Genre: Action/Superhero/Sci-Fi
Director: David Lowery
Writer: Chad Taylor
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Mahershala Ali, Gina Rodriguez, Edward James Olmos, Karl Glusman, Kris Kristofferson, Oona Chaplin, Armie Hammer
Plot: Martian Manhunter (Mahershala Ali) sits silently on the moon, looking down on Earth. He is slightly bulkier and even more stoic than usual. Audio of different news broadcasts from around the world play over this, talking about the highly unusual atmospheric measurements scientists are reading from the moon and the preparation of a three-man mission to investigate the matter.
John Jones (Mahershala Ali) wakes up from a nightmare where he is burning from the inside and himself - or someone who looks like him - stares down upon his withering body. John is still traumatized his time in his fire-enforced cell in the Checkmate facility and realizes that it has triggered an innate form of PTSD dating back to the destruction of Mars. Detective work has dried up in his home base of Middleton, Colorado and he now feels alone and depressed. He feels disconnected – both from his home planet and the human race. He finds himself biding his time until the next Justice League mission, as those are his only friends here.
In an attempt to suppress his fears and past trauma, he decides to open his telepathic mind to all of humanity at once so he can finally feel like he fits in on Earth. When he does this, he goes into an epileptic state and faces an internal struggle to regain consciousness. When he does, he realizes that he can no longer transform into his Martian form. As such, he can no longer fly or read minds. While he is deeply distraught, he feels this is for the better so he can start a fresh life and will no longer feel like a misfit.
After hearing about the accident, John is summoned to Star City by comrade Oliver Queen (Armie Hammer). After treating John to dinner, Oliver tells him about a series of arson incidents at a Queen Industries facilities and he believes the next target is a factory in rural south Texas. John perks up, realizing that is where his old friend Dr. Saul Garcia (Edward James Olmos) moved to work for Queen. Saul is the scientist who accidentally brought John to Earth and provided a home for an early home for him. John tells him he will investigate the matter.
In Las Rosas, John visits Saul’s ranch using the address given to him 15 years ago when Saul moved away. Saul approaches from a field with a couple of horses and yells John’s name. They rejoice and Saul tells him he was not expecting this but he is pleasantly surprised. They catch up on what Saul has been up to since moving away from Middleton and John begins to talk about himself but Saul says he obviously knows about his recent excursions given the worldwide news coverage. John tells Saul he will be in town for a couple days so they will need to meet up again. Saul suggests they meet in town instead of the ranch.
John visits the Queen factory, which is temporarily closed down in fear of an attack. John is approached by a police officer (Gina Rodriguez) who tells him this place is off-limits. When their eyes meet, there is a momentary confusion before they realize that they know each other. He looks at her name tag and sees “Garcia” and realizes that this Saul’s daughter Alba. She was only 12 when they left Middleton so that is why there was initial confusion.
John and Alba discuss why Queen factories are getting targeted. Alba tells him about the negative impact that this closing has caused on the community given that Queen is the main employer for the entire county (and most of the surrounding counties, at that). She asks if John wants to go out for a drink after her shift but he says he has work to do. She tells him the offer is still on the table. John investigates the evidence found at the past crime scenes and compares it to the JLI’s database. He discovers that these crimes are very similar to arson crimes in Gotham City, since traced back to an individual known as Firefly (Karl Glusman). Firefly has recently escaped from Blackgate Prison. John tries to use his telepathic ability out of habit to locate the criminal but remembers that he cannot.
He sets up surveillance cameras of his own and heads to the bar where Alba is. As they catch up, Alba talks about how she always wanted to be John’s sidekick growing up and that she actually entered the force because she looked up to John’s detective work. This makes him smile and Alba notes that is the first time she ever saw that. He laughs and tells her not to let Booster Gold know. They watch TV news coverage of an upcoming NASA shuttle that is going to space to investigate abnormal radiation levels on the moon. She asks if he ever misses space and he says that he is enjoying his time here more and more each day.
As they reminisce about Colorado, Alba says she misses the days when her dad was pursuing his dreams and not being a farmhand just to provide a livelihood for his family. John is confused and Alba tells him that her father does not own that ranch and is instead just a permanent employee for the owner. This is the reason he moved here, because his worth as a scientist was dried up. He never even worked for Queen. John is bummed out to hear this.
Alba, trying to lighten the mood, points out that now he knows what human disappointment feels like this. He tells her that is also the first time he has drank alcohol but he didn’t want to say anything as he wanted seem “cool” and they both laugh. Speaking of, Alba says she will order some more drinks. When she gets up, John notices Firefly in a dark corner drinking alone and John waits until she returns to tell her. As soon as they stand up a second time, their suspect hurriedly exits the joint and they chase after him.
