7 Facts About Martian Manhunter, The Mysterious DC Superhero
More than three years of DC fans waiting, Justice League Snyder Cut or which has the official name Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) was finally released on March 18, 2021. With a duration of four hours, Snyder Cut displays a viewing experience that is different from the Justice League (2017) version. cinema. In fact, you also find many characters that don't appear in the cinema version.
One of the new characters that doesn't appear in the cinema version of Justice League is Martian Manhunter. Even though it was very short, Manhunter's appearance certainly managed to shock the fans. After all this time, fans can finally see the superhero debut in a live action film . On the other hand, those of you who are not DC fans may be left wondering about the character.
After seeing Martian Manhunter's appearance at Snyder Cut, let's see the following facts!
1. Real name J'onn J'onzz, Manhunter first appeared in the comic Detective Comics # 225 which was released in November 1955
The character created by Joseph Samachson and Joe Certa is told as a green-skinned alien from the planet Mars. In his first appearance in the comic Detective Comics # 225 , J'onn J'onzz was able to arrive on Earth because he was pulled by the teleportation beam from the machine Dr. Saul Erdel.
To send J'onn J'onzz back to Mars, Erdel must change the computer brain from the device that brought the alien to Earth. But in the middle of the process of changing the computer brain, Erdel was killed and made J'onn J'onzz trapped on Earth. As a result, the aliens decided to disguise themselves as humans and used the name John Jones as their disguise.
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In his disguise, John helps fight crime by working as a detective in the city of Middletown.
2. Debuted before the first appearance of Justice League in comics, Manhunter turned out to be one of the founders of the superhero team
While hiding with his human identity, Manhunter finally reveals his true form to the world. Then in the comic Justice League of America # 9 which was released in February 1962, it was revealed the origins of the formation of the Justice League. This superhero team was formed due to an alien attack by the Appellaxians on Earth.
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The warriors of the Appellaxians who wanted to rule their planet were then sent to Earth to fight for the throne. The alien attack certainly attracted the attention of superheroes, including Aquaman, Batman, Barry Allen's version of Flash, Hal Jordan's Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Superman, and Wonder Woman.
The seven superheroes then work together to defeat the Appellaxians and the Justice League is formed. If you look at the history in the comics, it's no wonder that Manhunter was featured in Snyder Cut or the first Justice League film .
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3. Apart from the ability to change shape, Manhunter also has extraordinary physical strength.
As previously explained, J'onn J'onzz disguised himself as a human named John Jones at the beginning of his arrival on Earth. Then at Snyder Cut, you can see the alien disguised as Superman's mother , Martha Kent. Through these two facts, it is evident that Manhunter does have skills in changing shapes.
Apart from changing form, Manhunter is also endowed with extraordinary physical strength. He is able to lift objects much heavier than him, very strong endurance, fly, telepathy, telekinesis, and can emit heat rays from his eyes. Then thanks to the ability to change his shape, Manhunter can be invisible and regenerate. His ability is practically close to Superman.
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4. Apart from physical strength, Manhunter is also endowed with telepathic abilities that are no joke!
As if his ability to change shape and physical strength were n't enough, Martian also earned the nickname as one of the strongest telepathic users in the DC universe. So strong, Manhunter can even control and influence Specter and Doctor Fate. His telepathic abilities also allow Manhunter to read minds. This ability has even been mentioned by Manhunter himself in his comic debut.
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His telepathic abilities don't stop there. Manhunters are able to create illusions that look realistic, track people telepathically, close other people's thoughts, shield thoughts to themselves and others, control thoughts, and much more. Interestingly, Manhunter once made the Joker temporarily sane with his abilities.
5. Behind his extraordinary strength, Manhunter turns out to have one weakness, namely fire.
It's no secret that Superman is weak when there is Kryptonite around him. Like Superman, Manhunter actually has his own version of Kryptonite, you know. Despite having extraordinary physical and mental strength, Manhunter is apparently weak with fire, and can even be said to have a phobia. His vulnerability to fire will increase when Manhunter is in his original form.
In the New 52 comic arc , Manhunter can have a weakness against fire because he is traumatized by witnessing the death of his race being burned alive. When faced with fire, Manhunter's mind is able to become so chaotic that he is unable to control his abilities and maintain his own physical form.
6. Prior to appearing on Snyder Cut, Manhunter has appeared in several DC live action series titles .
Snyder Cut is indeed the debut film for Manhunter. However, this was not Manhunter's first appearance in live action . Manhunter first debuted live action through the pilot series Justice League of America which aired in 1997 and was played by David Ogden Stiers. Unfortunately, the pilot of this series ended in failure and development of the Justice League of America was canceled.
Manhunter then appeared again in the Smallville series and was played by Phil Morris. In this series, Manhunter is told as an old friend of Superman's real father, Jor-El, who comes to Earth to monitor Superman. Interestingly, Manhunter once sacrificed his strength in Smallville season eight to save Clark Kent.
Then, Manhunter returned to appear in various Arrowverse series and was played by David Harewood. Manhunter debuted on Arrowverse through the Supergirl series . After that, he also appeared in other Arrowverse series, namely The Flash in the episode "Duet" and the crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths .
7. Manhunters have appeared in two DCEU films before Snyder Cut, namely Man of Steel (2013) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).
Did you know that Manhunters have been in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) since Man of Steel ? For those of you who have watched Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice , you may be familiar with a character named Calvin Swanwick. Through Snyder Cut, it was finally revealed that the character played by Harry Lennix was a Manhunter in disguise.
Interestingly, Lennix admitted that he didn't know that his character was a Manhunter disguise during the shooting of Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice . He only found out that his character was Manhunter when director Zack Snyder was working on Justice League . Unfortunately, Lennix didn't have time to follow the shooting process that Snyder had in 2016 because there were other shooting schedules.
Instead, Lennix participated in the additional shooting process for Snyder Cut which was held in October 2020. Finally, you can still see the appearance of Manhunter on Snyder Cut.