Jon Hancock
Mar 6, 2004, 05:00 pm
<img src="http://comixfan.com/xfan/images/headshots/dc/martianmanhunter.gif" align=left hspace=10 alt=>Real Name: J'onn J'onzz (his true name is beautiful but almost unpronounceable)
Known Aliases: John Jones (former police detective, then private investigator), Marko Xavier, Bronze Wrath (superhero), Dervish (superhero of Turkey), Johann Johansen (cab driver), Yuchiro Takata (founder of New Concept Industries), Bio Armor Jade Warrior (superhero), Big Doof (super villain), Isobel De La Rosa (an author), Tomasso (a cat), Paolo (a homeless kid), Bloodwynd
First Appearance: Detective Comics #225
Known Relatives: Unnamed father (deceased), M'yri'ah (wife; deceased), K'hym (daughter; deceased), Ma'alefa'ak (twin brother; presumed deceased)
Group Affiliation: Justice League of America III, formerly Justice League of America I, Justice League of America II, Justice League International, Justice League of Aliens, Justice Experience
Known Allies: Dr Erdel, Gypsy, Scorch (deceased), Denver P.D.
Major Enemies: Despero, Vandal Savage, Ma'alefa'ak, Fernus
Height: 6'7
Weight: 300lbs
Eyes: Red
Hair: None
Skin: Green
Mars was not always the barren planet that human science believes it to be. Martian life evolved, eons ago from winged creatures. Surviving wars and other pitfalls that threaten a fledgling culture, the Martians became a complex and open society. After some time a split appeared in the culture between the philosophical Green Martians and the more militaristic Pale, or White, Martians. This difference was a psychological one as the Martian physiology allowed a Martian to appear white, green or any other colour or gender. The two factions came to a head when the Pale Martians saw it fit to intervene in the evolution of human life, preventing the majority of humans from achieving their potential of super being. After the Pale Martians' machinations, humanity as a whole would not ascend to the position of super beings as the Martians had. As punishment for their crimes the Pale Martians were exiled to the Phantom Zone, an inter-dimensional limbo.
The Martian culture then flourished into one that followed philosophical and artistic ideals, creating a utopian society for millennia. A major part of their culture was the worship of a pantheon of gods. Chief amongst the pantheon was H'ronmeer, the god of death, and C'endyall, the goddess of life. A rogue Martian named Ma'alefa'ak shattered this utopian lifestyle. Ma'alefa'ak was the twin brother of J'onn J'onnz and committed the crime of mind rape. As punishment he was stripped of his telepathic powers and had his memory wiped, before he was given a new identity as a priest in a Temple. Ma'alefa'ak had no recollection of his crimes but his hate for the Martian population grew and he decided to play on the Martian weakness to fire. By creating a plague, known as H'ronmeer's curse, Ma'alefa'ak effectively set fire to the minds and bodies of all telepathic Martians. With fire being a Martian's only weakness he aimed to wipe out the entire population
In the early days of the epidemic a counsel was set up to decide what to do. When they discovered that the plague was not a natural occurrence, Ma'alefa'ak seemed like the obvious option for a manufacturer of the disease. J'onn saw the evidence as circumstantial and asked that a proper investigation be carried out. The counsel appointed him a new role of manhunter and ordered him to discover the truth. When J'onn tracked Ma'alefa'ak down, he discovered that Ma'alefa'ak was intent on wiping out the Martian race and had taken refuge in a fortress of fire, making him unreachable.
J'onn fled home to try to save his family from the plague. Knowing that the plague was carried through telepathy, J'onn begged his wife, M'yri'ah, to shut her mind down and keep herself free from infection. However, when their daughter cried out to M'yri'ah, the mother opened her mind to her daughter and was infected, meaning that both mother and daughter swiftly died. Having lost his family, J'onn went to kill Ma'alefa'ak and during the ensuing battle, Ma'alefa'ak seemingly perished. J'onn began to wander from city to city, morphing into other Martians in an attempt to convince himself that he wasn't the sole survivor of his race.
On Earth, a scientist named Dr Saul James Erdel has been experimenting with machinery in order to seek out intelligent life across space and time and bringing it to his present. After years of research and dead ends he reached the point of no return and decided to switch on his machine. To his utter astonishment the machine worked, and he was greeted by J'onn carrying a dead alien girl. J'onn collapsed in front of him and didn't regain consciousness until Erdel had buried the girl. When J'onn did regain consciousness, his mind reached out and brushed Erdel's, sharing his history and loss with the scientist.
