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Characters / Martian Manhunter

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The Character

    Martian Manhunter 
AKA: J'onn J'onzz/John Jones
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stl146413.jpg

"My name is J'onn J'onzz. I am the sole survivor of a ravaged world. I will not see the same thing happen to Earth."

A Martian who was accidentally teleported to Earth by Professor Erdel, J'onn J'onzz assumed the guise of recently deceased detective John Jones in order to fight crime on Earth, and conceal himself from humanity. Outed by villainous Martian B'rett, J'onn joined the JLA, serving with them until his home planet was destroyed by Commander Blanx. Locating his few surviving people, J'onn tried to help them build new lives on Mars II, but was driven out by The Marshal, eventually rejoining the JLA.

In the Post-Crisis world, Mars was retconned into having been devastated decades ago, and J'onn's time on Earth was lengthened considerably; he was now one of the few superheroes to have been operating from the 1950s until the dawn of the Modern Age. A founder and core member of the JLA, Post-Crisis J'onn is regarded as its "The Heart and Soul".

  • The Ageless: He can certainly be killed, but if Martians age at all, it must be incredibly slowly.
  • Alien Among Us: How much he has to hide his heritage varies from writer to writer. While part of the Justice League International this was dropped altogether. In fact, Batman nominated J'onn his successor as leader because he felt that J'onn had a better public image.
  • Alliterative Name: Both his real name and his codename are alliterations.
  • The Aloner: In some continuities, J'onn not only is the last Martian left, but he's conscious and active by himself for an indeterminately long time before coming to Earth.
  • An Alien Named "Bob": His name is J'onn J'onzz, which just happens to be pronounced like "John Jones".
  • Back from the Dead: He was killed off during Final Crisis, but was resurrected at the end of Blackest Night after Nekron revived him as a Black Lantern.
  • Badass Arm-Fold: A common pose of his.
  • Badass Boast: I am Mars' sole survivor. There is a reason for that.
  • Badass Cape: His cape, which often functions as an extension of himself.
  • Bash Brothers: With Superman and Aquaman at various times.
  • Best Friend: Possibly he's the closest to be Superman's in the entire DCU. Both being Last of His Kind, sharing a story of having their both civilizations ravaged by external forces beyond their control and both also commited to not let that happen again not just to Earth, but to the entire universe.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Generally The Quiet One of the Justice League, and way, way down low on the "will use extreme violence" list. But actually piss him off, and you'll quickly remember that he's on equal footing with Superman for all-around power, plus he can transform into ANYTHING he wills, and one of his basic abilities is Mind Rape.
  • The Cape: Not as open as Superman, but still one of the greatest.
  • Combo Platter Powers: His power list could be considered this, but makes more sense when you consider that all of his abilities (with the possible exception of martian vision) stem from his psychic powers or shape-shifting.
  • The Comically Serious: Except during the Detroit era, when he became something of a Deadpan Snarker. Lampshaded by Firestorm during Crisis on Infinite Earths of all things:
    Firestorm: Don't you ever feel cold with those clothes, J'onn J'onzz?
    Martian Manhunter: Martians feel no cold. Why do you ask?
    Firestorm: Geez, Mars doesn't need women. It needs a sense of humor.
    • An alternative interpretation is that he's always a Deadpan Snarker, but most of the time (including in the example above) nobody notices.
  • Corrupted Contingency: JLA: Year One shows that before he joined the League, J'onn didn't really know who to trust and compiled data on every hero on Earth with the intent of using them to defend himself from them if they proved hostile to him. These plans are stolen by the invading aliens who use them to ambush and capture several heroes.
  • Creepy Good: Although one of the most kind and noble heroes in the DCU, J'onn's glowing red eyes, stoic demeanor and ability to shapeshift does creep out a lot of people, even meta-humans.
  • Chrome Dome PSI: Typically, he takes a bald form in his semi-human appearance (he can give himself hair if he wants to) and is a telepath.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Probably the most extreme example in the DCU (and that's saying a lot!):
  • Dead Person Impersonation: His "John Jones" identity came from a deceased police officer.
  • Deadpan Snarker: To Booster Gold, Blue Beetle and the JLI antics.
  • Depending on the Writer: Pretty much everything about him, his powers or his backstory. Even his personality tends to shift around depending on the writer. One could be forgiven for not recognizing the J'onn leading the Justice League Task Force if their only exposure beforehand was Justice League Detroit.
  • Divergent Character Evolution: Started off as a Superman replacement in the Justice League (right down to New Powers as the Plot Demands), but became more established as the otherworldly alien that Supes wasn't as his shape-shifting and telepathy became more emphasized.
  • Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: His initial motivation for becoming a detective on earth.
  • Evil Twin: Turns out every martian has had a "Psychic twin", the person that acts as their Best Friend and confident. J'onn had the rotten luck to get a cruel, scheming, shrewd, backstabbing egomaniac psycho for one by the name Ma'alefa'ak.
  • Flying Brick: Like Superman but with telepathy and shapeshifting.
  • A Form You Are Comfortable With: His default depiction is a mid-phase of his true form, only a bit "humanized".
  • Genius Bruiser: One of the strongest and wisest DC superheroes.
  • Gentle Giant: While his shapeshifting makes him vary in size, shape and form. In any variation of his normal form, he is kind, gentle, compassionate and patient.
  • The Heart: Of the Justice League of America in Post-Crisis continuity.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Aquaman.
  • Hive Mind: Downplayed. Martian society strived in the full shared knowledge not just of every living person in Mars, but of every being that ever lived there. Sharing their most private, personal thoughts just with their loved ones.
  • Humorless Aliens: Might seem like one, is actually very warm and friendly by Martian standards.
  • I Have Many Names: He's had several secret identities, most of which he's since retired.
