The Flash Wastes Another Chance To Resolve Diggle's Green Lantern Hints - Screen Rant

WARNING: Spoilers for The Flash season 7, episode 16, "P.O.W."

John "Dig" Diggle had a major role in the latest episode of The Flash, but "P.O.W." did nothing to resolve a long-teased subplot suggesting that the heart and soul of Team Arrow had been chosen to be a Green Lantern. While Diggle was an original character created for the Arrow series to act as a Little John figure to Oliver Queen's modern-day Robin Hood, comic fans quickly drew parallels between the soldier turned bodyguard and another famous John: the Green Lantern John Stewart, who was also a career military man before being inducted into the Green Lantern Corps. Audiences hoped that John Diggle might become a Green Lantern so that Arrow might homage the classic Green Lantern/Green Arrow partnership from the comics.

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The Arrowverse writers jumped upon the idea and threw out a number of Easter eggs suggesting that John Diggle was the Earth-1 Green Lantern and counterpart to John Stewart. Chief among these was Diggle being recognized by the Barry Allen of Earth-90, who commented "You're not wearing your ring," during the Elseworlds event. A later episode of Arrow introduced Diggle's stepfather, a general in the United States Marine Corps, whose name was Roy Stewart. The biggest tease of all came during the final episode of Arrow, where a montage running under the eulogy Diggle delivered at Oliver Queen's funeral showed Diggle witnessing an object fall from space and discovering what appeared to be a jewelry box containing a glowing green object. The question of what Diggle had found lay dormant for the better part of a year, though fans hoped that actor David Ramsey might be set up to be part of the upcoming HBO Max Green Lantern Corps series.

Hopes rose when it was announced that David Ramsey would be guest-starring as John Diggle in a number of Arrowverse series during the 2020-2021 television season. Unfortunately, Ramsey's appearances to date have raised more questions than answers. Diggle's cameo in Batwoman, where he stepped in to save Luke Fox from a beating at the hands of a crooked cop, established that Diggle had been having headaches and dizzy spells since his last appearance on The Flash immediately after Crisis on Infinite Earths and that he had come to Gotham City to seek treatment at a world-renowned neurology clinic. The Flash episode "P.O.W." touched upon this a bit more, actually showing one of Diggle's dizzy spells as he helped Team Flash fight an army of Godspeed clones. The episode also brought Diggle into contact with empath Cecile Horton, who described the pain she felt Diggle experiencing as having come from some other presence, one that felt "huge... no... More like infinite."

ohn Diggle Spartan Having Headache In The Flash POW Green Lantern Tease

The episode teased several Green Lantern connections, with Diggle hearing a chorus of voices that kept saying the phrase "worlds await" after he collapsed in the street. Diggle gave Barry an inspiring speech about overcoming fear, which is the primary requirement to be a Green Lantern in the comics. "P.O.W." also replayed the scene of Diggle opening the box with the glowing green object from the Arrow finale as Diggle spoke with Barry Allen about how there was "something I've been putting off for far too long" that he had to deal with rather than stay to help fight the Godspeed army.

While audiences may be disappointed that the latest episode of The Flash didn't confirm John Diggle's destiny beyond the stars, there's no reason for them to lose hope. David Ramsey is scheduled to make two more appearances as John Diggle in upcoming episodes of Superman and Lois and Supergirl, so Diggle's story is far from over. The biggest question, however, is what might compel Diggle to leave Earth behind given the importance he places upon his family and the wife and two young children Diggle would have to abandon to be a Green Lantern. That is, of course, if Diggle is being offered a chance to join the Green Lantern Corps and whatever is happening to him isn't a glorious fake-out.

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Matt Morrison (1556 Articles Published)

Matt Morrison has been writing about comics since before the word "blogging" was coined. He got his start writing for the legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing, before receiving his own column, The Mount. Since then he has gone on to write for over a dozen websites, including 411 Mania, Comics Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He holds both an MS in Information Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book history trivia, he has delivered lectures on the history of American Comic Books, Japanese Manga, Doctor Who, and Cosplay at over a dozen conventions and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels for Librarians at the University of North Texas. In addition to his work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the Editor In Chief of Kabooooom.com and writes reviews for No Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime review site aimed at teachers and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog – My Geeky Geeky Ways – which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series making up The Arrowverse as well as his comedic Let’s Play videos. What little spare time he has is devoted towards acting, role-playing, movie-riffing and sarcasm. You can follow his adventures on Twitter, @GeekyGeekyWays.