Martian Manhunter
The Martian Manhunter is a male superhero alien character who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Pre-Crisis
J'onn J'onnz
On Earth, a world famous scientist named Professor Mark Erdel had built a robot brain that could be used to explore other dimensions. It transported J'onn J'onnz from Mars to Earth with Erdel suffering a heart attack from the shock of encountering an alien leading to his death. As a result, J'onn was stranded on Earth and used his native abilities to give himself a human form. (Detective Comics v1 #225)
A recent solar explosion that carried space energy allowing for J'onn to communicate to his parents on Mars through radio waves. He informed them of his inadvertent transportation to Earth and that without a way back he had been operating as a superhero detective. At the time, Mars was being terrorized by canal raiders that were stealing priceless relics from the mother city. (Detective Comics v1 #236)
The mysterious Smith fire-bombed every business owned by a man named Jones. John Jones was assigned the case, and since businesses named Jones were changing their names he opened up John Jones Art Gallery. It was attacked and he followed Smith to "Sam Joners Museum of Famous Ships." Smith was actually Jasper Craig, who'd been fired from the museum for stealing, and created the Smith identity and committed the other arsons so no one would suspect him when he bombed his old boss' place. John Jones put him in custody. (Detective Comics v1 #241)
As John Jones, he met the daughter of the commissioner's named Diane Meade who had passed her test for probationary police work. Whilst working with him, Meade was attracted to Jones who worked hard to hide his true identity as a Martian. (Detective Comics v1 #246)
Martian Manhunter agreed to take part in a charity event hosted by the Hobbyists' Club, where every member that donated $10,000 to charity would be entered into a lottery, and three winners could have the Manhunter perform any task they desired, as long as it didn't include monetary gain or harming others. The first winner was a horticulturist who wanted a rare violet from Tibet. The Manhunter flew up the treacherous mountain, and after saving explorers from wild Tibetan men, recovered a violet. The next winner wanted the figurehead of the sunken S.S. Vengeance, and Manhunter complied after fighting off sharks for the prize. The last winner, Tom Clay, wanted an Inca mask he'd seen in Peru, but warned Manhunter that the tribe possessing it was hostile. Manhunter reminded him that he could not simply steal from the Peruvians, but Tom told him it was his problem to solve. The tribe told Manhunter the mask was sacred, but after he saved a young boy from a jaguar the chief awarded him the mask for being good of heart. The next day it seemed that Tom, now wearing the mask, was turning invisible, and teleporting to committ robberies. Manhunter did some detective work, and finding that Tom was a millionaire with no history of mental issues, rationalized that he could not be behind the crimes. The culprit turned out to be Roger Hawkins, the organizer of the charity. He'd lost his fortune, and his research revealed the mask's powers, so he came up with the charity, and rigged it so he could regain his fortune. Manhunter brought him to justice after destroying the mask, and thought that the caper hadn't been a waste, because it had raised $2000,000 for charity. (Detective Comics v1 #323)
Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. J'onn J'onzz was a Green Martian born long ago on Mars where he was the son of Sha'sheen J'onzz and M'yrnn J'onzz with him having a twin brother named Ma'alefa'ak. Similar to other members of his kind, he was born with some of the memories of past generations allowing him to remember his world when it was a verdant planet. His name was given by his parents with it roughly meaning Light to the Light by his mother Sha'sheen who was a mystic that served as a Manhunter whilst his father M'yrnn worked as a council man and scholar. (Martian Manhunter v2 #33) J’Onn and Ma’Alefa’Ak grew apart as they grew oler, and though J’Onn reached out to his brother, Ma’Alefa’Ak warned him that he was full of venom an that J’Onn would one day hate him. J’Onn followed in his mother’s footsteps and became a Manhunter, as well as a philosopher. One day Ma’Alefa’Ek told the Martian council he’d made contact with the New Gods of Apokolips, and soon after Glorious Gofrey and other New Gods arrived on Mars. Kanto and J’Onn became fast friends. The New Gods gave the concept of the Anti-Life Equation from M’Yrinn J’Onzz to Darkseid, and then let go of pretenses and raided Mars, using Parademons as their front line. Many manhunters were killed, but J’Onn and the remaining manhunters joined minds to force the Parademons back to Apokolips. Metron blamed the Martians for giving Darkseid