MARTIAN MANHUNTER : Super Sleuth

"On Mars I was a Manhunter, a police detective charged with protecting my people from telepathic crime." --J'onn J'onzz
Know Your CBM Character - MARTIAN MANHUNTER. Who he is? What are his powers and abilities? Who played him in live media.

Who is MARTIAN MANHUNTER?
MARTIAN MANHUNTER is J'onn J'onzz in his native tongue, John Jones in earth tongue but he has other identities due to his ability to shapeshift. He survived a telepathic plague that killed most of his kind, when he was transported to earth by a scientist. He now operates as one of Earth's greatest superheroes.

The MARTIAN MANHUNTER (J'onn J'onzz) is a fictional DC Comics character created by writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa, he first appeared in Detective Comics #225 (Nov. 1955). The character is known for being one of the core members of the Justice League.

VISUAL HISTORY
First Appearance
1955: The MARTIAN MANHUNTER debuted in the back-up story "The Strange Experiment of Dr. Erdel" in Detective Comics #225. The character is a green-skinned extraterrestrial humanoid from the planet Mars, who is pulled to earth by an experimental teleportation beam constructed by Dr. Erdel.

MARTIAN MANHUNTER's design was pretty much set on his early appearances (the X-strap, the trunks, and the cape), but a problem that is common at that time is the standardization of a character's color scheme.

In the League
1960: As he became part of the first incarnation of the Justice League of America his costume now has been set with blue trunks,boots and cape and red for his straps and belt. During this times the MARTIAN MANHUNTER's looks like a regular bald human but with green skin.

Own Series
1988: The 80's came and the MARTIAN MANHUNTER finally got his own series (The last of the DC's Big 7 to get his own title). There is not much changes on the costume here but MARTIAN MANHUNTER now has more prominent forehead, and looking more alien than before.

His first series also introduced Us to his true Martian form, that we get to see from time to time.

THE 90s
When the 90s came there were a lot of changes happening with MARTIAN MANHUNTER's costume, they were some minor tweaks here and there. We now see two discs on his clavicle area (that changes color from red to gold) which are sometimes connected with a gold chain or rope. The X-strap then evolved that has it connected with his belt. There are changes on the belt buckle as well sometimes appearing like the other two shiny discs but at times it has its distinct design.

We also discover during this time the other guises that the MARTIAN MANHUNTER has. Here's a couple of example:

Bronze Wraith
The odd parts about this disguise is that the MARTIAN MANHUNTER is masquerading as a human superhero, wearing a domino mask but the costume is very similar to his MANHUNTER appearance, and to make matter's worse there is no bronze color on the costume.

Bio Armor Jade Warrior
In Japan where mechas are big, the MARTIAN MANHUNTER has this disguise, which looks like him only bigger and shiny.

Here's another one, though not an alias but a funny form he undertook to infiltrate a group of women in one of his missions.

MARTIAN WOMANHUNTER?

In DC's 1999 Annual we find the members of the Justice League transformed into Gorillas, this idea came from the nefarious mind of Gorilla Grodd.

MARTIAN APEHUNTER?

True Form
In 2006 we find the MARTIAN MANHUNTER in a much darker place, after an event that had his psyche influenced by Black Adam. He now wears a full blue bodysuit, with the red straps integrated to his suit. He also reverted his look to his true Martian form.

Death of MARTIAN MANHUNTER
In the events of Final Crisis we see a group of supervillains killing the MARTIAN MANHUNTER.

Black Lantern
Death in comics is always never permanent so we see the MARTIAN MANHUNTER rise again, first as a Black Lantern.

White Lantern
For a true chance in living again, he was given a task that if he fulfills it, grants him back his life. He was for a brief moment seen as a White Lantern.

Green Lantern
Still in his quest in getting his life back, he was momentarily trapped in a dream state by another Martian. While in this illusion he sees himself as a member of the Green Lantern Corps.

Earth Elemental
In the later parts of Brightest Day, he was transformed into an Earth Elemental while other superheroes was changed into the other elements.

Improved MARTIAN MANHUNTER
He finally fulfilled his task and his life was returned to him. He wears a modified version of his classic costume, with a planet Mars logo as a centerpiece of his outfit. He also replaced his trunks with a full on pants.

