The Absolute Universe is the newest and most successful Elseworld in a long time. Instead of the universe tilting towards Superman’s hope, everything is engulfed by Darkseid’s tyranny. Every character and aspect of reality has been changed irrevocably, but it is most obvious in the changes of the heroes. The concept of Absolute heroes is to strip them of their essentials and change everything. The heroes are basically the same, but the main points that were thought to be immutable have been changed. Wonder Woman was raised in Hell, Flash has no Family or Speedway, and Superman was not raised by the Kents. Without a doubt, the biggest changes happened in Absolute Martian Manhunter.
In the Prime Ministry, J’onn J’onzz is the last Martian, brought to Earth through time and space by mistake and chooses to defend his new home with his incredible powers. However, in the Absolute Universe, he is not a Martian at all. John Jones is an FBI agent in a crumbling marriage on the verge of dissolution. After being caught in an explosion, his mind was expanded by his new psychic partner, the Martian. Instead of being a true Martian, he’s an idealist who wants everyone to understand compassion. For a long time, it was thought that the Martian only had the power to affect people’s thoughts in a weak way, but Totally Martian Manhunter #10 just showed that John has even greater powers.
The Martian was conquered by Agents who were able to operate on the mental plane of metaphors as well as they could on the physical world. In Martian despair, John was left with Despair-the-Zero, who tried his best to make John give up everything. He was mentally challenged and convinced everyone in his life that he was crazy, when the Society revealed his name to the Martian during his torture. Agent Rainbow escorted John to his motel with an army of psychedelic soldiers that were as real as an acid trip.
John tried to fight back, but ended up being caught. Rainbow gave him a speech about protecting the imaginary sanctity of its borders and powers, and is ready to kill him with guns. When everything was in pitch darkness, a firefly sent by the Martian found John, and his hope was revived. Rainbow unloaded several bullets, but they passed through John. He broke free and went through the rainbow and the wall. John got into his car and, after meeting the Martian, drove to a symbolic location and entered Nihilo Bay, the prison of hopelessness where they kept him. Together, John and the Martian emerged from the eternal darkness.
Martian Thinking Power has Real Power
This is not the first time John has done something superhuman in this series. He has been connecting with everyone since he first contacted Martian. He walked through the fire and sent a message in issue #3, and beat the intangible man and merged everyone’s minds in issue #6. However, all these powers have always been physical. There has been a possibility that these powers were not real, but were just symptoms of John’s mental breakdown. Read the series again, ignoring everything supernatural, and you’ll find that everything John did made sense to the average person with incredible insight.
However, going through a storm of bullets and a wall, is irrevocable proof that he has superpowers that can affect the real world in a positive way. He can do more than push people to certain ideas or sympathetic achievements. John and the Martian can physically transform, which means they officially put the superhero name on the line. Of course, so far, their shown powers are different from those of the original Martian Manhunters. They share consciousness control and telepathy, although both are shown differently. The duo’s Martian Vision allows them to see thoughts and ideas rather than heat vision.
John and Martian also have no other Martian Manhunter abilities. They cannot change shape, they are not very strong, and they cannot fly. In terms of strength, at least physically, they are definitely the weakest heroes Absolute has shown so far. I think Absolute Batman beats Bane in a fight, but not John and Martian. That is, if they fight physically. Their power is mental, or they represent metaphors made of reality. They can see into everyone’s mind and go there, writing parts of anyone they meet. John can even follow the Martian to those symbolic locations, now, which greatly increases the potential damage he can deal.
John Jones is on his way to becoming something bigger than a broken man. He can become a hero who can fight and save people in ways that no one else can, as John can get inside a person’s head, and the Martian can find a way to help them understand the world around them.
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