the idea of Anti-Life, and J’Onn volunteered to go on a solo mission to Apokolips and halt Darkseid’s plans and free those Martians already taken to Apokolips, including M’Yrinn. On Apokolips he turned to Kanto for help, who betrayed him, imprisoning and torturing him. He was freed by Himon, who’d already rescued My’ria’ah and a numer of Martian children. Together they freed the rest of the children from Granny Goodness and sent them back to Mars. J’Onn found a number of dead and dying Martians, including M’Yrinn an Ma’Alefa’Ak in Desaad’s torture chamber, and was only able to save his brother. He called upon the souls of the dead to attack Darksei’s Elite. J’Onn spent years on Apokolips styming Darkseid’s quest for the Anti-Life Equation. Lightray brokered a deal with Darkseid, he would cease his search for Anti-Life and New Genesis would not declare war on Apokolips. Darkseid agreed to the conditions, allowing J’Onn to finally return home. (Martian Manhunter v2 #34)
J’Onn was present when the Martian civilization expanded their empire to Saturn who terraformed the planet, building cities and created the red Saturnians from their genetic samples to act as a workforce. The Green Martians and White Martians then suffered from a civil war that ravaged Mars and destroyed most of the colonies on Saturn, only ending when the White Martians were exiled to the Still Zone. (Martian Manhunter v2 #4)
Once on Earth, the residence of Dr Erdel was investigated by a police detective called John Jones. Making himself invisible, J'onn decided to watch this police officer and learn more about humanity. He came to appreciate mankind as being similar to a flame; something that attracted his attention but not that dangerous. During his observations of Detective Jones, he witnessed one of his fellow police officers attempt to kill him. J'onnz stopped the man in the act but he did not realize that the corrupt officers colleague was also in on the act and Detective Jones was killed in the shoot out whilst taking his attacker with him. J'onn felt he had failed in his duty once more but did not want criminals and the corrupt to escape free and as he had learnt much from telepathic probing of Detective Jone's mind, J'onzz decided to take on the disguise of Detective John Jones. (Martian Manhunter v1 #0)
He attended a meeting with Batman and Superman in Japan in their civilian identities where they discussed expanding the Justice League's membership with J'onn taking the form of a Japanese woman by the name of Hino Rei. J'onn later joined the rest of the League when they were called to fight the robot AMAZO. (JLA v1 #27)
However, his attempt at circumventing his fear led to him breaking a genetic block installed in his kind long ago thus releasing a Burning Martian from his own body with this being Fernus the Burning. (JLA v1 #88)
Once on the Watchtower, he defeated Superman leaving his phased through the centre table for his compatriots to see after which they had the battle the entity unaware that it was J'onn J'onnz. This was until Batman freed Superman and Major Disaster used his powers to send a comet at their base. After the heroes escaped, Fernus the Burning made his way into the Still Zone where he massacred the White Martians in case they were used as a weapon against him. Unaware of this, the Justice League attempted to open the portal only to find Fernus waiting for them there. (JLA v1 #86)
The nuclear missiles were launched with the Justice League desperately attempting to stop the warheads whilst battling Fernus himself who had grown giant size as the Burning Martian intended to spawn from the flames that would destroy the world. After destroying Batman's plane, the Dark Knight was saved from death by the hands of Plastic Man who had taken on a giant form to match Fernus in the fight. The Burning was amused and attempted to use his telepathy on the hero but was surprised to find out that he was immune to telepathic powers. Thus, the two did battle in the city where they attempted to outfight the other with their respective shapeshifting abilities. (JLA v1 #88) Though aided by his friends, J'onn was unable to break the hold over him by Fernus who was ready to detonate his warheads to initiate his spawning but the flames were absorbed by Scorch who had turned on him after seeing the horror he was about to unleash. In anger, Fernus attacked her sending Scorch into a coma with this resulting in J'onn fighting his way out of the creature. Once freed, J'onn and Fernus battled one another where the Justice League encased their battle in a dome that was flooded with water thus weakening the Burning to allow the Martian Manhunter to absorb this aspect of his being. Afterwards, the heroes helped rebuild the damage made with the Martian Manhunter reinstated into the League at his request where he promised to restore the faith they had placed in him as tests determined that Fernus was a genetically different being from J'onnz. Whilst repair efforts were made, J'onn went to check on Scorch who remained in a coma state with it appearing that she was not going to make a recovery. (JLA v1 #89)
