In Aquaman/Green Arrow: Deep Target #6, the Martian Manhunter broke an old code, revealing a scary, morally reprehensible way to use his powers.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Aquaman/Green Arrow: Deep Target #6 now on sale from DC Comics
In the DC Universe, the Martian Manhunter (aka J’onn J’onnz) is considered one of the most honest heroes out there. J’onn’s moral compass has been relatively unbreakable, ergo why he’s been depicted as a stoic, immovable rock in the Justice League cartoons, Smallville and also, Supergirl. It’s something that also keeps the League on their toes.
They’ve all been susceptible to corruption now and again, but J’onn usually helps them stay the course. Given that he’s a telepath and has his own mind shields, they offer him protection and stability the others don’t have. However, in Aquaman/Green Arrow: Deep Target #6 (by Brandon Thomas, Ronan Cliquet, Ulises Arreola, and Josh Reed) J’onn broke his own code, revealing a terrifying and unethical way to use his powers.
In this story, Green Arrow and Aquaman barely managed to reset the timeline that the sinister group, Scorpio, reshaped. They used its repentant lizard-like leader from the future, General Anderton, to help out, by going back and taking down the project before it could mess with the timeline. However, while the heroes reverted to their normal selves after initially being swapped, Anderton remained a lizard. It led to Anderton, his human past-self, and all the Scorpio agents being taken away to the Sci-Crimes Division on a jet where Human-Anderton kept probing Lizard-Anderton and everyone else on what happened. He wanted to know if Lizard-Anderton was still playing some sinister game or if anyone else on the team manipulated the initiative so that the timeline could have remained fuzzy.
Shockingly, when the jet landed and everyone was taken in, Human-Anderton shapeshifted and revealed himself to be J’onn. He mentally linked with Ollie, letting him know the villain was telling the truth — Anderton didn’t know why there was still this small fracture in the timeline. Worse yet, J’onn confirmed he parsed through the other scientists’ minds as well, swimming around to see if they were hiding intel. It’s understandable J’onn was desperate, but this was highly unethical because he didn’t know if these prisoners may have had psi-blocks or traps that could have hurt themselves or J’onn. No matter what, they’re owed due process and deserved to be interrogated the right way, rather than what can be subjected to a telepathic, intrusive version. After all, they’re humans whose personal thoughts should remain private if permission hasn’t been given.
What’s further disappointing is when J’onn performed irresponsible mind-probing years ago, messing with the Bat’s memories and Dr. Light over the sexual assault of Sue Dibny, it created a civil war for the League. One would think would have J’onn learned from that debacle, opting for more honest ways of attaining information. It’s quite hypocritical of him and Green Arrow as Ollie himself expressed bitterness over this tactic in the past.
It’s an unethical cheat, despite all the good intentions. Ultimately, it could be chalked up to the timeline still being warped, and J’onn not behaving like his usual self. But so far, the evidence is proving that the Manhunter simply isn’t the paragon of virtue and morals fans held him as.
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