science

Miss Martian

Miss Martian is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Miss Martian rather than just read about it. In short: Miss Martian (M'gann M'orzz; alias Megan Morse) is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. An extraterrestrial, she is a White Martian who usually appears in stories as a member of the Teen Titans.

Key takeaways

Miss Martian belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Miss Martian to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Miss Martian from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Miss Martian (M'gann M'orzz; alias Megan Morse) is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. An extraterrestrial, she is a White Martian who usually appears in stories as a member of the Teen Titans. Created by writer Geoff Johns and artist Tony Daniel, she first appeared in Teen Titans (vol. 3) #37 (2006). Sharon Leal portrayed the character in the second season of the Arrowverse series Supergirl. Leal returned in two episodes of the third and fifth seasons and returned in the sixth season. Miss Martian was also featured in the animated series Young Justice, voiced by Danica McKellar.

Publication history Miss Martian was created by Geoff Johns and Tony Daniel and first appeared in Teen Titans (vol. 3) #37 (2006). Miss Martian is named Megan Morse after Megan, the wife of former Marvel Comics editor Ben Morse, who is a friend of Johns. Johns initially created the character when he was told by DC's editorial staff that he could not use Supergirl, who was a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes at the time.

Fictional character biography Miss Martian is a White Martian known as M'gann M'orzz, who fled to the Vega system to escape the civil war between her people and the Green Martians. Eventually reaching the safety of Earth, she becomes a provisional member of the Teen Titans during the year between the events depicted in "Infinite Crisis" and the "One Year Later" storylines. On Earth, she simplifies her name to "Megan Morse". Upon meeting J'onn J'onzz, M'gann chooses to suppress her White Martian identity and takes the physical form of a Green Martian. After her feelings were hurt through insensitivity and misunderstanding with her teammates, M'gann left the Titans and began an independent superhero career in Australia. Though the Titans suspected she might have been a traitor, it turned out that her accuser, Bombshell, was the actual traitor. After helping the team defeat Bombshell and proving her loyalty, she was accepted as a full member of the Titans.

The Titans Tomorrow appear with Miss Martian as a member. She has a different look, having embraced her White Martian heritage. Having changed her name to Martian Manhunter, she is killed by her present-day counterpart. As a result of this encounter, the consciousness of her future self has taken refuge in Megan's own mind. An epilogue to the "Titans of Tomorrow: Today!" storyline depicts Miss Martian eight years in the future; she colludes with Lex Luthor and Tim Drake, the Robin of the time and with whom she is having an affair, to clone several deceased Titans, including Superboy and Kid Flash. Later, however, Megan begins showing signs of being unable to subdue her evil self, such as appearing before the team having white skin as opposed to her usually preferred green skin. She seems as surprised at this as the rest of the team; out of an abundance of concern, she leaves the Titans for an extended period of time. Teen Titans writer Sean McKeever has stated that Megan's departure from the Titans was part of a longer story he was working on and that she would return to the team at a later time. Miss Martian is briefly seen as part of a resistance cell in Final Crisis #5. She rejoins the Titans in the aftermath of their failed recruitment drive, bringing new members Static and Aquagirl with her. In the same story, Megan hints that she has rid herself of her future counterpart's consciousness. Along with a number of other former Titans, M'gann returns to assist the team during their final battle against Superboy-Prime and the Legion of Doom. Working together with Solstice, M'gann defeats her old nemesis Sun Girl.

The New 52 In September 2011, DC carried out a revision of its superhero comic book line, including its stories and its characters' fictional histories, known as The New 52. In the revised stories, Miss Martian's first appearance is when Red Robin is shown watching a press conference where Lex Luthor shows off photographs of M'gann as part of a presentation about alien life on Earth.

DC Rebirth DC made another revision of its superhero comic book line, known as the DC Rebirth. Miss Martian appears in the revised stories. Here, she has been assigned by Martian Manhunter as the Justice League liaison to watch over the Titans. Miss Martian's nature as a White Martian is revealed to the Titans when she is unable to maintain her disguise after being attacked by Beast Boy, who lost control of himself due to the energy of the Source Wall. Batman tells Donna Troy that Martian Manhunter's actual intention to place Miss Martian on the Titans was to protect her true nature and keep her safe.

Characterization

Powers and abilities

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Miss Martian: Miss Martian as the Star-Spangled Kid. Art by Joe Bennett. — Miss Martian as the Star-Spangled Kid. Art by Joe Bennett.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Miss Martian

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Miss Martian claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Miss Martian before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Miss Martian ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Miss Martian

In research: Miss Martian appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Miss Martian in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Miss Martian is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Characters created by Geoff Johns, Characters created by Tony S. Daniel, Comics characters introduced in 2006, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Miss Martian outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Miss Martian in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Miss Martian means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Miss Martian out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Miss Martian in simple terms?

Why does Miss Martian matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Miss Martian?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Miss Martian.