Geoff Johns

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Born on Jan 25, 1973, Geoffrey Johns (Geoff Johns) is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and film and television producer. Geoff’s work on Green Lantern, Aquaman, The Flash, and Superman has been widely acclaimed. Some of his critically acclaimed works include: Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Night, Infinite Crisis, Throne of Atlantis, Flashpoint, Doomsday Clock, Superman: Last Son, and Superman: Brainiac.

He even co-created Courtney Whitmore, aka Stargirl, based on his late younger sister, Courtney, who died in the explosion of TWA Flight 800 in 1996.

He also co-created the Sinestro Corps, the Indigo Tribe, the Red Lantern Corps, the Black Lantern Corps, Larfleeze, Atrocitus, Bleez, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Hunter Zolomon, Tar Pit, Miss Martian, Kate Kane, and Christopher Kent.

From 2016-18, he served as CCO of DC Entertainment, and from 2016-18, he also served as its president. He’s also the co-founder and former co-chairman of DC Films and former co-runner of DC Extended Universe.

In 2018, he opened a production company, Mad Ghost Productions, while continuing to work with WB on writing and producing film, television, and comic book titles based on the DC Extended Universe and other DC properties.

To publish independent works, in 2023, he co-founded the media company Ghost Machine alongside many other comic book writers and artists.

He and his brother discovered an old box of comics in their grandmother’s attic, with copies of The Flash, Superman, Green Lantern, and Batman from the 1960s and 1970s. He named the Flash as his favorite character, stating that he owns every issue. The first new comics he bought were Crisis on Infinite Earths #3 or 4 and The Flash #348 or 349, and as his collection grew, he was intrigued with DC Comics, and later Vertigo, an imprint of DC Comics.

After graduating from Clarkston High School in 1991, he studied media arts, screenwriting, film production, and film theory at Michigan State University. He graduated from Michigan State in 1995 and then moved to Los Angeles, California.

In Los Angeles, Geoff started off copying scripts, and after two months, was hired as a production assistant for Richard Donner, whom Johns regards as his mentor.

Geoff visited New York City, where he met DC Comics personnel such as Eddie Berganza, reigniting his childhood interest in comics. Eddie invited Geoff to tour the DC Comics offices, and offered Geoff the opportunity to suggest ideas, which led to him pitching Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., a series based on the second Star-Spangled Kid and her stepfather, to editor Chuck Kim a year later. Seeing his skill on Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., Robinson, who was then working on JSA. offered Geoff Johns co-writing duties on JSA in 2000. Geoff credits both James Robinson and Mike Carlin for guiding him in the comics industry.

James’ The Golden Age is the book responsible for his love of the characters and for his decision to accept writing on JSA.

In the same year, Johns became the regular writer on The Flash ongoing series with issue 164, which he later concluded with #225.

He co-wrote a Beast Boy limited series and co-wrote the “Return to Krypton” story arc.

Geoff was responsible for the return of Hal Jordan in 2005 as the writer of the Green Lantern: Rebirth mini-series and the following Green Lantern titles.

In 2009, Geoff Johns teamed with artist Ethan Van Sciver on The Flash: Rebirth miniseries, centering on Barry Allen’s return, and wrote the Blackest Night limited series.

Commenting on Johns’ creation of concepts as different colored corps, DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz noted in 2010 that “One of Johns’ sharpest additions to DC mythology is the notion that the Green Lanterns are but one color within a rainbow spectrum, and that the other hues have their own champions. Folding in old concepts and inventing new ones, Johns has established limitless story possibilities.”

On February 18, 2010, Geoff was named the Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment. Without letting the new role affect his writing, he co-wrote the Brightest Day series with Peter Tomasi.

He and Marv Wolfman were the principal writers of DC Universe Online, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in 2011.

Geoff served as a co-producer and creative consultant for the 2011 Ryan Reynolds starrer, Green Lantern film directed by Martin Campbell.

