Megan Morse (Americanization of M'gann M'orzz) is Miss Martian, a super-powered alien from the planet Mars, and, alongside John Jones, is the planet's sole survivor.
M'gann is a White Martian, a race that lived alongside the Green Martians but the two races could never manage to live in peace, resulting in a war of extermination known as the "Martian Holocaust". She managed to escape due to her parents putting her in a spaceship directed to Earth when she is still an infant.
Discovered by King Faraday and Checkmate, young M'gann was kept for studying inside a facility underneath the agency's headquarters and was raised by Faraday, whom she reminded of his own deceased daughter. After Zod's attack on the headquarters, she and Faraday were locked inside the facility with him ultimately dying of natural causes. Traumatized, the young Martian escaped and acting on pure instinct, started killing people she perceived as evil, until Batman and John Jones tracked her down and gave her a purpose to start over.
After some reluctance, she accepted John as her only remaining family and agreed to become his protege.
Physical Appearance[]
M'gann, in her true Martian form, appears as a grotesque, noseless seven-feet-tall, thin humanoid creature with white pale skin, long limbs, a hunchback, pointed claws and tooth, red eyes and an oval skull. Her weight was never mentioned, however, since the ground seems to cracks over her pressure, it could be assumed that is enormous. (Effigy)
Because of her monstrous appearance, she doesn't use her real form to interact with humans but, thanks to her shape-shifting powers, she appears as a pretty Caucasian teenage girl with long dark red hair, bright blue eyes and freckles; identical in all respects to King Faraday's deceased daughter. In her civilian appearance, she usually wears blue or light-blue t-shirts, black or gray trousers and black shoes. (Effigy)
In her full costumed appearance, she combined her human form with the original one resulting in a humanoid bald female figure with red eyes adorned with eyelashes, red lips and a nose. She still appears very thin and keeps the white skin. Her costume, being a derivation of the Martian Manhunter's costume, consists of a primarily purplish blue suit, a large red belt with a yellow buckle and x-shaped straps across her chest which has a yellow rock on the front and back of her costume.
By the events of her battle with Doctor Phosphorus alongside her team, M'gann has taken on more humanoid facial features and added her red hair to her costumed form. She has also changed her costume by adding a blue collar that extends to her shoulders and replacing her red belt with a blue one.
Personality[]
"I am only a threat to the enemy!" – Megan, to John, Effigy
Because of her tragic past and hatred handed down from her ancestors, M'gann initially seems to be racist against Green Martians, and considers them all mass murderers. However, after the psychic link with John she understood that blood was spilled on both sides of the "Martian Holocaust" and reluctantly accept the Green Martian as her only remained family and vice-versa. (Effigy)
She seem to not feel any regrets about killing evil people because after seeing into their minds, she reasoned that "none were innocent". However she seems to have changed her point of view since the Martian Manhunter explained to her that it's not their place to judge. (Effigy)
Being from Mars and having never really interacted with many humans in her life, she was frequently unfamiliar with Earth customs and felt very uncomfortable, to the point where she declared that she's "more scared of humans than they could be of her".
John describes the White Martians behavior as "fiercely territorial" (for lack of better phrasing); a trait that M'gann shows openly, feeling the need to have a "nest" in which to return when she is tired. (Effigy)
Powers and Abilities[]
As a Martian, Megan doesn't seem to require an external power source, but Mars' inner atmosphere can restore hers abilities in the event of her losing them. So far, she has shown to possess most of the native Martian abilities. She may possess all abilities, but hasn't a great control over them.
Megan, as a Martian, has all the more common powers like Kryptonians do, such as vast strength, amazing speed, stamina and invulnerability. She also share their more advanced powers such as vision powers, flight, super senses and a regenerative healing factor. On top of that she possesses many more incredible abilities.
- Super Strength - Megan is incredibly strong. She can hurt other aliens, easily overpower and kill humans as well as metahumans, and lift extremely heavy objects. Her strength is such that she can penetrate a Kryptonian's invulnerability. A Martian can lift well over 100 tons, which is a low estimate since her strength is potentially incalculable. Her strength is on a par with a fully-powered adult Kryptonian like Superman. (Effigy)
- Super Speed - Megan can move and maneuver or react at high hypersonic speeds. She can easily reach Mach 10, and is even capable of much faster velocities if need be, so called "re-entry speeds". While running or flying, Megan generally leaves behind a stream of purple light. (Effigy)
- Invulnerability - Megan possesses a very high durability threshold as well as tissue and bone density that is above that of steel. As such, she is highly resistant and can withstand bullets, but aliens such as Kryptonians or other Martians can hurt her.
