Warning: Spoilers for Hellblazer: Rise and Fall #3 ahead
It's no secret that John Constantine isn't the most materially-minded or financially endowed individual. He didn't grow up in a particularly well-off environment and had no inheritance to speak of. He's a man bred from the working class and neither understands nor relates to the billionaires of the world - and in DC's Hellblazer: Rise and Fall #3 he's making his feelings blatantly clear.
John Constantine's life is anything but happy and carefree. He has struggled, lost people, lost himself, and bared witness to some incredibly dark circumstances. Still, despite the darkness that tends to loom over his life, he continues to fight when needed, expel demons when they go where they don't belong, and helps those who call on him... even if he's a cynic and chronic manipulator whose actions sometimes result in unfortunate consequences. He can also be extremely blunt and is in no way afraid to speak his mind, especially when it comes to people.
In this most recent issue, Satan's good old demon pall, Despondeo, whose sole mission is to overthrow him as the keeper of hell, is still on the loose in the body of John's long since deceased childhood friend. This time John tricks him into escaping Billy's body in order to enter his father's, leading to the man's death; and leaving Despondeo without a human host. Luckily, John always has a trick up his sleeve. And of course, it helps that his buddy Satan is there to give him some friendly suggestions as well. After they find a way to neutralize Despondeo (by locking him in the more positive recesses of John's soul), John and his friend Aisha are able to rectify all of the money that Despondeo, and Billy's father, ciphered from society while Billy's body was being possessed. Yet, despite having the opportunity to inherit an abundance of money, John decides to spread it around. He chooses to give it back to the people who need it the most; an extra thirty thousand dollars to fourteen million people.
Aisha ponders what it would be like to have the ability to share that wealth, but choosing not to: to which John responds "billionaires are the most worthless people on the planet." In one simple sentence, he puts to shame every hero in the comic universe who has built their reputation on wealth and status. He obviously doesn't believe that it should be up to anyone person to have the right to decide where that kind of money gets spent. This is contrary to characters like Batman and Iron Man whose lives and circumstances, as well as the ability to be the heroes they are, is based so heavily on the wealth they inherited. Needless to say that John probably wouldn't mesh that well with the billionaires that paved the way for so many of the more modern heroes readers see today; especially since their wealth could probably help their communities even more than they do.
There's no doubt that characteristically rich heroes have been a staple part of the comic book industry since the beginning. It has always been a part of their fun and charm, but it may not strike the same tone anymore. Being wealthy can reflect someone of high status, with power and respectable reputation, but it can, and has, been used to reflect villains as well. Today, when the wealth gap has become such a huge daily talking point in society, resulting in people not necessarily emitting the same admiration for such characters as they used to, it seems that billionaire heroes may not be as fitting for the modern age, or just not in the same way they used to be. That seems to at least be John Constantine's opinion in the latest Hellblazer, in relation to both heroes and everyday billionaires alike.