John McBain (One Life To Live)

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Michael Easton, in a still from the opening sequence of One Life to Live.

Detective John McBain is a popular fictional character from the long-running American soap opera One Life To Live. He has been portrayed by Michael Easton since October 2003.

John debuted in 2003 as an undercover FBI agent involved with Natalie Buchanan & Cristian Vega, who were engaged at the time. After Cristian & Natalie got married, they headed to Las Vegas, where Cristian was "killed" by Flynn Laurence. Although Natalie initially blamed John for Cris' death, they both fell for each other. But John, now working for the Llanview Police Dept., soon found comfort in local attorney Evangeline Williamson and they began to date.

In October 2004, Cristian returned from the dead, albeit brainwashed into believing he was an imposter and murdered Tico Santi, his newfound cousin. In February 2005, John was the one to discover that Cristian really was Cristian after he was sent to jail for Tico's murder. John promised Cristian never to tell Natalie it really was him.

Keeping Cristian's true identity from Natalie was difficult, as his feelings for her continued to linger in spite of his relationship with Evangeline. After Evangeline told him she loved him and he didn't say it back, she dumped him.

Eventually, John moved on to date Natalie, choosing to rescue her first instead of Evangeline when they were both kidnaped by the Music Box Killer in June 2005. He still however felt guilt because he still knew Cristian's identity and didn't tell Natalie. This got even more complicated in the fall of 2005 when Evangeline became Cristian's lawyer in an attempt to get his prison sentence appealed. In November 2005, a prison riot led by Carlo Hesser broke out and John & Cristian were caught in the crossfire. It was also then that Natalie discovered that Cristian was indeed Cristian. Although John & Cristian made it out alive, Natalie was angry for the both of them lying to her and dumped them.

As 2006 began, Natalie realized that she had fallen for John, thus officially divorcing Cristian. John meanwhile finally started to get leads on who murdered his father, a topic that had haunted him since he was a boy. Although clues initially pointed to David Vickers & Paige Miller as the culprits, John & Natalie found clues that led to Spencer Truman as being the real shooter. On the day of Spencer's arrest, John had finally found peace with his dad's death. He had bought an engagement ring for Natalie when he was involved in a terrible car pile-up on the highway and his body was burned beyond recognition. The town of Llanview mourned his death in early October 2006 and prayed that ADA Hugh Hughes (also in the pile-up) would make it out alive. "Hugh" was sent to the hospital and was treated, but on November 10, 2006 it was revealed that it was in fact John.