LIVE MEDIA
1. David Ogden Stiers
The MARTIAN MANHUNTER first foray into live media was in the 1997 Justice League of America live-action television pilot. Here it was stated that he has a difficulty shapeshifting, and no mention was made of any other powers. He was played by David Ogden Stiers,

2. Phil Morris
Phil Morris plays the character in Smallville TV series, where he is portrayed as an old friend of Jor-El who came to Earth to monitor Kal-El and assist him when he needed it.

POWERS & ABILITIES
Note: Due to the nature of comicbooks being an on-going tale, the character's powers along with his appearance, is in a constant state of flux.

Shape-Shifting, Malleability, Plasticity, Elongation: The most incredible of the powers of the Manhunter is the ability to shape-shift. He is able to literally control the molecular structure of his body's bio-polymer 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. His ability to imitate people and their mannerisms has stood him in good stead for his disguises. He has recently been seen to shape-shift into the size and shape of a common house fly and to enormous sizes comparable to skyscrapers. He is also able to change colors.

Invisibility:: The Manhunter can cause the bio-polymers in his body to lose their ability to reflect light, rendering the Manhunter invisible to normal light and human sight. With more increased concentration, he can render himself completely invisible along the electromagnetic spectrum, including the infrared and the ultraviolet ranges of the spectrum. This invisibility does not affect every other sense and he could still be detected by touch.

Phasing: No physical explanation of this power make sense except that it is an aspect of his psionic powers shifting his mass into another dimension or out of vibrational phase with other objects in this dimension.

Superhuman Durability: The bio-morphic structure of the Manhunter's 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 is nearly on par with Superman. Along with his nigh-invulnerability, his shape shifting makes him even more difficult to harm. Hazardous environments practically do not affect the MARTIAN MANHUNTER. He has proven to be immune to all known human diseases, but no experimentation has been done to see what more advanced viruses such as ebola or anthrax might have.

Superhuman Strength: The MARTIAN MANHUNTER is one of the strongest beings on the planet. The Martian's superhuman strength comes from his plasmorphic structure formed from immensely long and complex molecular chains,augmented with his psionic and telekinetic abilities allowing him to lift incredible weights without these weights crumbling under the stress.

Superhuman Endurance: J'onn's endurance is just as formidable as his strength or invulnerability. He can operate under extreme conditions for an indeterminate period of time without showing signs of fatigue.

Regeneration: The MARTIAN MANHUNTER has shown amazing regenerative abilities.

Flight: The MARTIAN MANHUNTER flies by manipulation of gravitons, manipulation of magnetic fields and control of his absolute molecular movement. These combine to give him the ability to fly great distances with little fatigue and at great speed.

Superhuman Speed: Either through flight or natural movement, the MARTIAN MANHUNTER can maintain speed and reflexes far in excess to that of even most superhumans.

Extrasensory Input: J'onn possesses nine different senses. One of these senses could account for instances of the Manhunter's perceived precognitive abilities.

Super Breath: The inner valves and chambers inside the MARTIAN MANHUNTER's air canals are very dense and greatly enhanced, allowing him to create strong hurricane force winds just by exhaling sending pressured air out.

Martian Vision: The actual nature of this power seems to vary depending on the reports. It has been seen to be a bolt of force, directed by the Manhunter's eyes causing considerable damage.

Telepathy: The MARTIAN MANHUNTER is the most powerful telepath on the planet, and is one of the strongest telepathic being in the Universe.

Expert Mediator: The MARTIAN MANHUNTER's sound reasoning capabilities and long term association Earth's global population, gives him an edge in dealing with humans of diverse governments, cultures and religions. In the northern hemisphere, the MARTIAN MANHUNTER is one of many costumed adventurers battling against entropy. In the southern hemisphere of Earth, the MARTIAN MANHUNTER is more well known than Superman. Considered the scourge of the underworld because of his dedication to truth and improving the lot of humanity everywhere, he is feared by underworld criminals worldwide.

sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_Manhunter : http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Martian_Manhunter : http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Martian_Manhunter/Covers : http://idol-head.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-martian-manhunter-brightest-day.html : http://www.comicvine.com/martian-manhunter/29-2047/ : http://everydayislikewednesday.blogspot.com/2008/02/sharp-dressed-manhunter.html : http://idol-head.blogspot.com/2008/07/justice-league-task-force-8-194.html : http://idol-head.blogspot.com/2008/10/martian-manhunters-silver-age-costumes.html

This is the 33rd article in my Know Your CBM Character series. Any requests and suggestions for an article for this series write it down in the comment section BELOW.

P0llMaster
5/9/2011
DCMU

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