Miss Martian (Young Justice animated series)

Miss Martian

(Young Justice cartoon version)


Context

Young Justice was an animated television series. It ran for two seasons (2011-2013). Young Justice wasn’t based on the prior comic book series. Instead, it took place in a series-specific version of the DC Universe (“Earth-16”) and with a different roster.

On Earth-16, super-heroes have been around for less than a decade, but the Justice League already has sidekicks. Yearning to be considered as real heroes, these teenagers form “the Team”. The Team specializes in covert missions and reconnaissance.

The show’s tone was a healthy blend of teen angst, humour, and action. Throughout the series, the plot remained fresh while respecting the source material.

At this stage, our Young Justice profiles cover the first 10 episodes of Season 1.


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Background

  • Real Name: M’gann M’orzz.
  • Other Aliases: Megan Morse.
  • Marital Status: Single.
  • Known Relatives: J’onn J’onzz (uncle), Sisters (x12).
  • Group Affiliation: Young Justice.
  • Base Of Operations: Mount Justice, Happy Harbour, Rhode Island.
  • Height: 5’4” Weight: 110 lbs.
  • Eyes: Brown Hair: Red


Powers and Abilities

M’gann M’orzz is a typical female of the martian species; and correspondingly possesses most of the abilities that a typical female of the species would possess.

Like all martians, M‘gann has complete and utter psionic control over every molecule that makes up her physical body. This control grants her a malleable form that can alter its shape at her every whim.

Theoretically, she can contort her physical structure into various shapes, elongate and/or grow extra limbs, or even alter her natural shape and colour to appear human.

Mimicking a human form requires a certain degree of concentration and skill (in the past she has demonstrated difficulty in mimicking human males). Despite this she can maintain her selected form for an indeterminate amount of time without undue risk or strain.


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M’gann has learned through practice to alter the colour and temperature of her outer layer of skin to accurately depict her surroundings. She does so with enough detail that she effectively becomes invisible when motionless, and a hazy blur when in motion.

She can be seen and detected by the naked eye when camouflaged in this manner. But one would need to know what they were looking for and/or possesses highly keen or superhuman senses to detect her when motionless.

Psionics

M’gann’s psionic  gifts can be applied externally as well. Using her psionic strength M’gann can manipulate and move large objects without physically touching them.

The exact limits of her telekinetic strength has not been measured but she has literally uprooted large boulders from the earth, deflected a full out assault from Superboy and slammed aerial fighter drones together in flight with no visible strain to herself.

By focusing her telekinesis upon her own frame, M’gann can defy gravity and fly through sheer force of will.

Miss Martian focusing on a white background

M’gann’s psionic strength isn’t limited to physical interaction with the world around her. Like all Martians, M’gann is capable of communicating non-verbally with other sentient beings. She can literally project her thoughts and feelings into the minds of any being that surrounds her.

This form of telepathic intrusion can be seen as extremely invasive to humans (and even painful in some cases) but it is the natural form of communication amongst Martians. In addition to “simple” communication; M’gann possesses enough telepathic strength and precision to examine the memories of any mind she is in contact, restore lost memories or to do battle on the psychic plane.

Unlike her uncle, M’gann has yet to master the martian art of “density-shifting,” which would allow her to potentially achieve a state of total intangibility, or by reversing the process and increasing her density gain a measure of superhuman strength and durability. When or if she will master this technique is unknown.


History

[This is an abridged version of the history that can be found in the Young Justice (Main Article) writeup. See said article for a more detailed description of the Team’s History]

Miss Martian at the helm

M’gann M’orzz, one of Martian Manhunter’s many nieces, spent her formative years on the planet Mars living amongst her own people while being raised alongside her 12 sisters.

During this time, she somehow became infatuated with life on the planet Earth (most likely due to hearing stories about her uncle’s adventures there) and developed an unrelenting desire to visit the small blue planet.

Stowaway

Opportunity finally knocked for M’gann in the month of May of the current year, when J’onn prepared to return to his duties on the Earth. As he prepared to leave, M’gann covertly stowed away on his vessel and only revealed herself when the two Martians made Earth-fall.

J&’onn kept M’gann’s presence on Earth a secret for the next few months. M’gann used the time to familiarize herself with her new home, and spent countless hours perfecting her human guise. She based her identity on an old North American sitcom, including her mannerisms and speech patterns.

Despite her own readiness to meet her uncle’s allies, J’onn was reluctant to expose her to any form of danger and more so, to human teenagers.

Miss Martian piloting her ship

It wasn’t until the protégés of three of his Justice League allies rescued the youth Superboy from Cadmus Labs that J’onn changed his mind. With that single action, the three young men (Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash) displayed enough courage, determination and capability to impress the enigmatic Martian.

As such, when Batman formed his covert team on the 8th of July, they were introduced to M’gann.

Mount Justice

M’gann met the team in the caves of Mount Justice. She received a warm reception from all of the boys, save Superboy. Despite this, she took immediate notice of the awkward youth and in an attempt to set him at ease, changed the colour of her clothes to match his own.

Recognizing the gesture for what it was, Superboy gave M&’gann a slight smile which she reciprocated widely.

