Miss Martian

Miss Martian (real name M'gann M'orzz, alias Megan Morse) is a fictional superhero in DC Comics.

Publication history

Miss Martian was created by Geoff Johns and Tony Daniel and first appeared in Teen Titans #37 (2006). Miss Martian is named "Megan Morse" after Marvel Comics editor Ben Morse's wife, Megan. Morse is a friend of Johns'.^[1]

Fictional character biography

Miss Martian is a White Martian known as M'gann M'orzz. She serves as a member of the Teen Titans during the year between the events depicted in Infinite Crisis and the "One Year Later" stories. On Earth, she simplifies her name to Megan Morse.

M'gann M'orzz was originally sent by rocket from Mars to the Vega system, to escape the civil war between the Green Martians and the White Martians.^[2] To date, it is still unknown when she came to Earth from Vega.

Initially, M'gann pretended to be a Green Martian, like the Martian Manhunter, and joined the Teen Titans. After her feelings were hurt through insensitivity and misunderstanding with her teammates, M'gann left the Titans to be a hero in Australia. Though the Titans suspected she might have been a traitor, it turned out that her accuser, Bombshell, was the actual traitor. After helping the team defeat Bombshell and proving her loyalty, she was accepted as a full member of the Titans.^[3]

Miss Martian of the future, with an apparition of Martian Manhunter. Art by Alé Garza.

M'gann and Cyborg travel to Belle Reve to interrogate the depowered Bombshell. M'gann, using her telepathy on Bombshell, discovers the existence of Titans East (Bombshell is seemingly murdered by a mind-controlled Batgirl soon thereafter, but eventually recovers).^[4] M'gann fights Sun Girl, who claims to be from a future in which Martians are slaves because of something that M'gann will do (Sun Girl also claims that in the future M'gann will be her slave). Unable to convince Sun Girl to tell her what she will do in the future, M'gann dives into the ocean and then hits Sun Girl with a mass of water, dousing her flames.

The Titans Tomorrow appear with Miss Martian as a member.^[5] She has a different look, having embraced her White Martian heritage. Having changed her name to Martian Manhunter, she is beheaded by her present-day counterpart. As a result of this encounter, the consciousness of her future self has taken refuge in Megan's own mind.^[6] An epilogue to the "Titans of Tomorrow: Today!" storyline depicts Miss Martian eight years in the future; she colludes with Lex Luthor and Tim Drake, the Robin of the time and with whom she is having an affair, to clone several deceased Titans, including Superboy and Kid Flash.

Megan is attacked by Disruptor of the Terror Titans, whose weapons almost separate her from her future self.^[7] Megan is captured and thrown into a room with Kid Devil, who has been savagely conditioned into a mindless beast. She attempts to calm his mind with her telepathy but unfortunately a reincarnated version of Granny Goodness has found a way to inhibit her Martian abilities.

Megan finally manages to restore Eddie's rational mind, and the two escape.^[8] Back at Titans Tower, Megan implies that the encounter with Disruptor has allowed her to subdue her future self's consciousness. Her future counterpart seems still able to communicate with her, but M'gann shushes her effortlessly by the simple threat of siccing the cute puppies on her, e.g. feeding her images of cuteness and love.

Later, however, Megan begins showing signs of being unable to subdue her evil self, such as appearing before the team having chalk-white skin as opposed to her usually preferred green skin. She seems as surprised at this as the rest of the team, and later finally comes to the conclusion to leave the Titans for an unknown period of time. Before leaving, however, she says goodbye to the Titans and admits to Eddie that she will miss him the most, to which he questions if she is comparing him to the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz.

Teen Titans writer Sean McKeever has stated that Megan's departure from the Titans is part of a longer story he is working on and that she will return to the team at a later time.^[9]

Megan appears in the final issue of the Terror Titans miniseries, having been posing as Star-Spangled Kid in The Dark Side Club's metahuman fights. She had been using her immunity to Clock King's mind control to slowly free the other brainwashed metahumans.^[10]

Megan is briefly seen as part of an underground resistance cell in Final Crisis #5 (Dec. 2008). She rejoins the Titans in the aftermath of their failed recruitment drive, bringing new members Static and Aquagirl with her. In the same story, Megan hints that she has rid herself of her future counterpart's consciousness from her mind.