  • Keystone Superpower: A rare and interesting case since he has two, Voluntary Shapeshifting and Psychic Powers.
  • Last of His Kind: More or less.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Possesses strength and speed comparable to that of Superman and Wonder Woman.
  • Martians: It is in his name, after all.
  • Mind over Manners: Intriguingly, it's exposure to human thoughts and attitudes later in the first series which causes J'onn's rather pleasant, calm demeanor to break down somewhat. (Apparently, Martians were just not the type to keep secrets, and the deceitfulness of humanity was something of a shock for him which led to him strongly disliking humans later on.)
  • Mission Control: One of his most essential roles in the Justice League. Thanks to his keen intellect, strategic mind and psychic powers, J'onn can serve as kind of switchboard operator, keeping the other members of the League in mental communication through him to coordinate strategies and maneuvers during battle. If any villain gets scared shitless because the League fights like a well-oiled machine, J'onn is the reason. He also often serves as dispatcher, choosing members of the League and transporting them to where they're needed as the situation demands. This was his main role in Justice League Unlimited. Not to mention, this position also prevents him from being a Story-Breaker Power due to his power set while retaining his usefulness.
  • Monster Modesty: If he wanted to, he could easily shape-shift a nice suit to wear. Instead, he runs around in underwear, boots, belt WITH suspenders and a cape. This was his policeman's (or "manhunter's") uniform on Mars.
  • Mundane Utility: His shapeshifting powers have been employed to stand-in for important figures, and other League members too, as when they have to protect their Secret Identity.
    • Also, the Mind Probe part of his telepathy is an excellent lie-detector on his day-job.
  • My Suit Is Also Super: Being an extension of himself, no less!
  • Nice Guy: He is one of the kindest and noblest people on the planet. While he occasionally has his bouts of doubt with humankind and the universe as a whole, he's consistently characterized as a sober and steadfastly compassionate person. Despite being viciously tortured by White Martians, he ended up accepting M'gann M'orzz as his protege even after finding out about her heritage.
  • Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: A shapeshifting psychic who is nearly as strong as Superman, but this seems to be the standard for Green Martians. Granted, he was a highly trained 'manhunter', the Martian equivalent of a police officer.
  • Not So Above It All: In JLI. He may be serious and straight, but he's not beyond enjoying oreos.
  • Only Sane Man: He frequently had to be the voice of logic among the shenanigans of the other more dysfunctional heroes in JLI, especially after that Batman left.
  • Personality Powers: Averted with his shape-shifting, as he is very calm and serious. Played straight with his telepathy.
  • The Philosopher: J'onn is a stoic but sensitive Warrior Poet who loves eating choco cookies.
  • Primary-Color Champion: J'onn may be green, but what few clothes he wears are classically heroic red and blue.
  • Pstandard Psychic Pstance: Averted in most of his animated portrayals, but not on the ones in comics.
  • The Quiet One: Usually quiet, but when he speaks it's important.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: Infamously, he had one of his many, many identities named after Sailor Mars.
  • Secret Identity: In the Silver Age, J'onn J'onzz masqueraded as mind-mannered John Jones, a name no one could have possibly guessed.
  • Shadow Archetype: A heroic one of Superman. While both J'onn and Superman are powerful, heroic aliens who suffered the loss of their respective races, they are very different in the respect that Superman considers Earth his true home and sees himself as human. J'onn on the other hand grew into his adulthood on Mars. He accepts Earth as his new home but will always have reverence for Mars.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Picture this: Bore witness the fiery death of his entire species, wandered the ruins of his home planet for an untold amount of years and was transported to a strange alien world (Earth) by accident, scared to death the responsible man for this and replaced another man who died while J'onn was trying to save him.
  • The Smart Guy: His telepathy allows him to gain information almost instantaneously. But he's extremely intelligent and wise without it. When Batman compliments and shares notes with you, you're definitely this.
  • Space Police: His former career as a Manhunter has sometimes been portrayed as this.
  • The Spock: His composure is usually unbreakable as his mindset. He's so into this that even employs a maneuver akin to the Vulcan nerve-pinch whenever he faces an adversary as his most definitive Signature Move.
  • The Stoic: Very calm and collected, usually when he's Not So Stoic, it's shocking to a degree.
  • Straight Man: To the Beetle-Booster duo Wacky man.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: He's not consciously trying to seem aloof; Martian mannerisms are just different. J'onn's really a softy at heart, but people have to get to know him before they realize it. He's also surprisingly funny and whimsical, according to Martian standards, anyway.
  • Superman Substitute: He has quite a lot in common with Superman, both being superheroes of alien origin who are clad in blue and red in addition to both being the Last of His Kind, possessing similar powers and wearing capes. The most notable differences are that J'onn came to Earth as an adult, was teleported there by a scientist's experiment rather than being sent to Earth in a rocket, is more visibly alien instead of being a Human Alien like Superman, is vulnerable to fire rather than kryptonite and has a few additional powers that Superman does not have (specifically invisibility, intangibility, telepathy and shape-shifting).
  • Superpower Lottery: Although the extent of his powers varies depending on the writer, J'onn is often called "The Swiss Army Knife of the Super-Heroes". Usually portrayed as one of the half dozen or so heroes considered to have even more powers than Post-Crisis Superman (Pre-Crisis Superman was even too much for him). The Flying Brick portion of his powers is roughly equal to that of The Man of Steel, plus there's all those other abilities he's got. Powers including:
    • New Powers as the Plot Demands: Had this bad in the silver age, from straining gold from seawater, to seeing into a future which will not happen to manipulating the earth's magnetic field to walk on water. Has been toned down since, but is still a living Swiss Army Knife.
