Martha Johansson (No-Girl) | |
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Martha Johansson. Art by Phil Jimenez |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | New X-Men #118 (November 2001) |
Created by | Grant Morrison Ethan Van Sciver |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Martha Johansson |
Species | Human Mutant |
Team affiliations | Xavier Institute Brotherhood of Mutants |
Abilities | Telepathy, Bioluminiscent blood Mentally broadcasts mind-clouding "psycho-chaff" Power suppression |
Martha Johansson, also known as No-Girl, is a fictional mutant isolated brain character from the New X-Men comic book series, set in the Marvel Universe and published by Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Fictional character biography
Martha was a mutant runaway who was captured by the human supremacist group, the U-Men. Their founder John Sublime had her brain removed from her body, keeping the disembodied brain alive in a capsule. Sublime controlled her through drugs and syringes and uses her to subdue his opponents, the two X-Men, Cyclops and Emma Frost. The two X-Men eventually break free of her control, after which Martha takes her revenge on Sublime by taking control of his mind and causing him to fall to his death.
She later becomes a student in the Xavier Institute's Special Class. Quentin Quire invents a special hovering case to hold her brain, allowing her a level of mobility. She becomes friends with another student, Ernst, a mysterious, timid, mutant girl with the appearance of an old woman, who often repeats Martha's telepathic communications out loud.
When Xorn destroys the school and forms a new Brotherhood of Mutants under the guise of Magneto, Martha joins alongside Ernst. However, Martha's loyalty does not last, as she predicts that Xorn's scheme to murder every human in Manhattan as well as turn the planet earth upside down would fail miserably. Following Xorn's death, Martha returns to being a student at the X-Mansion, appearing infrequently as part of the student body.[1]
After the X-Men abandon the X-Mansion and relocate to San Francisco, Beast finds Martha in his old lab and retrieves her from the ruined Xavier Institute in a carrying case, bringing her to the new X-Men headquarters.[2]
Nation X
Martha is later featured in a one-shot story entitled "Martha Johansson vs. Quentin Quire: 7½." Now relocated to the mutant safe haven of Utopia, Martha finds herself the appointed "arch-nemesis" for a newly revived Quentin Quire. Finding life on a higher plane to be "boring," Quentin revives himself and decides to become a villain and secretly destroy Utopia, claiming that the X-Men stole his idea to create a mutant nation. Making a game of his master plan, he gives Martha seven and a half minutes to attempt to stop him. Martha attempts to alert the X-Men and locate Quentin, but he manages to intercept and taunt her at each attempt, ultimately smashing her container and leaving her to die. Martha realizes that Quentin has infiltrated Cerebra to destroy the island and attempted to take revenge on the Cuckoos by putting them in a mental loop. Martha outsmarts Quentin's plans by using her powers to tip off Celeste to an error in Quentin's mental loop. The Cuckoos are able to break free and quickly defeat him. They send help for Martha and thank her for saving them. Martha reflects on the experience, finding that she enjoyed it and contemplating the possibility of taking up superheroism.[3]
Powers and abilities
Martha is a telepath, able to communicate mentally and manipulate the minds of other beings. In her introduction as an isolated brain, Martha generally used her telepathy to communicate through others near her, but typically only speaks telepathically to her classmate Ernst, who then repeats her comments to others.[4] She is also able to use her telepathy to override and control the motor functions of others. This allows her to temporarily negate the powers of other mutants, though she must be at close range to do so.[3]
Martha can also broadcast disruptive psionic distortion (called "psycho-chaff") into her immediate environment that clouds the minds of others.[5] Her abilities in this area are shown to be strong enough to overpower high-ranking telepath Emma Frost's subconscious defenses when Emma was in her non-telepathic diamond form.[5] However, her "psycho-chaff" is not strong enough to bypass Emma Frost's own conscious telepathic abilities, as Emma was able to overpower Martha and regain control of her motor functions after shifting out of her diamond form and regaining her telepathy.[6]
Without a body, Martha is limited in all other areas. She, as a brain, travels in a fluid-filled jar with technology (invented by fellow Xavier Institute student Quentin Quire) that lets it float, and is anchored via a metal chain. The floats offer her some level of mobility, moving in the direction of her choosing, such as away from attacking U-Men.[4]
It was also stated that in her original body, Martha's blood possessed glow-in-the-dark capabilities and that Martha wrote a note to her parents using her own blood when she ran away from them.[7]
Other versions
Here Comes Tomorrow
In the Here Comes Tomorrow future timeline, Martha is still alive 150 years from now. She is still close friends with Ernst, who is revealed to be a benevolent reincarnation of Cassandra Nova. Along with Nova, she stands alongside Wolverine, E.V.A., the Three-In-One, and Beak's Grandson Tito Jerome Bohusk against a Sublime-possessed version of the X-Man, Beast, who prematurely revives Jean Grey in order to control her and the Phoenix Force.
During a conversation with Cassandra Nova, it is confirmed that Martha was No-Girl all along, as well as the fact that Martha knew Nova was Ernst all along as well. As having no body limits her range of actions, Martha is Cassandra's pilot of the X-Plane and the two die after reviving Jean Grey's true personality and freeing her from the Beast's control. Dying, Martha's last telepathic words are to a dying Wolverine, telling him that they are going to the "White Hot Room," the higher plane of existence for all those touched by the power of the Phoenix Force.
Footnotes
- ^ Kyle, Craig; Christopher Yost (2007). New X-Men: Childhood's End Volume 5. New York: Marvel Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7851-2239-5.
- ^ X-Men: Divided We Stand #2
- ^ a b John Barber (w), David López (p), Álvaro López (i). "Martha Johansson vs. Quentin Quire in: 7½" Nation X 2 (March 2010), Marvel Comics
- ^ a b New X-Men vol. 2 #136
- ^ a b New X-Men vol. 2 #119
- ^ New X-Men vol. 2 #120
- ^ New X-Men vol. 2 #118