After an intense car chase, John and Alba cause to Firefly to crash. They both get out of the car but Firefly leaves his vehicle and gets in a fist fight with the two of them. John is still strong but not as much as he was if he were still Martian. John and Alba’s teamwork proves useful and they are about to apprehend him but he is able to use his winged suit to fly away. Alba tells John to turn Martian and fly after him but he says that he cannot.
John books a room at a local hotel and stays there for the night. Alba visits him and says they didn’t get the chance to finish their conversation from earlier. Sensing a romantic tension between the two, John backs off - saying that he’s known her since she was young and it would feel like he is doing Saul wrong. She says she understands and then asks if John ever had a girlfriend or wife on Mars. He is at first silent but then says he did but he doesn’t want to talk about it. Alba, sensing his pain, moves on the subject and asks how he is holding up here on Earth. He says that despite his human form, he is still searching for a sense of humanity - human connection - to make him feel like home. She holds his hand and says that he is more understanding than any human she knows. They both pass out on the couch.
John and Alba are jolted awake by an explosion outside. He goes to investigate to find that his car has been destroyed. Firefly is in the sky, taunting him to come and find him. They load up in Alba’s squad car and track him using his easy-to-follow path. They eventually wind up in a dark, dense forest. Alba uses her flashlight but they can’t locate Firefly. Meanwhile, he starts to talk to them about his reasoning behind his actions.
He rants about how Queen Industries has turned against the people of the country after supplying weapons to Max Lord which caused unprecedented domestic damage. Meanwhile, low-level criminals like himself are put away in prison by “heroes” and poor support services make it inevitable that they recede right back into the criminal cycle once released. Billionaires like Oliver Queen have no accountability at all. Alba tries to talk the perp down while John reminds him that Queen has taken full responsibility and has atoned for his errors. They finally locate him with the flashlight, finding that he is has opened his suit to expose a large tattoo of a snake on his chest. He says that is time for the Martian Manhunter to face trial before the Serpent King.
Firefly subsequently shoots flames throughout the forest - setting the trees and ground ablaze. Alba shoots at him and hits him but it is too late. He falls to the ground, injured, but John is in a state of paralysis. Alba tells him they must hurry to escape but John gazes up into the flames with horror.
J’onn is on Mars, playing with his daughter K’yra. He's helping her develop techniques to master Martian telekinesis. His wife M’yri’ah (Oona Chaplin) watches from afar and she and J’onn share a smile. All of a sudden, a voice is heard throughout Mars. It is J’onn’s twin brother M’alefa’ak (Mahershala Ali) – Malefic for short. He rants about being ostracized on Mars because he is different. He can’t read minds and is not afraid of fire. When he was growing up, he wanted to be afraid of fire just so he can fit in. But now he has no choice but to act out. J’onn becomes immediately alarmed and reads his brother’s mind to locate where he is.
Malefic announces that he has released H’ronmeer’s Plague, which will soon end the Martian race. J’onn reaches him and tells stop whatever he is going to do but is told that it is too late. Malefic warns his brother not to use his telepathy. People hearing Malefic’s words become confused and try to communicate with each other but when they use their telepathic abilities, it activates the plague and causes their brains to internally combust. J’onn races to his home base, past thousands of Martians starting to burn from within. He reaches his home and finds his wife already deathly ill. As he goes to hold her hand, he turns to look at his daughter when he hears her practice saying hello to him through telekinesis.
He holds them both close to him as they soon succumb to the plague. He flies up to see the millions of Martians are set ablaze. The flames are reminiscent of the forest fire (but even worse). The entire race is gone except for J’onn and his brother. As he is in air, he feels a sudden burn but instead of being affected by the plague, he is zapped to Earth. Saul, a likable-but-still-mad scientist, is shocked that his homemade transportation beam actually worked. J’onn, still in shock from the plague outbreak and being suddenly transported to a new world, looks around in confusion – eventually setting his eyes on Saul’s 10-year-old daughter Alba, who reminds him of his own child.
John wakes up as he is being wheeled away by paramedics. He looks around and asks where Alba is as firefighters and policeman whiz by him in every direction. Saul is walking by his side and is in tears. He says that she was doing her duties and trying to carry John out of the forest when she passed out herself. Once he realizes she is dead, John reaches an apex of human emotion as he lets out an excruciating roar.