When Beast Boy returns to lead the Titans in the wake of Kid Devil's death, Megan is the only member of the team who is willing to support him. While the rest of the team is busy arguing with him, Megan is attacked and captured by a new villain known as Wyld. After a vigorous battle, Megan is rescued by her teammates.^[11]

At some point prior to this, Megan is seen operating on a solo mission where she defeats Brick after he attempts to abduct a young girl and hold her for ransom. Seconds after flooring the kidnapper, Megan is visited by Jay Garrick, who recruits her for some unknown purpose.^[12] In the finale of Justice League: Cry for Justice, it is revealed that Garrick recruited her in order to help interrogate Prometheus, who had destroyed Star City. When she attempts to read his mind, Megan is knocked out by specialized mental defenses Prometheus put in place after an encounter with the Martian Manhunter.^[13]

Megan later accompanies her fellow Titans to the city of Dakota in order to look for Static after he goes missing. After Wonder Girl, Aquagirl, and Bombshell are kidnapped as well, the remaining Titans track them to an armored bunker. Megan tries to fight off a powerful metahuman gangster named Holocaust, but he is somehow able to resist her telepathic assault and knock her unconscious.^[14] After awakening, Megan realizes that she had accidentally struck Raven with a mental barrage, which has now left her comatose. On the way back to Titans Tower, Raven is kidnapped by Wyld.^[15]

Till'All

Miss Martian is introduced very soon after a Martian Manhunter miniseries wherein J'onn befriends a male white martian named Till'All and introduces him to the Justice League. It is speculated that originally it was to be revealed that M'Gann was in fact Till'All, and this revelation was retconned to her being a female white martian because DC editorial became uncomfortable with the idea of transgender themes after she was shown in romantic situations with several characters.

Brightest Day

During Brightest Day, Megan is asked by Batman to contact Starman after he is captured by a crazed Alan Scott. After coming aboard the Justice League Watchtower, she mentally reaches out to Starman and begins to relay information about his prison, only to transform into her White Martian form and attack the Justice League. Before Megan can injure any of her fellow heroes, she is knocked unconscious by Power Girl, who implies that she had been possessed by the Starheart, the cosmic entity that granted Alan his powers.^[16]

Around this time, the recently resurrected Martian Manhunter contacts Titans Tower in order to talk to Megan, and is told by Superboy that she has taken a leave of absence from the team. He heads to Australia to find Megan and see if she has any information about a string of murders that seem to have been committed by a fellow Martian, only to find her tied up and severely beaten.^[17] While tending to her, J'onn is contacted by the Entity, and Megan's wounds fully recover. She also senses that there is another Martian on Earth.^[18] When J'onn asks Megan who did this to her, Megan says she was attacked by a female green Martian.^[2]

After a mission to rescue Raven from Wyld's dimension, Megan is left in a coma. Cyborg and a scientist named Rochelle Barnes take Megan to Cadmus Labs in order to find a way to help her, and Static (who had lost his powers after the battle with Wyld) comes along with her, stating that she should have a Titan by her side while she recovers. The issue ends with a note stating that the story will be resolved in a new Static solo series, which will launch sometime in 2011.^[19]

No longer a member of the Titans, Miss Martian is later attacked by a teenaged psychic named Alexander, who kidnaps her and uses her as bait to lure Supergirl into a trap.^[20] After defeating Supergirl, M'gann uses her abilities to help brainwash Blue Beetle and Robin into serving Alexander.^[21] It is later revealed, however, that Miss Martian was never under Alexander's control to begin with; she had merely pretended to be while using her telepathy to tell Supergirl her plan. Miss Martian then force feeds Alexander's mind with mental feedback, distracting him enough for Supergirl to subdue him.

Along with a number of other former Titans, M'gann returns to assist the team during their final battle against Superboy-Prime and the Legion of Doom.^[22] Working together with Solstice, M'gann defeats her old nemesis Sun Girl.^[23]

The New 52

In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), Red Robin is shown watching a press conference where Lex Luthor shows off photographs of M'gann as part of a presentation about alien life on Earth.^[24]

Powers and abilities

Miss Martian possesses abilities similar to Martian Manhunter and all other Martians. She has superhuman strength and stamina comparable to that of a Kryptonian. She is invulnerable and has been shown to repel attacks from the likes of Despero. She can enhance this invulnerability by making herself super dense. This invulnerability also extends to her being able to survive in the vacuum of space. She also has the ability to shapeshift and she can use this to regenerate herself at a rapid rate. Her shapeshifting can be used at will and in an unlimited application, including adopting human or monstrous appearance, elongating her limbs, growing to immense size, altering the chemical composition of her body, etc. This also extends to her being able to expand or lengthen her limbs or to create natural body weapons. This control over her molecular structure also gives her the abilities of invisibility and intangibility.