    • Psychic Powers:
      • Bizarre Alien Senses: J'onn possesses nine different senses. One of these senses could account for instances of the Manhunter's perceived precognitive abilities.
      • Eye Beams: Referred to as "martian vision". Has been depicted as a blast of heat, disintegration or concussive force Depending on the Writer.
      • X-Ray Vision: In older continuities, he's displayed this ability, but it's been phased out in the modern day in favor of his "Martian vision" or no eye-based powers at all.
      • Mind over Matter: J'onn possesses Telekinesis, the ability to move objects with his mind, which he described as ""molecular hypnosis" and "Martian mind-over-matter"
      • Flight: The Martian Manhunter flies by manipulation of gravitons (a subatomic particle associated with the force of gravity), manipulation of magnetic fields and control of his absolute molecular movement. These give him the ability to fly great distances with little fatigue and at great speed.
      • Super-Speed: Either through flight or natural movement, he can maintain speed and reflexes far in excess to that of even most superhumans. This is also accomplished by manipulating the magnetic fields of energy surrounding his body, as well as ambient gravitational particles. Traditionally, J'onn only uses his superhuman speed while flying. He has admitted that he is not as fast as most speedsters but this can be argued as he has shown speed feats that is nearly at Superman's level
      • Second Super-Identity: Since he's a shapeshifter who has been on Earth since 1955, J'onn has used a number of identities, including the superheroes The Bronze Wraith in the seventies and Bloodwynd in the nineties.note . Creating not just alternate shapes, but full back-up mindsets without Becoming the Mask at the end of the day.
      • Telepathy: He is the most powerful telepath on the planet and is one of the strongest telepathic beings in the DCU.
      • Laser-Guided Amnesia: He can erase any awareness of particular memories or cause total amnesia.
      • Mind Manipulation: In the same sense of Superman's Super-Strength at its full extention, his is incredibly powerful. This is an ability he's not just not willing to but avoids at any cost to bring forward unless it is absolutely necessary because, at times, the effect can be irreversible.
      • Mind Probe: He is able to read the mind of any human with no difficulties, and the only minds that can cause him trouble are insane minds. The Martian can read their subconscious mind as well even over great distances, or scan the mind of every person on Earth within a matter of moments.
      • People Puppets: J'onn can control the thoughts and actions of others, and this is historically posed by martian standards as their most Dangerous Forbidden Technique possible.
      • Psychic Radar: The Manhunter can pinpoint the location of a desired individual, at some pretty fantastic ranges. Just as well, since he generally has to fly up into orbit in order to not get confused by all the ambient thinking.
    • Super-Strength: The Martian's superhuman fortitude comes from both, his plasmorphic structure formed from immensely long and complex molecular chains,[citation needed] augmented with his psionic and telekinetic abilities allowing him to lift incredible weights without these weights crumbling under the stress, placing him amongst the strongest beings on the planet. He has been seen lifting tankers out of the ocean for vast distances, stalemating powerhouses like Superman, and he has even helped tow the moon and objects as large as the Earth itself together with Superman.
    • Voluntary Shape Shifting: An incredibly versatile one thanks to his Martian physiology. He is able to literally control the entire molecular structure of his whole bio-polymer body and make it resemble anything he wants. He can form clothing and weapons with non-moving or non-functioning parts. There does not seem to be any limit to the number of people the Manhunter can imitate and has stood-in as a double for many famous people. He is also able to change colors.
      • Healing Factor: His regenerative abilities are so great that he has been able to completely regenerate from nothing but his severed hand.
      • Intangible Man: He can phase through solid matter.
      • Invisibility: He can cause the bio-polymers in his body to lose their ability to reflect light, rendering him invisible to normal light and human/meta-human sight.
      • Nigh-Invulnerability: The bio-morphic structure of the his body allows him to absorb almost all kinetic energies such as high caliber-bullets, shrapnel, or flying debris easily. He can harden his bio-polymers by rebinding them and increase his durability to the point where he can turn even into diamond, putting him nearly on par with Superman.
      • Shapeshifter Default Form: By choice; J'onn's familiar "superhero" form is a compromise between a human form and his true alien appearance.
      • Shapeshifter Longevity: Some stories indicate that his people are either immortal or just really long-lived. Depending on the Writer, he can be anywhere from a thousand years old to over a million, and in some plots, he's ended up surviving into the 853rd century.
      • Sizeshifter: He can also increase or decrease his own length, height and mass to a great extent.
  • Trademark Favorite Food/Writing Around Trademarks: Chokos, a thinly-veiled way to say Oreos within DCU.
  • Underwear of Power: Prior to the New 52, he wore the standard blue briefs that all Martians wore. Together with his cape, they made up his Manhunter uniform.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Fire.
    • How bad it is, and whether it is psychosomatic or not varies, but it is always a problem, and this being martians are traditionally terrified of it. Just being near a lighter can render them helpless. J'onn J'onzz himself has been on earth for decades, and no longer has such an extreme reaction to it. The fear of fire is actually a psychic barrier the Guardians of the Universe put into the Green Martians to stop their psychotically powerful "Burning Martian" selves from taking over the universe.
    • Truth in Television Fun Facts: Most polymers, as those that compose J'onn entire organism, are imprevious to most of damage whitstanding pretty rough stuff, except extreme heat. Magnesium flares (Able to burn even underwater) can reach temperatures of 473 °C/883 °F, cutting torches, well over 3,300 °C/6,000 °F. Mars average temperatures on the other hand range from around -140° C/-220° F in wintertime at the poles, to 21° C/70° F. over the lower latitudes in its summer's hottest day.

