John Diggle

Guardian

John Diggle

## Biography

### Early Life

John Diggle was born on October 10th 1972 in Blue Valley Colorado. John lived a fairly happy early life, with a strict but loving military father, and equally loving mother. He always saw it as his destiny to join the army. His younger brother, Andy, felt the same way too. John and Andy had a tumultuous relationship growing up.

When John turned eighteen, he enlisted in the Army for the end of Operation Desert Storm. During his time in the army, the family moved to Star City, where his father worked for Checkmate. He spent six months afterwards in Star City, during which time he found heroin in Andy’s dresser. He tracked down Andy’s dealer and nearly killed him, before Andy stopped him. Under the threat of being killed by his fellow dealers, the Diggle family fled Star City, and John re-enlisted in August of 1991.

During this tour of duty, while traveling, John’s convoy was blown up. He watched his fellow soldiers gunned down before his eyes, leaving John the sole survivor. After a psychological analysis determined he was suffering from PTSD, he was honorably discharged. John returned to Blue Valley where his family was living, to find that Andy had disappeared, and that both of his parents were in failing health. Within a year, both of John’s parents were dead. Unable to stay in Blue Valley, he returned to Star City, where he found a job at a company called Bowhunter Security, where he worked as a private bodyguard.

John fell into alcoholism, barely getting through the day without it. To add more to his plate, his estranged nephew, Roy Harper, was placed in his care by CPS. This gave John the motivation to turn his life around and he got sober, which is why he was annoyed when in 1997, he was hired to be the 24/7 private bodyguard for known party boy Oliver Queen.

As Ollie lessened his paranoia, John found himself with more and more free time. He was asked to teach a special forces training class. While teaching this class, John would meet two very important people in his life: cadet Rene Ramirez and DEO supervisor Lyla Michaels. He became a mentor to Rene and a lover to Lyla.

Soon, John found out about Ollie’s superhero double-life, and he and Roy became trusted under the group that would become Team Arrow.

### Guardian

In 2007, Diggle proposed to Lyla, and she said yes. The week after, while working on a new client for Bowhunter Security, as a courier for Dabney Donovan, John was knocked out via knockout gas.

John awoke nearly a year later to Aquagirl, Robin, Kid Flash, and Cyborg waking him up. He discovered he was wearing blue and gold armor and was in a laboratory he didn’t recognize, with no memory of what had happened in this time. He helped the Titans collapse Cadmus, he hopped on the first flight to Star City, knocked on Lyla’s door and kissed her. Two weeks later they married in a private ceremony. As a wedding gift, Ollie bought Bowhunter Security and made John the boss.

In the months that followed, John underwent a series of medical exams from the likes of Ray Palmer and Doctor Mid-Nite to detail what exactly Cadmus did to him. It was eventually found that they had given him genetic enhancements. Rather than waste these unexpected gifts, John used them and became the Guardian.

That November, Ollie nominated John for League Membership, and he was sworn in that January. Three months later, John and Lyla had a full marriage ceremony for everyone. They honeymooned in the Bahamas on Ollie’s dime. When John returned, he found a familiar face on their doorstep, Rene Ramirez.

Rene pleaded with John for a job. John did a couple of evaluations and then hired him. Rene proved to be a good employee but seemed a little bit spacy. Suspicious of this, John followed him home one night and found Rene drinking himself near to death while his daughter, Zoe, took care of him. John knocked on his door and demanded an answer. Rene revealed that after his dishonorable discharge, his wife had been killed by her drug dealer, and since then Rene had been struggling to care for his daughter and himself. John decided then and there to sober Rene up.

One way or another, Rene found out about Diggle’s heroics, and after a few failed attempts at becoming a superhero, he finally found himself in the fold when he helped Team Arrow in a battle with the League of Assassins, and Rene became Wild Dog. John also became a father, as Sara Diggle was born on October 8th 2009.

After Ollie became Mayor of Star City, John took over Team Arrow, while Ollie’s son Connor became the new Green Arrow, John served as the team’s coordinator, with some help from a new hacker pal, Henry Fyff. Since then, John has been a full-time father and part-time superhero.

## Notes

* John becoming the Guardian is based on a highly popular fan theory surrounding the character in the Arrowverse.
* He is a composite character with Jim Harper.