During the Blackest Night, the dead rose across the universe after being reanimated by black power rings with J'onn being among them. After his resurrection, he came to be admitted into the ranks of the Black Lantern Corps. He then went to confront Barry Allen and Hal Jordan who were investigating Batman's grave being robbed here J'onn approached them saying that they should be dead with him attacking them. Martian Manhunter was soon joined by Black Lanterns Elongated Man, Sue Dibny, Firestorm, Hawkman and Hawkgirl. (Blackest Night v1 #2) When the Atom arrives, Barry and Hal create a fire tornado to destroy J'onn. This failed to stop him, and the heroes are cornered until Indigo-1 and another Indigo Lantern arrive to drive them off. (Blackest Night v1 #3)
At the end of the Blackest Night, J'onn was revived by the Entity along with other heroes and a few villains. When Superman asked if J'onn was truly alive, J'onn responded, "It appears so." (Blackest Night v1 #8)
Afterwards, J'onn came to be very prominent in his activities where he found a water source on Mars and seen talking with the daughter of Doctor Erdel. J'onn was seen last tucking her into bed in a retirement home, in the form of her father. (Brightest Day v1 #2) J'onn then visited the doctor's laboratory, but plant life around him starts to die every time he gets near. He later went to see M'gann M'orzz in Australia during her mediation search, but found her beaten and tied up. (Brightest Day v1 #6) While tending to her, he is contacted by the Entity, who instructs him to burn down the newly-formed forest. (Brightest Day v1 #7) When J'onn's asks M'gann who did this to her, M'gann says she was attacked by a female green Martian. J'onn presumes the forest he is to burn down is in Star City but was questioned by Green Arrow. (Brightest Day v1 #8) He attempts to burn down the forest before being telepathically attacked by the Entity. The Entity reveals to him that the newly-formed forest he is to burn down is on Mars. After J'onn lashed out the Star City's forest, he starts to return home. (Brightest Day v1 #9)
When the 'Dark Avatar' made his presence known, Martian Manhunter was revealed to be one of the four Elementals with the others being Aquaman, Firestorm, Hawkman and Hawkgirl. He becomes the element of Earth to protect the Star City forest from the 'Dark Avatar', which appears to be the Black Lantern version of Swamp Thing. The Elementals are then fused with the body of Alec Holland in order for him to be transformed by the Entity into the new Swamp Thing and battle against the Dark Avatar. After the Dark Avatar is defeated, Swamp Thing brought Martian Manhunter and the other Elementals back to normal. Afterward, J'onn helps Melissa Erdel and removes the piece of machinery from her head that made her lose her mind. (Brightest Day v1 #24)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
However, finding he was not at peace within Stormwatch, J'onzz attempted to leave the group but realized that they would perceive his departure as a threat to the secrecy of the group. Therefore, to prevent them stopping him, J'onn wiped their memories of his membership entirely and vanished, searching for a place where he belonged. (Stormwatch v3 #12)
Martian Manhunter was later contacted by Amanda Waller to join her government-funded 'Justice League of America', which, unknown to the members, was constructed to combat the real Justice League if the heroes were to go rogue. J'onn came to be chosen to serve as a foil for Superman. (Justice League of America v3 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
His name was given to him by his mother with it meaning Light to the Light. (Martian Manhunter v2 #33)
When Kal-El claimed that he and the Martian Manhunter were both similar, J'onn replied that this was not the case as Superman had been an alien but came to Earth as a child whilst J'onzz was an adult when he arrived on the world. Furthermore, Kal-El had been raised by human values whilst J'onn retained his Martian culture. As such, he felt as being a stranger in a strange land but despite this being the case, he was glad that humanity saw him as a friend. (Martian Manhunter v2 #0)
He had taken many alternative identities when on Earth. (JLA v1 #50) Among these included:
- John Jones :
- Johann Johnson : a blonde haired male immigrant working as a taxi driver in Metropolis. (JLA Secret Files and Origins v1 #1)
- Hino Rei : a dark haired Japanese woman claiming to be from the Nihon Kezai Shimbun that was Japan's largest financial newspaper. (JLA v1 #27)
