Why is Martian Manhunter never treated seriously?

[LordUltimus]

The guy is supposed to be as powerful as Superman, but no one ever treats him as such. Why establish that if they're just going to treat him like he's B-List?

[Kon93]

Isnt he the leader of the JL?

He is treated as very powerful,but he isnt as physically powerful as superman,so he can still get knocked down.

[Jabare]

he was originally utilized as a stand in for Superman so the character wouldn't be oversaturated. He's rarely treated as a "leading" character.

As to why you'll have to ask DC

[caj]

Although Keith Giffen's Justice League is known for it's humor, I think they did an excellent job of showing just how powerful J'onn can be.

Other writers...not so much.

[j9ac9k]

Not a big enough fanbase. Green guy needs to move units.$$$

[donnafan]

When you look at MM's history, the character was created back in the 60's when early sci-fi was fascinated with Martians and aliens. When sci-fi interest started to wane, the character disappeared from comics, only to be brought back nearly 20 years later, with the exception of a few appearances here and there. He was central to the JL Detroit era but, wasn't really showcased as being the powerhouse he really is; instead, stories focused on his other powers such as intangibility and shape-shifting. When the JL cartoon came out, MM was relegated to the Watchtower and didn't really join Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman on missions. This depiction followed him into the comics until nu52 where he sort of disappeared/reappeared with some weird history/tension with the JLA. Maybe it's because he has so many powers, writers don't know what to do with him or, the thought of having a Superman-level strength character diminishes Superman? IDK. Overall, I feel like the character's never really lived up to his potential.

[Kon93]

If they would focus on what makes him unique they would get farther with him

[Johnny]

He was never promoted on the same level. If I had to take a guess it's mostly because of how he looks. I know, that's racist. But seriously, Superman is an alien too, but does he "look" like an alien? When you see Superman for the very first time, would you look at him and say: "That guy's an alien"? J'onn is not a pretty blue-eyed blonde dude like Barry or Arthur or a pretty black or brown-haired dude like Clark, Bruce or Hal, he's literally a green Martian running around in his underwear. And even being a shapeshifter doesn't change that because it's not like "John Jones" is the one we see flying around, phasing through things and beating up bad guys. Maybe I'm way off-base here, I don't know, but that's what I always felt. I find MM to be one of those heroes where you need to learn more about his story and personality first in order to grow to really like him as a character. He's not a wish-fulfillment type when you just take a look at him, and in my opinion that's why he was ultimately never promoted the same way as the other founding members and therefore not always taken as seriously.

[Jim Kelly]

Comic books are a lot about visuals--the story that explains the visuals is secondary. And the way that Joe Certa originally drew J'Onn in 1955 was awesome. He was huge, bare-chested and beetle-browed. As time went on, J'Onn became more normal looking--average height, no awesome brow ridge.

During his hiatus from the Justice League, in the 1970s, Mike Netzer (aka Nasser) got the job of drawing MM for a three issue back-up series in ADVENTURE COMICS and Mike went back to the old Joe Certa look, restoring the imposing appearance of the Manhunter from Mars.

There's a lot about the Spectre and the Martian Manhunter that runs parallel--and I think the best reason for bringing back these over-powered characters is always their look. Just don't make them wear pants.

[Timothy Hunter]

I think the factors that makes him less popular than much of the major Justice League are:

1. the fact that his skin is green, which makes him harder to relate to than flesh colored characters such as Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman etc.

2. His side characters, rogues gallery, and his mythology around him in general is less defined than most popular members of the League.

3. Not a lot of high profile writers have written his solo series, besides John Ostrander. Much of the reasons behind certain B-list, C-list characters finding new found popularity can be attributed to how highly regarded the writer is rather than the character themself

[Dr. Ellingham]

The guy is supposed to be as powerful as Superman, but no one ever treats him as such.

Grant Morrison did.

But being super-powerful is sort of irrelevant to how much focus he reeives. MM could have every superpower imaginable - he's probably never going to be a more "important" character.

He's the very definition of a team-book character.

[Rod G]

Granted.





10 char

[Midnight_v]

Its because he looks ridiculous and has a "silly" name.

Also... hes from mars. Its not the best origin, but kind of shared with superman.


Change the Aesthetics. Start calling him something Hard and alien. "Karal du Chek" or some other alien sounding name.

Hell call him The Outsider. Whatever.

Repeat loudly and frequently that he's from an alternate universe where life developed on a planet other than earth and then you're cooking with fire.

I mean he's been TRADITIONALLY dressed like He-man ffs. Even Ms.Martian isn't rolling around with her midrifft exposed.

So the costume has to become way more iconic, and maybe way different.

Take almost anyone of 1000 unused superman designs and you got a workable martian man-hunter suit.

[Jim Kelly]

The Hulk, the Green Goblin, Lobo, the Spectre, Swamp Thing, Man-Thing, Beta Ray Bill, the Super Skrull, Solomon Grundy, Brainiac, Starfire, She-Hulk, Adam Warlock, the Thing, Silver Surfer, Kilowog, Howard the Duck, Venom, Spawn, Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtles, Robotman, Beast Boy, Killer Croc, Gorilla Grodd, Sinestro, the Demon.

Comic book readers can't relate to weird looking characters with odd skin colours? Yeah right.

Any character can be made popular if the comic book company is determined to do so and gets the right creators to work on the character. They make silk purses out of sow's ears all the time. And there is a lot in J'Onn J'Onzz to work with. He was popular enough to have his own series in DETECTIVE COMICS and HOUSE OF MYSTERY at one time.

I think Dr. Ellingham has put his finger on the reason why there hasn't been an effort to make the Manhunter from Mars as popular as Aquaman--he's perceived as the definition of a team-book character. He wasn't always--his powers made him better suited to holding his own series, in a team he was too powerful, and that's probably why he was retired from the Justice League in the first place. But when he was brought back in various Justice League runs, he became the bulwark of the League and took on that character of being the JLA main team player.

Having that identity didn't serve him well when DC wanted to reboot the JLA again--J'Onn didn't seem important enough and they thought they could easily slot in Cyborg. Which takes away what had become J'Onn's only job description--suppporting the Justice League.

But if someone wanted to give J'Onn a new purpose, they could easily do so. There just isn't anyone at the moment pushing for that.

[Kon93]

Couldn't his purpose be to find and capture all the hidden white martians on earth? They could say the white martians have been behind the scenes causing all kinds of mischief and jonn as a detective and man hunter goes looking for them.

I would keep him fully clothed,no more skin showing besides his face and hands,like a couple of his older,but great suits did.

I would drastically weaken his "superman like"powers so he feels much different than superman.

I would actually have mgann be his sidekick in a series,so he has someone to bounce off of,and who gives the series a very different feel than just having jonn in it.