The Martian Manhunter

Created by Joseph Samachson & Joe Certa

J'onn J'onzz, the Manhunter from Mars is the centuries-old survivor of the now extinct Green Martian race. His exact birthdate has not been established, but he is known to have first encountered the gods of Apokolips around 300 years ago. (Martian Manhunter v.2 #33-36)

J'onn was born to M'yrnn J'onzz, who took a wife named Sha'sheen. The two of them bore twin children — a rarity — J'onn and Ma'alefa'ak. While J'onn's name meant "light to the light," Ma'alefa'ak's meant "darkness in the heart ." It seemed one was cursed and the other blessed by name, from birth. But their mother named them deliberately. Sha'sheen was also capable of glimpsing the future and named her children, in part, as a warning.

The first datable period of J'onn J'onzz's life is around the year 1700, when Martian philosophy led the evil Darkseid to conceptualize the “Anti-Life Equation” and begin his mad quest to unravel its secret. (It was about this time that a truce was declared between New Genesis and Apokolips, a thing J'onn remarked upon. [New Gods SFO #1]) Apokoliptian forces, led by Kanto, attacked Mars and enslaved the Martians. The young J’onn J’onzz aided his mother, Sha'sheen, who was a Manhunter before him, to free the captives. (MM #33)

J'onn's father perished in this attack (#34), but J'onn also met his future wife, M'yri'ah. Soon after their marriage Ma'alefa'ak killed their mother and revealed himself a heinous traitor by allying with Darkseid. (#35)

No more than a decade after this, the Green Martians would be gone as well. Despite having stripped Ma’alefa’ak of his mental abilities, J'onn's brother unleashed Hronmeer's Curse, a telepathic flame-plague, on his people. The plague spread rapidly via telepathy and destroyed their entire civilization — save J’onn, who was the only one to understand the plague’s nature. (#0)

A Change of Destiny

J’onn was unconsolable; he'd lost his wife and daughter, K'hym. He wandered the planet for months, constructing memorials and performing funerary rites. One day, he was unexpectedly teleported to Earth by Dr. Saul Erdel of Middleton, Colorado. It is unclear whether J'onn wandered Mars alone for hundreds of years or whether Erdel's beam transported him across time and space; regardless, it was 1955 when Erdel brought the Martian Manhunter to Earth.

Erdel had acquired long-lost Martian teleportation device from the race's previous visit to Earth but didn't fully understand the technology. Once J'onn had arrived in his laboratory, Erdel nursed him back to health and offered to send him back home. But J'onn was still half insane from grief and shock, and he destroyed Erdel's teleportation machine before the good doctor could calm him down.

After subduing the alien, Erdel decided that the only way that he could cure the Martian's psychic trauma was to alter its memories and replace them with a more pleasant past. A fan of old science fiction novels, Erdel crafted an elaborate melodramatic tale concerning an epic struggle for control over Mars and a mysterious Blue Flame, and then planted the entire fiction into the Martian's head as historical fact, obliterating all memory of J'onn's dead family and kin. Erdel disappeared, leaving J'onn to believe he had died. (Martian Manhunter v.1 #1-4)

The truth gradually came back to J'onn as he adjusted to life on Earth. He began his integration into Earth society by shadowing John Jones, a Denver police detective. When Jones was murdered, J'onn took over his identity as a police detective. In time he created numerous other identities across the globe, some civilian, some heroic. He first ventured into super-heroics as the Bronze Wraith, a member of the short-lived 1960s team called the Justice Experience. (MM v.2 #0, 1) This entire team was massacred by Dr. Trapp (Larry Trapp) except J'onn, who was rescued by the Justice Society, who captured Trapp. (Chase #6)

J'onn was even privy to the landing of young Kal-El's rocket from the planet Krypton. Over the years, he kept an eye on his fellow alien. (MM #20) Ironically, it was heroes like Kal-El and the new Batman and Flash who inspired J'onn to take a more overt role in crimefighting. J'onn finally gathered the courage to show his true form in public, as the Martian Manhunter. (Detective #225)