- Flight - Megan can easily defy the laws of gravity, allowing her to hover, levitate or even maneuver in the air at will, apparently through some type of telekinetic field. Because she rarely super speeds, she is more often seen traveling using this ability. (Effigy)
- Shapeshifting - Megan can alter her mass, density and shape into virtually anything. Megan uses this ability to maintain her human form. She can also create clothes when she needs to. (Effigy)
- Healing Factor - Megan can regenerate automatically her wounds, even those that for a human are deadly, in a matter of few minutes just by leaving Earth's atmosphere, otherwise it won't work. (Effigy)
- Telepathy - Megan is inherently telepathic, and can enter a being's mind mentally and communicate with them,read minds and project thoughts. She prove to prefer a mind communication to a normal speech. (Effigy) She is also shown to be able to use here telepathy to communicate with all the titans at the same time.
- Telekinesis - Megan can move or push and manipulate objects/people with her mind. Also she can make shields. Habitually used this ability for flight.
- Super Stamina - Megan has an elevated stamina. As such, she can maintain constant movement for long periods of time. She also doesn't require sustenance, as it survived when King Faraday died of dehydration and starvation, and has no need to breathe, as she proven when she flew in the space.
- Invisibility - Megan is able to become temporarily invisible.
- Intangibility - Megan has the ability to phase her body through any object or allow any object to pass through her body. This ability is linked to her willpower. (Effigy)
- Martian Vision - Megan can shoot threads of fire from her eyes, and bolts of force causing damage greater than 1,000 lbs of TNT. However, according to John, she has very little control over this gift. (Effigy).
- Longevity: Despite being several decades old, Megan is still considered young by martian standards. She can potentially live for centuries.
Vulnerabilities[]
Megan is extremely vulnerable to fire of any kind; prolonged exposure to it can remove her powers and abilities permanently unless she contacts Mars' inner atmosphere somehow. Additionally, like every Martian, she is afraid of fire in all its forms.
Megan's healing factor is slowed down to human-like rate while within Earth's atmosphere, possibly because of the high quantities of oxygen in the air.
Early life[]
M'gann was born on Mars, a planet torn asunder by misunderstanding and hate between the Green Martians and the White One. When she was just a toddler, her parents understood that the war, which became known as "The Martian Holocaust", would result in the destruction of both the races. So the couple decided to save at least their daughter and sent her to Earth into a spaceship.
After the crash of her ship in Colorado, near Checkmate's Headquarters, she was found by some of the organization's agents and kept captive in the facility. Some time after this, the daughter of her chief jailer, King Faraday, dies and M'gann, finding a picture of her, assumes her appearance in an attempt to console him.
The man, touched, begins to become attached to the little Martian and raised her as her own daughter, despite always in the limitations of her cell.
After Major Zod's attack to Checkmate, M'gann and Faraday were trapped inside the facility in the cell where the young Martian had lived since her arrival on Earth. Here the two stay together for months before the man died from hunger and, in a last sign of affection, recorded on his cellphone a message for whoever finds his corpse: take care of his daughter.
Again alone in the darkness, M'gann lives in desperation alongside to her surrogate father's deceased body. When Doctor Fate restores John Jones's abilities, she feels the mind of the Martian and understands that he is a Green One.
In a fit of rage, she freed herself from the prison and goes on the trail of the other Martian for fear that he wants to eliminate people on Earth like his race did with the White Martians.
Season Eleven[]
- "The Green killed the White!" - Megan
- "And the White, the Green, blood was spilled on both side of that war!" - John, Effigy
Driven by pure instinct the young Martian arrives in Gotham City, where she runs into a group of Mutants and kill them. Then she's caught in the act by Nightwing and, in an impulsive reaction she slashes her and runs away to Batman's arrival.
Then she perceives the presence of the other Martian and assaults his home attacking its neighbors. Before she can harm them however, John intervenes and confronts her. During the fight, M'gann recognizes him as "J'onn J'onzz" and calls him a "murderer", referring to what he had done to her species. The intervention of Batman, however, interrupts the battle and puts her back on the run. Returned to her "nest" (i.e. the Checkmate's facility where she lived her early years on Earth), she discovers that Batman and Martian Manhunter have preceded her and engages a second clash with the latter as the Dark Knight inspects the place trying to discover the origins of the creature.
During the battle, M'gann sets out the reasons for her behavior: the distrust of the other Martian and the fact that she attacked human beings only because she was afraid or felt them as "evil." Shortly after, Batman threatens her with a firebomb and forces the young White Martian to tell her story to them.
