'Lanterns' Reveals Aaron Pierre's John Stewart Is Much Older Than We Thought

DC confirmed how old Aaron Pierre's Green Lantern is, and the age number is higher than most people would have expected. Pierre is now making his long-awaited DCU debut in Lanterns, marking the hero's first time taking on a live-action story for Warner Bros. As part of an extensive story on HBO Max, the DC fandom is quickly learning about his thrilling backstory, which expands on his comic origins.

Episode 1 of HBO and DC Studios' Lanterns confirms Aaron Pierre's John Stewart's age in his first official appearance in the DCU. The episode starts with a 60 Minutes interview with Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan, who reveals his identity to the world in his Green Lantern costume. Two weeks later, Episode 3 reveals that John Stewart is only a baby when his father is tested to be a Green Lantern; as John Sr. fails the test, Hal Jordan is then selected for the position.

In the 60 Minutes Interview takes place in 1996 and opens Episode 1, it is revealed that Hal Jordan has been active as Green Lantern for 10 years. Lanterns Episode 3 reveals that John Stewart was a baby when his father was passed up to become Green Lantern, and Hal was selected instead; this takes place about 10 years before the first moments of Episode 1, when the report says, "10 years ago, no one on Earth was aware we were already under the protection of someone calling himself Green Lantern."

This confirms that in 2026, John Stewart is about 40 years old when he shows back up in Rushville, Nebraska, at the end of Episode 1. This makes the character somewhat older than most fans expected, as Pierre is only 32 years old in real life, nearly a decade younger than his on-screen character. Ahead are other ages for the DCU's biggest characters.

Current Ages for DC Universe's Other Biggest Superheroes

Superman

33-year-old David Corenswet was first cast as Superman in mid-2023 before starring in the new DC Universe's first movie, Superman (directed and written by James Gunn. Shortly after he was cast, Gunn confirmed that Clark Kent would be the same age as the actor playing him, meaning the titular hero is also 33 at this time in the DCU.

Supergirl

First appearing in a cameo at the end of Superman, Milly Alcock then moved into her own solo Supergirl movie as the leading heroine, Kara Zor-El, in 2026. While Alcock is 26 years old in real life, her solo movie showed Supergirl celebrating he 23rd birthday (as she did in the Woman of Tomorrow run from DC Comics that inspired the movie), meaning the actress is only slightly older than her character.

Hal Jordan

As mentioned above, Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan was confirmed to already have been a test pilot when he was first bestowed the Green Lantern ring in 1986 in the DC Universe. This means he was likely in his 20s or early 30s at that time, which would place him somewhere in his 50s or early 60s by the time his murder is shown in the 2026 portion of the timeline.

Peacemaker - seemingly born in the early 80s, making him mid-40s

After debuting in 2021's The Suicide Squad, John Cena went on to lead his own solo Peacemaker series on HBO Max, which was later integrated into Gunn's new DC Universe. The hero's father, Auggie Smith, noted in the show that he was born about 40 years ago, setting that as his age for the time being in the main timeline of the DCU.