She is a powerful psychic with major applications of this being telepathy and telekinesis. She can use the telekinesis to manipulate, move, control, levitate many objects. She can also use her telekinesis to fly. Her telepathy is one of her strongest abilities and allows her a wide variety of abilities including mind reading, communication by the mind, projecting her thoughts, creating illusions, locating other sentient beings, mental detection, mental cloak, mental scan, controlling others' minds, manipulating memory, inducing sleep, astral travel, and transferring information to people directly.^[25] Her psionic abilities can also manifest themselves in a telekinetic blast/push or a telekinetic shield. A further application of her powers is Martian vision, in which she expels energy from her eyes. Martians have nine senses compared to humans, which gives them stronger perception of the world.^[26]

As an adult in the Titans of Tomorrow... Today! storyline, M'gann's default physical form is that of a White Martian having embraced her heritage (and Martian physiology reflecting their state of mind). To compensate for her pyrophobia, adult M'Gann wears a forcefield that protects her from flame.^[27]

Weakness

Like all Martians, she can be weakened by fire. This comes in the form of pyrophobia, with fire being the Martian's "Achilles heel", equivalent to Kryptonians weakness to Kryptonite. Exposure to fire typically causes her to lose the ability to maintain her physical form, 'melting' into a pool of writhing green plasma. It was revealed, during the Trial By Fire storyline,^[28] that the Martian weakness to fire is an inbuilt psychosomatic effect, placed in the Martian race long ago by the Guardians of the Universe. The purpose of this was to prevent the Martians from reverting to a previous state in which they were highly aggressive, on the verge of interstellar conquest, and required flames and the psychic suffering of others in order to reproduce.

Other versions

Smallville Season 11

Miss Martian is featured in Smallville Season 11 based on the TV series. In this continuity, M'gann is a White Martian captive of Checkmate, and is looked after by King Faraday, a scientist who begins to bond with her after the death of his own daughter. She begins to adapt an appearance based on Faraday's deceased daughter and is named "Megan Morse". After his death, Megan begins a killing spree on people who are "evil" until Batman and Martian Manhunter find her. Although there are tensions between them at first, she bonds with J'onn and she becomes his protege/niece. She later joins Jay Garricks team of Titans and enters into a relationship with Conner Kent ^[29]

Smallville: Titans

Miss Martian is a member of the team with Conner Kent/Superboy, Speedy, Blue Beetle, Zan and Jayna at Jay Garrick's school for the "gifted."^[30]

Earth-16: The Just

On The New 52 DC Multiverse world of Earth-16, an alternate Miss Martian is glimpsed briefly in a swimming pool ensemble scene, although she has no dialogue within it. Earth-16 is a 'legacy'-based alternate Earth, where the Silver Age generation of metahumans has had children, or have relinquished active crime-fighting to their former protégés. However, due to preprogrammed Superman robots, there is little active criminality left to fight, so metahumans undertake combat games. Whether Miss Martian is a member of the Teen Titans on this alternate Earth is unknown at present.

Tiny Titans

In the children's series Tiny Titans, Miss Martian is one of the younger toddlers and part of the "Little Tiny Titans" with Wildebeest and Jericho, often stretching her long, octopus arms to grab objects. She's often seen hugging the older Beast Boy, whom she calls "Bee Bee", due to his ability to turn into a puppy (ironically the opposite relationship of their Young Justice cartoon counterparts). ^[31]

In other media

Miss Martian in Young Justice.

