While the speculation surrounding a potential DCU romance between John Stewart and Hawkgirl is understandable given past animated iterations, the theory falls apart when looking closely at the established canon, production details, and comic book lore. The push for this "ship" ignores the fundamental framework James Gunn is building for the franchise.
- The Timeline and Age Gap
The DCU is placing a heavy emphasis on a structured timeline, and the math simply does not support this pairing. In Lanterns, John Stewart is established as being 40 years old (born in 1986). Conversely, production details such as the script for Superman which James Gunn himself posted show that Hawkgirl (Kendra Saunders) is firmly in her early 20s. Isabela Merced has noted she was cast partly due to her youthful appearance, and visual cues like college textbooks in her room emphasize her age. Furthermore, timeline logic suggests she is younger than Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle), who has already graduated college. For a franchise that prides itself on strict continuity, pairing a 40-year-old veteran with a college-aged hero contradicts the world-building. And when has John Stewart shown interest in younger women? He rejected Maggie's advances in Lanterns and she looked around DCU Kendra's age. And he's certainly never gotten with younger women in the comics. His taste in older women or women his age makes more sense given his taste in aliens.
- Misinterpretation of Press Interrogations
Much of the online traction stems from parsing Isabela Merced’s interview comments. During her press tours, she was repeatedly asked about John Stewart rather than her own character's solo arc. Answering professionally that she would open to a romance doesn't mean she is actively advocating for it—she is simply navigating repetitive press questions. When first asked about a love interest with no John Stewart in the question, she said "I don't know. I guess a hot hawk guy." Notably, Aaron Pierre faced no such line of questioning during the Lanterns press cycle, highlighting an unfortunate double standard in how female actors are interviewed in the comic book space.
- Misreading Visual Metaphors
A common piece of evidence cited by fans is John's connection to birds in Lanterns. However, this is a narrative misinterpretation. The bird imagery in the show acts as symbolism tied to the Guardians and John’s parents; it has no narrative connection to a hawk.
- The Midway City Connection
While Lanterns mentioned Midway City, using this to link Kendra to John misreads comic history. Midway City was traditionally the home of the Pre-Crisis Silver Age alien hawks, Katar and Shayera Hol. Midway City was also with the Doom Patrol. Kendra Saunders modern base of operations has historically been St. Roch, Louisiana (even referenced by the CW) and her DCU apartment (alsonher apartment in current comics) is located in Metropolis.
- Species and Character Directives
The theory that Hawkgirl is an alien—which some use to bypass traditional human dynamics—doesn't hold up. If she were an alien, it wouldn't make narrative sense for her to be attending a human college, nor would Lex Luthor have grouped the "Justice Gang" together as humans. While press tour fatigue (she was filming & doing multiple press tours back to back) occasionally led to minor interview inconsistencies to the point where Edi aka the actor for Mister Terrific had to correct Isabela on countless occasions, the narrative clues clearly point to Kendra being human, matching her comic counterpart’s background and the fact that Isabela shares Kendra's exact comic heritage (Latina mother & white father).
- The Reincarnation Fallacy
Defending the age gap by claiming "Hawkgirl is thousands of years old" fundamentally misunderstands Kendra Saunders' character. Reincarnation lore consistently highlights that Kendra begins her lives without her past memories (she usually doesn't remember them); her entire arc centers on being a young woman trying to break away from destiny and establish her own identity (she did still fall in love with Hawkman but thats besides the point). Treating her as an ancient being to justify a relationship with a much older man strips her of her agency and reduces her identity to a mere love interest. That's also like saying Avatar Aang in ATLA should get with older women despite being like 12 because the reincarnation cycle is thousands of years old. looks stupid, doesn't it? Every reincarnation is a new person with their own history. Also, fascinating how the same people that claim kendra wants nothing to do with hawkman + the reincarnation cycle are the same ones reducing kendra to a 1,000+ year old hawkgirl aka the exact notion she doesn't want for herself (ignoring that she already said she'll forever love hawkman in her recent solo)
Conclusion
The desire to see this pairing appears to be driven by nostalgia for the 2000s Justice League animated series. However, the DCU is adapting Kendra Saunders, not Shayera Hol. Given the canon facts—including a 40-year-old John Stewart and a Hawkgirl who is younger than Supergirl and Blue Beetle—advocating for a partner closer to John's own age bracket makes far more narrative sense.