Geoff collaborated with Gary Frank for the Batman: Earth One graphic novel released in 2012. Geoff ended his Green Lantern run after nine years with Green Lantern #20 of the New 52 series.

Around that time, Johns joined The CW’s series Arrow as a writer.

In May 2016, Johns was promoted to President and Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment and reported to Diane Nelson, the President of DC Entertainment.

Geoff Johns and Gary Frank collaborated on Doomsday Clock, bringing the Watchmen Universe and DC Universe together.

Looking into the Snyderverse, Geoff was an executive producer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. He also co-wrote Aquaman and Wonder Woman 1984. He had planned Green Lantern Corps, too, but unfortunately, it never took flight.

To feature Hank Henshaw as the Martian Manhunter in disguise on The CW show, Supergirl, was Geoff’s idea during the production of the series’ pilot in 2015. And Kreisberg, a producer on the TV credits Geoff for the idea.

And then in 2018, he stepped down from his executive role at DC Entertainment to be a writer and producer at Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment. He also opened up Mad Ghost Productions, a production company that works on film, television, and comic books based on DC Comics properties.

In July 2018, Geoff wrote and executive-produced a DC Universe television series on a character he created, Courtney Whitmore, aka Stargirl. The series premiered in May 2020.

In April 2020, it was reported that Johns is to produce a series based on Green Lantern for HBO Max.

In November 2020, Johns launched Geiger with Gary Frank from Image Comics.

In October 2022, Paramount Television Studios decided to develop a TV adaptation of Geiger with Geoff as the showrunner.

As aforementioned, in October 2023, Geoff, along with a group of colleagues, announced Ghost Machine, a cooperative media company that would publish creator-owned comics, allowing the participating creators to benefit from the development of their intellectual properties.

Geoff Johns is also a comic book retailer who co-owns Earth-2 Comics in Northridge, California.

On-screen Contributions:

Flicks

Year	Title	Credited as		Notes
Year	Title	Writer	Producer	Notes
2011	Green Lantern: Emerald Knights	Yes
2011	Green Lantern	No	Yes
2013	Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox		Executive
2016	Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
2016	Suicide Squad	No		Additional photography/ reshoots
2017	Wonder Woman	Uncredited
2017	Justice League	No
2018	Aquaman	Story		Wrote story with James Wan and Will Beall
2019	Shazam!	No
2020	Birds of Prey	No
2020	Wonder Woman 1984	Yes		Wrote screenplay with Patty Jenkins and David Callaham, story with Patty Jenkins
2022	Black Adam	No
2023	Shazam! Fury of the Gods	No
2023	The Flash	Uncredited	No	Additional literary material

Television

Year	Title	Credited as		Notes
Year	Title	Writer	Producer	Notes
2005–2006	Justice League Unlimited	Yes	No	1 episode
2006	Blade: The Series	Yes	Consulting	Writer (4 episodes), consulting producer (12 episodes)
2009–2011	Smallville	Yes	No	Writer (3 episodes), actor (1 episode)
2012–2014	Arrow		No	5 episodes
2014–2018	The Flash		No	Developed with Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg Writer (4 episodes)
2018–2023	Titans		Executive	Created with Akiva Goldsman and Greg Berlanti Writer (5 episodes)
2019–2023	Doom Patrol	No
2019–2022	Batwoman	No
2020–2022	Stargirl	Yes		Also, creator and showrunner Writer (4 episodes)
2021–2024	Superman & Lois	No

Awards:

2002 Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent (for The Flash)
2005 Wizard Fan Award for Best Writer (for The Flash, Infinite Crisis, Green Lantern and Teen Titans)
2006 Wizard Fan Award for Best Writer (for Infinite Crisis)
2008 Project Fanboy Award for Best Writer
2009 Project Fanboy Award for Best Writer
2009 Spike TV Scream Award for Best Comic Book Writer
2010 Spike TV Scream Award for Best Comic Book Writer (for Blackest Night, Brightest Day, The Flash and Green Lantern)
2024 Ringo Award Winner for Best Series for Geiger: Ground Zero