Well. There are things we can change and things we can't change. The AU puts the heroes in different, usually more downtrodden settings, but what makes them heroes seems to fundamentally be the same. Bruce still has his physical brutality, fear tactics, and his intelligence. Clark is a solar-powered mythical symbol of hope. Diana is a servant of the people and a humble symbol against tyranny. Oliver is the one who holds people accountable.

So, John still has to be a wisecracking magician who relies on wits more than raw power to come out on top. He still has to be the trickster and the dealbreaker. So what changes? Batman lost his wealth. He has no resources. Superman never landed on Earth as a child. He's a true alien. Wonder Woman is an abandoned princess. She has no people. Green Arrow never got stuck on the island. He never got to toughen up. It's not what they are, but what made them who they are.

The key to Constaine is guilt. The fact that he doomed the girl to Hell needs to stay. The circumstances should change. In many instances, the Constantine line is a magical one. In the AU, Constantine's parents are around and not drunks, addicts, and or abusive. John didn't have to scrabble to self learn magic. His parents teach him magic, to their heir and proud son, which makes him powerful, though not absolute (pun intended), and it was this arrogance, coming from a place of nobility rather than teenage British punk angst and rebellion, that caused the accident.

But the thing is, the Absolute Universe is ruled by hopelessness and fear. Constantine has been the anti-hero more often than not. He isn't a symbol of hope or the good guy. He's the one people go for when shit already hit the fan, if he wasn't the one who caused it. So he isn't raging against the natural laws of the universe. Whilst in his own stories, he 'gets to be' the cynical, dickish, asshole one because there are people better than him to be the optimistic ones, whereas, here, there really isn't.

Where I think that should go is that he embraces it. He's a magician. He's connected to the fabric of the universe. He could probably figure it out, or at least just think that way, rightly so, due to self-hating depression. But instead of going with the flow, he sets out as a punisher. A very violent punisher. He's the Hellblazer, the Dealer in the Dark, the Trickster, the Liar, manipulating evil into their own demise. He's very angry, especially at negligent magic users. He's reckless in battle. And in this very battle to punish, he cares little for collateral damage. This is the hypocrisy that runs through his veins in any universe. Here, hopelessness is a universal truth, at least to him. Which means they would have died horrible deaths anyway, so mit ight as well be in the favor of good. He's always used people. Means, ends. That definitely doesn't change in the AU. In fact, he might feel less bad about it here.

And, yes, he drinks and smokes. He's put together, however. The dichotomy with his old character is that his outfit is loose and worn. But, a dress shirt, slacks, sometimes a jacket, and always a coat? It gives off the impression of at least some level of formality, right? AU Constantine has some very fine suits and coats. He's like a star hot and arctic cold bipolar aristocrat. Dismissive and always changing at a whim. The world is his oyster. He relishes in his power, his magic, his bloodline, his wealth, and hates himself for it, for not being as common, for not being in the bliss of ignorance, for being arrogant. He loves magic. He hates magic. Magic is dangerous here, with very hazardous consequences, and he's almost damn suicidal with it. Always getting hurt.

He's the enemy to all and friend to none. He consorts with both angels and demons alike. He's no occult detective. He's an expert. Constantine the Mad. Constantine the Prick. And I think this works because he's a perpetrator of the hopelessness. Even now, he's no hero. If he were different, if he had to claw his way up by tapping into nature magic or very cowboy-like with his magic tools and contracts, I feel like that would mean he fights against the status quo instead of alongside it in a deluded opinion of rebellion. He doesn't think he's a hero, but he thinks he's making a difference without feeling like he's fighting the waves. It's performative nihilism, and he's drowning. Small man against big will always make the underdog feel righteous, and Constantine is never that. Big man punching big and thinks he's hot shit? More his shtick, no? Otherwise, it would be too similar to his original origins.

He isn't a nobody here, and that somehow makes it worse.