Supporting Cast

    Diane Meade 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d86a20a4_dc7e_4a20_9694_0ceb02b2b34a.jpeg

A police officer who served as John Jones' partner in the Silver Age, and as a member of his detective agency in the Modern Age, making her one of his few supporting cast members to have any sort of staying power.

    Miss Martian 

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/miss_martian_8.jpg
AKA: Megan Morse / M'gann M'orzz
First Appearance: Teen Titans Vol 3 #37 (August, 2006)
Abilities: Flight, super strength, shape shifting, invisibility, telekinesis, intangibility, optic force blasts, telepathy.

A young White Martian that traveled to Earth to follow in the footsteps of the Martian Manhunter. She is a member of the malevolent White Martians race unlike her Green Martian predecessor, although she works hard to prove herself and discredit the stereotype. In her civilian identity, she is high-school student Megan Morse.

See Teen Titans character sheet for more.

    Jemm, Son of Saturn 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4221539_jemm1_1.jpg
AKA: J'emm

A Red Saturnian, his people are directly related to the Martian peoples and bear many similarities and powers. He was prince of the Red People, who were at war with the White Saturnians and forced to flee the planet after his father was killed.

  • Arranged Marriage: With Cha'rissa, a White Saturnian princess, in order to secure a truce between their two warring people. They grow to love one another, making it a Perfectly Arranged Marriage.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: For a time he was a villain under the Intergang's influence. He snapped out of it thanks to J'onn.
  • Primary-Color Champion: His skin is red, and like J'onn he wears a blue cape. He changes to a purple cloak later on.
  • Red Is Heroic: His skin is red and he's the hero of Saturn.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Jemm was originally conceived as J'onn's cousin and meant to replace him when he went missing back in 1963. After his return, he was turned into a completely different character with a new backstory.
    • His 1980's miniseries used him essentially as a replacement for J'onn when the writer couldn't get editorial permission to use him.
  • Trauma Conga Line: First he's driven from his home on Saturn, then Ma'alefa'ak tortures him to near-madness, and then he is forced to watch as Cha'rissa, his betrothed, is murdered in front of him. Fortunately, that last one was merely a ruse that Cha'rissa and J'onn used to flush out the supervillain Cabal.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Much like J'onn, Jemm doesn't bother with a shirt.

