Giovanni "John" Zatara is a fictional character in the DC Universe. He first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 1938), and was created by writer and artist Fred Guardineer. He is a stage magician who also practices actual magic. He married Sindella, a Homo magi, and they have a daughter, Zatanna, who, like her father, is both a stage magician and a real magician. He is perhaps best known for being among those who trained Bruce Wayne in a process that would eventually lead him into becoming Batman.

John Zatara is introduced as a magician in various publications of DC Comics, beginning with 1938's Action Comics # 1, which also contains the first appearance of Superman. Like the very similar Mandrake the Magician, Zatara had a large East Indian as a friend/bodyguard, called Tong, to share his early adventures.

As well as being an illusionist, Zatara also had genuine magical powers (decades later ascribed to being a descendant of the Homo magi), which he focused through speaking backwards: he could do anything so long as he could describe it in sdrawkcab hceeps ("backwards speech"). This helped distinguish Zatara from the numerous Mandrake the Magician knockoffs that cluttered the comics and pulp magazines of the day^{[citation needed]}, although Merlin the Magician (Quality Comics) also had this attribute, and it was also given to him by Zatara's creator, Fred Guardineer^{[citation needed]}.