Martian Manhunter
Superman, Martian Manhunter, HawkGirl vs Brainiac
Superman, Martian Manhunter and HawkGirl faght Brainiac.
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The Martian Manhunter by artist Alex Ross.
The Martian Manhunter (J’onn J’onzz) is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in Batman #78 “The Manhunter From Mars” in August-September 1953. The character is known for being one of the core members of the Justice League of America (JLA).
J’onn J’onzz has featured in other DC Comics-endorsed products, such as video games, television series, animated films, or merchandise like action figures and trading cards.
Silver Age (1950’s–1960’s)
The Martian Manhunter (J’onn J’onzz) debuted in the back-up story “The Strange Experiment of Dr. Erdel” in Detective Comics #225 (Nov. 1955), written by Joseph Samachson and illustrated by Joe Certa. The character is a green-skinned extraterrestrial humanoid from the planet Mars, who is pulled to earth by an experimental teleportation beam (originally presented as an attempted communication device) constructed by Dr. Saul Erdel. The Martian tells Erdel where he is from, and is told that to send him back will require the Computer Brain’s thinking plot to be changed. The shock of the encounter kills Dr. Erdel and leaves J’onn with no method of returning home. The character decides to fight crime while waiting for Martian technology to advance to a stage that will enable his rescue. To that end, he adopts the identity of John Jones, a detective in the fictional Middletown, U.S.A. He is thought to have been inspired by a story in Batman #78 where a Martian lawman comes to Earth and teams up with Batman and Robin to capture the Stranger, a Martian criminal called Quork who has stolen a spaceship and come to Earth.
During this period, the character and his back story differ in some minor and some significant ways from modern treatments. Firstly, as with his counterpart, the Silver Age Superman, J’onzz’s power range is poorly defined, and his powers expand over time as the plot demands. The addition of precognitive abilities (Detective Comics #226) is quickly followed by telepathy and flight,” Atomic vision”, super-hearing, and many other powers. In addition, his customary weakness to fire is only manifested when he is in his native Martian form.
A more significant difference is that at this time, there is no suggestion that Mars is a dead planet or that the character is the last of his kind. Many of the tales of the time feature either Martian technology or the appearance of other Martian characters. Detective Comics #236 (October 1956), for example, features the character making contact with the planet Mars and his parents.
J’onzz eventually reveals his existence to the world, after which he operates openly as a superhero and becomes a charter member of the Justice League (JLA). During the character’s initial few years as a member of the Justice League, he is often used as a substitute for Superman in stories (just as Green Arrow was, for Batman) as DC Comics were worried about using their flagship characters too often in Justice League stories, fearing overexposure. The Martian and the archer inaugurated the team-up format of The Brave and the Bold. J’onzz appears there one other time, working with fellow JLA-er the Flash. In some stories he is shown travelling through space at near-light speed or to other planets.
The detective John Jones is ostensibly killed in action by the Idol Head of Diabolu, an artifact which generates supernatural monsters. J’onn abandons the civilian identity as he decides fighting this new menace will take a great deal of his time. At this point his feature moves to House of Mystery, where J’onn spends the next few years in battle against the Idol Head. Shortly after its defeat he takes the persona of Marco Xavier in order to infiltrate the international crime cartel known as VULTURE, which he defeats in the final installment of his original series.
As Superman and Batman were allowed by DC to become fully active members of the Justice League, J’onzz’s appearances there dwindled. He last participated in a mission in his original tenure in #61 (March 1968), shortly before his solo series was discontinued (HoM #173, May–June 1968). In #71, his people finally came to Earth for him, and he left with them to found and become leader of New Mars. However, over the next fifteen years J’onn appeared sporadically in various DC titles.
Bronze Age (1970’s–mid-1980’s)
In 1972, Superman was teleported to New Mars. J’onzz briefly returned to Earth by spaceship in 1975. J’onn made another trip to Earth shortly thereafter, leading to Superman and Batman fighting alongside him on New Mars. Three years later, he was discovered playing cosmic-level chess with Despero, using JLA-ers as the pieces. The Martian again encountered Superman in outer space. He permanently resurfaced in the DC Universe in 1984. Shortly thereafter, the League had several members resign (among many other changes), leaving an opening for the Manhunter to take. In staying on Earth, he decided to revive his John Jones identity, this time as a private detective, but had to explain his twenty-year “disappearance.” This contradicts J’onzz’s final story in the back of Detective Comics, wherein everyone was led to believe that Jones was killed.
