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Martian Manhunter might die in the upcoming “Death of the Justice League” and his latest adventure proves it might be the League’s fault.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the backup story “Martian Manhunter: A Face in the Crowd” Part Three from Action Comics #1039 by Shawn Aldridge, Adriana Melo, Hi-Fi, and Dave Sharpe, on sale now from DC Comics.
DC recently announced that nine members of the Justice League will meet their end in Justice League #75 in April. Martian Manhunter is among the members of the team in the “Death of the Justice League” story and the chances of him coming back alive are slim. So why might this powerful martian hero meet his end in April? His latest story could hold the answer.
J’onn J’onzz has returned to his roots in the Action Comics #1039 backup story “Martian Manhunter: A Face in the Crowd” Part Three. Although he’s most well-known for his place on the Justice League, the Manhunter from Mars also has his own, more grounded solo adventures. In the past, he’s taken the form of human police detective John Jones and secretly used his Martian abilities to solve crimes on Earth. Now he’s back to that life again after some time away from it all. However, he’s rusty and that’s causing him to slip up.
J’onn, not in the mood to get into a lengthy interrogation, used his telepathic abilities to read the minds of two thugs he caught. He didn’t expect to find a mental trap waiting for him inside. The Silver Age villain group VULTURE (created by Jack Miller and Joe Certa and first appearing in House of Mystery #160) was expecting him and set up something made for the Manhunter. However, the terrorist group taunted J’onn by saying that the old detective John Jones would have seen this coming and already have figured out that they were the ones behind his current case.
It seems that Martian Manhunter’s time in the Justice League has dulled his detective skills. As part of the League, he’s usually up in the Watchtower, coordinating the team or on monitor duty, when he’s not in the field that is. These extended periods of quiet contemplation and oversight mean that J’onn has lost the perspective he had whilst on the streets. With his telepathic abilities too, the Watchtower must seem much quieter than everything down on Earth. Therefore he has less need to use his psychic abilities and gets less practice using them, which is partly what he’s being taunted.
He may not have spotted the psychic trap due to a lack of practice with his telepathy but there’s another far more important reason too. VULTURE taunted his waning detective skills most of all. As part of the Justice League, J’onn deals with very different threats to what he’s dealing with here. The League deals with threats that range from world-threatening to multiverse-ending, the likes of Starro or Darkseid, and those require a different outlook and a different skillset. In those situations, J’onn relies on his strength and his powers most of all, not his mind.
The Martian Manhunter’s detective skills have gone unused for so long that they’re no longer as sharp as they once were. What else could he miss then? If he’s unable to spot the handiwork of an old enemy like VULTURE, he could easily miss something far more deadly. J’onn has gotten comfortable as part of the Justice League and become too reliant on the strengths of his all-powerful teammates. So much so that he’s no longer honing his amazing abilities as much and, therefore, he’s much weaker than he should be.
This latest part of the story ended with this old enemy taunting that vultures only circle the dead. Could this be a reference to Martian Manhunter’s impending Justice League doom? It’s likely just another villain that believes they finally have their nemesis dead to rights but it may imply something more. If J’onn didn’t see this coming then he’s totally unprepared for the League’s doomed mission. In that case, their chilling taunt could ring true soon enough – and these vultures really are circling the dead.
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