Rock of the Justice League

When another alien race, the Appellaxians, invaded Earth, the Martian Manhunter was on-hand to help Aquaman, Batman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Superman and Wonder Woman deter them. This led directly to their foundation of the Justice League of America. (Secret Origins #32, Justice League of America #9) J'onn was an innate observer, and so he collected data on his JLA friends. But when the JLA discovered his surveillance, the fledgling team nearly called it quits. They learned to trust each other by taking the Flash's cue and revealed their secret identities to one another. (JLA: Year One #10) Since then, the Martian Manhunter has been the cornerstone of most subsequent incarnations of the Justice League. He is, essentially, the soul of the JLA.

J'onn disbanded the original Justice League entirely following Professor Ivo's murder of two young Leaguers, Steel and Vibe. On the bright side, he grew close to another acolyte, Gypsy. When the JLA was disbanded, he returned Gypsy to her family. (#258-261) They have remained close ever since. Shortly thereafter, the Martian Manhunter became the leader of the new Justice League International. (Legends #6) It was then that J'onn learned more about his true origins when he discovered that Dr. Erdel was actually still alive. (Justice League International Annual #3)

At one point, his body was accidentally possessed by the mystic known only as Bloodwynd and J'onn was a prisoner of his Blood Gem. (Justice League America #61, 76) After escaping the Gem (#76), J'onn founded another new faction of the League: the Justice League Task Force. Eventually, he turned the Task Force into a training grounds for future JLA members. All branches of the Justice League were hobbled when the United Nations pulled their funding. (JLA: Incarnations #6) But J'onn was on hand again during another major formation of the JLA. (JLA Secret Files #1)

The Martians' Legacy on Earth

The Martian races precede life on Earth by millennia. In fact, the White Martians came to Earth many thousands of years ago to the temperate land that would one day become Antarctica. These Whites established the city Z'onn Z'orr. Against Martian code, their scientists began experimenting on Earth's creatures, including early human ancestors.

This and similar atrocities on Saturn wrought war between the Green and White Martian races. (#4) The Whites were ultimately defeated and banished to the "Still Zone," where they remained for centuries.

The new JLA's first major mission was against these long-forgotten brethren. They found a means of escape and disguised themselves on Earth as the Hyperclan. As A-Mortal, Armek, Fluxus, Primad, Protex, Tronix, Zenturion and Zum, they based themselves in the ancient Martian city of Z'onn Z'orr, which had been founded by ancient Martian explorers in Antarctica. These Martians quickly became media darlings for their vigilante approach to global problems. (JLA #1)

The Hyperclan secretly captured most of the Justice Leaguers. (#2) But Batman soon deduced the truth and J'onn mindwiped the surviving Martians. Then the new JLA made the odd decision to let the White Martians live amnesiac among humanity. (JLA #4)

Later, J'onn's himself unwittingly unleashed all the White Martians across the globe. At the time, he was subject to influence by the alien Cathexis, which secretly turned people's desires into reality. (JLA #54) The White Martians awoke from their hypnosis, captured J'onn, and mentally struck down the JLA. (#55) Again, it was the Batman who traced the Martians and freed J'onn. (#57) With help from the Sentinels of Magic, the moon was brought into the Earth's atmosphere. The Martians succumbed to the resulting heat, and then submitted to banishment into the Phantom Zone. J'onn had planned to sacrifice his life in this plan; he was badly burned, but was saved by the JLA. (#58)

These were no the only Martians left in limbo. After the White Martians initial defeat by the Greens, a team of Green Martians migrated to Earth to monitor the repurcussions of the whites' experiments. They found that the genes that arose from the Whites' experiments continued to be passed down through humanity's bloodline. These genes created a propensity for telepathy and other mental abilities.

