Gabriel (Constantine)

"You're going to go to hell because of the life you took. You're fucked"

- Gabriel explaining his situation to John Gabriel is the hidden main antagonist of 2005 American-German occult detective action film Constantine.

He/she was portrayed by Tilda Swinton who also portrayed Jadis the White Witch, Karen Crowder and Minister Mason.

Exorcist John Constantine was born with the power to see angels and demons. At age 15, he committed suicide to escape his visions, but he was revived after spending two minutes in Hell, though Constantine explains that since time moves differently in Hell, two minutes feels like a full lifetime. His soul is still destined for Hell for the sin of taking his own life.

Constantine exorcises a girl possessed by a soldier demon trying to break through to Earth, something that should not be possible under the rules of the wager. Constantine meets with the androgynous half-breed angel Gabriel. He asks Gabriel for a reprieve from his impending death from lung cancer; but Gabriel declines, telling Constantine that his motives for exorcising demons are selfish and will not earn him entry into Heaven.

Detective Angela Dodson shows up at Constantine's apartment to ask for his help investigating the death of Isabel, her identical twin. Isabel leapt from the top of a psychiatric hospital, where she was a patient, but Angela is convinced that Isabel would never commit suicide. Constantine agrees to help only after saving Angela from demons that attack her outside his building.

Wanting to see if Isabel is truly in Hell, Constantine uses her cat as a conduit to briefly transport himself there, finding Isabel damned to eternally relive the moment of her death. Meanwhile, Hennessy and Beeman have deduced that it is Lucifer's son, Mammon, who is sending demons to Earth, planning to claim it as his own kingdom. To do so, Mammon requires a powerful psychic and assistance from God.

Angela reveals that she and Isabel possessed the same gift as Constantine. Angela rejected her visions and they eventually stopped, but Isabel embraced them and was institutionalized for it. Constantine reawakens Angela's psychic ability through a near death experience. They hunt down and interrogate Balthazar, who reveals that Mammon has obtained the Spear of Destiny, which is stained with the blood of Jesus Christ – which can be used as the assistance from God. Angela, who has become the psychic Mammon requires, is abducted by an invisible entity and brought to the hospital where Isabel died. Constantine convinces Midnite that the rules of the wager have been broken and asks to use "The Chair": an old electric chair from Sing Sing. The Chair shows Constantine how the spear was discovered in the ruins of a Nazi base in Mexico and brought to Los Angeles. Constantine and Chas rush to the hospital, but Chas is beaten to death by the invisible entity.

Using incantations and sigils tattooed on his arms, Constantine forces the invisible entity to reveal itself. It is Gabriel, who laments God’s favoritism towards humans and believes bringing Hell to Earth will enable any survivors to become worthy of God’s love through suffering, repentance and faith. Gabriel casts Constantine from the room and moves to stab Angela with the Spear and release Mammon, but Constantine slits his wrists and dies. Time stops as Lucifer arrives to collect his soul and Constantine tells him about Mammon’s plan to usurp him. Gabriel attempts to smite Lucifer but God has taken away Gabriel's power for his/her betrayal, allowing Lucifer to burn Gabriel's wings and sending Mammon back to Hell as Gabriel falls to the hospital's pool.

By sacrificing his own life to save Angela, God has given Constantine the entry to heaven, infuriated, Lucifer removes Constantine's cancer and resurrects him before he reaches Heaven, claiming that keeping Constantine on Earth will ensure that he will eventually prove he belongs in Hell.

As Constantine and Angela are about to leave, they see Gabriel coming out of the water, human, dirty and his/her wings completely burned, Constantine tolds him/her that he/she doesn't deserves being human, Gabriel takes Constantine's shotgun from the water and hands it to John provoking him into killing him/her, so like that Constantine becames a sinner again, but instead John brutally hits Gabriel in the mouth, Gabriel starts bleeding in pain, then Constantine tells him/her to get used to pain, Constantine and Angela leave Gabriel behind who keeps yelling at John that he is still a sinner, as they both leave, Gabriel enters the pool again.