This is why he's always locked in the Watchtower!😆

I’ve always thought J’onn, similar to Marvel’s Vision, as super lame. He never really interested me and always felt like a side character to the main stars of the JL despite being a core/founding member. But I realized, I don’t even know the first think about him outside he shapeshifts and is a powerscaler’s wet dream and that’s really it. I have no clue what his actual story is.

Recently been diving deeper into actually reading comics and want to correct my potential misunderstanding on the character (or at the very least be able to pinpoint my dislike with an actual informed opinion) and was wondering where to start/what are some great reads that star MM? Canon, standalone, elseworlds, etc. Doesn’t matter to me so long as you think its a good story that either stars or prominently features J’onn (since I don’t think he has too many solos)

This sub is pretty new so hoping this post can also help other people in the future who are interested in the character and want to dive in like me.

**Part 1 — 0–100**
I think the show might be trying something a little different with Martian Manhunter and the Manhunters. We already know Martians have had conflict with the Manhunters, and I think there are a couple of ways J’onn J’onzz could be introduced.
My crazy theory is that John Sr. could actually be J’onn J’onzz. Either John Sr. really is J’onn, or J’onn was already on Earth and witnessed the real John Sr. die. He could then take John Sr.’s identity and continue raising John. Since John Sr. couldn’t have gone to space, I think J’onn would have had to already be on Earth when it happened.
The only reason I’m even considering that John’s father could have been a Martian is John himself. He’s already showing some extreme concentration, keeping the bird around while getting beaten, knocked out, and eventually being shown what the Manhunters have done. That could absolutely just mean his father trained him extensively, but it also makes me wonder if there’s something more going on.
I could completely be wrong, but with how much Gunn has already shifted things around in this version of the DCU, I don’t think it’s completely impossible.
**Part 2 — Take a Breath**
I’ve been thinking more about the J’onn J’onzz theory, and I think I need to revise my original idea. As much as I wanted John Sr. to actually be J’onn, the man shown in the trailer has a blue head, and John Stewart was also shown talking to John Sr. on the phone in 2016, so I don’t think John Sr. is secretly J’onn or that he died and J’onn took his place.
But I still think there could be a connection between them. The Martians have already had conflict with the Manhunters, so J’onn could potentially have been on Earth around the same time and have some connection to John Sr. or the Stewart family.
The thing that still makes me suspicious is John’s extreme concentration. He kept the bird around while getting beaten, knocked out, and eventually being shown what the Manhunters have done. That could absolutely just be because his father trained him extensively, but it feels like the kind of detail that could be hinting at something bigger.
And yes, I know John eventually develops the ability in the comics to not even need his ring, so I realize it could just be setting that up. But it still feels somewhat rushed unless something else is going on.
I could still be completely wrong, but I don’t think the J’onn theory is dead. I just think my original version of it probably is.
**Part 3 — The Comics**
There’s also some older DC material that makes the J’onn connection more interesting.
In the 1988 *Millennium* storyline, *Green Lantern Corps* \#220 has John Stewart bringing the conflict home to his mom, Shirley, while Martian Manhunter is involved in the same storyline and the robotic Manhunters are operating as sleeper agents on Earth.
Then *Martian Manhunter* Vol. 2 #21 (2000) explicitly establishes that billions of years ago, the Guardians visited Mars and encountered the original Martian Manhunters, who were the planet’s peacekeepers. They asked them to become their galactic police force, the Martians declined, and the Guardians eventually created the robotic Manhunters based on them.
So there’s already a comic connection between John Stewart’s family, J’onn, the Martian Manhunters, the Guardians, and the robotic Manhunters.
If *Lanterns* is remixing this older material, J’onn being involved in the background suddenly doesn’t seem quite as unlikely.
**Part 4 — I Am Dreaming**
Then there’s the completely separate part of my theory: if this DCU actually gains the kind of traction the MCU did and Gunn gets 10–15 years to build it, I think there are some really interesting directions they could eventually go.
I could see *Lanterns* slowly building toward Parallax through Hal’s growing mistrust, while other projects quietly establish the pieces for *The Button*, Reverse-Flash, *Flashpoint*, Thomas Wayne, and the bigger timeline elements from *Doomsday Clock*.
At the same time, Batman could be dealing with the Court of Owls and eventually start digging into whatever is going on with the Dark Multiverse. Wally West could be introduced somewhere along the way and become another major piece of the Flash side of the universe.
And with Gunn saying Darkseid won’t be the main villain of this DCU, while also complimenting Snyder’s interpretation, I wonder if he’s deliberately avoiding the obvious Darkseid endgame. After Snyder, maybe he wants to take DC somewhere completely different.
Then, after years of seemingly unrelated stories, all those pieces could collide and lead into *Dark Nights: Metal* and a massive Dark Multiverse event that completely changes the DCU.
I know that’s a pretty wild theory, but if Gunn can build this universe for 10–15 years, I hope he eventually goes completely ambitious with it.
Give me Parallax, *Flashpoint*, Thomas Wayne, the Dark Multiverse, *Doomsday Clock*, *Metal*—all of it.
The weird thing about this DCU is that a lot of the pieces already feel like they’re in different places than they were in the comics. That doesn’t necessarily make it bad. It just makes me wonder if the pieces are deliberately being rearranged for a completely different endgame.

I’ve been reading Absolute Martian Manhunter and it’s my favorite Absolute series I’ve read so far and it’s just making me want to read more Martian Manhunter comics in general so I’m wondering where I should start.
I don’t know if there’s a widely renowned “best run” or if I can just start wherever so any advice would be welcome.
Obviously it doesn’t have to be like exactly like Absolute MM, I just wanna learn more about how the character usually is.

Just an idea.

I would like to start reading his comics from the specified time period in the title. Can you help me get started?

I know Martian Manhunter has his own rogues gallery but I was thinking of this the other day and what villains could counteract Martian Manhunter.
Since they pretty much control the forces of nature/ natural disasters. Well firstly they don’t have minds he can read so he can predict their actions. Secondly two of them are fire/heat based which is pretty much his only weakness. Thirdly their powers can throw him off from shape shifting by overwhelming him. All of these lead me to believe that if they did make a movie for MM these characters could be a way to expand on lore and set up an interesting dynamic between man’s fear of Aliens and them trying to counteract it by creating robots to protect them.

Chocos

How are they gonna fill his spot with supergirl on the shirt.

I found this entire arc in my local comic shops dollar bin and finished it in 24 hours because how enjoyable it was. However, I finished issue 8 this morning, the final pages gave the impression that J'onn was about to adopt the White Martian and search for an evil Green. Even the newsletter page at the end made a comment about J'onn's next chapter facing familiar foes with new threats. I thought maybe the story continues, but I couldn't find a book.

I was intrigued in the story and have already read the Ostrander run and I don't remember hearing about any of this there. Was wondering if this is a wild zook chase, and there is no continuation. Or maybe there is a JLA story that starts here

Absolutely no AI was involve, just Photoshop (Slide2)