WHITE MARTIANS

Class: Extraterrestrials (Mars)

Known Representatives: Hyperclan (A-Mortal, Armek, Fluxus, Primaid,vProtex, Tronix, Zenturion, Zum), M'gann M'orzz (Miss Martian), Z'Ush

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Z'Onn Z'Orr, Antarctica, formerly Mars

First Appearance: JLA #1 (January, 1997)

Powers: White Martians possessed vast superhuman strength, speed and endurance and were shapeshifters. They could make themselves intangible and invisible, possessed telepathy, flight and Martian Vision, a blast of energy focused through their eyes. They could generate mental psi spikes that caused pain in a target and immobilized them. White Martians could increase their mental powers by feasting on the brains of other telepaths. They were extremely weak against fire.

History: (Martian Manhunter II #32) - The White and Green Martians cooperated for the first time in ages to rid themselves of the predatory Bloodworms of Mars. They sent the Bloodworms to their moon Phobos and then shot bombs at the moon to destroy them. The Whites diverted some of the explosives and brought Bloodworms to Earth, where they incubate their young in hopes of one day controlling them and using them against the Greens. 

(Martian Manhunter II #4 (fb), 25 (fb)) - The White and Green Martians expanded their empire to Saturn, terraforming the planet, building cities and creating the Saturnians from their genetic samples to act as a workforce. The Whites established a base named Z’Onn Z’Orr on Earth in Antarctica and began genetic experiments on living beings. The Green Martians and White Martians began a civil war that ravaged Mars and destroyed most of the colonies on Saturn, only ending when the White Martians were exiled to the Still Zone.

(JLA #1-4) - A group of White Martians found a way to escape the Still Zone where their people were imprisoned and travel to Earth. These Martians took up gaudy "superhero" identities, named themselves the Hyperclan, and announced their presence to the world. Their cover story was that they were alien travelers who had come to Earth to solve all its problems. They used their powers to temporarily make the Sahara into fertile farmland, and cowed supervillains into hiding after the public executions of a number of villains. The public loved the Hyperclan, but were unaware that the "heroes" had formed a plan to enslave humanity and had set up watchtowers in Antarctica, the Gobi desert, and the Pacific Ocean that beamed mind-control rays across the globe. The Hyperclan were also responsible for blowing up the JLA Satellite, because the JLA, had publicly criticized the Hyperclan for their methods of saving the world. The JLA uncovered the true origins and intentions of the Hyperclan, but the Hyperclan defeated them and imprisoned in the Flower of Wrath, a Martian torture device. The only JLAer spared was Martian Manhunter, who the Hyperclan appealed to as a fellow Martian to join up with them. Manhunter seemingly agreed, but soon turned against the Hyperclan and helped his JLA teammates escape. The JLA defeated the Hyperclan, but not before Protex called down an invasion force of the other seventy remaining White Martians down on Earth. The JLA rounded up the invasion force, and left the punishment of the Hyperclan and other White Martians up to Martian Manhunter. Manhunter hypnotized them into taking human form and becoming peaceful members of society. 

(JLA #33) - One of the White Martians brainwashed to think it was a human acted as a secretary in WayneTech until he went down in a plane crash in the Andes. This fractured his mental blocks, and unsure of his identity he adopted Bruce Wayne’s and went on vacation in France. Batman sent the JLA to apprehend him, fearing his mental blocks would break down again. The JLAers assigned to “Wayne” provoked him, and he reverted to his White Martian form, but they defeated him before he could telepathically free his fellow Martians. The JLA refortified the amnesia of the other brainwashed Martians but agreed they needed a better and more permanent solution.

(JLA #54-58) - When the JLA fought Id Martian Manhunter had a fleeting wish about not wanting to be lonely, so Id woke up Earth’s White Martians. They planned on conquering Earth, using it as a citadel so they could extend their rule across the galaxy. They created a power base, and began kidnapping latent telepaths to feast on their brains and absorb their mental powers. They kept the JLA busy with a number of distractions, including activating a nuclear power station in Murmansk while the JLA were there handing out food. Green Lantern contained the explosion, and Batman found the Martian’s lair in Phoenix, Arizona. The Martians captured both Batman and Martian Manhunter. The Martians set up Ion Stations that introduced viral subatomic particles into the atmosphere that attached to oxygen atoms and set them at slow combustion so there’d be no fire on Earth, eliminating the Martians one weakness. Superman located one of the stations, but was attacked by the Martians. Martian Manhunter escaped the Martians and destroyed the Ion Stations, but it would take time for the atmosphere to heal. The JLA took a stand at Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, using the armaments Superman had stored there. They were defeated, and tricked the Martians into exiling the JLA to the Phantom Zone using Superman’s projector. Here they came up with a plan to defeat the Martians without being scrutinized by their telepathy. Atom was hidden at microscopic size in the Fortress, and freed the JLA. The Martians defeated an army of Earth’s heroes and prepared to start exterminating humans so they’d have the planet for themselves. The JLA lured the White Martians to the Moon, and a number of heroes with sorcerous abilities created an oxygenated atmosphere on the Moon so that the JLA could create fire there to use against the Martians. Martian Manhunter sent the defeated Martians into the Phantom Zone.

(JLA #86) - Martian Manhunter was taken over by the Burning, a Martian race memory of their previous savage selves. In desperation the JLA unlocked thePhantom Zone to seek aid from the White Martians, but by the time they got there the Burning had already mutilated or killed most of them.

Comments: Created by Grant Morrison & Howard Porter

White Martians received a profile in JLA Secret Files #3.

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