Martian Manhunter
J'onn J'onnz

Powers

Talents

Detective, Law Enforcement, Leadership, Wrestling, Resist Domination, Philosophy

Contacts

Justice League

History

Ma'aleca'andra, the fourth planet of the Terran system is known by the Humans of Earth as Mars after one of their ancient war gods. To their science it is barren and devoid of life. An endless wasteland of red rocks beneath a pale sky that is wrapped in a tenuous atmosphere, a remote forbidden place. It was not always so!

The race that others would know as the Martians rose eons ago evolving from glorious winged creatures that flew free in the skies of Mars, while life on Earth was still in its infancy, they survived the wars and other threats that seek to destroy civilizations and rose to be a complex and very open society. This was based on the very physical nature of the Martians, they displayed physical powers that placed them on a par with Kryptonians and Daximates but they also were in complete command of their bodies that allowed them to shift form and function with a very thought.

Battle for those ancient Martians was not like the brutal and brawling battle of other races but was more of the dance of Martial Arts where the Martians would shift from one "battle" form to another with standard forms with such names as the Flesh Vortex and the Storm of Hammers. As is the way for many civilizations a split formed within Martian society between the more philosophical Green Martians and the militaristic Pale Martians. In retrospective any differences between one Martian and another are purely philosophical such distinctions as race and gender have little true meaning for a race that can shape shift between male and female or pale and green, only the underlying psychological aspects truly remain.

Matters between the two factions came to a head when the Pale Martians while using Earth as a source of materials upset the natural evolution of the Human race towards being a seeming race of superbeing to rival the Martians the themselves. The effect was that only a fraction of humanity would ascend to the position of a superbeing. For this crime of destroying the evolutionary possibility of another race, the Pale Martians were sentenced to eternity in the Still Zone. The Still Zone, the Phantom Zone call it what you will, is a dimension that exists apart from our normal space time continuum that has been used in ancient days by long forgotten titanic races as a prison for things best forgotten - it was in this endless eternity that the Pale Martians were imprisoned until the day when they would one day escape as the Hyperclan.

The remaining Martians consolidated their civilization into a utopian existence that lasted millennia. They were philosophers, artisans, performers and listeners. The gift of telepathy opened up their society so there were no secrets, on very level, every aspect took on a spiritual aspect and the worship of their gods played an integral part of their lives. Chief amongst their pantheon was H'ronmeer god of death and C'eridyall goddess of life, while behind all was the Unnameable One. They were a people at peace with each other, their gods and their environment. A peace that tragically would be shattered by a Ma'alefa'ak, a rogue Martian.

Ma'alefa'ak, J'onn's twin brother and shadow self, had committed the crime of mind rape and as punishment he was stripped of his memory, his telepathic abilities were shut down and a new identity and history was created for him. He was then sent off to begin his new life as priest/scientist of the central power cathedral on Mars. However, although his memory had been wiped out his hatred for the rest of the Martian race had not and slowly his memory came back and he plotted his revenge. Telepathically drawn to the uncontrolled image of chaos Martians had a weakness to fire that was both physical and phychological as their thoughts would be consumed by the fire causing all physical functions to shut down. Knowing this and that he was the only Martian not possessing telepathic abilities Ma'alefa'ak created a plague, known as H'ronmeer's Curse, that would not only make set the Martians' minds on fire but their bodies as well.

During the early days of the Great Plague the few Martians that were still unaffected gathered to determine what or who had caused tha plague as they had faound that it was artificially created and not a natural phenomenon. Believing it to be the work of Ma'alefa'ak, the only Martian whose mind was not open to the rest, they decided that he should be put to death. J'onn who believed the evidence against Ma'alefa'ak to be cicumstantial at best challenged the decision and was vharged with learning the truth in his role as manhunter. J'onn then sought out Ma'alefa'ak at the central power cathedral on Mars only to learn that the others were right and that he was indeed determined to wipe out the entire Martian race.

When Ma'alefa'ak took refuge in a fortress of fire J'onn returned home to be with his family and try to prevent them from being claimed by the plague as well. Knowing that the curse spread from mind to mind he tried to convince M'yri'ah to shield her thoughts but when their daughter who was already affected by the curse called for her mother, M'yri'ah opened her mind to her daughter and was herself affected by the curse and they both died. Having witnessed the death of his wife and daughter J'onn returned to the cathedral to kill Ma'alefa'ak even if it would result in his own death as well. Ma'alefa'ak seemingly died in the insuing battle and J'onn began wandering the cities of Mars sometimes morphing himself into his fellow Martians to convince himself they were still alive.

