Hellblazer issue 61)

1985

• Sensing something terrible is going to happen, John contacts the Swamp Thing for the first time and enlists his help in a fight against The Brujera. Over the next two years almost all members of The Newcastle Crew, as well as Emma, are killed.

1987

• John arrives back from the Brujera debacle to discover that Gary Lester has unleashed a demon on New York. John and Papa Midnite manage to kill the demon, but not without killing Gary in the process. (Hellblazer issue one-two)
• June 11: Margaret Thatcher is voted in for a third term as the British Prime Minister. John spends election night battling demonic yuppies. (Hellblazer issue three)

1988

• The appearance of The Resurrection Crusade and The Damnation Army on the scene puts John on high alert. He foils the plans of both sides, tangling with - and finally defeating - the demon Nergal in the process. The plan requires John to help Swamp Thing and his human lover Abigail conceive a child: Tefe Holland. (Hellblazer issue four-12)

1989

• John meets Marj and Mercury, a pair of travellers, and later frees Mercury from The Fear Machine. (Hellblazer issue 14-22)
• Morpheus, The Sandman, escapes his centuries-long confinement and commissions John to help him find a lost artefact. (The Sandman issue three)

The '90s

1990

• Serial killer The Family Man tussles with John - in the process John's father, Thomas Constantine, is killed. (Hellblazer issue 24 and 28-Hellblazer issue 30|30]])
• John finally lifts the curse on his father that he made in the 1960s, allowing his father's soul to move on. (Hellblazer issue 77)
• Alongside fellow mystics The Phantom Stranger, Dr Occult and Mr E, John introduces powerful young wizard Timothy Hunter to the world of magic. (The Books of Magic issue one-four)

1991

• Constantine meets the twin brother he killed in the womb, who survived in a parallel reality. The Golden Boy, as he is known, tries to merge with John so that they can become more than the sum of their parts. However, this doesn't work. Instead, The Golden Boy continues to watch - and secretly manipulate - John's life for the next two decades. (Hellblazer issue 40)
• Spring: After decades of smoking, Constantine finally develops terminal lung cancer. His quest to find a cure leads him into conflict against The First of the Fallen for the first time. Eventually he tricks The First, Second and Third into a deadlock that forces them to cure him. He also meets Kit Ryan for the first time in eight years and falls into a relationship with her. (Hellblazer issue 41-46)

1992

• The First tries to get Ellie to turn on John; to protect her, he cuts a sigil into her soul that will hide her from Hell's gaze. (Hellblazer issue 61)

1993

• July: After crossing a neo-Nazi group, Constantine puts Kit in harm's way. She escapes but, furious, leaves him. This sends Constantine into a spiralling depression that leaves him homeless and alcoholic. (Hellblazer issue 66-67)

1994

• January 2: An encounter with the ghost of a dead WWII fighter pilot gives John a new lease of life. He picks himself up off the streets. (Hellblazer issue 71)
• John heads to New York, where he becomes the victim of a spell by Papa Midnite. His soul is sent to Hell while his body is left vulnerable on Earth, but he is able to twist his way out of the problem and get his revenge, forcing Midnite to jump off the top of the Empire State Building. (Hellblazer issue 72-75)
• The First of the Fallen breaks the deadlock and comes for John, killing several of his friends in the process. However, a plan hatched in secret with Ellie leads to The First's downfall. (Hellblazer issue 78-83)

1995

• John meets Rich Eldridge again, as well as his son Syder and girlfriend Michelle. Shortly thereafter the demon Buer, plotting to restore The First, possesses Syder and says that John must sacrifice himself in exchange for the boy. John siphons off the bad part of his soul - the alcoholism, the depression, the viciousness - into a golem that sacrifices itself in his stead, becoming The Demon Constantine. The First is restored, the souls of all children in Hell (including Astra) are released, Syder is saved and Ellie is forced to go on the run again. (Hellblazer issue 92-96)

