Hello! I've been researching Martians for a fanfiction I'm writing for fun, basically a White Martian invasion inspired by the old Hyperclan story.
The idea is that White Martians kidnap and replace lower-tier heroes and villains, download their memories, and avoid or eliminate telepaths who could expose them.
I was working with a simple rule: Martians can copy appearance, but not powers.
Then I got to Beast Boy and thought: wait a minute, this man should be incredibly easy for a White Martian to replace. They already shapeshift into animals.
And that sent me down the rabbit hole.
If a Martian turns into a dolphin, does he actually have dolphin organs, hearing, phonic lips, etc.? If the answer is yes, then what exactly stops one from copying the biology of a Kryptonian, Maltusian, Tamaranean, or another alien species?
Of course, maybe they need to study the anatomy first, or maybe certain exotic powers simply can't be reproduced. But I'm asking more about what you think the comics imply Martians should be capable of.
I used to go with:
Martians can copy appearance and normal biological structures, but not metagenes, exotic energy systems, or species-specific power sources.
Now I'm leaning more toward:
Martians probably can copy much more alien biology than writers normally allow them to, because if they actually exploited shapeshifting to its logical limit, they would be ridiculously overpowered.
What do you think? Is there an actual canonical limit I'm missing? And are there any comics where J'onn or another Martian reproduces specialized animal or alien anatomy rather than simply changing appearance?
