Ma’alefa’ak, a native to the planet Mars, is the twin brother and archenemy of J’onn J’onnz, the Martian Manhunter. He first appears in a flashback sequence in Martian Manhunter #0 (August 5, 1998).
Led to believe he was the only member of the Martian race born without telepathy and a weakness to fire, Ma’alefa’ak was actually stripped of this ability and his memory erased when he mind-raped J’onn’s wife, M’yri’ah. Feeling ostracized because of his perceived genetic differences, Ma’alefa’ak engineered a deadly trap for the remainder of his race called “H’ronmeer’s Curse”. When the Martians attempted to use their telepathic abilities to communicate with each other or the Great Mind, they would fall victim to a plague of fire and literally burn to death. With his race destroyed and the Martian Manhunter teleported to Earth against his will- J’onn having escaped infection by the virus by sealing his mind from the rest of his people- Ma’alefa’ak lived alone on Mars for centuries.
Ma’alefa’ak posses the same abilities as all Martians.
Super Strength – He posses strength comparable to Superman and has harmed Superman with his blows.
Invulnerability – Like all Martians, Ma’alefa’ak is invulnerable to harm from most sources.
Flight -Malefic possesses the standard Martian ability of flight.
Super Speed – Ma’alefa’ak can move, process thoughts, and carry out actions at super human speeds.
Telepathy – All Martians are skilled telepaths, capable of mind reading, illusion casting, limited mind control, and other mental manipulations. Ma’alefa’ak is not as skilled as his brother however, and for much of his life this ability was removed by the Martian council.
Shape-shifting – Martians have a high level of shape shifting ability that stems from complete control overtheir molecular structure. They can alter their shape, appearance, size, density(to the point where they can move through objects), and even their chemical make up. Ma’alefa’ak made use of his shape shifting to frame J’onn for crimes and ruin his reputation.
Regeneration – Martians can heal from almost any wound very rapidly.
Invisibility – Ma’alefa’ak can turn invisible. While intangible and invisible he attacked the Justice League from where J’onn was standing in order to provoke them to attack J’onn.
Martian Vision – Ma’alefa’ak can fire blast of heat or force from his eyes.
X-Ray Vision – J’onn J’onzz described this ability colloquially as ionized particulate matter mapped to a variable density wavepacket. It allows them to see through objects.
