Martian Manhunter may not be the first name that springs to mind when you think of the oldest characters in DC's library, but he is just that - really fragging old.
At least before the New 52 rebooted continuity in 2011, everyone's favourite Oreo-eating, shape-shifting alien was the oldest member of the Justice League. Why is he that age? Well this all happened back when Mars actually had an atmosphere, and when Martian society was surviving and thriving. As an adult, the later-dubbed Manhunter would find work as a Martian police officer, the occupation he would later take up when attempting to blend into human society.
DC Comics
DC are yet to put a firm date on how old the character is currently, given how continuity has been rebooted twice in the space of five years, but it's likely to be of a similar range, making J'onn perhaps the oldest being to walk the Earth, or at least the Halls of Justice.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