Unlike the young men on the team, M’gann had no practical experience as an adventurer or superhero. She simply tried to fit in the best she could. Their first adventure together nearly ended in disaster, when M’gann made a disastrous assumption that their robotic foe was in truth the Red Tornado in disguise.

This mistake resulted in the team taking a sound beating, and the others, particularly Superboy reacting poorly to her.

However once she took a few moments to regain her calm and thought through the experience, she rallied. She came up with a plan that took the villain, Mister Twister, down. With that, M’gann regained the trust of not only the boys, but she also gained a measure of self-respect at the same time.

Superboy

Between adventures, M’gann found herself spending most of her free time with Superboy within the caves of Mount Justice. The 2 were the only members of the team without civilian identities or extra-curricular activities (school for example).

As the two spent more and more time together, both on and off of missions, they forged a unique friendship that blossomed into a full-blown crush for M’gann.

Shortly after the 4th of September, it was decided M’gann and Superboy should try to better integrate with people more their age. It was decided (by their mentors) that they would go to the local high school in Happy Harbour. M’gann took the name Megan Morse and was eager to go.

When Superboy still hadn’t chosen a name for himself, M’gann (Megan now) suggested to him the name “Conner” as it was her favourite Earth name. With a dispassionate shrug, Superboy accepted the name. While their first day at school was uneventful, it was an enjoyable experience for the young Martian girl.

Terror Twins

One short week later, M’gann and Superboy were given a unique mission. The two were sent to Belle Reve, a prison designed to contain superhuman prisoners, in the guise of the Terror Twins. They were sent to discover the reason that 4 supervillains, all with cold based powers, were easily captured on the same day.

Miss Martian parts the sea

It wasn’t long before they discovered that the 4 chilly villains were critical to a plan that would have resulted in a facility wide escape for all of the captured supervillains.

Superboy proved critical to disrupting the escape plan, but was unable to do so before M‘gann fell afoul of Killer Frost. The cold blooded villainess encased M’gann in a block of solid ice rendering her unconscious for quite some time.

M’gann eventually regained consciousness when Superboy discovered her and telepathically begged her to return to him.

The icy prison shattered into tiny shards when M’gann eventually unleashed her telekinetic might. Exhausted, M’gann then fell into Superboy’s waiting arms who immediately kissed her with a passion she had not expected. Despite her surprise, M’gann eagerly returned the kiss and the two took the first step in their still burgeoning relationship.

Just an illusion

On the 16th of October, M’gann and the other members of “The Team” took part in a telepathic training exercise that went awry. The point of the scenario was to allow the team to experience failure within a controllable environment, but during its execution something went horribly wrong.

Artemis was murdered within the illusion, and grief stricken, M’gann telepathically wrenched control of the exercise from the Martian Manhunter who had been guiding it. Under her control the exercise took a turn for the worse, eventually resulting in the illusionary death of every member of the Team.

The Team was eventually released from the grips of the illusion but not before they had all experienced a sense of loss that still haunts them to this day.


It isn’t easy being green

Despite her assertions to the contrary, Miss Martian may not be all that she says. M‘gann claims to be a Green Martian, but her New Earth counterpart is a member of the White Martian race.

Only time will tell whether or not M’gann is being completely honest with regards to her species. She has already lied to her teammates regarding her methods of arriving on Earth. In addition, she reacted extremely poorly when Black Canary even mentioned that she had taken on a “white” appearance.


Description

It can only be assumed that in her true form, M’gann has the normal appearance for a Martian female. However, at this point in time, she has never been seen in this form.

In her “human” guise, Miss Martian appears to be an attractive teenaged girl, with brown eyes, shoulder length red hair and freckles on her cheeks. The only thing that would reveal her Martian heritage is the fact that her skin is a shade of vibrant green.

Depending on who she is mingling with, she will disguise her skin-tone in these situations, shifting it from vibrant green to the usual skin tone of a caucasian woman.

Costume

Her costume closely imitates that of her uncle’s. It has a white short-sleeved top that has a large red “X” criss-crossed over the chest. She wears a red belt with a solid gold circular buckle around her slim waist, and a short blue skirt as well. A matching blue cape, gloves and ankle high boots completes her ensemble.

Miss Martian's morphing shuttle

For covert operations, she wears a black form fitted body suit with the same red “X” laid across her chest. Her cape shifts to a much darker shade of blue, and gains a fitted hood that she wears over her head to cover her auburn locks.

In casual situations or when going to school, she can usually be found wearing a white or light pink T-shirt under a short-sleeved crop top sweater, skirt, knee-high socks with brown shoes, and a headband to keep her hair back.


Personality

Miss Martian is an exceptionally sweet and caring young Martian girl, who is enamoured with life on earth. Her entire personality seems to be based on female characters from sitcoms from a bygone era.

This isn’t to say that she comes off as old fashioned, rather she is incessantly perky and cheerful; not enough to make her annoying but more than enough to make her stand out in a crowd.

Despite her constant “research” into earth culture, M’gann can still be surprised by the customs and actions of humans. At times this makes her appear to be somewhat scatterbrained and confused. When a moment of clarity hits her, she often has a visceral and emotive reaction; slapping her forehead while loudly exclaiming, “Hello, Megan!”