1996

• Venturing to Hell, John meets his father and learns about how his mother was forced to undergo a series of abortions that eventually weakened her womb to the point the she died giving birth to him. (Hellblazer issue 100)
• John seduces Ellie to restore the demonic taint in his blood. (Hellblazer issue 104)
• Dani Wright, a journalist, meets John; the two quickly become romantically entangled. (Hellblazer issue 109)

1998

• Things unravel for John as a vengeful Ellie, Buer and The First all gun for him. He manages to save the lives of his friends, but loses their friendship in the process. (Hellblazer issue 125-128)

The '00s

2000

• John is sentenced to 35 years in a maximum security US prison for murdering Richie 'Lucky' Fermin, although Lucky committed suicide. He is freed by FBI special agent Frank Turro and goes to investigate. (Hellblazer issue 146-150)

2001

• Lucky's wife turns out to be the reason for his suicide: if he killed himself and framed Constantine, SW Manor (whom Constantine had crossed in 1978) would set her up for life. (Hellblazer issue 164-167)

2002

• With the help of Agent Turro, Constantine re-enters Manor's life and seduces him. He messes with Manor's mind so badly that the billionaire eventually kills himself - but not before killing Turro. (Hellblazer issue 171-174)

2003

• Constantine returns to the UK and finds himself in the middle of a magical gang war caused by Domine Fredericks, who has been receiving visions of a creature known as The Shadow Dog. Constantine takes Fredericks down but realises the dog is the real threat. (Hellblazer issue 175-180)

2004

• Along with ally and lover Angie Spatchcock, John travels the world learning about The Shadow Dog. (Hellblazer issue 182-185)
• Autumn: John helps Chas out after his granddaughter falls into a coma. She turns out to be one of thousands whose souls are being used to populate a literal Hell on Earth courtesy of the demon Beroul. John is able to defeat him with help from Chas and the god Mictlantecuhtli. (All His Engines)

2005

• John forms an elite magical taskforce to deal with The Shadow Dog. Unfortunately the dog turns out to be a force for good, protecting humanity from The Beast. John manages to stop its rampage but is rendered amnesiac as a result. (Hellblazer issue 189-193)
• Autumn The amnesiac Constantine becomes a target for Rosacarnis, the demonic daughter of Nergal, who seeks to avenge her father's defeat at his hands. She restores his memory but also forces him to conceive three children - Adam, Saul and Maria - with her, each of whom is magically aged and sent to kill Constantine's friends and family - including his sister Cheryl and ultimately her husband, Tony. (Hellblazer issue 194-205)
• Chasing his sister's soul, John ventures into Hell alongside the restored Nergal, who seeks to reclaim his throne from his daughter. During the ensuing carnage The First of the Fallen kills Rosacarnis, Saul, Adam and Nergal. He then gives Cheryl a choice: return to life with John or share half of her husband's torment in Hell. She chooses the latter. John returns to Earth and cuts all his ties with London's magical community. (Hellblazer issue 206-215)

2006

• After a year away from magic, Constantine is tempted back when a stranger named Chris Cole begs for his help, claiming to have been infected by an 'empathy virus'. The trail leads back to Glasgow, where Steve Evans is planning to unleash the empathy virus on the world, hoping to bring an age of peace. Instead it results in mass despair. The virus is eventually neutralised. (Hellblazer issue 217-228)

2007

• Sick of being manipulated, John decides to get his life back in order. Some card-sharking wins him an entire casino - one converted from his old madhouse, the Ravenscar Secure Facility. Beneath it he finds a creature representing all his self-loathing and fear. He gives it physical form and kills it, casting off decades of emotional baggage. (Hellblazer issue 230-233)
• Soon afterwards he encounters the villainous Lord Burnham, who is psychically remote-controlling people on a council estate to fulfil his sick desires. John brings down the operation but Burnham escapes. (Hellblazer issue 234-237)