After she performs the request, the Hound of Mars, moved, realizes that everything that the young White Martian has known in her life is hate and, realizing that she is the only family left to him, decides to take her under his wing and make her his protege, a proposal that M'gann accepts with gratitude.
When Doctor Phosphorus escapes from prison, Superboy appears and engages into a fight with him. When Phosphorus sets a Ferris wheel on fire, Megan Morse, Blue Beetle, Speedy, Zan and Jayna, who along with Superboy are all members of Jay Garrick's team, surprisingly appear and Megan says he must go and save the kids on the wheel and leave Phosphorus to them.
Megan telepathically communicates with the tourists and the citizens, that are at the scene, assuring them that the situation is under control and that D.E.O. is on route but when Phosphorus fires at Megan, because of her pyrophobia she accidentally changes into her real Martian form. She then changes back into her more humanoid appearance and proceeds to continue to communicate with the civilians but Superboy tells her to watch out as some wreckage are going to fall on her. Jay Garrick then appears on time and saves her leaving both Conner and Megan surprised.
After the fight Jay appears saying that they actually failed on their mission, making them feel very disappointed about themselves. Garrick then tells them to return to the school.
At the team's headquarters Garrick talks to his students a little bit about Bart Allen's life, how Bart was the inspiration for the creation of the team and the Titan Corporation, which funded the school. He tells them he is very disappointed about their first mission and he is not sure if they ever will be ready for field work. Mia says that they couldn't just sit there and do nothing while Phosphorus was causing havoc and Conner says that Garrick is not fair with them. Jayna and Zan also say that they had to stop Phosphorus, but Jaime says that Garrick has got a point. Megan says that the discord is clouding her mind but Garrick tells her to toughen up. Garrick then informs them that the D.E.O. wrangled Phosphorus back to prison and that they would probably succeed stopping him themselves, without the team's interference. Conner asks if he knows how Phosphorus escaped in the first place but Garrick says it's not their problem and if they make some more mistakes like this one it won't be even possible for Superman to convince the public that this team should not be locked away, too.
Later at the top of Golden Gate Bridge, Conner meets with Megan and they talk a little bit about his powers, Megan's home planet, Mars and her "uncle", J'onn, who is on Mars and tries to reestablish their atmosphere so that the planet can be someday humanity's second home. Conner asks Megan if she and J'onn really are the last two Martians and she says the age of Mars has passed with J'onn being the sole green and her being the last white, while she is transforming into her real Martian form. Conner then comforts her by saying he knows how she feels and reveals to her he is half-Luthor but Megan responds by saying that she already knew it from the time they first met, because of her mind-reading ability.
After that they kiss and then continue their conversation with Megan saying she will join Martian Manhunter on Mars once her tenure on Earth has ended and that she enjoys the opportunity to make amends for her actions. Conner says that Martha Kent tried to raise him the same way she did with Clark but he didn't want to be a burden so they both decided he would be better at the school. He then says that he needs to be his own man and be responsible for his own actions so he can make Superman proud and be the kind of leader Jay Garrick thinks he has the potential to be. Megan asks him what stops him from doing it and Conner responds that he is afraid of doing something wrong and getting everyone killed.
While Conner and Megan return to the team's headquarters, Megan feels that something is wrong at the compound. When they arrive they find Mia trying to calm down Jayna, who is lying on the floor screaming her brother's name. Mia asks what is happening to Jayna and Megan responds that this reaction is caused by her connection to Zan, meaning that something has happened to him. Conner uses his super-hearing and hears Jaime, inside the building, talking to a young woman asking her why she is doing this. Conner then says that they've got trouble.
Jay, Mia and Megan confront their attacker, Slade Wilson's daughter, with Jay saying to her to leave his lawn. He then runs towards her but she uses a gravity bomb, which immobilizes him. Mia then fights with her seemingly defeating her but Rose manages to poison Mia with a needle full of a drug called, "Vertigo", making her sick. Megan asks Rose what did she do to Mia and she says to Megan not to worry because the drug will run its course before long. Then Megan says she is not the one she should be worried and mentally attacks Rose but before Megan can actually do to her any damage, Rose reveals that she also knows about her weaknesses and attacks her with fire.
Later, Rose threatens the rest of the team to stand down or she will kill their teammates by detonating the bomb Jaime has on his back. Conner tells her if she wants a real fight she should confront him and leave the rest of his team out of this.
