White Martians

White Martians
Interior artwork from JLA: Secret Files and Origins 3 (December, 2000). Art by Dale Eaglesham.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Created by	Grant Morrison (writer) Howard Porter (artist)
Characteristics
Place of origin	Mars

The White Martians are one of three fictional extraterrestrial races native to Mars in the DC Comics' shared universe. White Martians, also known as Pale Martians, appear in the comics of the DC Universe, chiefly JLA, Martian Manhunter, and Son of Vulcan.

As a race of shapeshifters, physical appearance has little meaning for Martians. The underlying psychological differences are what separated the peaceful Green Martians from the war-like Whites. White Martians have configured their physiology to reflect their philosophy, becoming a separate race from the Green and Yellow Martians. In the current DC continuity, their preferred form is that of angular, hairless humanoids with chalky white skin which often forms bony ridges or plates, giving them the appearance of armor. They have sometimes been seen to have a gaping mouth on their thorax and a horn on the same level on each side.

It was eventually retconned that the White Martians and Green Martians did not originally co-inhabit Mars together as was previously believed. In reality the green and white Martians were part of the same race, known as "The Burning". This race used fire to reproduce asexually and were belligerent to all. The Guardians of the Universe, fearing the ruthlessly and violently powerful Martians, genetically split the Martian race into two distinct species, white and green, preventing the asexual reproduction. They also gave these two new races an instinctive fear of fire to prevent either group from ever accessing their full potential. Also they altered their powers so one race could never completely overcome the other. The timeframe for this genetic tampering was given as 20,000 years ago, contemporary with the early life of Vandal Savage on Earth, in JLA series 2 #86.