    Cha'rissa 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/martian_manhunter_rings_of_saturn_60.jpg

Appearing prominently in Rings of Saturn storyline, she is the White Princess of Saturn who is arranged to marry with Jemm in order to bring peace to their planet.

  • Arranged Marriage: With Jemm, in order to secure a truce between their two warring people.
  • Birds of a Feather: With J'onn, as they both believe firmly in duty and honor. Which is, sadly, precisely why they can't be together.
  • Cute Monster Girl: In her "default" form, she looks fairly human except for her red eyes and pale skin. She is sweet enough to attract J'onn nonetheless.
  • Daddy's Girl: When J'onn mind melds with her, he finds out she was closer to her father than with her mother. He was assassinated for trying to initiate the peace treaty between his people and the Red Saturnians.
  • The Dutiful Daughter: Her father was the one who initiated the peace treaty between the Saturnians, and following his death, she was deeply committed to carry out his dream.
  • Evil Matriarch: Cha'rissa's mother, the White Queen of Saturn, is unwilling to submit to the arranged marriage and at one point threatens her daughter's life. She is revealed to be the mastermind behind the plot to ruin the marriage and keep the conflict going between Whites and Reds.
  • Game Face: Basically the same race as J'onn, but not as powerful since Saturnians are a much weaker genetic offshoot to Martians. With that said, she almost always assumes a bestial form to fight her enemies. Her battle form resembles a Xenomorph.
  • Green-Skinned Space Babe: Well, White-Skinned Space Babe to be precise.
  • Intimate Healing: After an encounter with Cabal, J'onn had lost control of his body. As a last ditch effort, he asked Cha'rissa to body meld with him (basically the Martian version of sex) allowing her mental clarity to restore his. She lampshades this by saying:
    Next time, love, ask me to do something difficult.
  • Leotard of Power: A skimpy black one that leaves very little to the imagination.
  • Light Is Not Good: Subverted. Her people IS related to the White Martians and she is introduced attacking J'onn very suddenly, however she did so because she thought he had hurt her fiancee (he had helped Jemm snap out of the Intergang's mind control). She quickly warms up to him after this incident.
  • Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Jemm becomes Cha'rissa's Second Love, making the match this.
  • Pretty Princess Powerhouse: This princess is no delicate flower. She turns into a Xenomorph-looking monster to kick ass.
  • Starcrossed Lovers: She falls in love with J'onn, but they are forced to go separate ways since she is betrothed to J'emm and must rule her people, while he is a superhero.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: Her Establishing Character Moment is attacking J'onn for thinking he had hurt Jemm.

    Zook 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2875660_2012zookspacecityconcommissionbyarthurartadamscolored.jpg

J'onn's sidekick in the Silver Age, an extradimensional being that followed two criminals from his own world to Earth, helped J'onn defeat them, and remained on Earth when the space warp closed. He's intelligent enough to learn English, but apparently not quite fully sapient, with J'onn sometimes calling him a pet. He resembles a humanoid dog with antennae.

  • Adaptation Species Change: In the Ostrander run, Zook is reinvented as Zo'ok, a shapeshifting, telepathically responsive, Martian plant. It's what J'onn's uniform is made from.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: In the only modern appearance of the classic Zook, he's been mind-controlled into attacking Superman and Batman.
  • An Ice Person: He can reduce his own body temperature, freezing things he comes into contact with.
  • Playing with Fire: He can also increase his temperature, burning or melting anything he touches.
  • Rubber Man: He can stretch or flatten his body. In his Superman/Batman appearance, he gets a power upgrade to full-on shapeshifting.
  • Super-Senses: His antennae can locate and identify people he's previously met. This makes him an excellent tracker and also means he can see through disguises, shapeshifting and even mind-swaps.
  • You No Take Candle: He has a tendency to skip articles and forms of "is", as in "I know Manhunter okay."

Enemies

    Bel Juz 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bel_juz_1091.jpg

"To protect myself I started a war..."

A Bronze Age Femme Fatale who encountered J'onn J'onzz on several occasions, Bel Juz was a treacherous Desert Dweller (Green Martian), who sold out her surviving people to Thythen invaders, in the aftermath of Commander Blanx's attempted genocide. When the Thythen were defeated, Bel became involved with The Marshal of the Red Brotherhood, encouraging his invasion of Earth in a desperate attempt to cover up her involvement in the near destruction of her people.