Post-Crisis (mid-1980’s–mid-1990’s)
J’onn J’onzz, trying (and failing) to relax in his true form and reflecting on his history with the League
In early 1987 DC revamped its struggling Justice League of America series by re-launching the title as Justice League International. This new series, written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis with art by Kevin Maguire (and later Adam Hughes), added quirky humor to the team’s stories. J’onn is present from the first issue and within the stories is used as a straight man for other characters in comical situations. The series also added a number of elements to his back story that have remained to the present (such as J’onn’s obsession with Oreo cookies, partially due to Captain Marvel‘s influence).
The 1988 four issue miniseries Martian Manhunter by J.M. DeMatteis and Mark Badger further redefined the character and changed a number of important aspects of both his character and his origin story. It is revealed that Dr. Erdel did not die and that the character’s humanoid appearance was due to physiological trauma and attempts to block out the death of his race, his familiar appearance a “compromise” between his true form and a human appearance based upon Erdel’s mental concept of what a Martian should look like. Later series use retroactive continuity (retcon) to establish that his real form is private and that, even on Mars, his “public” appearance was the familiar version. The native name for Mars is said to be “Ma’aleca’andra” in his native tongue (a nod to “Malacandra”, the name used by the inhabitants of Mars in C. S. Lewis‘ novel Out of the Silent Planet, though neither J’onzz nor the planet itself resemble Lewis’s conception). The series also adds to canon the idea that J’onzz was not only displaced in space but in time and the Martian race, including J’onzz’s wife and daughter, has been dead for thousands of years.
The 1990s saw the character continue to serve in many different versions of the Justice League of America. In addition to serving in the League under his own identity, he also joins (under duress) disguised as “Bloodwynd.” Soon after, it is revealed that J’onn had accidentally bonded with Bloodwynd prior to his joining the League: J’onn assumed the physical form and manner of Bloodwynd, while Bloodwynd himself was transported to the inside of his “Blood Gem.” They were separated and both continued their associations with the League.
The 1992 miniseries American Secrets is set in the character’s past, exploring a previously unrevealed adventure against the backdrop of a changing America during the 1950s. Written by Gerard Jones and with art by Eduardo Barreto, the series finds the Manhunter drawn into a murder mystery that rapidly escalates into paranoia and alien invasion.
In 1997, J’onn became a founding member of Grant Morrison and Howard Porter‘s spectacularly popular new JLA where the team fought a group of White Martians, the Hyperclan.
Martian Manhunter began as an ongoing series in 1998, written by John Ostrander and illustrated by Tom Mandrake (with fill-in art provided by Bryan Hitch among others). The series lasted 36 issues before being canceled due to low sales. Ostrander established that Martian Manhunter is the most recognized hero in the Southern Hemisphere, and that he maintains a number of different secret identities, many of them outside the United States. However, following two incidents later in the series in which John Jones separates from Martian Manhunter, he decides to focus on his original human identity and retire the others.
The series establishes that J’onn has a disturbed brother, Ma’alefa’ak, who uses his shape shifting abilities to pose as J’onn, capturing and torturing Jemm, Son of Saturn, and terraforming part of Earth to resemble Mars (areoforming). This is all part of a grand plan designed to convince the rest of the Justice League that J’onn has turned into a sociopath. However, J’onn is able to clear his name and defeat Ma’alefa’ak despite having most of his body destroyed in an exploding spaceship (he is later able to regenerate his body from his severed hand).
The series also further established the history of both the Manhunter and the Saturnian race. The first issue revealed that there was a “real” human John Jones, a police detective who is murdered by corrupt colleagues, and that J’onn subsequently assumed his identity to complete an important court case.
In issues of JLA written by Joe Kelly, J’onn attempts to conquer his fear of fire and makes a deal with a flame-wielding villainess named Scorch, who wants J’onzz’ telepathic help in dealing with her own mental issues. The story served to redefine his traditional aversion to fire—he is now invulnerable to flames unless they are “flames of passion” or of some other “psychic significance.” This change is forgotten about in later series and adventures.