The alien Erdel buried was in fact part of J'onn's body, shape shifted to appear as if it was his daughter. After being nursed back to physical health, Erdel offered to return J'onn home, but the thought of being isolated from life again prompted J'onn to destroy Erdel's machinery. J'onn then shut his mind down in order to avoid any further emotional injury. Erdel used the telepathic bond to set up a new identity for J'onn whilst he was catatonic. This papered over the cracks in his memory and gave him the Martian Manhunter identity, which Erdel had taken from pulp novels. Unbeknownst to Erdel, J'onn was shaping his new identity sub-consciously, adding aspects of his old life to his new one, such as his role as manhunter, whilst leaving out the more hurtful memories.
J'onn's new personality and history was that of a military leader of a desert dwelling band of martians who were in the midst of a civil war against the pole dwelling tribe lead by General Blanx. (This idea was drawn from J'onn's own knowledge of the Pale Martians and their mythology.) J'onn believed that he had been defeated by foul means in single combat with Blanx and then exiled from Mars whilst Blanx destroyed the rest of the Martian population forcing J'onn to seek permanent exile on a new home of Earth. Erdel left J'onn with a grasp of the language and customs of human society and then faked his own death in order to force J'onn into building himself a new life, reliant on no one else. Erdel managed to successfully stage his death and was identified to be dead by the police.
One of the officers investigating Erdel's death was Detective John Jones who impressed J'onn with his integrity and J'onn chose to become invisible and shadow the dectective to learn more of Earth and its culture. A year later Jones was killed by a fellow officer who was on the take. J'onn decided that he had learnt enough in the year to take over John's life and try to bring the crime lord to justice. After doing so he chose to remain in his place of authority.
J'onn threw himself into the role of John Jones and became a fully fledged detective. However, subconsciously he was still aware of the plague and his loss which left him stern and unsmiling. J'onn retained this identity for about a decade and only used his true form to battle more dangerous adversaries. J'onn kept himself busy by watching television as an art form and an education tool. His telepathy would spoil stories that were told to him by others but television reintroduced to him the element of surprise. J'onn faked his own death, like Erdel before him, in order to protect his friends form his enemies. His partner had discovered his identity and J'onn wiped his partner's memories of the knowledge until years later when he returned to rekindle the friendship.
With his John Jones persona presumed dead, J'onn set up a new identity as the Bronze Wraith, a super hero. He used this identity to join a fledgling team named the Justice Experience. The Justice Experience operated along the East Coast, including Gotham City. The other members of the team were Acro-Bat, Major Flashback, Mister Action, Songbird and the Manx. The team had some success but the rookie experience of all on the team showed when they encountered a villain named Dr Trap. Trap's wife had been killed in a crossfire between the Justice Experience and their arch rivals, the House of Pain. Trap captured J'onn and wiped his memory, leaving him to wander the streets of America homeless for two years. When his memory returned he found that Trap had been brought to justice by the resurgent Justice Society of America and that his comrades in the Justice Experience, along with many other heroes had all been killed by Trap.
As a mark of respect and the grief he felt form his loss, J'onn retired the Bronze Wraith identity and vowed never to become a super hero again. He then created numerous other aliases. Usually J'onn shied away from attention, though his Marco Xavier personality allowed him to fight evil whilst staying away form the world at large. J'onn witnessed Superman's public debut and saw the start of a new heroic age. Filled with inner turmoil, J'onn decided that the time was right again for him to go public only this time he wouldn't hide behind an identity. Revealing himself to the world in an anthropomorphised version of his Martian form, J'onn became the Martian Manhunter. His first public appearance in costume saw him helping Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman and Black Canary fight off an alien invasion. Discovering that the five heroes had common aims and goals as well as all needing experience to hone their powers the group decided to form a new team, the Justice League of America. J'onn remained with the team through every incarnation, the only person to do so and became the back bone of the team. Around this time he resumed his John Jones identity only this time as a public detective.
The League went through many changes but J'onn remained with them. After the League's satellite was irreparably damaged, J'onn set up a new JLA based in Detroit. This team was much more like a family to him with him becoming particularly attached to the heroine, Gypsy, who became like a daughter to him. This League was disbanded by J'onn when Professor Ivo claimed the lives of two of its members, Steel and Vibe. When the U.N. sanctioned the Justice Leauge International, J'onn joined as its leader. Acting as a mentor again to a batch of younger heroes, J'onn took the role of leader with immense seriousness. In one of the JLI's first cases, J'onn battled a sentient virus. Having defeated it, the virus was held prisoner, via the magic of Dr Fate, in J'onn's alien cells. J'onn held this virus in him for months, unaware of the effect that it was having on him.
