Martian Manhunter


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Justice League of America Team Member J'onn J'onzz is a green-skinned extraterrestrial humanoid from the planet Mars, who worked as a detective in Middleton under the persona of "John Jones". He is a charter member of the Justice League of America.

Background Information
In the parallel universe, known as Earth-One, the year is 1955 and Dr. Erdel is working on a communication device, with the hope of making contact with extraterrestrial life. Upon its first use, he realizes that he had inadvertently created a teleportation beam. Amazingly, this device pulls J'onn J'onzz to Earth in his Martian form. The shock of the encounter kills Dr. Erdel and leaves J'onn with no method of returning home.

Since the Manhunter From Mars is now on Earth, J'onn J'onzz, decides to use his shapeshifting power to appear human. He then assumes the identity of John Jones, a Middleton (a city in the state of (Colorado) police detective. All the while, he hopes that Martian technology will advance to a stage that will enable his rescue.

In late 1956, J'onn J'onzz is able to briefly make contact with his home planet Mars and his parents.

In February 1959, a panic is generated by the revelation of the presence of Martians on Earth. The invaders had come to earth in search of earth’s newest arrival, the Martian Manhunter. Commander Blanx, and a small squadron of White Martians have been scouring the universe looking for the Manhunter. The Manhunter confronted Blanx, and the White Martians. Their brief, but somewhat public battle was interrupted by Barry Allen a young and inexperienced Flash. He and the Manhunter partner up, but realize that the terrified civilians, upon seeing the aliens began to panic. The Flash decides to seek help from other well-known heroes. He is able to gain the help of Superman, Batman, Robin and several other heroes. After their success, they decided to keep the alien invasion and the following skirmish a secret, hidden away from the public eye – so as not to cause a panic.

Later that year, J'onn reveals his existence to the world, by openly fighting crime in a green-skinned form.

A few years later (late 1968 in the Earth-1A universe), earth’s mightiest heroes (the Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and the Green Lantern) are called together again to stop the invading Appellaxians. The assembling resulted in the formation of Justice League of America!

By 1964, Detective John Jones is presumed dead, killed in action by the Idol Head of Diabolu, an artifact which generates supernatural monsters. And so, J'onzz decides to abandon his the civilian identity.

J'onn would serve as a regular member of the Justice League of America over the next several years. On one occasion, a group of evil Martians led by (the now) General Blanx, destroyed the surface of Mars, forcing all the good Martians to leave an colonize another planet. With his homeworld destroyed, J'onn decides to accompany the survivors into deep space to find a new home and bids farewell to his friends in the Justice League.

A few years later (on the parallel universe, known as Earth-1A), young Jr. SuperFriend Marvin is on tour of the Hall of Justice. As they walk through the wax figures, Superman points out the figure of the Manhunter and says that "J'onn J'onzz, Manhunter from Mars, left (Earth) when Mars became desolate and his people went to search for a new world."

Over the next few years J'onn was rarely seen, but he occasionally showed up to help the JLA. The JLA even showed up on ‘New Mars’ occasionally to help J’onn out. Eventually he returned to the JLA full-time.

Powers and Abilities

 * Super Strength
 * Near Invulnerability
 * Shapeshifting
 * Precognitive Abilities
 * Telepathy
 * Flight
 * Atomic Vision
 * Super Speed
 * Hurricane Breath
 * Invisibility
 * Intangibility
 * Heightened Senses
 * X-Ray Vision
 * Microscopic Vision
 * Telescopic vision
 * Infrared vision

More Coming Soon!

Weaknesses

 * Psychic Pyrophobia: An unusual and unexplained fear of fire.

Appearances
Earth-One Appearance:
 * Justice League of America, Vol. 1 #61 (March 1968)

Earth-1A Appearance:
 * SuperFriends Comic Book (1976-1981) issue: Limited Collectors' Edition #C-41 (Dec. 1975 / Jan. 1976)

Trivia

 * In his earliest appearances, the Martian Manhunter resembled a normal human, albeit with green skin. He was drawn with standard human eyes and eyebrows. In later years however, creators decided to give J'onn a more alien appearance and provided him with the more modernized beetle-brow look.
 * In some of his earliest adventures, the Martian Manhunter possessed the ability to see into the near future. However, there have been scant examples of this, and it is no longer a power that he possesses in modern continuity. By his own account, the Martian Manhunter cannot perceive the future.