- I was a stranger from a land lost to war. And your parents, Thomas and Martha, they took me in. Made me a member of their court. I would have done anything to protect them...
- — J'onn J'onzz src
J'onn J'onzz, also known as Alfred, was the last Green Martian. After the extinction of his race he escaped to Earth where he became Master-at-arms for the Castle of El as well as a mentor to Bat-Prince.
History
Origins
Mars was once a verdant paradise where the Green and White Martians lived in, if not harmony, then at least peaceful coexistence. Until one day a White named Protex arose preaching a doctrine of racial supremacy, claiming that the Whites were superior and should rule over the Greens. His message spread quickly through his people via telepathy and they attempted to enslave the Greens, believing that their peaceful cousins would be easy to dominate. However, the Greens fought back, starting a bloody civil war. The Greens could not match the Whites as warriors, but their greater scientific acumen allowed them to create weapons of mass destruction. Between them they destroyed Mars, leaving it as nothing but a blasted red desert and with only dozens of each side left alive.
J'onn and his son J'ordan retreated to an underground shelter with the few remaining members of their race. Although there was nothing left worth fighting for, Protex refused to give up, and he and his remaining followers tracked the last surviving Green Martians to their refuge. The Whites entered the shelter disguised as a group of Green refugees, including J'onn's beloved wife M'yri'ah, who had been killed in the fighting. J'ordan ran to his "mother" before J'onn could stop him, and "M'yri'ah" revealed herself to be Protex. Protex blasted J'ordan in the neck with his heat vision, leaving him mortally wounded. J'onn pulled J'ordan into an alcove and hid with him as the Whites slaughtered the remaining Greens. J'ordan begged his father to stop the pain, but J'onn was powerless to help him, and J'ordan died in his arms.
Becoming Alfred
J'onn managed to survive the massacre by hiding from the Whites, and when they departed he buried his son and escaped to Earth, where he found his way to the Kingdom of the Waynes. The Waynes offered him a place in their home, but asked him to conceal his true nature from everyone else, concerned he would be mistaken for the "Green Man" who was prophesied to bring doom to the land. J'onn assumed human form and posed as a knight from a fallen kingdom named Alfred, becoming the Wayne's Master-at-arms. He was completely loyal to King Thomas and Queen Martha, and would have died to protect them. As Alfred, J'onn created a new life for himself on Earth, but unbeknownst to him the Whites had followed him to his new home.[1][2]
J'onn witnessed the El's ship crash to Earth, but did not realise what it was at the time. One day, Jor-El and Lara came to the court to warn them that the nearby volcano known as Mount Kristoff was about to erupt, revealing that they had warned the royal advisor Luthor and he had ignored them. The El's saved the kingdom and became close advisors and friends to the Waynes and J'onn, while Luthor was banished.
Mentor to Bat-Prince
Jor-El and Martha succumbed to weakness and spent a single night together, a mistake they immediately regretted and confessed. This almost broke up both marriages, but when Jor-El and Martha's son Bruce was born, he healed all wounds. Thomas could not sire children but loved Bruce as if he were his own son, and the Waynes and Els only became closer, raising Bruce and the El's children Kal-El and Zala together. Bruce was acknowledged as Martha's bastard son but the fact that Jor-El was his father was kept a secret. Only the parents and J'onn knew the truth.
Years later, as the Els and Waynes were journeying to Amazonia their caravan was attacked by Luthor, who had found a magic ring in his exile and become the Green Man who the prophecy spoke of. Luthor attacked the Wayne's carriage with a blast of energy from his ring. Thomas was killed instantly and Martha was fatally wounded, but Bruce survived thanks to his star-born blood. Jor-El chased after the Green Man and Lara and J'onn found Martha dying. Martha told Lara that she and Jor-El and Lara must rule the kingdom until Bruce was ready to take the throne and the people were ready to accept him as king. With her final breath she asked them to look after Bruce.[3]
Honoring her wishes, Jor-El and Lara became the rulers of the land, although they believed Bruce should take the crown. J'onn became a mentor to Bruce and eventually came to love the young prince as a son, although he never told him so.[2] When Bruce grew into a man J'onn aided him and his Robins in the search for Magic users within the kingdom.[4] Nineteen years after the Els arrived on Earth, Jor-El was assassinated by an archer working for the rival Kingdom of Storms. Bruce and J'onn chased the assassin down in the forest and captured him. The El's military commander General Waller insisted that they retaliate against the Kingdom of Storms immediately but J'onn advised Lara not to rush into war in grief and anger and she agreed, unwilling to cause the deaths of thousands more.[5]