The strain of containing the virus was wearing away at the mental block that he had placed guarding his true origin. The erosion was boosted by the intercession of H'ronmeer. J'onn was terrified at seeing the Martian god of death and fled, finding himself in the home of Erdel who revealed the truth of J'onn's origin and his passage to Earth. Using Erdel's rebuilt machinery, J'onn journeyed back to Mars to confront H'ronmeer. In a confrontation that was never evenly matched, J'onn learnt that H'ronmeer wasn't the dark manifestation of death that humans imagine but instead a protector of the dead who needed J'onn to remove his mental block, thus allowing the Martian dead to rest in peace without J'onn's subconscious holding them back.
J'onn returned from Mars a changed person. He had a new found inner peace and knew who he was and where he was from. Following the JLI's dissolution, J'onn took the chance to leave the planet and meditate on his future. Upon his return to Earth, he encountered the magician Bloodwynd, who was struggling with his Blood Gem. J'onn tried to help but was accidentally possessed by the magician and his psyche was trapped within the Gem.
J'onn rejoined the JLI under the guise of Bloodwynd, unable to return to his normal form. J'onn was helped by the suspicions of the Blue Beetle who finally deduced his identity against Doomsday. With the help of the Atom, Bloodwynd and J'onn were freed from their mutual prison. Shortly after this J'onn was commissioned by the U.N. to head up a Justice League Task Force.
Initially the Task Force was intended to have a revolving membership of the League's main roster with each team handpicked for the designated mission by J'onn. During his time with the Task Force, J'onn was again reunited with Gypsy. Later, the Task Force became the youth training arm of the League and J'onn adopted a much sterner facade to deal with the charges under him.
Eventually the U.N. deemed the League unnecessary and withdrew their funding. Crippled by this decision, the League disbanded and J'onn was inactive from the global scene for a period of time, instead choosing to return to his civilian life. However, when the Justice League was reformed, J'onn was one of the first recruited.
J'onn's first mission with the new Justice League involved a team who claimed to be from another world and called themselves the Hyperclan. In reality this was a group of Pale Martians who were intending on invading Earth after gaining the trust and respect of the world's governments. J'onn discovered the group's intentions and let them think he betrayed the JLA by joining them. In reality he was attacking from within. The Pale Martian agents on Earth were mind wiped by J'onn and given new identities. Further battles with the JLA against Heaven's legions and during the Obsidian Age caused J'onn to become even more distant from his peers.
For a time the villain Dr Destiny and the entity Know Man, tried to blanket the Earth in a dream reality. J'onn found himself in an artificial recreation of Mars with his wife and daughter. J'onn believed this reality to be true and even when his team mates tried to rescue him, he signalled that he intended to remain in this paradise. However, this recreation was destroyed by Know Man's agents. The strain of losing his family all over again took a large toll on J'onn and caused him to alienate himself from those who had been his friends. It also undermined the peace of mind he had previously obtained.
J'onn grew growingly impatient with his main weakness, fire. Enlisting the help of the former fire wielding villain, Scorch, J'onn tried to overcome this fear. Eventually he became romantically involved with Scorch and appeared to have his fear under control. However, his attempts to overcome this fear led to him being linked to Fernus, a Burning Martian that travelled to Earth over 20,000 years ago on board a spaceship with a Guardian of the Universe. Thanks to John Stewart's investigations it transpired that originally the Martians had all been like Fernus, neither Green or Pale but Burning. The Guardians saw the Burning Martians as a barbaric race and an immense threat and so genetically altered them to have a psychological weakness to fire. When J'onn overcame this weakness he became Fernus, his true potential.
Manitou Raven, Major Disaster and the Atom were dispatched to find J'onn's soul and, on a supernatural journey, they found it bound, chained and intertwined with the soul of Fernus. Requesting J'onn to fight for his soul, the trio were pushed back by Fernus. Eventually J'onn, aided by Scorch, managed to remove Fernus' influence, though in the fight Scorch was badly injured and J'onn saw her die in his arms.
J'onn's Martian physiology grants him many powers. Superman has claimed that he is the most powerful being on Earth. J'onn has immense strength, invulnerability and the ability of flight. He is also an extremely high level telepath, capable of scanning every mind on Earth and altering their memories with little strain. This telepathy makes him vital to the JLA as he acts as their in field communications. J'onn can also become invisible and alter his shape and colour. His shape shifting seems to know few bounds. Colour, shape and size all seem to put no limitations on this ability. J'onn also possesses Martian Vision which is a concussive blast that he can fire from his eyes. J'onn can survive within the vacuum of space unaided. His physiology makes him near immortal. He is currently centuries old and is known to be alive in the 30th century, where he is in contact with the Legion of Super Heroes. J'onn no longer has the psychological weakness to flames that is characteristic of Martians. Instead he has a weakness to flame that has emotional intent behind it. J'onn's other main weakness is Oreo cookies. He has told a story of how he was once addicted to them due to his alien DNA. Whether this was hyperbole is unclear but J'onn is still partial to an Oreo and a glass of milk.