  • Femme Fatale: A classic example.
  • Green-Skinned Space Babe: And one of the first to appear in the Manhunter's stories.
  • It's All About Me: Cared about only herself, willingly selling out her near-extinct race, and later starting a war in an effort to improve her own position.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Bel's all about getting somebody else to do the fighting for her.
  • Military Coup: Encouraged The Marshal to make one.
  • Secondary Color Nemesis: Orange leotard, purple cape.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Bel only appeared in two Bronze Age stories, but her manipulations ruined J'onn's political career, and were responsible for him rejoining the JLA. Without her, J'onn's current role as "heart and soul of the JLA" might never have come about.
  • Smug Snake: Never quite as bright as she thought she was, and with a penchant for backing the wrong horse.
  • Turncoat: Turns on people in the drop of a hat.
  • The Vamp: Her draining abilities.

    Bette Noir 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/betenoir_7996.jpg

One of the DNAliens created by Cadmus Labs, Bette Noir is a hideous, immobile blob, incapable of leaving the laboratory in which she is imprisoned. She does however, have one thing going for her—the ability to project her consciousness out of her body and feed on the psychic energies of others. She clashed with J'onn a couple of times during his Post-Crisis, Pre-Flashpoint incarnation.

    Commander Blanx 
AKA: Benn Blanx
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-blanx_5202.png

"According to the aliens' code, I could only sell Mars if I was the last living Martian..."

The leader of the Pole Dwellers (Silver and Bronze Age precursors to today's White Martians), Commander Blanx was a cold-blooded opportunist who aimed first to conquer, then to enslave, and then finally, to annihilate, all Martian life, in a bid to sell the planet to an offworld mining corporation. Restarting the war between the Pole Dwellers and the Desert Dwellers, Blanx exiled his rival, J'onn J'onzz to the wastes, seized control of Mars, and then finally harnessed the Blue Flame of Mars to slaughter Pole Dweller and Desert Dweller alike. Killed in single combat by J'onn he has not appeared since.

  • Alliterative Name: Benn Blanx.
  • Arch-Enemy: During the Bronze Age, and retroactively, J'onn's entire Pre-Crisis career, being the one who started the war between the Desert Dwellers and Pole Dwellers, exiled J'onn to Earth, triggered the formation of the JLA, saw Martians ostracized on Earth, and finally, massacred everyone J'onn cared about, including his family. For all that his appearances were limited, Blanx's influence, and the effect that he had on J'onn, would be hard to top.
  • Big Bad: Of "And So My World Ends", the story that redefined Martian Manhunter, creating the version of the character that we all know today.
  • Cowardly Lion: Blanx didn't like to fight, preferring to let others do it for him, but when he's finally cornered he proves a capable enough combatant, beating J'onn in their trident duel and nearly killing him.
  • Duel to the Death: With J'onn.
  • Evil Counterpart: J'onn's rival for political power on Mars, and his physical and intellectual equal.
  • Evil Overlord: Of Mars, before he destroyed it.
  • Final Solution: Blanx was told that he could not sell Mars unless he was the last living Martian. In order to work around this problem, he accordingly engineered a genocide.
  • Genocide from the Inside: Was responsible for driving his own people to near-extinction solely out of greed.
  • Greed: Was willing to exterminate his entire people in order to sell his planet to an alien mining company.
  • Karmic Death: Crushed to death beneath a globe of Mars, the planet he ruined.
  • Kill All Humans: Kill all Martians actually, but the result was the same.
  • Kill It with Fire: Used the Blue Flame to burn all of Mars.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Wiped out Mars, turned J'onn from a jovial crime fighter to a character defined by introspective angst, broke up the JLA, and helped to usher in the Bronze Age all in one issue.
  • Lack of Empathy: When you make yourself the last survivor of your species all to make a buck, you are truly void of empathy.
  • Secondary Color Nemesis: Blanx's costume is orange and green, in contrast to J'onn's red and blue.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Appeared twice. Redefined the Martian Manhunter forever.
  • The Sociopath: Blanx committed genocide against his own people without a twinge of remorse.
  • War Is Glorious: Blanx appears to have this mindset; he misses the days when Martians "treasured the implements of war" and believes that they have grown weak, and re-started a bloody war between the Green Martians and the White Martians.

    Despero 

    The Human Flame 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/394320_195558_human_flame.jpg
AKA: Michael "Mike" Miller

"Impossible? I'm the Human Flame, Milo. I eat impossible for breakfast and crap out unicorns!"