Saul takes John into the guest home on the ranch and introduces him to the rancher Buck (Kris Kistofferson). John breaks down crying into Saul’s arms, apologizing for not saving his daughter. As John knows, there is nothing worse than losing a child. Saul demands John not to blame himself as it was obviously out of his hands. Saul then tells John that her memorial service will be a closed-casket affair since they were not able to retrieve her body. This hurts John even more, knowing that Saul won’t be able to see his daughter one last time.
Over the ensuing weeks, Saul and Buck get John more involved on the ranch to help him cope with his grief. They all bond which helps lift John’s spirits. Saul talks about how passionate his daughter was about her job as she loved helping people and that she knew full well the risks involved (and determined it was worth it). This leads to introspection from John about his own role as a superhero on Earth.
They all gather around Buck’s TV to watch the latest NASA moon mission but the feed cuts out which is unusual. The newscasters then report that there has been an incident on the moon and that the astronauts are now considered missing and feared dead. As NASA and the government race to figure out how to pull off a rescue mission, John asks Saul if he still has some scientist in him.
Just as Saul did tests on John when he arrived on Earth, John wants Saul to experiment on him to reactivate his Martian DNA. Although it requires trial-and-error, Saul eventually successfully figures it out and John is able to transform into his old self. Despite resorting back to his stoic demeanor, he hugs Saul – knowing that it means a lot to his mentor that he can still prove himself as a scientist. J’onn tells him he has work to do.
Accompanied by a triumphant score, J’onn races through the skies and space, eventually landing on the moon. He finds the pod that the astronauts landed on but no astronauts. In the distance, he sees one of the astronauts moving along the moon’s surface in a motion in J’onn’s direction. When they meet, J’onn asks about the others, the astronaut looks J’onn in the eyes as he takes off his helmet – to J’onn’s horror. However, instead of dying, the astronaut grows in size and tells J’onn: “You don’t know how long I’ve been looking for you, Brother.” He transforms into his true Martian form, revealing himself to be Malefic.
The two begin to engage and J’onn discovers that his brother has already killed one of the astronauts and is holding the other two hostage. While Malefic gains the upper hand, he says that he will let the hostages go if J’onn will go back to Mars with him and end his centuries of exiled loneliness. J’onn, realizing that he cannot overpower his bulkier brother, agrees to give up his life on Earth to give his brother company on Mars. While they are leaving in Malefic’s Martian vessel, he telekinetically destroys the NASA ship – leaving the astronauts stranded and J’onn in disbelief.
On their vessel, Malefic details his many years of hunting for J’onn. He vents about being made to feel different and that he had to take it out on the rest of their race. J’onn tells him that he was not actually born different and growing up, they both were telepathic. But Maelfic grew to be jealous of his brother’s success, eventually acting on his dangerous instincts by haunting the mind of J’onn’s wife. Malefic laughs all of this off, as if it never happened. J’onn says that a court of elders stripped Malefic of his telepathy and other Martian characteristics. They then erased his memory so he would not target M’yri’ah again.
While Malefic is in disbelief about what he is hearing, J’onn changes the course of the vessel, now driving it towards the sun. J’onn places his hand on his brother’s shoulder and tells him that he has always had the abilities within him, he just didn’t know it. Including a fear of fire. Malefic is fuming but looks up and sees that the ship is now hurling a full speed towards the sun and he paralyzed in fear. J’onn looks straight into the sun, showing now sign of fear. He considers flying the ship into the Sun and ending his brother’s reign of terror…or perhaps both of their lives. However, he can’t bring himself to killing someone so he turns the ship around and heads back for the Moon.
He rescues the two astronauts and re-activates the communication stream so that NASA and the world know that they are safe. When they return to Earth, J’onn – deciding to stick to his Martian form - is hailed as a hero. He attends the funeral for the fallen astronaut. Meanwhile, he says he knows just the place for Malefic on Earth and makes arrangements for him to be held in the same anti-Martian cell that J'onn had to endure. J’onn visits Saul and tells him he has the connections to get him a high-paying job at Queen Industries. Saul rejects J’onn’s offer, telling him that he is content with staying retired and life on the farm. He tells J’onn how proud he is of him.
J’onn flies in place high above a city and its thousands of humans, ready to be a hero again.
MID-CREDITS SCENE: We are back in the burning forest, where Alba’s body is on the ground amidst shrubbery. The camera lingers on her before we see the surrounding roots and shrubbery move and consume Alba, pulling her into the ground. She lets out an exasperated breath before going completely under.
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