APPEARANCES:
Action Comics #365-366, 595, 690, 692, 753-754, 757, 791
Adventure Comics #449-451
Adventures of Superman #497-498, 522, 551, 565-567, 570, 605
Animal Man #9
Armageddon 2001 #2
Aquaman (1st series) #18, 30
Aquaman (5th series) #16-17, 28, 50, 54, 65-69
Aquaman (6th series) #1-2
Aztek: The Ultimate Man #10
Bloodbath #1-2
Blue Beetle (2nd series) #20
Booster Gold #22, 25
Brave and the Bold #28-30, 50, 56
Captain Atom #24-25
Chase #1-2
Cosmic Odyssey #1-4
Crisis on Infinite Earths #5-9, 12
Damage #7, 15
Darkstars #30
Day of Judgement #1
DC Bonus Book #7
DC Comics Presents #27
DC One Million #1-4
DCU Heroes: Secret Files and Origins #1
Detective Comics #225-271, 274-326, 557, 714-715
Doctor Fate (1st series) #3
Eclipso #16-18
Eclipso: The Darkness Within #2
Final Night #1-3
Flash (1st series) #175
Flash (2nd series) #8, 92, 128-129, 136-137
Formerly Known as the Justice League #5-6
Genesis #1-4
Green Lantern (2nd series) #29
Green Lantern (3rd series) #4, 9, 18, 63-64, 69, 81, 87, 96, 103, 149, 1,000,000
Green Lantern Corps #220
Guy Gardner: Warrior #33
Haven: The Broken City #5
Hawkman (3rd series) #22, 31-33
House of Mystery #143-173
Infinity Inc #19
Invasion! #1-3
JLA #1-7, 10-12, 14-23, 26-27, 32, 35, 37-41, 43-64, 66-68, 70, 72, 74-76, 84-current, 1,000,000
JLA Annual #1, 3
JLA: Incarnations #1-7
JLA: Paradise Lost #1-3
JLA: Secret Files and Origins #1-2
JLA/Titans #1-3
JLA: World Without Grown-Ups #1-2
Justice League #1-6
Justice League: A Midsummer's Nightmare #1-3
Justice League America #26-29, 31-32, 34-44, 51-71, 73-77, 89, 91, 101-102, 112
Justice League Annual #1
Justice League Europe #5, 7-8, 13, 27-35, 49-50
Justice League Europe Annual #2
Justice League International (1st series) #7-25
Justice League International (2nd series) #65-66, 68
Justice League International Annual (1st series) #2
Justice League of America #1-24, 26-27,31, 33, 36, 38, 40-41, 44, 50, 52, 54, 59-61, 71, 100, 115, 144, 177-178, 187, 200, 228-230, 232-261
Justice League of America Annual #2-3, 6, 9
Justice League Quarterly #3, 5-6, 9
Justice League Task Force #0-37
Justice League Special #1
Legends #1-2, 6
Martian Manhunter (1st series) #1-4
Martian Manhunter (2nd series) #0-5, 7-36, 1,000,000
Martian Manhunter Annual #1-2
Martian Manhunter: American Secrets #1-3
Martian Manhunter Special #1
Millennium #1, 3-5
Mister Miracle (2nd series) #10, 14, 16-17, 27
Mystery in Space #75
Mystery in Space (2nd series) #1
Power of Shazam! #45
Ray (2nd series) #0
Resurrection Man #2
Sandman #5, 72
Secret Origins (2nd series) #23
Showcase '93 #10
Showcase '95 #9
Showcase '96 #9
Silver Age #1
Silver Age 80 page Giant #1
Silver Age: Dial H For Hero #1
Silver Age: Green Lantern #1
Silver Age: Secret Files #1
Suicide Squad (1st series) #13
Superboy and the Ravers #14
Supergirl (4th series) #65
Supergirl (5th series) # 4-5
Superman (1st series) #199, 253
Superman (2nd series) #74-75, 128, 143, 147, 179, 181, 183
Superman: The Man of Steel #88, 92, 125
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #13
The Fury of Firestorm, Nuclear Man (2nd series) #63-64, 67-68
The Fury of Firestorm, Nuclear Man Annual #5
Total Justice #1-3
Time Masters #1
Underworld Unleashed #1-3
War of the Gods #2, 4
Weird #1-4
Wonder Woman (2nd series) #125-126, 140-141, 177
World's Finest Comics #212, 245
Young Justice #5-6
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! #1-3
Known Aliases: John Jones (former police detective, then private investigator), Marko Xavier, Bronze Wrath (superhero), Dervish (superhero of Turkey), Johann Johansen (cab driver), Yuchiro Takata (founder of New Concept Industries), Bio Armor Jade Warrior (superhero), Big Doof (super villain), Isobel De La Rosa (an author), Tomasso (a cat), Paolo (a homeless kid), Bloodwynd
First Appearance: Detective Comics #225
Known Relatives: Unnamed father (deceased), M'yri'ah (wife; deceased), K'hym (daughter; deceased), Ma'alefa'ak (twin brother; presumed deceased)
Group Affiliation: Justice League of America III, formerly Justice League of America I, Justice League of America II, Justice League International, Justice League of Aliens, Justice Experience
Known Allies: Dr Erdel, Gypsy, Scorch (deceased), Denver P.D.