This group of Green Martians never returned to Mars and were never heard from again. In truth, they had found themselves dying on Earth and undertook a parasitic plan for survival. They discovered that they could transfer their entire consciousness into that of a suitable human hosts (at the sacrifice of the host's mind). One opposed them, J'ahrl J'onzz, J'onn's Manhunter ancestor. The others managed to imprison J'ahrl in a tomb beneath Egypt's sphinx while they themselves went on to shape ancient Egyptian science and religion in the guise of gods and humans alike. (Egyptian pyramid design was copied from traditional Martian dwellings.) (#25)

Centuries later, these Green Martians still walked the Earth inhabiting metahuman hosts. J'onn discovered J'ahrl's remains and tracked down these last seven survivors. (These were named K'ar K'arlis, Ch'all Ch'andrum, Syr'ria S'omm, Sh'imann K'amm, S'iff S'lonn, V'ok V'ira'an and N'il Z'ohrn [#26].) In the battle, all were killed, but Ch'all may have been able to transfer his consciousness before his death. (#27)

Haunted

After this, J'onn took up residence in Z'onn Z'orr. But so did his long-lost brother: Ma'alefa'ak. "Malefic," as he called himself on Earth, began impersonating J'onn, which drew the attention of the JLA. The League visited Z'onn Zo'rr and discovered that Jemm, a Saturnian, was being tortured and there were genetic experiments being conducted on humans. (MM #6) J'onn rightly denied the allegations but was forced to try to escape from the Leaguers. He leapt for his Martian ship, which Malefic had rigged to explode! (#7)

Superman pronounced J'onn dead, but actually J'onn had managed to transfer his consciousness into his arm and teleported it to Z'onn Z'orr. He initiated a healing process whereby he gained mass and strength from absorbing soil into his body. He then launched Z'onn Z'orr into orbit. (#8) J'onn was still weak when he contacted the Watchtower and challenged Malefic to a duel at Z'onn Z'orr (which was now near the sun). J'onn surprisingly restored Malefic's telepathy and with it, his weakness to fire. Both J'onn and Malefic were traumatized, but J'onn was rescued at the last moment by Superman and Orion. Z'onn Z'orr and Malefic fell into the sun. This series of traumas left J'onn temporarily without his shapeshifting power. (#9)

Yet again, J'onn believed he was alone, but there were more surprises years down the road.

Fernus

Recently, J'onn grew impatient with his great weakness to fire. It seemed that every villain could simply dispatch him with a match! J'onn took a leave of absence from the League and sought the help of the flame-weilding villainess, Scorch. During their time together, J'onn and Aubrey developed a romantic bond, but his increasing invulnerability to fire came with a price — it left him open to possesion by an ancient curse called "the Burning." (JLA #80)

Unknown to J'onn, his race had achieved its heights only because of the intervention of the Guardians of the Universe. 20,000 years ago, Martians were actually savage, burning creatures and the Guardians changed them completely by implementing genetic blocks. This ended their fiery nature and greatly soothed them. The price: Martians would forever be suseptible to fire. This history was unbeknownst to J'onn, whose training with Scorch had broken through the ancient genetic blocks. The Burning was unleashed in J'onn and he began calling himself Fernus.

Fernus crippled the League and sought to eradicate humanity and repopulate it with his asexual offspring. The League thought they would try to recruit the White Martians against him, but when they opened the Phantom Zone, they discovered that Fernus had already killed them all!

Fernus launched an arsenal of nuclear weapons and managed to destroy the city of Chongjin, Korea (the JLA saved its inhabitants). As always, the League found a way to triumph. Manitou Raven took several members into the astral plane where they separated J'onn's psyche from the ancient Burning. At the same time, Scorch sacrificed herself to consume Fernus' flame. J'onn was able to physically separate from Fernus' and destroy its form. He emerged from this ordeal with some invulnerability to fire, but he remains vulnerable to psychic forms of fire, including love. (JLA #84-89)

Lost Brethren? Yes and No.