Crisis Era (mid-2000s–early-2010’s)
Cover artwork for Martian Manhunter (vol. 3) #2 (November 2006) by Al Barrionuevo
During the lead-up to the Infinite Crisis miniseries, the character is feared to have been killed in an attack on the Justice League’s HQ. He is later revealed to be alive and a captive of Alexander Luthor, Jr. After Infinite Crisis, most of DC’s series jumped ahead one year, having the weekly series 52 fill in the missing time. In 52 #24, it is revealed that the character has been working behind the scenes in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy Checkmate for its role in the death of Ted Kord. Several weeks before World War III the Martian Manhunter disguises himself as a young girl and tries to defeat Black Adam telepathically in Bialya. He is defeated by being exposed to Adam’s darkest memories and flees Earth. The miniseries WW III is told from his perspective. Using these events as a catalyst, DC Comics redesigned the appearance of the character, changing his costume and giving him an appearance that more closely resembles that of his Martian form. Those changes were further explored during a Martian Manhunter limited series that spun out of the DCU: Brave New World one-shot. Written by A.J. Lieberman with art from Al Barrionuevo and Bit, the series portrayed a Manhunter more mistrustful of humanity and their actions towards each other. The miniseries focuses on J’onn’s search for other survivors of Mars.
Following this miniseries, J’onn was intended to be in Outsiders. He appeared in the third issue of the Outsiders: Five of a Kind series with Thunder, and joined the team afterwards. Due to the change of writers, he was quickly written out within the last two issues. He was next seen working undercover during the events of the limited series Salvation Run. At the end of the series, J’onn is left captured and alone on an alien planet.
In Final Crisis #1 (2008), written by Grant Morrison the character is killed, with the death being further developed in the one-shot, Final Crisis: Requiem. The character next appears in the Blackest Night storyline as a Black Lantern. At the end of the miniseries, the character is resurrected. Following this, the character is featured in the weekly Brightest Day series. During the series, J’onn encounters another surviving green Martian: D’kay D’razz, a scarred and warped psychopath who wants J’onn to be her mate.
In Brightest Day he is a very prominent character, finding a water source on Mars and meeting and talking with the daughter of Dr. Erdel, Melissa. J’onn is depicted tucking her into bed in a retirement home, in the form of her father. He later appears at Erdel’s old lab. However, plant life starts to die every time he gets near. Later still, J’onn goes to see M’gann M’orzz in Australia during her mediation search, but finds her beaten and tied up. While tending to her, he is contacted by the Entity, who instructs him to burn down the newly formed forest. When J’onn asks M’gann who did this to her, M’gann says she was attacked by a female green Martian. After this, J’onn senses something in Star City. J’onn arrives in Star City’s new forest and attempts to complete his task; however, he is stopped from doing that by the Entity. The Entity reveals to him that the newly formed forest J’onn is to burn down is on Mars. After J’onn lashes out Star City’s forest, he returns home. During this same time period, J’onn is found by Green Arrow, who attacks J’onn after mistaking him for some sort of monster. After being knocked unconscious and dragged out of the forest by Green Arrow, J’onn explains that the forest somehow tampered with his Martian shape-shifting abilities and temporarily drove him mad. When J’onn arrives home, he sees his planet covered in a newly formed forest on Mars.
When J’onn enters his home, he is confronted by a female green Martian named D’kay D’razz, the green Martian who attacked M’gann. D’kay explains her origins and wants to be J’onn’s mate. J’onn refuses and learns that she is a psychopath when D’kay angrily lashes out to attack and enters his mind. J’onn tries to resist influence from D’kay’s mind, but her control over his mind tempts him with visions of a fantasy world where all the Martians and J’onn’s family are resurrected by the Entity. While re-united with his lost family, J’onn discovers that they are false and realizes that they are a ruse and the death corpse is carved of Martian symbols of love and hate from D’kay’s influence. J’onn arrives vengeful and wrings D’kay’s neck in disgust. J’onn defeats D’kay by forcing her into the sun, saved from the same fate by the White Lantern Entity, who informs him that his mission has been accomplished, and returns his life to him. The Entity then tells J’onn to choose between Mars and Earth. J’onn chooses Earth and returns to his adopted home world only to be absorbed into the Earth by the Entity as “part of the plan.”
When the “Dark Avatar” makes his presence known, J’onn is revealed to be one of the Elementals. Martian Manhunter is transformed by the Entity to become the element of Earth in order to protect the Star City forest from the “Dark Avatar”, which appears to be the Black Lantern version of the Swamp Thing. The Elementals are then fused with the body of Alec Holland in order for Holland 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 restores J’onn to normal. Afterward, J’onn helps Melissa (daughter of Dr. Erdel) remove the piece from her head after she loses her mind.