Major Enemies: Despero, Vandal Savage, Ma'alefa'ak, Fernus
Height: 6'7
Weight: 300lbs
Eyes: Red
Hair: None
Skin: Green
Mars was not always the barren planet that human science believes it to be. Martian life evolved, eons ago from winged creatures. Surviving wars and other pitfalls that threaten a fledgling culture, the Martians became a complex and open society. After some time a split appeared in the culture between the philosophical Green Martians and the more militaristic Pale, or White, Martians. This difference was a psychological one as the Martian physiology allowed a Martian to appear white, green or any other colour or gender. The two factions came to a head when the Pale Martians saw it fit to intervene in the evolution of human life, preventing the majority of humans from achieving their potential of super being. After the Pale Martians' machinations, humanity as a whole would not ascend to the position of super beings as the Martians had. As punishment for their crimes the Pale Martians were exiled to the Phantom Zone, an inter-dimensional limbo.
The Martian culture then flourished into one that followed philosophical and artistic ideals, creating a utopian society for millennia. A major part of their culture was the worship of a pantheon of gods. Chief amongst the pantheon was H'ronmeer, the god of death, and C'endyall, the goddess of life. A rogue Martian named Ma'alefa'ak shattered this utopian lifestyle. Ma'alefa'ak was the twin brother of J'onn J'onnz and committed the crime of mind rape. As punishment he was stripped of his telepathic powers and had his memory wiped, before he was given a new identity as a priest in a Temple. Ma'alefa'ak had no recollection of his crimes but his hate for the Martian population grew and he decided to play on the Martian weakness to fire. By creating a plague, known as H'ronmeer's curse, Ma'alefa'ak effectively set fire to the minds and bodies of all telepathic Martians. With fire being a Martian's only weakness he aimed to wipe out the entire population
In the early days of the epidemic a counsel was set up to decide what to do. When they discovered that the plague was not a natural occurrence, Ma'alefa'ak seemed like the obvious option for a manufacturer of the disease. J'onn saw the evidence as circumstantial and asked that a proper investigation be carried out. The counsel appointed him a new role of manhunter and ordered him to discover the truth. When J'onn tracked Ma'alefa'ak down, he discovered that Ma'alefa'ak was intent on wiping out the Martian race and had taken refuge in a fortress of fire, making him unreachable.
J'onn fled home to try to save his family from the plague. Knowing that the plague was carried through telepathy, J'onn begged his wife, M'yri'ah, to shut her mind down and keep herself free from infection. However, when their daughter cried out to M'yri'ah, the mother opened her mind to her daughter and was infected, meaning that both mother and daughter swiftly died. Having lost his family, J'onn went to kill Ma'alefa'ak and during the ensuing battle, Ma'alefa'ak seemingly perished. J'onn began to wander from city to city, morphing into other Martians in an attempt to convince himself that he wasn't the sole survivor of his race.
On Earth, a scientist named Dr Saul James Erdel has been experimenting with machinery in order to seek out intelligent life across space and time and bringing it to his present. After years of research and dead ends he reached the point of no return and decided to switch on his machine. To his utter astonishment the machine worked, and he was greeted by J'onn carrying a dead alien girl. J'onn collapsed in front of him and didn't regain consciousness until Erdel had buried the girl. When J'onn did regain consciousness, his mind reached out and brushed Erdel's, sharing his history and loss with the scientist.
