He’s not supposed to be but DC went ahead and fucked that up. Originally John’s only power was the power of suggestion. He has no powers and his most famous quote was: “I’ll tell you the secret to magic…any cunt can do it.”
He’s a conman who has studied all forms of magic so he knows the spells which can be cast, but he has no actual powers. He can’t shoot lightning bolts out of his fingers (like DC has him doing). But DC decided to retcon Constantine as earth’s mightiest sorcerer, a la Dr Strange, and there you are: He’s no longer interesting because instead of intelligently figuring out how to deal with the challenges he faces, now he can magic them away. Yawn…how boring.
And as such, none of his DC titles have been very successful, other than the Hellblazer title under the Sandman Presents line, which is a continuation of the Vertigo title, written by someone who understands the character. The other DC books with him in them were terribly written by writers who don’t understand the character. To be fair, the writer who finished off the Vertigo series didn’t understand the character either.
Here’s the thing about John Constantine
He cannot be measured by “feats” or “levels”. Because that implies that its the best he can do, or the strongest character he can beat.
Constantine first of all, is a con man. One of the most required trait of a conman is to be confident
So when he met Trigon and asked him for a light, it doesn’t imply that he’s stronger than Trigon or can handle him. it’s just that he put on a very convincing confident posture.
And unlike the typical DC or Marvel characters, John is not limited by such things as “magic power” or whatever, there is no spell he can’t cast. And if needed he always have the magical item or cantrips required to cast such a spell
In fact, often he defeats beings far, far more powerful than him with low level spells and trickeries
This is when Constantine fights Nabu, he summoned Anubis himself to create a special judgment combat. Nabu has to prove that he actually cares about others, and of course John has a way with words
And Nabu has nothing to say, he knows John is right
And at that moment he’s judged, and destroyed
And that’s it, John Constantine literally has killed one of, if not THE most powerful sorcerer in DC. and no i’m not talking about Dr. Fate. That’s Nabu. That’s like The Ancient One to Dr. Strange.
How did he do it? is he using some sort of ultra powerful spell? how did he even get an ancient almighty god Anubis to do his bidding? is he way more powerful than Nabu himself?
Nah, he just used a regular Djinn he met way back to set up an illusion. and he set up the stage
Nabu would’ve seen the illusion and breaks it easy, but as i said it before John has a way with words. He has a reputation, and just like all his past enemies, Nabu was simply played to his demise.
So returning to the question
Is John Constantine on the same level as Dr. Strange?
No
If we compare any, if not most of the named magical characters in comics. John is probably one of the weakest of them all.
But should they ever be in John’s crosshair. they will lose one way or another
Hell, remember Trigon from earlier?
In DCeased, John killed him. with the ultimate gambit that cost his life as a result.
Trigon, literally one of the most powerful being in DC is killed by one of the weakest wizard. go figure.
Strange is way, way higher level than John. but if they fight, i have no doubt that John will defeat Strange in one way or another.
In terms of power, he has a chance against Dr. Strange but less of a chance against Classic Strange and his best feats. In terms of prep, Constantine can use prep time in many ways to help defeat the bad guys. Constantine’s prep for sure rivals Strange. I won’t be adding any Strange prep being as this isn’t really a comparison, its just to prove that Constatine has magic and prep that allows him to do insane things. I will do a power comparison soon too, but theres too many feats to mention.
He tricked Darkseid with an illusion. Stated to be a universe wide illusion and worked without issues on Darkseid.
Constatine tricked Fate and used a spell to kill him. Dr fate is comparable to Strange.
John went and took on trigon
He fought Trigon and died to him.
But that was the plan. He took over Trigon’s body and killed him.
Things like this make John Constatine a beast when it comes to preptime. I could have included more but I will be saving that for a vs between Dr strange and John Constatine.