- William Dyer : a white male with grey hair who operated as a D.E.O. agent with it said that only seven people were aware that this identity was fictional. (Brave New Worlds v1 #1)
- Daryl Wessel : a black African-American who operated as an agent of the F.B.I. (Martian Manhunter v4 #5)
- The Pearl : a female Arabic woman who operated as a thief in the Middle East. (Martian Manhunter v4 #5)
- Mould : an older white male with grey hair. (Martian Manhunter v4 #5)
- Mister Biscuits : an 8-foot tall splinter of J'onn's personality who maintained a somewhat alien form that wore a suit, hat and cane that gave him a somewhat human appearance. (Martian Manhunter v4 #5)
One of his civilian identities was known to had worked at the United Nations. (JLA v1 #107)
There was a second alternate identity embedded deep within his being which was that of Fernus the Burning. (JLA v1 #86) This was an aspect of his own being that was born from the breaking of the genetic block installed in his kind long ago. This Burning Martian was noted for being highly malevolent and cruelly inventive in the ways of torturing people with him seeking to destroy the world so that he could give birth to more of his kind who were born of fire. (JLA v1 #88) It was said that Fernus could not be unmade as he was every anger and foul thought within the Martian Manhunter that was given flesh. Thus, as long as J'onn lived, then so did Fernus who was determined to breed and spawn more Burning Martians. Despite being a part of him, Fernus was determined to be a genetically unique being that was not the Martian Manhunter but a different entity entirely but was deeply connected to J'onnz. (JLA v1 #89)
He once maintained his own dossier on the various members of the Justice League but this only contained information with no plans or schemes against them. Even with that information, he was ashamed at keeping such data on his friends and comrades. (JLA v1 #45)
J'onn J'onzz was the son of Sha'sheen who was his mother where she served as a mystic and Manhunter whilst his father was M'yrnn who worked as a council man and scholar. In addition, he had a twin brother named Ma'alefa'ak who came to be resentful of his sibling. (Martian Manhunter v2 #33)
When he was a boy on Mars, his grandmother told him tales of H'ronmeer who was the Martian god of fire and death with these both thrilling as well as terrifying him. Even after it had been many years since her passing he still came to weep for her. (Justice League of America v1 #256)
Powers and abilities
He like other Martians had chameleon-like powers allowing to adapt and change his form making him appear as another species. (Detective Comics v1 #225) As a Martian, he was able to adapt his form that was done so through study which was nearly instantaneous due to their telepathy but ultimately was a methodical process. (JLA v1 #88) He could create a sheddable layer of dermal armor that could allowed him to withstand more corrosive based attacks. (JLA Classified v1 #18)
A Martian nervous system was noted to contain nine different senses that included sight. (JLA: Year One v1 #6)
The Martian Manhunter said that he always scanned his body on a molecular level for parasites and bacteria. (JLA v1 #84)
Through telepathy, he was able to understand every thought and word of another individual. (Detective Comics v1 #225) He could link others by communicating on telepathic sub-frequencies including those on the infrasombre bands of the mood spectrum. (JLA v1 #38)
A mind to mind interface created by J'onn was said to be a thousand times faster than real time experienced by the participant's bodies. Within his mind, he was able to create a mind mansion that was created by way of a neuro-kinetic technique whereby the adept forged a mental home. This area in their mind contained his memories, feelings and emotions which were easy to sift through for himself or others that entered it. (Action Comics v1 #774)
J'onn was considered the most powerful being on the face of the Earth with Superman considering him as a person to be afraid of him a fight. (JLA v1 #86)
A device he created was the Transconsciousness Articulator which was a large machine that could allow an individual to explore their subconscious. It did this by forcing the conscious mind of a person into the realm of their subconscious whereby they generated a type of simulated reality that was convincing and indistinguishable from the real world. The subject was kept inside a tube-like isolation chamber filled with a transparent fluid with them wearing a black suit and gauntlets as they were left in a REM sleep-like state. (JLA v1 #83)
Within his body resided another being known as Fernus the Burning that was a Burning Martian which had all the abilities of the Martian Manhunter in addition to being immune to fire. (JLA v1 #86)
Notes
- The Martian Manhunter was created by Joseph Samachson and Joe Certa where he made his first appearance in Detective Comics v1 #225 (November, 1955).