Television

• Miss Martian is a lead character in the Young Justice animated series (loosely based on the comic book series),^[32] voiced by Danica McKellar.^[33] Within the show, she is introduced as the niece of the Martian Manhunter. Her weakness to fire is due to Mars being "pretty cold." M'gann is 48 human chronological years, but only 16 by Martian biological standards.^[34] She states that she has 12 sisters on Mars, indicating a surviving Martian society. She has shown strong telekinetic and telepathic abilities as well as flight, camouflage (though not truly invisibility) and shape shifting, but she initially had trouble mimicking men (when she tried, they appeared as female versions.) However, she was able to mimic Red Tornado flawlessly (possibly due to his inorganic nature and simplified anatomy.) Her shape-shifting allows her to heal faster than a human would. Miss Martian has strength and durability above that of a typical human.^[35] Like Kid Flash and Superboy, her other comic-based abilities (super speed, super senses and laser vision) are not indicated, though she cites "density-shifting" as an "advanced technique". However, in "Failsafe", Martian Manhunter states she is the most powerful telepath he has encountered in terms of raw power and potential growth, even in comparison to himself. She developed a crush on Superboy since meeting him, blushing when he compliments her in "Dropzone" and almost kissing him in "Bereft". By the episode "Terrors", they began a romantic relationship, which they initially keep secret. In "Targets," she joined the cheerleading squad on her and Superboy's first day of school. Miss Martian's humanoid form and personality, as well as her catchphrase "Hello, Megan!" is based on a character, also named Megan, from an old Earth TV show she enjoyed watching on Mars, and she chose Connor's name from another character in the show, as revealed in the episode "Image". When Garfield Logan requires a blood transfusion to save his life, she shifts hers to match, saving him but beginning a process which transforms him into Beast Boy. During battle with Psimon, he exposes her as a White Martian, but she conceals it from her team-mates. Later, she claims to be a Green Martian, and that her true form is a female version of Martian Manhunter's human appearance. Due to Miss Martian's fear of her team-mates reaction to her White Martian form, Bialya leader Queen Bee blackmails her, but Miss Martian ultimately reveals her true form to the team, to only momentary shock. Superboy revealed that he had known Miss Martian's secret since they shared a strong telepathic connection in Bialya, and had simply chosen to wait for her to tell him. M'gann appears in the second season titled Young Justice: Invasion set five years later. She remains with the team, sporting a shorter haircut and wearing her stealth costume at all times. She is also considerably more serious and experienced. Superboy has ended their relationship, but she is now involved with Lagoon Boy. Following his mother's death, she has accepted Beast Boy as an adopted younger brother. She is now capable of density shifting. Her personality is darker than before, aggressively probing the minds of her enemies, leaving them catatonic. It is revealed in the episode "Depths" that Superboy's disagreement with M'gann's blatant disregard for this led to their break-up, with the final straw being M'gann's attempt to erase his memory of their argument. M'gann shows visible remorse, particularly given Superboy's anger over the violation of their deeply personal connection. In the episode "Before the Dawn", M'gann confronts Aqualad and telepathically attacks him as revenge for his supposed killing of Artemis, but her probing reveals that Artemis is alive and working undercover, and she breaks off horrified. She subsequently enters a state of mental shock, becoming almost non-responsive and requiring prodding from her Teammates to use her powers, which results in a swift defeat at the hands of Black Beetle, and then refusing to use her Telepathy. Afterwards, Black Manta has her captured by Tigress and Deathstroke to make her fix Aqualad's mind. After succeeding, Miss Martian, Tigress (Artemis) and Kaldur come up with a plan to escape, which is compromised by Sportsmaster and Cheshire's assassination attempt on Black Manta. In the end, Miss Martian and Sportsmaster make a deal and both escape without blowing Kaldur and Tigress' cover. Afterwards, she breaks up with Lagoon Boy out of guilt over her selfish motives, though he had forgiven her later in "Summit". She also realized that she is still in love with Connor and attempts to reconcile, but is saddened to learn Connor is spending time with Wendy Harris from their old High School, believing they have started dating. In "Endgame", she is overjoyed to hear that Connor was just helping Wendy out with her relationship with another old school friend. Following the death of Wally West, while discussing the new relationship between Tim Drake and Cassie, they both reconcile, but before they can kiss they are called to the briefing room by Aqualad, where they are dispatched for a mission on Mars with Beast Boy.
• Miss Martian makes a guest appearance in the Teen Titans Go! episode "Let's Get Serious" (which is a crossover with Young Justice). She accompanies Aqualad and Superboy in taking out the H.I.V.E., as the Titans were too silly to do it properly.
• Miss Martian appears in the web series DC Super Hero Girls as a student at Super Hero High.
• Miss Martian appears in Season 2 of Supergirl, portrayed by Sharon Leal.^[36] In the third episode last scene she makes her appearance working as a bartender in human form. M'gann recogizes J'onn J'onzz as a Martian and tries to leave. He follows her ask who she is, and she assumes a Green Martian form to tell him she is the last daughter of Mars.^[37] Later, she tells J'onn a story of a "different" White Martian that broke ranks to save her, but she remains evasive to J'onn's request for a telepathic link. The reason is finally given at the end of the fourth episode: she briefly assumes her natural White Martian form, implying the story she told was of herself. She later appeared in "Changing", where she conversed with J'onzz and was later called in by Alex Danvers to give blood to J'onzz after the latter was left in life-threatening condition due to having much of his life energy alongside that of Supergirl being drained by Parasite, with M'gann reluctantly complying.

Film

The Young Justice version of Miss Martian, along with Wonder Girl, Artemis, and Zatanna, makes a cameo appearance as home viewers in Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery.^[38][39]

Video games

• Miss Martian appears as a playable character in the video game Young Justice: Legacy, where Danica McKellar reprises the role.
• Miss Martian also appears as a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, voiced by Laura Bailey.

See also

• Martian Manhunter
• One Year Later

References

External links

• Miss Martian at the DC Database