While Conner confronts Rose, she says that he might be strong but he is also careless, and then wounds him with her sword. Seeing him hurt, an obviously worried Megan calls his name but Conner tells her and the rest of the team to stay back.
Later, Conner telepathically communicates with Megan and tells her to coordinate the team and free Jay Garrick so she uses her ability of intangibility to free Jay from the gravity bomb. After Jay was freed, he says to Megan to watch over the rest of the team until he gets back and he then speeds away heading to Alcatraz island.
After Rose is arrested by D.E.O., Zan along with Jaime appear being on top of a huge pink dinosaur, in which Jayna has been transformed. Watching them the team shouts to the D.E.O.'s soldiers that the dinosaur is with them.
Weeks later, Zatanna turns a young girl, named Rachel Roth, over to Jay Garrick and the Teen Titans at the airport, with the team being very excited for their new teammate.
Jaime is awoken by the Scarab, which informs him about an alien threat but neither the Scarab nor the Titans know what exactly it is. He and the others observe, while the rings approach their base, and even one of the rings identify one of them, Megan, as a potential harvester but she is deemed incompatible by the ring, which then moves on in search of another host. After that, Conner says they need to get Watchtower on the line immediately.
Weeks later, Superman and Lois arrive at Watchtower where Tess Mercer, Chloe and Oliver along with Batman, Nightwing Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, Jay Garrick and his team of teenagers. Clark tells Chloe, Tess and Bruce to find out everything from one of the Manhunters he destroyed about the Crisis, because more ships are on their way. As Batman starts to examine the crumpled Manhunter head he wonders where are they going, Clark grimly says everywhere.
The next day, Clark gathers all of the heroes onto his rooftop and gives them the lowdown. They can distract the Manhunters with physical attacks while Watchtower leads an evacuation to the heartland. If the distraction they provide fails everyone will die or be 'rebooted', but if they win everything will stay as it was and how they all remember the world. Clark tells them to say goodbye to their loved ones and suit up ready for war.
Superman delivers a rousing speech to the heroes. The other Earths might have been erased or rebooted but they are determined for their Earth to survive and their continuity to continue. With that Superman, Luthor and all of Earth's heroes attack the incoming Manhunters.
The Monitors automatons suddenly change direction and race to reboot Smallville and if they succeed everything will be lost. Superboy has gathered all of the youngest of heroes and they prepare to stop the tide. Superman orders him to stand down but another team arrives to help, the Legion. With the Legions arrival as back up the Titans with Superman's blessing rush to stop the reboot in Smallville.
Three weeks later LexCorp holds a major press conference and Lex introduces the public to a new monument built on the former Watchtower site. In a massive turnout Lex publicly admits that if it weren't for the heroes of earth the universe would be lost. Then Superman makes a speech that is broadcast all over the world. The Teen Titans are also watching the reveal, in their new base.
After her son's birth, Chloe worries about the dangers in the world and the rise in heroes. Oliver reminds her they all fight for justice and will ensure their new baby will have a safe and healthy upbringing. Chloe laments that family should be here for their big occasion and Ollie smiles as he wheels her into the waiting room to be greeted by their 'family' composed of the Heroes that they met over time.
Appearances[]
In the Comics[]
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. 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.
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). 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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 martian transvestism after she was shown in romantic situations with several characters.
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.
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. 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. When J'onn asks Megan who did this to her, Megan says she was attacked by a female green Martian.
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.
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. After defeating Supergirl, M'gann uses her abilities to help brainwash Blue Beetle and Robin into serving Alexander. 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 Martain 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. Working together with Solstice, M'gann defeats her old nemesis Sun Girl.
In this timeline of The New 52, history is altered and the most recent incarnation of Teen Titans is presumably erased from existence. 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.
Trivia[]
- Miss Martian was created by Geoff Johns and Tony S. Daniel and first appeared in Teen Titans #37 (2006).
- In the comics M'gann initially pretend to be a Green Martian for fear that the other superheroes would have turned away if they found out she was a White Martian.
- In the comics, Megan assumes a Green Martian appearance in her superheroes outfit, while in Smallville Universe she stays in her White Martians guise, just a little altered to seem more human.
- Megan is the first character to call John Jones by the Martian spelling of his name.
- The character is named "Megan Morse" after Marvel Comics associate editor Ben Morse's wife, Megan. Morse is a friend of Johns'.[1]
- Miss Martian is the main antagonist in Effigy.
Other faces of Megan Morse[]
See also[]
References[]
External links[]
- Miss Martian on Wikipedia
- Miss Martian on DC Database
- Miss Martian on Young Justice Wikia