- Born as J'onn J'onzz on the planet Mars, he was a member of the Green Martian civilization. J'onn's father was a General who had led their armies to a thousand victories and his mother was a Sorceress whose mind held a thousand unfathomable secrets. During his childhood, his grandmother told him the stories of the great god H'ronmeer which a young J'onn believed were only simple stories. J'onzz was set to follow in his father's footsteps and sat upon a Chotta warbeast and was ready to go into battle against the Sky-Raiders when he was pulled from his world to Earth. [Martian Manhunter v1 #1)
- On Tim Callahan’s blog, Legion editor KC Carlson commented that, "BTW, did I ever tell you that, in the Legion reboot, our R.J. Brande was actually the Martian Manhunter? We waited too long to reveal it and then Dan Raspler (JLA editor) wouldn't let us do it because it might screw up J'onn. At this late date, I'm not sure if it was a good idea or not, but we did plant some clues. (And don't forget, he was at Garth and Imra's wedding LONG before we ever got close to the book.)"
Alternate Versions
- In Superman/Batman v1 #14 (2005), the timeline was altered by the actions of the Legion of Super-Villains who sought to change history by raising Superman and Batman. Their actions included Saturn Queen attacking the Martian Manhunter telepathically the moment Dr. Erdel brought him to Earth where she killed him before he could ever become a hero on the planet.
In other media
Television
- In the DC Animated Universe, Martian Manhunter made numerous appearances in the shared continuity.
- In Justice League, the Martian Manhunter made his first appearance in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Carl Lumbly.
- In Static Shock, the Martian Manhunter appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Carl Lumbly.
- In Justice League Unlimited, the Martian Manhunter returned in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Carl Lumbly.
- In Smallville, Martian Manhunter appeared in the live-action television series where he was portrayed by actor Phil Morris.
- In The Batman, the Martian Manhunter appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Dorian Harewood.
- In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, the Martian Manhunter made multiple appearances in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Nicholas Guest.
- In Young Justice, the Martian Manhunter appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Kevin Michael Richardson.
- In Supergirl, Martian Manhunter appeared in the live-action television series where he was portrayed by actor David Harewood.
- In Justice League Action, the Martian Manhunter appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Crispin Freeman.
Films
- In Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, the Martian Manhunter appeared in the animated film where he was voiced by actor Jonathan Adams.
- In Justice League Doom, the Martian Manhunter appeared in the animated film where he was voiced by actor Carl Lumbly.
- In Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, the Martian Manhunter appeared in the animated film in a non-speaking role. He was among the heroes gathered who decided to launch a sneak attack against Apokolips. However, they fell into an ambush where most of the Justice League were massacred by the Parademon/Doomsday hybrids with J'onn being among them. Despite this, he was reanimated and his body was transformed into a cyborg where he was forced to serve Darkseid as one of the Furies. This was until the resistance managed to free them from Darkseid's control where he worked with the heroes to help defeat Darkseid.
- In Superman: Man of Tomorrow, the Martian Manhunter appeared in the setting of the 2020 animated film where he was voiced by actor Ike Amadi. He was believed to had been the last Green Martian who came to Earth where looked for others of his kind. Disguised as a human, he kept a low profile and hid his existence as he had seen how xenophobia and fear could destroy a world. For a time, he came to believe Clark Kent to had been a fellow Green Martian survivor and sought him out where a telepathic link revealed to him that Kent was the last son of Krypton.
Video games
- In Justice League Heroes, the Martian Manhunter appeared as a playable character in the video game where he was voiced by actor Daniel Riordan.
- In DC Universe Online, the Martian Manhunter appeared as an NPC within the setting of the fighting video game where he was voiced by actor Dwight Schultz.
- In DC Universe Online, the Martian Manhunter was a NPC that appeared in the MMORPG video game where he was voiced by actor Dwight Schultz.
- In Infinite Crisis, the Martian Manhunter appeared as a playable character in the MOBA video game where he was once again voiced by actor Carl Lumbly.
- In Injustice: Gods Among Us, the Martian Manhunter appeared as a playable character in the fighting video game where he was voiced by actor Carl Lumbly.
Appearances
- Detective Comics v1: (1955)
- Action Comics v1: #774
- Justice League of America v1:
- Justice League v1:
- Martian Manhunter v1:
- JLA v1:
- Martian Manhunter v2:
- Blackest Night v1:
- Brightest Day v1:
- Stormwatch:
- Justice League of America:
- Justice League United:
- Martian Manhunter:
- Justice League: No Justice:
- Justice League v4:
- Action Comics v1:
External Link
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