Martian Manhunter and That Other Alien's TV Show (Weeks-old Spoilers)

[Doctor Bifrost]

I think this has been around long enough not to need spoiler tags.

I'm catching up on the Supergirl show. Seeing J'onn J'onzz has been a lot of fun - and quite a surprise, given the Hank Henshaw name! But I was a little confused about some of the things they've done with him.

In one episode he makes a really big deal about one of the reasons he keeps his powers secret: "Supergirl is a cute blonde, but J'onn J'onzz looks like a monster," and therefore humanity won't accept him. However, it's perfectly clear that he can look like anybody he wants to and still use his powers. In fact, in that episode he comes flying in looking exactly like Supergirl. So if he ever wanted to be an "acceptable-looking" superhero - or twelve different ones - it would be easy for him.

Also, when he infiltrated Maxwell Lords' company, looking like Max, and found that Jane Doe: he (as Max) tells the guard to call an outside ambulance for the women. He's obviously planning on getting her out of there. Then the guard trips him up with a question he can't answer, so he knows it's not his boss. J'onn then, in short order:

- Turns back into Hank Henshaw
- Knocks out the guard
- Wipes out the guard's memory
- Says to the woman "I'll come back for you"
- Deeply regrets, for very good reasons, wiping out the guard's memory

This whole sequence made no sense to me. First of all, why turn back into Hank, which is the thing that most requires him to do the memory wipe? Why not just stay Max, knock the guy out, and leave, with no memory wipe? I mean, it's obvious in any case that someone was there. All the guard could have said was "he looked like Max Lord and knocked me out!", which doesn't tell anybody much of anything.

Also, if he was going to get the woman out - why not take her with him after knocking the guard out? After all, he can fly, has superstrength, and is very fast. If you want to get her out of there, get her out of there. You can get her to a hospital faster than any ambulance.

(I'll admit to finding J'onn's use of his shapechanging powers a little strange in the comics, too. In the Silver Age, when he was just J'onn J'onzz and the human-looking John Jones, it made sense. But later they went for "his real, Gumby-like ,pointy-headed Martian appearance is too strange for humans, so to be a superhero he changed it: into a hairless green alien, just more humanoid." I mean, why wouldn't he just go for a human superhero appearance at that point?)

[maxmcco]

It's stuff like this that keeps me from really liking Supergirl. I like the premiss and I think the lead actress is absolutely perfect, but the writing so often doesn't make sense, motivation-wise. When plots come about with contrived motivations, it loses me. One of my good comic book buddies really loves this show. When I mention this stuff, he says "it's Supergirl. don't overthink it." Well, in a world with Daredevil and Jessica Jones, I think the bar should be set higher. The writing sometimes seems like it's deliberately insulting people's intelligence.