The next day Master Olsen, the El's astronomer, saw a star fall to Earth and land in the neighboring Lands of Magnus. Bruce and J'onn rode out to investigate, and along the way found a field of ash, littered with the dismembered corpses of the Metal Men. They discovered a small green crystal at the centre of the crater, which poisoned Bruce but left J'onn unaffected. Bruce had recently learned the truth about his father, and told J'onn that he believed the crystal had affected him because he was half-Kryptonian.[6]
J'onn revealed that he already knew that Jor-El was Bruce's father and told him the full story about the Waynes and the Els. He told Bruce to stop feeling unworthy of being Thomas and Martha's son, and that they needed to avert the war between the Els and the Kingdom of Storms. J'onn acknowledged Bruce as his king and they rode back to the castle.[3]
When they returned home, Bruce went to meet privately with Kal-El, taking the crystal encased in a sheet of lead with him.[7] However, Bruce mysteriously disappeared and Kal-El denied seeing him, so the Robins ranged out to look for him.[8] Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Storms and Amazonia declared war on the Lands of El in retaliation for King Jefferson and Prince Jacob of the Kingdom of Storms seemingly being murdered by Zala. When the enemy armies reached the Castle of El, Queen Hippolyta asked Lara and Zala to surrender peacefully to avoid bloodshed, but to everyone's shock, she murdered Hippolyta in front of everyone.[9]
Revealing the Truth
Lara flew away before the Amazons could retaliate, but suddenly Kal-El fell out of the sky and the Amazon army attacked him. J'onn and the rest of the El's army rode out to defend him, and the two sides fought a brutal pitched battle. In the middle of the confusion, Lara was tackled out of the sky by what appeared to be her exact doppleganger. J'onn realised that the "Lara" who had murdered Hippolyta was a White Martian and called for somebody to attack her with fire. The White Martian was shot with a flaming crossbow bolt and reverted to its true form. It fled the battlefield despite Kal-El and Zala's attempts to capture it.
Realising that his enemies had followed him to Earth, he revealed his true form to the humans, apologising for not warning them of the danger the Whites posed.[1] Hippolyta's daughter Diana turned on him, blaming him for the battle and her mother's death, but Bruce defended him. Kal-El gave Diana a magic rope which compelled those it is bound with to speak the truth, and she used it to interrogate him. He assured her that he meant the people of Earth no harm.
Lara invited Diana and Queen Anissa of the Kingdom of Storms to a conference to discuss the White Martian threat. They question J'onn, still bound with the rope, and he told them his story. He warned them that there were very few Whites remaining, but as long as Protex led them they would stop at nothing to take Earth for themselves. The queens realised that everything had been a plot by the Whites to get the potential threats of the Amazons, Kryptonians and Pierces to destroy each other and leave the way open to conquer Earth. They decided to join forces to oppose the invaders.[2]
The queens still did not fully trust J'onn and so he was imprisoned in a tower of the Castle of El, still bound in the rope which rendered him powerless. Protex came to the castle and phased into his cell, planning to kill him before he could tell the humans how to defeat the Whites. However, J'onn was able to telepathically call Kal-El for help and he and Bruce burst into the cell. They set Protex alight with their heat vision, forcing him to flee.
At J'onn's instruction, the queens set up multiple fire-based protections to keep the Whites at bay. J'onn told them that the cowardly Whites would not dare to face such formidable defences, but that they could not keep the fires burning forever and would eventually have to stand and fight. Bruce appealed to the queens and they gave him permission to free Alfred, as they now trusted him. Alfred apologised to Bruce for deceiving him and Bruce asked him to read his mind. J'onn refused, not wanting to see how much Bruce hated him, but Bruce insisted and he saw that, while Brucee was hurt by the lies, he still loved him. Bruce told Alfred he understood that he felt like he needed to hide as Bruce would have seen him as a monster and apologised for making him feel that way. He said that he had learned the error of his ways and would no longer judge people for their appearance or unusual abilities.[10]
Scorched Earth
The three advisors to the kingdom devised a plan to defeat the Whites by triggering Mount Kristoff to erupt again, raining flaming ash down on them. The queens approved the plan and, when the Whites attacked just before dawn the next day, Bruce rode out with his siblings and Diana to drawn them to the mountain. Just before Bruce left he asked J'onn, who could not go with them because the fire would harm him too, what he should call him. J'onn replied that he wanted to continue being Alfred, as long Bruce did not feel like it was deceptive, and Bruce told Alfred he should be who he wanted to be and Alfred resumed his human form. Bruce and the others left, and he promised Alfred that he would avenge Mars and Alfred's family.