A low-brow thug with just enough intellect to be dangerous to himself and others, Mike Miller was an absolute nobody, until he built a special flamethrowing suit in order to ward off the police and the Martian Manhunter. Incarcerated, he was eventually freed by Libra, who transformed him into a cyborg. Playing a pivotal role in the "death" of the Martian Manhunter, Miller had himself augmented again and again to try and ward of the JLA, eventually becoming a radioactive mass of living fire.

  • Alliterative Name: Michael "Mike" Miller.
  • Badass Boast: "No one can extinguish the Human Flame!"
  • Bald of Evil: Bald and stupid evil.
  • Bested by the Inexperienced: The entirety of Final Crisis: Run is him evading pursuit by experienced accomplished heroes by doing things they do not expect. Lampshaded by John Stewart.
  • Cyborg: Rebuilt as one.
  • Deal with the Devil: Made one with Libra to get revenge on J'onn J'onzz.
  • Dumb Muscle: Despite his ability with engineering, Miller is still little more than a street thug.
  • Playing with Fire: Projected it from his chest when he had his armour, from his chest, belly, face, mouth and hands as a cyborg, and was made of it once he achieved his last Post-Crisis power up.
  • Powered Armour: Downplayed. The Human Flame's original armour could just barely project enough fire to keep the Manhunter at a distance, and had no other powers to speak of.
  • Stupid Crooks: So much so that one of his weaknesses is listed as "idiocy".
  • Took a Level in Badass: First by becoming a cyborg and then by becoming a being of living fire.
  • Very Punchable Man: He's a braggart and thug who thought the fact he faced J'onn one time as enough to put him over Lex Luthor and signed up with Libra. While Libra killed J'onn for him, this didn't work out well for Mike, as he ended up Mind Raped and Mind Controlled into being one of the first Justifiers and once he even got the power he wanted, he ended up using up so much of his power, he basically becomes a statue.

    Malefic 
AKA: Ma'alefa'ak J'onzz
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-malefic_001_5582.jpg

"You knew nothing of me on Mars when I engineered the death of our race under your very nose! You understood nothing of me when I destroyed your new life on this joke of a planet! And you understand nothing of my life as I end yours by ripping you apart muscle by sinew!"
J'onn J'onzz's twin brother in Post-Crisis continuity, Ma'alefa'ak, alias Malefic, is a sociopathic mind rapist and serial murderer turned genocidal madman. Stripped of his psionic powers following his capture, Malefic gained his revenge by engineering H'ronmeer's Curse, a psychic plague that killed almost every Green Martian on the planet. He later followed J'onn to Earth, where he was killed following an assault on the JLA.
  • Ax-Crazy: A vicious, depraved and utterly psychotic sociopath.
  • Arch-Enemy: Was this to J'onn until his death. He destroyed their people, including J'onn's wife and child, and continued to torment J'onn after they made it to Earth.
  • Cain and Abel: The Cain to J'onn's Abel.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: He calls himself Malefic.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: His response to being stripped of his psionic powers was to wipe out his entire species.
  • Evil Cripple: Given the degree to which Martians depend upon their Psychic Powers, Malefic's loss of them qualifies him for this status.
  • Evil Twin: J'onn's twin brother and one of his nastiest foes.
  • Final Solution: Killed almost all the Green Martians.
  • Freudian Excuse: He was profoundly troubled from the day he was born. His mother Sha'sheen had forseen that he would embody the evil of their race, while J'onn would embody the good. Sha'sheen named him Ma'alefa'ak, a Martian phrase that meant "Darkness of the Heart," so as to warn him of his destiny and convince him to try to take a better path. This backfired horribly, as his ominous name caused the other Martians to treat him with hate and suspicion, which Ma'alefa'ak reciprocated. To prove himself, he became a scientist and made contact with what he thought were benevolent gods, but which were actually the New Gods of Apokolips, who attacked Mars and kidnapped him. Ma'alefa'ak was then tortured and brainwashed into becoming Darkseid's servant, and began mind-raping innocent Martians in an attempt to find the Anti-Life Equation for Darkseid. He murders Sha'sheen when she discovers he is responsible, but is caught by J'onn and the Manhunters, who wipe his mind and cut off his Psychic Powers. In his new identity, Ma'alefa'ak is still hated and feared by his fellow Martians, who consider him a freak because he is the only non-psychic Martian. This final shunning, in addition to his subconscious memories of his prior hatred of the Martians, causes him to commit genocide against his race.
  • Genocide from the Inside: Engineered a plague to wipe out his own kind.
  • Killed Off for Real: J'onn defeats him by throwing him into the sun.
  • Lack of Empathy: Profoundly so. Ma'alefa'ak thinks nothing of mass genocide, torture, murder, and mind rape so long as he can gain from it or use it to torture J'onn.
  • Lean and Mean: Skeletally thin, especially when contrasted with J'onn.
  • Mind Rape: Has zero problem with inflicting this on others, even his own mother. It's all at Darkseid's behest, so as to find the Anti-Life Equation.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His mother named him Ma'alefa'ak, a Martian phrase meaning "Darkness of the Heart," so as to warn him of the evil destiny she had foretold for him. Unfortunately, this causes his fellow Martians to shun him, which only fuels his rage.
  • Psychic Powers: Averted. He was stripped of these after he abused them to find the Anti-Life Equation for Darkseid, and so he does not use them for most of his appearances. He recovers them only shortly before he's Killed Off for Real.
  • Sadist: This one pretty much goes without saying. Malefic enjoys inflicting pain.
  • Self-Made Orphan: Mind raped his mother into a coma, which she didn't recover from.
  • Serial Killer: Routinely kills people to torment J'onn, and at one point kidnapped and experimented on random innocent humans so as to frame J'onn for the crime.
  • Serial Rapist: Serial mind-rapist, anyway. He inflicts this on both his own mother and his sister-in-law, J'onn's wife.
  • Shapeshifter: Used to his advantage during his attack on the JLA, and especially talented at it.
  • Slasher Smile: An absolute master at them, courtesy of Tom Mandrake's art.
  • The Sociopath: Probably the most obvious example in J'onn's small rogues gallery, with his short temper, malignantly antisocial behaviour, sadism, and need to control others.
  • Torture Technician: Tends to play with his victims for an extended period after capturing them. Poor Jemm was severely mentally traumatized, not in the least because Ma'al was disguised as J'onn while he was torturing Jemm.
  • Underwear of Power: Prior to the New 52, he wore the standard blue briefs that all Martians wore.