2008

• Trouble rears its head in the form of Mako, an African warlord whose MO involves absorbing the skills and powers of magicians by eating their brains. He comes to Britain looking to kill Constantine but John redirects him towards Burnham instead. However, Burnham is able to arrange an accord with Mako. (Hellblazer issue 239-242)
• Burnham, it turns out, wants to cheat Hell by instead sending his spirit to a soul cage that will be filled with enough sordid pleasures to entertain him for eternity. In exchange for a magic mirror that will give Mako unlimited power, the African mages enter the cage and creates a world for Burnham inside it. Constantine intervenes, however, and severs Mako's connection to his body, leaving his soul inside the cage. Constantine then kills Burnham, whose soul also enters the cage, where a vengeful Mako will torture it for eternity. (Hellblazer issue 247-249)

2009

• John meets and falls in love with a doctor, Phoebe Clifton-Avery, who leaves him after he lies to her about supernatural trouble that has landed on her doorstep. He tries to get her back by using a love potion supplied by alchemist Epiphany Greaves, but his plans are cut short when Phoebe is killed by a demon named Julian. His subsequent attempt to resurrect Phoebe fails as his spirit is too impure. (Hellblazer issue 251-258)
• In an attempt to cleanse his spirit, John flies to Mumbai where an Indian magician summons Phoebe's spirit into Epiphany's body. Phoebe tells John that she wants to move on into the afterlife and that he shouldn't bring her back. He accepts this and returns to the UK with Epiphany. (Hellblazer issue 261-264)

The '10s

2010

• John's interest gradually moves on to Epiphany, who has had a crush on John since she was 15. However, one of Epiphany's would-be suitors had placed a curse on John that would kick in if this happened. It kicks in and John goes crazy. He beats Epiphany half to death before being committed to an insane asylum where he slices off his left thumb. John summons Shade the Changing Man who helps him escape and break the curse. John proposes marriage to Epiphany but Shade, who has become fixated on her, kidnaps the girl. (Hellblazer issue 267-270)
• Shade tries to transform Epiphany into his dead girlfriend Kathy George and when she refuses he sends her back to Earth in the year 1979. Meanwhile, the John Constantine of 2010 has to contend with Terry Greaves, Epiphany's overly protective gangster father, and a returned Nergal. John is eventually able to open up a portal to 1979, where he finds both Epiphany and a younger version of himself. He brings her back to the present; Terry Greaves agrees to give his consent if John helps him out with some Afghan gangsters.  In March 2011, John and Epiphany finally gets married. (Hellblazer issue 271-275)
• 2012: John attempts to finally save his sister's soul from Hell. Her sister later tells him that in order to save her, he must first find and save his long lost nephew, whom Cheryl once abandoned as a teen. He finds his nephew in Ireland, whose name was Finn, and finally saves his sister. (Hellblazer issue 294)
• 2013: By 2013, John was contacted by the Three Fates, who tell him that he will finally die in five days. Having lived a good and adventurous life, John happily accepts his fate than trying to fight it like he always does. When the 5th day came, John Constantine was murdered in his own home when he was ambushed and killed by a gangster. His funeral was attended by many of his friends and family. But it later turns out that he had faked his death yet again. Constantine decides he should keep a low profile, because he doesn't want to hurt the people around him again. He bids farewell with Finn and Epiphany, and finally visits Gemma. In the meanwhile, Gemma, hearing about her uncle's return from the Fates, tries to kill herself with a poisonous revolver, but Constantine sneaks the last remaining dart from his niece. Gemma says her life will be better without him, because he takes up too much of it and she is either hating him or loving him too much. John suggests he leave her be, but Gemma fears he will return and put her life to misery. John tells Gemma to make her own decision, and she reluctantly points the revolver at him. Gemma closes her eyes before muttering, "Damn you, John Constantine." and pulls the trigger, but when she opened her eyes again, Constantine had vanished. The last scene shows Constantine in the Long Journey's End bar, holding a glass of liquor with a vacant look.