The plan was a success; the Whites were defeated and banished to the Phantom Zone. As Alfred was waiting at the gates for Bruce to return, General Waller and her underling Deadshot entered the castle. Although Waller's mind was magically shielded against his telepathy, Alfred was able to read Deadshot's thoughts and knew that they had been in league with the Whites and attempted to destroy the El's. He tried to take Waller to the dungeons but as soon as he touched her he triggered a protection spell and burst into flames. He telepathically called Bruce for help and, sensing his pain and anguish, Bruce flew for the first time, flying as fast as he could to the castle. Unfortunately, he was too late to save Alfred, who burned to ash as soon as Bruce arrived, before he could warn him of Waller's treachery.[11]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Martian Physiology: Alfred possesses the same potential powers as an average Martian. These include:
- Shape-Shifting: Martians have psionic control of their physical for down to the molecular level. This allows them to a form of shape-shifting that allows them to mimic other forms, elongate aspects of their body, increase or decrease their physical size, and so on.
- Size Alteration: As an extension of their shape-shifting abilities, Martians can easily alter their size, shrinking or growing to gigantic size.[12]
- Invisibility: Martians can cause the biopolymers in their bodies to lose their ability to reflect light, making the Martians invisible to normal light and human sight.[13]
- Phasing: Martians can go through solid matter.
- Superhuman Strength:[13] Martians possess vast levels of superhuman strength and are among the few races that are able to match Kryptonians in terms of raw strength. Martians can easily shatter reinforced concrete and steel, lift and carry hundreds of tons with ease and deliver incredible damage with their blows.[14]
- Superhuman Stamina
- Superhuman Durability: Martians possess high levels of durability that make them nigh-invulnerable to all forms of damage. Martians can withstand high-caliber bullets, powerful energy blasts, and kinetic impacts without suffering damage.[15]
- Superhuman Speed: Martians can process thoughts, move, and react at incredible speed, being able to cover vast distances in little or no time, catch bullets in mid-flight, run on water and create afterimages as they run.[16]
- Regeneration: Martians have powerful regenerative powers that enable them to regenerate their entire body from a severed limb, they can further enhance their regenerative powers by drawing mass from nearby sources.[17]
- Flight[13]
- Extrasensory Input
- Longevity[17]
- Super Hearing[17]
- Heat Vision[18]
- Martian Vision: Martian visual acuity greatly exceed human norms and allows for a wider range of information to be observed. This includes the following:[13]
- Infrared Vision[citation needed]
- X-Ray Vision[19]
- Electromagnetic Spectrum Vision[citation needed]
- Telescopic Vision[20]
- Microscopic Vision[citation needed]
- Telepathy: Martians have the ability to read the minds of others and project their thoughts to varying degrees. They can also project their mental essences into a gestalt community known as the "Great Mind". Through this, the community can enhance the telepathic strength of other Martians. This power can also enable them to reverse the effects of amnesia or psychological brainwashing. [13]
- Illusions
- Possession
- Astral Projection
- Mind Control: As an extension of this, Martians can also use the ability to alter a psychological profile of a target, enabling them to manipulate, and in some cases, outright control that individual. This practice is greatly discouraged however, and only rarely used. [21]
- Telepathic Relay[21]
- Telepathic Assault
- Telekinesis:[22] Martians have mind-over-matter abilities and can lift and move objects with their minds. They can also employ their telekinesis in an offensive way by discharging telekinetic blasts capable of great concussive power.[23]
- Shape-Shifting: Martians have psionic control of their physical for down to the molecular level. This allows them to a form of shape-shifting that allows them to mimic other forms, elongate aspects of their body, increase or decrease their physical size, and so on.
Abilities
Weaknesses
Notes
- Martian Manhunter was created by Joseph Samachson and Joe Certa, first appearing in Detective Comics #225. However, the Dark Knights of Steel version of Martian Manhunter first appeared in Dark Knights of Steel #1 by Tom Taylor and Yasmine Putri.
Related
- Appearances of J'onn J'onzz (Dark Knights of Steel)
- Images featuring J'onn J'onzz (Dark Knights of Steel)
- Quotations by or about J'onn J'onzz (Dark Knights of Steel)
- Character Gallery: J'onn J'onzz (Dark Knights of Steel)
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dark Knights of Steel #9
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dark Knights of Steel #10
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dark Knights of Steel #4
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Dark Knights of Steel #1
- ↑ Dark Knights of Steel #2
- ↑ Dark Knights of Steel #3
- ↑ Dark Knights of Steel #5
- ↑ Dark Knights of Steel #6
- ↑ Dark Knights of Steel #8
- ↑ Dark Knights of Steel #11
- ↑ Dark Knights of Steel #12
- ↑ Martian Manhunter (Volume 4) #1
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Detective Comics #225
- ↑ Martian Manhunter (Volume 4) #2
- ↑ Martian Manhunter (Volume 3) #3
- ↑ JLA #3
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Martian Manhunter (Volume 2) #8
- ↑ Martian Manhunter (Volume 2) #3
- ↑ DC Comics Encyclopedia: Updated and Expanded
- ↑ Who's Who: Update '88 #2
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Martian Manhunter #4
- ↑ Detective Comics #226
- ↑ Martian Manhunter (Volume 3) #8
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