On Earth, separated from the Martian race by both time and distance the self taught scientist and dreamer Doctor Saul James Erdel sought to create a machine that would reach across space and the dimensions to seek other intelligent life. He had more failures than success, but at some point in the 1950's he reached the point of no return and initiated the machine. Much to his surprise the machine finally worked, transporting alien life to him in the form of a male alien apparently carrying the body of little alien girl. The alien collapsed, and regained his consciousness after Erdel had buried the girl. In an instant the minds of Erdel and that terrified alien brushed against each other telepathically and all was laid before the stunned scientist.

The alien Erdel found was actually J'onn J'onzz and the girl was actually a part of J'onn's body given the form of his daughter. After J'onzz was nursed back to physical health, Erdel offered to send him home but the Martian still broken inside by the memories of the plague and the death of his wife and daughter destroyed the equipment rather than be sent back. Afterwards J'onzz mind just shut down to protect him from any further emotional injury. In this catatonic state Erdel used the telepathic bond between the two to craft a new identity for J'onn, to paper over the cracks in his shattered mind and to craft the personality of the Martian Manhunter based on stuff he borrowed from old pulps. Although Erdel believed himself to have fabricated J'onn's new identity entirely from scratch, it was actually more of a combined effort as J'onn subconciously inserted various bits and pieces from his actual life on Mars, such as his beetle-browned humanoid form as well as his profession as manhunter, while other bits were left out as J'onn subconciously wanted to leave behind the hurt of his past.

J'onn now believed himself to by J'onn J'onzz military leader of the desert dwelling Martians in a civil war against the pole dwellers lead by General Blanx (imagery drawn from the ancient myths of the Pale Martians). Defeated underhandedly in single combat by Blanx John was exiled from Mars, while in the intervening period Blanx destroyed the rest of the Martian race forcing J'onn to permanently adopt Earth as his new home. After leaving J'onn with a function grasp of language and custom Erdel staged his own death to force J'onn to build a new life for himself out in the wide human world. The exact circumstances of Erdel's "death" have not yet been revealed, but it is known that Erdel blew up his lab and that a body was found and identified as Erdel soon afterwards.

One of the officers to investigate the explosion and death of Dr. Erdel was police detective John Jones, who impressed J'onn so much that he decided to stick close to him in his invisible form in order to learn more of Earth and the humans. About a year later John was killed by a fellow officer who had been bought off by a crimelord that John was about to testify against. Having learned everything about John during that year J'onn decided to take his place in order to bring the crimelord to justice. Seeing the good he could do in his role as John Jones, J'onn decided to keep the identity for himself after that.

As John Jones, J'onn became a one person crime fighting force as the fully fledged detective right down to the fashionable suits. The subconscious memories of the plague still lingered leaving him stern and unsmiling. For almost a decade J'onn maintained the identity of the detective only rarely using the form that be believed to be his true face to battle more powerful evils. When he was not working as John Jones kept much to himself watching hours of television an artform that facinated him a lot. As a Martian he was used to be able to use his telepathy to peer into the mind of the story teller and experience the story first hand, but with the television he encountered a medium that brought back the element of surprise. As Erdel before him J'onn staged his own death from the police force in 1968 to protect his friends from the enemies of the Martian Manhunter after his police partner learnt the truth about him (J'onn also wiped the memory from the mans mind but would years later lift the wipe to renew the friendship).

Following the death of his John Jones identity J'onn created the identity of the Bronze Wrath and became a member of the Justice Experience. J'onn's involvement with the team came to a quick stop in the early 1970's when Doctor Trapps, the untimate foe of the Justice Experience, captured the Bronze Wrath as part of his vendetta against the community of superheroes and villains, whom he believed responsible for the death of his wife. J'onn's encounter with Trapps left him without any memory of who or what he was for a two-year period. During this time he wandered the streets of America as a homeless. When his memory returned he found that all his teammates in the Justice Experience had been murdered by Doctor Trapps and as the Bronze Wrath, J'onn then assisted the JSA in bringing Trapps to justice.