The alien Erdel buried was in fact part of J'onn's body, shape shifted to appear as if it was his daughter. After being nursed back to physical health, Erdel offered to return J'onn home, but the thought of being isolated from life again prompted J'onn to destroy Erdel's machinery. J'onn then shut his mind down in order to avoid any further emotional injury. Erdel used the telepathic bond to set up a new identity for J'onn whilst he was catatonic. This papered over the cracks in his memory and gave him the Martian Manhunter identity, which Erdel had taken from pulp novels. Unbeknownst to Erdel, J'onn was shaping his new identity sub-consciously, adding aspects of his old life to his new one, such as his role as manhunter, whilst leaving out the more hurtful memories.
J'onn's new personality and history was that of a military leader of a desert dwelling band of martians who were in the midst of a civil war against the pole dwelling tribe lead by General Blanx. (This idea was drawn from J'onn's own knowledge of the Pale Martians and their mythology.) J'onn believed that he had been defeated by foul means in single combat with Blanx and then exiled from Mars whilst Blanx destroyed the rest of the Martian population forcing J'onn to seek permanent exile on a new home of Earth. Erdel left J'onn with a grasp of the language and customs of human society and then faked his own death in order to force J'onn into building himself a new life, reliant on no one else. Erdel managed to successfully stage his death and was identified to be dead by the police.
One of the officers investigating Erdel's death was Detective John Jones who impressed J'onn with his integrity and J'onn chose to become invisible and shadow the dectective to learn more of Earth and its culture. A year later Jones was killed by a fellow officer who was on the take. J'onn decided that he had learnt enough in the year to take over John's life and try to bring the crime lord to justice. After doing so he chose to remain in his place of authority.
J'onn threw himself into the role of John Jones and became a fully fledged detective. However, subconsciously he was still aware of the plague and his loss which left him stern and unsmiling. J'onn retained this identity for about a decade and only used his true form to battle more dangerous adversaries. J'onn kept himself busy by watching television as an art form and an education tool. His telepathy would spoil stories that were told to him by others but television reintroduced to him the element of surprise. J'onn faked his own death, like Erdel before him, in order to protect his friends form his enemies. His partner had discovered his identity and J'onn wiped his partner's memories of the knowledge until years later when he returned to rekindle the friendship.
With his John Jones persona presumed dead, J'onn set up a new identity as the Bronze Wraith, a super hero. He used this identity to join a fledgling team named the Justice Experience. The Justice Experience operated along the East Coast, including Gotham City. The other members of the team were Acro-Bat, Major Flashback, Mister Action, Songbird and the Manx. The team had some success but the rookie experience of all on the team showed when they encountered a villain named Dr Trap. Trap's wife had been killed in a crossfire between the Justice Experience and their arch rivals, the House of Pain. Trap captured J'onn and wiped his memory, leaving him to wander the streets of America homeless for two years. When his memory returned he found that Trap had been brought to justice by the resurgent Justice Society of America and that his comrades in the Justice Experience, along with many other heroes had all been killed by Trap.
As a mark of respect and the grief he felt form his loss, J'onn retired the Bronze Wraith identity and vowed never to become a super hero again. He then created numerous other aliases. Usually J'onn shied away from attention, though his Marco Xavier personality allowed him to fight evil whilst staying away form the world at large. J'onn witnessed Superman's public debut and saw the start of a new heroic age. Filled with inner turmoil, J'onn decided that the time was right again for him to go public only this time he wouldn't hide behind an identity. Revealing himself to the world in an anthropomorphised version of his Martian form, J'onn became the Martian Manhunter. His first public appearance in costume saw him helping Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman and Black Canary fight off an alien invasion. Discovering that the five heroes had common aims and goals as well as all needing experience to hone their powers the group decided to form a new team, the Justice League of America. J'onn remained with the team through every incarnation, the only person to do so and became the back bone of the team. Around this time he resumed his John Jones identity only this time as a public detective.
The League went through many changes but J'onn remained with them. After the League's satellite was irreparably damaged, J'onn set up a new JLA based in Detroit. This team was much more like a family to him with him becoming particularly attached to the heroine, Gypsy, who became like a daughter to him. This League was disbanded by J'onn when Professor Ivo claimed the lives of two of its members, Steel and Vibe. When the U.N. sanctioned the Justice Leauge International, J'onn joined as its leader. Acting as a mentor again to a batch of younger heroes, J'onn took the role of leader with immense seriousness. In one of the JLI's first cases, J'onn battled a sentient virus. Having defeated it, the virus was held prisoner, via the magic of Dr Fate, in J'onn's alien cells. J'onn held this virus in him for months, unaware of the effect that it was having on him.
