Is John evil in The Sandman? (Spoilers)

The Sandman is finally out! Of course, it’s what everyone is currently watching and talking about. In the first season, we meet several villains who all want to cause Dream (Tom Sturridge) harm. Is John included in the list?

The Sandman follows a cosmic being named The Sandman, otherwise known as Dream or Morpheus, lord of the Dreaming. Dream had been held captive for over a century before finally breaking free from his captors. After making his escape, Dream sets out on a journey to recover his stolen artifacts and restore order to his realm. But accomplishing his mission isn’t easy when he has multiple people wanting to kill him.

Spoilers ahead for The Sandman

So who tries to kill Dream, you ask? Well, it all starts with Roderick Burgess, but he dies before Dream could escape captivity. Then, there’s the Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook), a nightmare whose purpose is to serve as a reflection of humanity’s darkest fears. He was created by Dream but went rogue and began killing people in the waking world. Since the Corinthian went against Dream’s rules, he had to destroy him. However, Dream gets summoned by Roderick before he could unmake him. With Dream now free, the Corinthian feels threatened and tries to figure out how to get rid of him again.

Next, there’s Lucifer Morningstar. She doesn’t like Dream for an unknown reason. We’ll likely find out why in a potential second season. Then, there’s Dream’s sibling, Desire (Mason Alexander Park). They’ve always had issues with Dream. Desire believes Dream thinks he’s superior to the rest of the siblings. But what about John? What part does he play in The Sandman?

Is John evil in The Sandman?

Yes! John is the son of Ethel Cripps and Roderick Burgess. When Ethel was pregnant with John, she took Dream’s tools (bag of sand, helm, and ruby) and left Roderick in the middle of the night. When John was older, he stole the ruby from Ethel. During a conversation between Ethel and John in the hospital in episode 3, Ethel mentions to John that when he had the ruby, he used it to kill people. This is when viewers realize that John isn’t a good person.

Later in the first season, John is able to retrieve the ruby from a storage facility. As soon as John gets the ruby, he heads to a diner. John commits another heinous crime at the diner by using the ruby to drive people insane and commit suicide. John had no reason to use the ruby in this way other than for his own amusement since he’s a megalomaniac.

Then, Dream shows up at the diner to get the ruby back but John refuses to return it. Dream teleports them to the Dreaming, where they engage in a fight. Initially, John overpowers Dream with the ruby, but then he makes the mistake of destroying it. John thought that destroying the ruby would kill Dream, but it just released all the power Dream put into it and returned it to him. Dream then sent John back to the mental institution.

So, there you have it, folks. John is evil and there was no way of him becoming good because he sought world domination and would stop at nothing to achieve it.

Check out The Sandman streaming now only on Netflix!