When the JLA broke down once again, J'onn's attentions were drawn by an employee of S.T.A.R. Labs who contacted D.E.O. Agent William Dyer (one of J'onn's aliases). The man showed Dyer that he had found a Martian Kuru pendant, which belonged only to green Martians. Upon spiritual maturity, everyone of J'onn's race received one and it contained the history of their race. For J'onn, it was evidence that there must have been another green Martian on Earth now or some time before. He was determined to solve this mystery. (DCU: Brave New World)

Soon after this, J'onn began receiving mental distress calls of a fellow Martian called Roh'Kar! This Martian was part of a band that had been long held captive as test subjects by the U.S. government under the Department of Homeland Security. Later J'onn would discover that they had been captured on Mars decades ago by a green Martian that sold them to the U.S. Their captor's power held these aliens in a subdued state while scientists dissected their physiology. They hoped that by studying these Martians, they could both defend against them and develop weapons based on their abilities. Roh'Kar managed to finally meet J'onn but was killed by a hitman. Before Roh'Kar died, J'onn learned the location of his former prison and set immediately out to find it. (Martian Manhunter v.3 #1)

The facility, in New York City, was aware of J'onn's approach and began destroying evidence. When J'onn arrived, he met five other Martians who had freed themselves: Till'all, a youth; Mica'kel his father, a policeman with one eye; Telok'Telar, a fellow Manhunter; Dal'en, a scientist; and J'orneel Sy'rann, an elder. (#2)

J'onn took these survivors to one of his homes in a high rise condo. They were doubtful of him, but had little alternative but to trust him. Meanwhile, the DHS's director, Keane, added insurance to his side of the battle by calling in help from J'onn's friends in the JLA. (#3) J'onn's investigation into this matter led him to a woman named Sara Moore. Moore had been the girlfriend of the man who found the Kuru pendant, and who was also now in danger. It wasn't long before Keane's men found and attacked the Martians and they were forced to relocate to another of J'onn's safehouses in rural Pennsylvania. Sy'rann was lost in this attack. (#4)

When J'onn retrieved Sy'rann's body for "purification" in the Martian tradition, he discovered that Sy'rann had died from H'ronmeer's curse, not merely conventional flame. This could only have been generated by a green Martian, or a weapon engineered with a green Martian's help. J'onn hypothesized that someone had been trying to perfect a way to kill J'onn himself, and was using these other Martians as test subjects. (#5)

Dal'en soon fell ill and J'onn discovered the shocking truth — his brethren were in fact white Martians! (#6) Soon all the Martians reverted to their true forms and J'onn was forced to subdue them. Some regained memories that they had been kidnapped from Mars long ago and they believed that J'onn was responsible. J'onn managed to put Dal'en and Telok'Telar into mentally-induced comas, but did not fare so well against Mica'Kel, who died in an explosion. (#7)

J'onn's suspicions led him to believe that Keane was secretly a green Martian. He soon found that to be false, but did find the true puppet master — Sara Moore, Cay'an. As a green Martian, she had no qualms delivering hated white Martians into slavery. But when her race was decimated back on Mars, her hatred became focused on J'onn instead. She considered him responsible for Mars' death because he failed to prevent Malefic from unleashing H'ronmeer's Plague. The two fought to a stalemate, and then were separated by a strange external force; she disappeared.

Only Till'all remained free. J'onn brought him to safety among his friends in the new JLA. (#8)

There was evidence of more Martians in DHS custody who may have been relocated. In one discussion, Keane acknowledged as much.

Miss Martian

When it rains, it pours Martians.

Miss Martian may be part of a wave of post-Infinite Crisis heroes based on those that were created in Kingdom Come. In issue #4, there's a glimpse of someone the creators named J'oan J'onzz. No further insight was given.

J'onn is a quiet, competent hero who is highly respected as an individual and leader. Over the years, his personality has gradually shifted and developed. In his earliest adventures with the League, J'onn was an exotic alien visitor, unfamiliar with Earth's laws and customs. As he became more accustomed to his surroundings and grew closer to his fellow Justice Leaguers, J'onn became the group stoic and straight man. Now, with his wisdom and experience, J'onn has grown into a sort of father figure for the younger heroes. Even so, his fellow members sometimes find it difficult to tell when he is joking and when he is being serious.