One would be remiss if they did not mention M’gann’s intense feelings for Superboy. M’gann is extremely attracted to Superboy and initially acted awkwardly around him. She would often smile foolishly if he said anything complimentary to her and would find herself spontaneously complimenting his looks.

As their relationship grew (especially after their experiences in Bialya, where the two nearly shared a kiss) and with her affection seemingly being returned she has grown more confident around him.


Quotes

(While slapping forehead) “Hello, Megan !”

“You can call me Megan. It’s an Earth name, and I’m on Earth now.”

“Mimicking boys is harder…”

“I don’t understand. What’s wrong ? Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically.”

(To Superboy regarding his clothing, immediately after his refusal to wear a costume) “It totally works for you… in that you can totally do good work in those clothes.” (embarrassedly gives SB a thumbs up, and then turns invisible)

(While battling Psimon on the psychic plane) Miss Martian: “He’s too strong.”
Superboy: (taking her hand) “You’re strong, and I’m stubborn. Together.”
Miss Martian: “Together. (turns attention to Psimon) GET OUT OF MY HEAD !”

Superboy: “C’mon, I’ll keep you safe.”
Miss Martian: “You’re my boyfriend Conner, not my keeper. Stop acting like a character from a sixties sitcom.”

Black Canary: “You’ve turned white.”
Miss Martian: “NO ?!?” (bolts up and stares at her hands) “Oh… You meant Caucasian.”


DC Universe History

The events of Young Justice are canonical and take place on Earth-16 within the DC Universe. Any travel through the DC Multiverse could potentially bring the player characters into contact with this version of Miss Martian.



Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG

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Miss Martian

Dex: 05 Str: 06 Bod: 05 Motivation: Responsibility of Power
Int: 06 Wil: 07 Min: 08 Occupation: Super Hero
Inf: 05 Aur: 06 Spi: 06 Resources {or Wealth}: 002
Init: 016 HP: 025

Powers:
Chameleon: 09, Flight: 07, Force Field: 08, Hypnotism: 12, Invisibility: 06, Mental Blast: 10, Mental Illusion: 12, Mind Probe: 08, Self Manipulation: 09, Telekinesis: 12, Telepathy: 14

Bonuses and Limitations:

  • Invisibility: Has Partial Invisibility while moving Limitation (-1FC); Invisibility is sight only (+0).
  • Self Manipulation: Can only be used to gain physical abilities (Claws, Extra Limbs, Stretching, etc.).

Skills:
Artist (Actor): 04, Vehicles (Telepathic): 06

Bonuses and Limitations:
Miss Martian has little experience in taking on convincing male forms and thus suffers a -2 CS penalty to any Actor check while in a male form.

Advantages:
Headquarters (Expansive – Mount Justice), Language (Martian), Slowed Aging.

Connections:
The Team (High), Martian Manhunter (High), Justice League (Low).

Drawbacks:
Age (Young: Appears 16), Innocent, Secret Identity, Strange Appearance (True Appearance).

Genre:
Action.

Equipment:
Bio Ship (See below).


Martian Bio-Ship

Miss Martian’s Bio-ship is a techno-organic construct that she uses for transportation over long distances. It shares her ability to morph its shape and at rest, it resembles a giant egg.

The ship is normally controlled via telepathic commands from M‘gann both its interior and exterior can to accommodate any situation; from providing extra seats for passengers to growing manual controls that would allow a human to pilot it.

By altering the colour and temperature of the ships outer layer, the ship can also activate a camouflage mode and effectively become invisible. It is currently housed in the hangar of The Cave. It’s stats are as follows:

Bio Ship [BODY 12, Flight: 12, Invisibility: 10, Sealed Systems: 18, Self Manipulation: 10, R#:01. Bonuses & Limitations: Hardened Defenses, while normally configured to be piloted telepathically Self Manipulation can be used to grow controls with which a human can fly the ship (+1)].


Design notes

  • Capped her STR at 06 APs since she has never definitively displayed super-human strength in an episode of the show. In physical combat she has proved to be as effective as Robin while using his escrima staffs. In one instance, she possibly demonstrated greater than human strength while levering a giant crocodile’s mouth open, but she did so by growing two extra arms, utilizing her whole body and presumably pushing her strength.
  • APs of TK are based on her repulsion of Superboy’s mindless attack in Bialya, her forcing two drone ships to collide, and her ability to toss two gigantic crocodiles into the air while simultaneously holding back the water of a still river.
  • Increased suite of telepathic abilities as she has shown more during the execution of the show, and AP levels as Martian Manhunter stated unequivocally that she was actually stronger than he is.


By Bryan Gittens.

Source of Character: Young Justice cartoon series (Episodes 1-18), voiced by Danica McKellar.

Helper(s): Wikipedia, WORG: Miss Martian (Universe AZ) and Martian Manhunter Writeups, Frank G. Murdock, Eric Langendorff, Azrael, Peter S Piispanen, Chris Cottingham.

Writeup completed on January 08, 2012.