MM Weakness Explained

[MILatino]

Can someone explain what exactly is the Martian Manhunter's weakness against fire? The first time I heard that, I said to myself, "Well, DUH, it burns him. Doesn't it do that to almost anyone?" What does fire do to him other than what it does to anything else it comes into contact with... i.e. burn?

[CadaverousEyes]

It's psychosomatic. The Martian god of death was also the god of fire.

[MILatino]

Originally posted by CadaverousEyes
It's psychosomatic. The Martian god of death was also the god of fire.

Do you mean to say that he has arsonphobia, i.e. the fear of fire? That fire itself doesn't have any special effect on him other than the typical burning him like everyone else?

Or does it have something tangible over him, e.g. when he phases through something, he can't phase through fire? By "can't" I mean, he physically can't, not just that he's afraid to.

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

Fire is to a Martian as Kryptonite is to Superman. It saps him of all his abilities, although I don't know if it's any more damaging to him than anything else is. In Tower of Babel, Batman's counter to J'onn was to cover him in nanorobots which ignited when exposed to air, thus nullifying J'onn's mental abilities, but not, it seems, his strength (I think he knocked the Flash or Wonder Woman a good one) or causing him any permanent damage.

The origin of the weakness was probably completely arbitrary. I know they changed it to something psychosomatic, and something J'onn could work around, but now it seems to be back. I also recall an explanation that J'onn's family died in fire, as well as the one with the Martian god of death.

Perhaps the way it works is that associations with fire just break J'onn's concentration to a point where he can't use his mental abilities (flight, intangibiltity, shapeshifting, etc).

-- Ed/Ace

[Canomon]

It could be all those things...

Or, maybe its because fire probably isn't present on Mars. It's cold up there. VERY cold. Our Arctic winters are probably pleasant to J'Onn. Also, the Martian atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide (I think that's right. Been a while since I studied astronomy), and fire needs oxigen to burn. This adds another odd point: are Martians like plants in that they take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen? The science of comics and their shows...

Or, maybe I'm just a crazy little girl! Who knows for sure but the creators of the series?