Still, there are times when the loss of his people and family affect J'onn greatly. As always, it's his friends in the JLA who welcome him back to his new home, Earth.

In pre-Crisis times, J'onn was preceded by Roh Kar, another Man Hunter from Mars. (Batman #78, 1953) "Roh'Kar" returned in the 2006 Martian Manhunter mini-series; he was killed.

Also pre-Crisis, J'onn had amnesia induced by the trauma of his teleportation to Earth. When he realized his people were alive, he resigned from the League (JLofA #71), helped his people colonize a new Mars, and returned to Earth much later. (#228) In Post-Crisis continuity, he never left Earth; this was originally meant to assume some of Superman's pre-Crisis role in the JLofA when the Man of Steel was removed from early JLA membership. J'onn's previous post-Crisis continuity also asserted that after coming to Earth, Dr. Erdel had to implant false memories in him to help him cope and recover. These implants made J'onn believe that he'd returned to Mars only to witness his people's destruction by a monstrous Blue Flame, and that later he helped the survivors start a new colony elsewhere. (Who's Who Update '88 #2; JLA Sourcebook; Martian Manhunter, 1988).

His vulnerability to fire has, at times, been in question as well. Originally it was purely physical. Later it was explained as purely psychological. Now it is both; in essence, truly psychosomatic.

Incidentally, the other Martian survivors include the Master Gardener who apparently died on Earth in Martian Manhunter: American Secrets v.2 #3 (1992); J'onn's brother Ma'alefa'ak, the evil mastermind behind Hronmeer's Curse; the White Martians who vexed the newest JLA; and a group of former Martian agents who now inhabit human bodies.

In the DC/Marvel Amalgam universe cross-over (1996), J'onn J'onzz was known as Mister X, the founder of the JLX, an off-shoot of the Judgment League Avengers. Secretly, he was the Skrullian Manhunter.

Even Superman claims that the Martian Manhunter is the most powerful being on Earth. J'onn shares many of Superman's abilites: super-strength, invulnerability, speed and flight. In addition, he is a high level telepath, perhaps the most powerful and versatile on Earth. The JLA uses his telepathy to stay in contact during missions. He also has a forceful "Martian vision" and can also survive unaided in the vacuum of space.

J'onn's ability to change his shape is native to all Martians, white and green. The ease and complexity with which J'onn does so came only with time and practice, however. (MM v.3 #8) His shape as the Martian Manhunter is a "public" persona. His natural Martian shape is taller, more elongated. As an extension of this ability, he can also turn invisible.

His biggest weakness is to fire. This vulnerability was genetic (placed in the Martian race by the Guardians of the Universe) but recently, J'onn went through extreme genetic changes himself and emerged from the ordeal with some invulnerability to fire. But he remains vulnerable to psychic forms of fire, including love.

J'onn's Martian physiology makes him near-immortal. His exact age is unknwon, but he may be as much as hundreds of years old. It is sometimes suggested that he will live for tens of thousands of years. In some timelines, he is known to be living in the 30th century, and has had contact with the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Action Comics #595 Adventure #439-441  Brave & Bold #28-30  Justice League of America #1-23, 26-28, 33, 36, 40-41, 44, 52, 54, 59, 61, 71 Showcase '93 #10 Showcase '95 #9  World's Finest #212

Detective Comics, issues #225-326 (1955-64)   House of Mystery, issues #143-173 (1964-68)   Martian Manhunter v.1, 4-issue limited series (1988)  Martian Manhunter: American Secrets, 3-issue limited series (1992)   Justice League Task Force, 37 issues (1994-96)   Martian Manhunter Special, one-shot (1996)  Martian Manhunter v.2, 36 issues (1998-2001)  Martian Manhunter v.3, 8-issue limited series (2006)

Pre-Crisis History  The Hyperclan: The White Martians  Justice Experience  Monitor Duty: Martian Manhunter  The Idol-Head of Diabolu!

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