The strain of containing the virus was wearing away at the mental block that he had placed guarding his true origin. The erosion was boosted by the intercession of H'ronmeer. J'onn was terrified at seeing the Martian god of death and fled, finding himself in the home of Erdel who revealed the truth of J'onn's origin and his passage to Earth. Using Erdel's rebuilt machinery, J'onn journeyed back to Mars to confront H'ronmeer. In a confrontation that was never evenly matched, J'onn learnt that H'ronmeer wasn't the dark manifestation of death that humans imagine but instead a protector of the dead who needed J'onn to remove his mental block, thus allowing the Martian dead to rest in peace without J'onn's subconscious holding them back.
J'onn returned from Mars a changed person. He had a new found inner peace and knew who he was and where he was from. Following the JLI's dissolution, J'onn took the chance to leave the planet and meditate on his future. Upon his return to Earth, he encountered the magician Bloodwynd, who was struggling with his Blood Gem. J'onn tried to help but was accidentally possessed by the magician and his psyche was trapped within the Gem.
J'onn rejoined the JLI under the guise of Bloodwynd, unable to return to his normal form. J'onn was helped by the suspicions of the Blue Beetle who finally deduced his identity against Doomsday. With the help of the Atom, Bloodwynd and J'onn were freed from their mutual prison. Shortly after this J'onn was commissioned by the U.N. to head up a Justice League Task Force.
Initially the Task Force was intended to have a revolving membership of the League's main roster with each team handpicked for the designated mission by J'onn. During his time with the Task Force, J'onn was again reunited with Gypsy. Later, the Task Force became the youth training arm of the League and J'onn adopted a much sterner facade to deal with the charges under him.
Eventually the U.N. deemed the League unnecessary and withdrew their funding. Crippled by this decision, the League disbanded and J'onn was inactive from the global scene for a period of time, instead choosing to return to his civilian life. However, when the Justice League was reformed, J'onn was one of the first recruited.
J'onn's first mission with the new Justice League involved a team who claimed to be from another world and called themselves the Hyperclan. In reality this was a group of Pale Martians who were intending on invading Earth after gaining the trust and respect of the world's governments. J'onn discovered the group's intentions and let them think he betrayed the JLA by joining them. In reality he was attacking from within. The Pale Martian agents on Earth were mind wiped by J'onn and given new identities. Further battles with the JLA against Heaven's legions and during the Obsidian Age caused J'onn to become even more distant from his peers.
For a time the villain Dr Destiny and the entity Know Man, tried to blanket the Earth in a dream reality. J'onn found himself in an artificial recreation of Mars with his wife and daughter. J'onn believed this reality to be true and even when his team mates tried to rescue him, he signalled that he intended to remain in this paradise. However, this recreation was destroyed by Know Man's agents. The strain of losing his family all over again took a large toll on J'onn and caused him to alienate himself from those who had been his friends. It also undermined the peace of mind he had previously obtained.
J'onn grew growingly impatient with his main weakness, fire. Enlisting the help of the former fire wielding villain, Scorch, J'onn tried to overcome this fear. Eventually he became romantically involved with Scorch and appeared to have his fear under control. However, his attempts to overcome this fear led to him being linked to Fernus, a Burning Martian that travelled to Earth over 20,000 years ago on board a spaceship with a Guardian of the Universe. Thanks to John Stewart's investigations it transpired that originally the Martians had all been like Fernus, neither Green or Pale but Burning. The Guardians saw the Burning Martians as a barbaric race and an immense threat and so genetically altered them to have a psychological weakness to fire. When J'onn overcame this weakness he became Fernus, his true potential.
Manitou Raven, Major Disaster and the Atom were dispatched to find J'onn's soul and, on a supernatural journey, they found it bound, chained and intertwined with the soul of Fernus. Requesting J'onn to fight for his soul, the trio were pushed back by Fernus. Eventually J'onn, aided by Scorch, managed to remove Fernus' influence, though in the fight Scorch was badly injured and J'onn saw her die in his arms.
J'onn's Martian physiology grants him many powers. Superman has claimed that he is the most powerful being on Earth. J'onn has immense strength, invulnerability and the ability of flight. He is also an extremely high level telepath, capable of scanning every mind on Earth and altering their memories with little strain. This telepathy makes him vital to the JLA as he acts as their in field communications. J'onn can also become invisible and alter his shape and colour. His shape shifting seems to know few bounds. Colour, shape and size all seem to put no limitations on this ability. J'onn also possesses Martian Vision which is a concussive blast that he can fire from his eyes. J'onn can survive within the vacuum of space unaided. His physiology makes him near immortal. He is currently centuries old and is known to be alive in the 30th century, where he is in contact with the Legion of Super Heroes. J'onn no longer has the psychological weakness to flames that is characteristic of Martians. Instead he has a weakness to flame that has emotional intent behind it. J'onn's other main weakness is Oreo cookies. He has told a story of how he was once addicted to them due to his alien DNA. Whether this was hyperbole is unclear but J'onn is still partial to an Oreo and a glass of milk.