The grief over the death of his newfound friends made him vow never to openly play the hero part again and he abandoned his Bronze Wrath identity. The following years he created a number of other identities for himself throughout the world. For a time he took the identity of Marco Xavier and battled more powerful menaces, yet still he kept himself hidden from the world at large. When Superman made his public debut and started a new heroic age J'onn thought it might be time to once again go public, this time revealing himself to the world at large in his Martian form as the Martian Manhunter. On his first public appearance as the Martian Manhunter he helped out Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, and Black Canary in fighting off an alien invasion. Afterwards the five heroes decided to stay together as the Justice League of America. Over the years J'onn became one of the longest serving members and the practical back bone of the group. Years later he would return to the identity of John Jones when he became a private detective.

From the Justice League of America to the Justice League International, J'onn remained with the League, to him it became perhaps the only family he had and he became very protective of team mate Gypsy treating her like a daughter. In one of the first cases of the JLI J'onn battled a sentient virus and via the magic of Dr Fate is was held prisoner in J'onn's alien cells. For months he held it save inside himself unaware of the effect that he was having on him.

The strain of containing the virus started wearing away at the mental block about his true path, this was boosted by the intercession of H'ronmeer the Martian god of fire. The terrified J'onn ran from the fire god straight into the home of Erdel who revealed the truth of J'onn's passage to Earth. Then using his rebuilt machinery he sent J'onn back to Mars to fully confront H'ronmeer. In a game of cat and mouse J'onn came to understand that H'ronmeer was not the dark god of death that humans might imagine but rather was the protector of the dead who had sought J'onn out to remove the mental block and allow the dead of Mars to rest in peace without J'onn's subconscious mind hanging desperately onto them.

When he returned from Mars J'onn had changed, there was an inner peace to him, he truly knew who he was and where he was from. When the JLI dissolved during its period of Breakdowns, J'onn resigned and took the chance to leave planet and meditate on his future. When he returned J'onn encountered the magician Bloodwynd who was having trouble with his Bloodgem when J'onn tried to help him he found himself mentally dominated by the Gem as Bloodwynd was sucked inside.

Under the control of the Gem, J'onn masqueraded as Bloodwynd for months even to the point of joining the League as Bloodwynd it was only the suspicions of the Blue Beetle and the help of the Atom and Ray that eventually freed Bloodwynd and J'onn from the mutual trap. Shortly afterwards J'onn was recruited by the UN to head up the Justice League Task Force.

The Task Force was initially conceived as a group of superheroes from the Leagues roster's hand picked for each mission on a rotating basis. J'onn was reunited with Gypsy during this time and later when the Task Force became the youth training arm of the League he adopted a sterner facade in order to better deal with the rebellious charges under him.

When the villain Dr Destiny and the entity Know Man tried to blanket the Earth in a form of dream reality J'onn found himself in an artificial recreation of Mars with his wife and daughter. Yet to him it was as real as the original when his friends tried to persuade them otherwise he signalled his intentions to remain in the dream paradise until it was destroyed by a gang of Know Man's agents. The strain of loosing his family (even and illusionary family) a second time took a large toll on the Martian Manhunter alienating from those that had been his friends and slightly undermining the peace that he had previously obtained.

Later when a group of White Martians initiated an invasion of Earth by disguising themselves as an other-worldly group known as the Hyperclan and gaining respect around the world before initiating the actual attack, J'onn let them think that he betrayed the JLA and then he attacking the group from within. This incident combined with the battle with the forces of Heaven took a strong toll on J'onn who found himself under more pressure than ever from the world and his team-mates, and his reaction to this was to pull back slightly, making him seem more alien than ever to those that do not truly know him.

J'onzz evil brother M'alefic recently appeared having had his mental powers supressed and he was invulnerable to fire. J'onn reactivated M'alefic's mental powers enabling the Martian vulnerability to flame. M'alefic died from exposure to fire.

It is assumed that all Martians are subject to this vulnerability since Batman (using fire) defeated the Hyperclan (a group of white Martians). Recently the white Martians had taken J'onn hostage and are beginning to dissect him for their evil experiments being psionically paralyzed by mental spikes.

He was able to escape the onslaught of the white martians with the help of the rest of the J.L.A but the J.L.A was recaptured and they were put into the Phantom Zone (known as the still zone to the martians). J.L.A reservist the Atom was their ace in the hole and got them out of phantom zone. Stage two of their plan again included the Atom where he hid within the brain of the leader of the white martian and slowly influenced him to gather all the martian to finally destroy the J.L.A. The plot worked and the martian manhunter was able to project the entire horde of the white martians into the phantom zone.

Update from: Silversnake