Martian Manhunter Is DC’s Most Underappreciated Hero

DC Comics has created some of the most iconic superheroes of all time, and yet one of its greatest heroes, Martian Manhunter, has yet to be accorded the reverence he deserves. Created by Joseph Samachson and Joe Certa, J’onn J’onzz a.k.a. Martian Manhunter made his comic book debut in Detective Comics #225, all the way back in 1955. Since then, J’onn has gone on to be portrayed as one of the original members of the Justice League and one of DC’s most stalwart heroes. Martian Manhunter has also frequently been seen in numerous live-action and animated DC movies and TV shows, in addition to being further immortalized in video games and action figures.

With that kind of legacy to his name, it would be easy for the casual, non-comics savvy individual to assume that Martian Manhunter is among DC’s most popular superheroes. Yet, even among nerds, Martian Manhunter tends to be, at most, a casually liked side character in the DC hero roster. The lack of proper recognition Martian Manhunter has received is certainly a shame, but one recent development in DC Comics could portend J’onn J’onzz finally enjoying a new wave of belated but deserved popularity.

Martian Manhunter Is An Extremely Powerful DC Superhero (& Has A Much Larger Rogue’s Gallery Than You Think)

Superpowers alone are hardly the be-all and end-all of what makes any superhero great, but their presence also shapes a lot of the individual character’s identity and how the public regards them. In that respect, it is arguable that Martian Manhunter’s set of powers is almost the perfect inverse of his popularity as a solo character, and the powers wielded by J’onn J’onzz are some of the most vast of any DC character. Flight and super-strength commensurate with that of Superman or Wonder Woman are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to powers of Martians like J’onn J’onzz in DC lore.

Martian Manhunter’s powers also include telepathy, invisibility, shape-shifting, heat vision, the ability to fire blasts known as “Martian beams”, and invulnerability on the level of Superman himself. J’onn can also alter his body chemistry to phase through solid matter, while he also possesses X-ray vision along with the ability to see in a wide array of different spectrums. Even with all of the above, Martian Manhunter still possesses other powers, such limited telekinesis. With such a colossal list of superpowers under his belt, Martian Manhunter is arguably among the most powerful superheroes ever created.

In turn, J’onn also uses his Martian powers to battle many villains with strength equal to or greater than his own. With his role on the Justice League, it is typical for J’onn to primarily be associated with fighting villains like Darkseid, Steppenwolf, and Parademons, but he actually has a sprawling rogue’s gallery all his own, with many of his villains being fellow Martians, most notably the White Martians. Other Martian Manhunter villains include but are hardly limited to the White Martian’s leader Commander Blanx, along with D’kay D’razz, Bel Juz, and J’onn’s own twin brother Ma’alefa’ak, typically regarded as Martian Manhunter’s arch-enemy. Of course, powers and a huge rogue’s gallery don’t define any superhero on their own, and that has never been the case for J’onn J’onzz.

RELATED: Is Martian Manhunter Headed to the DCU?

Martian Manhunter Is A Very Empathetic Hero (& Has One Very Endearing Character Trait)

DC’s core heroes are often associated with specific traits that define them, from Superman embodying hope to Batman embodying fear to Wonder Woman embodying warrior ethos. For Martian Manhunter, his most essential characteristic is his sense of empathy that he feels for all beings and sentient life throughout the universe. Typically portrayed as an exile or lost traveler from Mars (and often as its last surviving Green Martian), J’onn brings a kind heart to his new home as a visitor, but unlike Superman cannot blend in among humans in his natural form. J’onn’s ability to shape-shift allows him to disguise himself as a human, but he is often depicted as spending much of his early time on Earth as a lonely outsider afraid to interact with the humans of his adoptive world.

In meeting the metahumans of Earth and becoming a core member of the Justice League, J’onn gains a feeling of acceptance among humans that he has longed for, but he never also never wavers in his respect for humans. J’onn’s empathy might be a simple character trait, but it nonetheless is the one most essential to who he is – for all his power, J’onn never regards anyone as beneath him, and views all life as precious and sacred. This often makes J’onn’s power of telepathy not only essential to understanding his respect for all life, but one of his most crucial abilities as a superhero. Though it allows him to access essential information on missions or for other purposes, J’onn only ever taps into as much of another person’s mind as is necessary, with J’onn always respecting that each person’s mind is their own (to the point of J’onn utilizing his telepathic powers as a tool for mind control only on extremely rare occasions.)

Aside from both his vast powers and the empathy with which he uses them, there is one character trait of Martian Manhunter that is inherently endearing, that being his affinity for Chocos. Like Popeye’s love of spinach, J’onn J’onzz is the world’s biggest Choco’s lover, by far. DC Comics stories and adaptations of them typically mine humor from this, but it’s nonetheless a downright lovable characteristic of such a powerful hero as Martian Manhunter that his second-greatest weakness after fire (the equivalent of Kryptonite for Martians like J’onn) should be Chocos.

Why Martian Manhunter Deserves More Love (& Could Get It Through DC’s Absolute Universe)

Despite having a huge array of superpowers, a rogue’s gallery as great as any DC hero’s, and an inherently empathetic personality capped off with his love of Chocos, it is frequently the case for Martian Manhunter to be relegated to a kind of support hero for the rest of the Justice League. That isn’t necessarily a disservice to J’onn as a character, given his somewhat reclusive nature since his arrival on Earth, but it has also arguably prevented Martian Manhunter from achieving more mainstream love as an individual superhero. Indeed, Martian Manhunter even having his own comic book title is a relatively infrequent occurrence, though that may finally be changing thanks to DC’s new alternate reality known as Earth-Alpha, or the Absolute Universe.

Kicking off with the DC All In initiative in late 2024, the Absolute Universe is an ongoing DC Elseworlds line establishing a parallel reality (one of many in the infinite DC multiverse) under the stewardship of comic book writer Scott Snyder. The Absolute Universe began its new take on DC’s heroes with radically re-imagined versions of Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman. The Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern are following suit with solo Absolute titles of their own, and while the Absolute Universe should lead into in its own version of the Justice League, the fact that J’onn has has own comic book title could usher in a whole new generation of comic book fans and superhero aficionados to discover the Choco-loving Martian hero.

Like the rest of DC’s Absolute Universe line, Martian Manhunter’s origin story is getting a huge makeover, with John Jones and an alien consciousness dubbed “Martian” being introduced as two separate beings who unite into one. However, re-imaginings like this are both commonplace in the comic book world and the very DNA of DC as a multiverse. Moreover, the Absolute Martian Manhunter comic could easily spark a wave of interest in J’onn’s expansive character history among comic book readers new and old, and lead many to truly discover him as a pillar of DC lore. Despite his decades of service as a superhero, Martian Manhunter has never truly gotten his due, but with J’onn J’onzz being given a new origin story alongside his fellow members of the Justice League in DC’s Absolute Universe, the days of Martian Manhunter as DC’s most underappreciated hero might finally, and thankfully, being drawing to an end.

Absolute Martian Manhunter #1 hits comic book store shelves on March 26th.