A superhero from Mars, and a member of the Justice League.
Description[]
The Martian Manhunter has a humanoid shape and is of medium height with green skin - but this version of him is unusually skinny. He has an elongated head with large, red, typically-alien eyes underneath a prominent brow ridge. He wears the usual blue cape, red belt, and crossed red straps across the chest, but has tight, blue full-length pants with long, black boots. He is softly spoken and good humored. Indeed, he likes to tell jokes but, being naïve about human culture, has to ask if they were funny. Batman calls him "The Martian".
He has a wide range of super-powers which include flight and super-strength, and it is implied that the latter is comparable to that of Superman or Shazam. It is not clear to what extent he is invulnerable. The Manhunter also has more unique abilities: one is that he is a shape-shifter and, although Batman tells us he can imitate people, will adopt the form of various alien monsters - presumably Martian ones. These are used to overwhelm opponents in combat.
Perhaps related to this power are his abilities to become intangible (so that he can pass through solid objects) and to fade away to invisibility and back again.
Martian Manhunter also has powers of the mind which enable him to both read and control the minds of others, and it is implied that this is even effective against Superman. However, a major flaw in this impressive array of powers is his susceptibility (he calls it an "allergy") to common fire which can render him incapacitated if it comes too close.
We are not told anything of the Manhunter's origin on Mars or how he came to be on Earth.
Appearances[]
- 2. Power Outage
- 29. Mxy's Mix-Up (cameo)
- 32. Booray for Bizarro
- 37. The Ringer (cameo)
- 46. Party Animal (cameo)
- 51. Unleashed (cameo)
- Short 19. Skyjacked (cameo)
Links[]
- Martian Manhunter at Wikipedia.
Notes[]
- In the comics this character was originally known as J'onn J'onzz (pronounced "John Jones") but it is not used in this series. 'The Martian Manhunter' or 'The Manhunter from Mars' were originally just epithets like Caped Crusader or Man of Steel.