    The Marshal 
AKA: Unknown
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-marshal_7022.jpg

"Here we languish, beggars on a hostile world far from our native sun. Forced to grub for survival like insects in the dark—when there are those who live in light, on a world that should be ours...While we huddle on this barren rock, our sacred lands are raped—by those who mock our fate!"

Genetically engineered to be the ultimate Martian warrior, The Marshal of the Red Brotherhood was a powerful political and military figure on Mars II during the Bronze Age. Following Blanx's near destruction of all Martian life, and the encounter with the Thythen, The Marshal, at Bel Juz's urging, carried out a coup d'etat against J'onn J'onzz, and then launched an invasion of Earth.

    Mr. V 
AKA: Faceless, Marco Xavier
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mister_v_icon_9679.jpg

"They are not regular members of my syndicate... and therefore expendable!"

A European mobster who headed up the international syndicate known as "Vulture", Mr. V was a masked presence who operated through legions of underlings, including one Body Double after another. Confronting J'onn repeatedly throughout the sixties, Mr. V, dubbed "Faceless" by J'onn, was the first enemy the Martian Manhunter truly loathed. He's vanished since the Silver Age, leaving a number of unanswered questions.

  • Actually a Doombot: All the time.
  • Arch-Enemy: The only contender during the Silver Age, he was one of J'onn's few recurring foes, and the first one he was shown to genuinely hate.
  • Body Double: Maintained a small army of them. Anytime that J'onn unmasked Mr. V it would be revealed to be one of his henchmen, playing the part.
  • Chest Insignia: Wore Vulture's insignia on his t-shirt.
  • Cool Mask: It was a pretty silly mask, honestly, but the principle still applies.
  • Decoy Leader: Anytime that Mr. V appeared to be acting as the leader of a local Vulture cell it was all but guaranteed that he'd turn out to be a Body Double.
  • Diabolical Mastermind: An archetypal example, with legions of minions, evil schemes by the truckload, and numerous scientific gadgets.
  • Fat Bastard: Usually drawn as such.
  • The Reveal: During his final appearance, Mr. V is revealed to be Marco Xavier, the supposedly dead Vulture operative whom J'onn J'onzz has been impersonating the entire arc. Whether this was his real identity (Mr. V's suit seems unusually loose on Xavier's skinny frame) and if he really did die in that last confrontation was never confirmed.
  • Secondary Color Nemesis: Purple slacks, and sometimes, a purple jacket.
  • The Syndicate: Led one.

    White Martians 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d863e56aa27eb89a48f14287c1288a45_3.jpg
  • Aliens Are Bastards: They are brutal and violent unlike their green cousins and most races in the universe as they like invading planets and killing people.
  • Evil Counterpart Race: They represent everything wrong about the Green Martians as they use their natural powers and abilities to commit acts that would even leave most Green Martians to be horrified by what they do.
  • My Species Doth Protest Too Much: There are some who are not like them such as Miss Martian who is heroic and everything that is good about the Green Martians which she is friendly, kind and a Nice Girl as well unlike her people.

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