Who Plays The Martian Manhunter in ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’?

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Zack Snyder's Justice League

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Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max.

After a long fan campaign, Zack Snyder‘s Justice League is now streaming on HBO Max. And, after four hours of that sweet, sweet director’s cut content (yes, it really is four hours), the Snyder Cut saves its biggest surprise for the very end.

Fair warning: We are about to delve into some serious spoilers here. Are you ready? Did you finish watching all 240 minutes of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, or did you at least skip ahead to the end? You did? Good. Here goes nothing…

In the final moments of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a mysterious flying alien figure appears at Bruce Wayne’s (Ben Affleck) home to tell him that the fight is not over. Darkseid is after the Anti-Life Equation, and they need to find it before he does. Bruce is like, “Cool, but who are you?”

At first, this alien tries to be coy about his identity, but then he goes ahead and introduces himself: “The Martian Manhunter.”

Oh, cool! …Who’s that?

Who is the Martian Manhunter?

In the DC comics, Martian Manhunter is one of the seven original members of the Justice League. The Martian Manhunter’s powers include superhuman strength, speed, flight, telekinesis, invisibility, telepathy, shapeshifting, and more. Though he is a huge character in the comics, he hasn’t been portrayed on the big screen nearly as often as Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and the like. However, he has been a main character of The CW’s Supergirl since Season 1, played by David Harewood.

The Martian Manhunter in Zack Snyder's Justice League
Photo: HBO Max

Who plays the Martian Manhunter in Zack Snyder’s Justice League?

Martian Manhunter is played by actor Harry Lennix. Lennix appeared in Snyder’s Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as Calvin Swanwick, a general, and later, Secretary of Defense. You may also know Lennix from his role as Commander Lock in 2003’s The Matrix Reloaded, as Boyd Langton from Dollhouse, or as Harold Cooper from The Blackilist. 

Before he shows up in his alien make-up, Lennix appears in a scene in Zack Snyder’s Justice League in which he is posing as Superman’s adopted mother, Martha Kent (played by actor Diane Lane). In a confusing tag to a touching moment in which Martha and Lois Lane (Amy Adams) bond over grieving for Superman, Diane Lane steps out of the room… and morphs into an alien, who we now know is the Martian Manhunter. Then he just as quickly morphs into Harry Lennix, aka General Swanick. Uh, what? Apparently, Martian was putting those shapeshifting abilities to work.

Many fans had theorized that Swanwick was actually J’onn J’onzz / Martian Manhunter, and Snyder hadn’t ruled that fan theory out. Now, those fans have been proven right.

Unfortunately, despite this big reveal at the end of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, it’s not clear whether Lennix will ever again reprise his role as Martian Manhunter. Currently, there are no plans for another Justice League movie from Zack Snyder. In an interview with Decider, producer Deborah Snyder said that they decided to hold onto the cliffhanger ending all the same because “the intent was to put Zack’s original vision on the screen.”

Watch Zack Snyder's Justice League on HBO Max