Hot Take: Johanna Constantine is Not One of the "Good Guys" If You Think About It
If you are a Johanna fan, we are preemptively sorry.
In 'The Sandman ', iconic exorcist John Constantine stepped away from the spotlight, making space for Johanna — a female Constantine, who is John's ancestor in the graphic novel, and was introduced in the Netflix show due to copyright issues.
Portrayed by Jenna Coleman, the character immediately conquered fans' hearts, with people rallying for a Johanna Constantine spinoff. However, if you think about it, Johanna is not a very appealing character despite undoubtedly being charismatic.
According to some fans, 'The Sandman' creators were a bit over-the-top with the boss-girl energy they gave to Johanna. It looked like she was annoying rather than edgy and independent.
What particularly irked people was the way Johanna treated Morpheus.
"It's established that she's well versed in the arcane, but still, he's the Sandman! One of the Endless! Not some average nobody to close the door on, walk away from while smirking, interrupt, boss around, or not show some gratitude after he said that her girlfriend died in peace (she gave her the sand, it wasn't even hers to take)," Reddit user AldionLynaru argued.
Besides, she doesn't seem to care about other people too much: in the church, when she performs exorcism that results in someone having to face a gruesome death of a person they loved, Johanna shows little empathy, going on with the exorcism.
However, other fans argued that even this questionable portrayal of Johanna is nicer than any other Constantine we got to see in other adaptations.
"Johanna is nicer than all versions of John who are more commonly seen. From Keanu-John and NBC/Arrowverse-John, to animated-Johns and especially comics-Johns." – /albene
After all, the Constantines themselves are not exactly famous for emanating sunshine and rainbows energy. Both John and Johanna are known as edgy and tough characters who still try to do the right thing. In this sense, 'The Sandman' managed to grasp that line between someone being a meanie but still — kinda — with the good guys.