Martha Johansson
| Martha Johansson | |
|---|---|
| File:Martha.PNG Martha Johansson. Art by Phil Jimenez | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | New X-Men #118 |
| Created by | Grant Morrison Ethan Van Sciver |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Martha Johansson |
| Team affiliations | Xavier Institute, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants |
| Notable aliases | No-Girl |
| Abilities | Telepathy, bioluminiscent blood |
Martha Johansson, also known as No-Girl, is a fictional mutant "brain in a vat" character from the New X-Men comic book series of the Marvel Universe.
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. She has the power to negate any mutant's powers, like Leech. Sublime controlled her through drugs and syringes and used her to subdue his opponents--X-Men; Cyclops and Emma Frost. The two X-Men eventually broke free of her control, after which Martha took her revenge on Sublime by causing him to fall to his death.
She later became a student in the Xavier Institute's Special Class. There she befriended Ernst, a mysterious, super-strong mutant appearing like an old woman, who often repeated Martha's telepathic communications.
Planet X
In the Planet X storyline, it was revealed that Martha had formed an alliance with Esme of the Stepford Cuckoos and the evil mutant Magneto, who had infiltrated the X-Men under the alias "Xorn". She also created a new personality called "No-Girl" who her fellow classmates could see but not any of the X-Men themselves.
As "No-Girl", Martha used her telepathic powers to enslave her fellow physically deformed "Special Class" classmates into serving Magneto's scheme to destroy the school, capture Xavier, and hold the city of Manhattan hostage.
However, Martha's loyalty would not last as she began to predict that Magneto's scheme to murder every human in Manhattan as well as turn the planet earth upside down would fail miserably. Prodded by Ernst, she loosened her control over two of the Special Class students (Dust and Beak) to allow them to flee Magneto's stronghold and gathering an army to fight off Magneto.
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 was revealed to be a benevolent reincarnation of Cassandra Nova. Along with Nova, she stood alongside Wolverine, E.V.A., the Three-In-One, and Beak's Grandson Tito Bohusk against a possessed future version of the X-Man Beast.
During a conversation with Cassandra Nova, it was 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 limited her range of actions, No-Girl was Cassandra's pilot of the X-Plane and the two died after reviving Jean Grey's true personality after being resurrected as the avatar of the Phoenix Force. Dying, Martha's last telepathic words are to a dying Wolverine, telling him that they were going to the "White Hot Room", the base of operations for all those touched by the power of the Phoenix Force.
Current Status
Martha Johansson, much like Ernst and several other characters introduced during Grant Morrison's run on the X-Men mysteriously vanished after he departed from the title. Furthermore, Marvel has taken a stance against many of the reveals made about Morrison's various characters that were heavily featured in his final two arcs: Ernst is no longer Cassandra Nova, that the Magneto from "Planet X" was really Xorn, who was a real person after all and not a disguise Magneto created. As such, Martha Johansson's status as "No-Girl" is no-longer valid according to Marvel, leaving many unanswered questions regarding the character's current status.
Powers and abilities
Martha is a telepath, and her powers in this area are shown as being quite advanced, to the degree that she is capable of overpowering Emma Frosts's subconscious defenses (it should however be mentioned that Emma's telepathy was inoperative at the time, as she was in her "diamond" form and thus had solely the scope of her willpower to rely on) and manipulating entire teams of individuals.
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.
It was also implied that when she was alive, that 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.