APPEARANCES:
Action Comics #365-366, 595, 690, 692, 753-754, 757, 791
Adventure Comics #449-451
Adventures of Superman #497-498, 522, 551, 565-567, 570, 605
Animal Man #9
Armageddon 2001 #2
Aquaman (1st series) #18, 30
Aquaman (5th series) #16-17, 28, 50, 54, 65-69
Aquaman (6th series) #1-2
Aztek: The Ultimate Man #10
Bloodbath #1-2
Blue Beetle (2nd series) #20
Booster Gold #22, 25
Brave and the Bold #28-30, 50, 56
Captain Atom #24-25
Chase #1-2
Cosmic Odyssey #1-4
Crisis on Infinite Earths #5-9, 12
Damage #7, 15
Darkstars #30
Day of Judgement #1
DC Bonus Book #7
DC Comics Presents #27
DC One Million #1-4
DCU Heroes: Secret Files and Origins #1
Detective Comics #225-271, 274-326, 557, 714-715
Doctor Fate (1st series) #3
Eclipso #16-18
Eclipso: The Darkness Within #2
Final Night #1-3
Flash (1st series) #175
Flash (2nd series) #8, 92, 128-129, 136-137
Formerly Known as the Justice League #5-6
Genesis #1-4
Green Lantern (2nd series) #29
Green Lantern (3rd series) #4, 9, 18, 63-64, 69, 81, 87, 96, 103, 149, 1,000,000
Green Lantern Corps #220
Guy Gardner: Warrior #33
Haven: The Broken City #5
Hawkman (3rd series) #22, 31-33
House of Mystery #143-173
Infinity Inc #19
Invasion! #1-3
JLA #1-7, 10-12, 14-23, 26-27, 32, 35, 37-41, 43-64, 66-68, 70, 72, 74-76, 84-current, 1,000,000
JLA Annual #1, 3
JLA: Incarnations #1-7
JLA: Paradise Lost #1-3
JLA: Secret Files and Origins #1-2
JLA/Titans #1-3
JLA: World Without Grown-Ups #1-2
Justice League #1-6
Justice League: A Midsummer's Nightmare #1-3
Justice League America #26-29, 31-32, 34-44, 51-71, 73-77, 89, 91, 101-102, 112
Justice League Annual #1
Justice League Europe #5, 7-8, 13, 27-35, 49-50
Justice League Europe Annual #2
Justice League International (1st series) #7-25
Justice League International (2nd series) #65-66, 68
Justice League International Annual (1st series) #2
Justice League of America #1-24, 26-27,31, 33, 36, 38, 40-41, 44, 50, 52, 54, 59-61, 71, 100, 115, 144, 177-178, 187, 200, 228-230, 232-261
Justice League of America Annual #2-3, 6, 9
Justice League Quarterly #3, 5-6, 9
Justice League Task Force #0-37
Justice League Special #1
Legends #1-2, 6
Martian Manhunter (1st series) #1-4
Martian Manhunter (2nd series) #0-5, 7-36, 1,000,000
Martian Manhunter Annual #1-2
Martian Manhunter: American Secrets #1-3
Martian Manhunter Special #1
Millennium #1, 3-5
Mister Miracle (2nd series) #10, 14, 16-17, 27
Mystery in Space #75
Mystery in Space (2nd series) #1
Power of Shazam! #45
Ray (2nd series) #0
Resurrection Man #2
Sandman #5, 72
Secret Origins (2nd series) #23
Showcase '93 #10
Showcase '95 #9
Showcase '96 #9
Silver Age #1
Silver Age 80 page Giant #1
Silver Age: Dial H For Hero #1
Silver Age: Green Lantern #1
Silver Age: Secret Files #1
Suicide Squad (1st series) #13
Superboy and the Ravers #14
Supergirl (4th series) #65
Supergirl (5th series) # 4-5
Superman (1st series) #199, 253
Superman (2nd series) #74-75, 128, 143, 147, 179, 181, 183
Superman: The Man of Steel #88, 92, 125
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #13
The Fury of Firestorm, Nuclear Man (2nd series) #63-64, 67-68
The Fury of Firestorm, Nuclear Man Annual #5
Total Justice #1-3
Time Masters #1
Underworld Unleashed #1-3
War of the Gods #2, 4
Weird #1-4
Wonder Woman (2nd series) #125-126, 140-141, 177
World's Finest Comics #212, 245
Young Justice #5-6
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! #1-3