Ma'alefa'ak is the name of a fictional DC Comics supervillain that first appeared in Martian Manhunter (vol. 2) #0 (October 1998). The character was created by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake.

Biography

Ma'alefa'ak, a native to the planet Mars, is the twin brother and archenemy of J'onn J'onnz, the Martian Manhunter. 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. Eventually learning that J'onn still lived, Ma'alefa'ak followed him to Earth. Posing as J'onn, Ma'alefa'ak battled several members of the Justice League and tortured Jemm before confronting J'onn directly, seeking to destroy J'onn's reputation before killing him. However, J'onn was able to defeat Ma'alefa'ak by erasing the telepathic block, thereby returning Ma'alefa'ak's telepathic abilities and phobia of fire. Trapped on the vessel in close proximity to the sun, lacking experience of the telepathic barriers that other Martians had been able to develop over the years to protect them in similar cases, a terrified Ma'alefa'ak could only watch as he was consumed by the fiery heat.


The New 52 (2015–present)
In Recent stories during the mass revamp of the DCU comics, Ma'alefa'ak had finally been reintroduced in the new debating on the status of the martian weapon sent to infiltrate and help enslave the earth; J'onn J'onnz after he terminated himself to hamper their plans. While his subordinate martian brethren were convinced he had destroyed himself and were surprised when Ma'alefa'ak suddenly turned up after years of indisposition, He quickly deduced that the weapon known as the Martian Manhunter had not committed self-termination but in reality had dispersed pieces of his being all across the world. The red martian soon tasked his white cohorts to find and culminate the remaining pieces of it and to further this end, after said subordinates stated they could not best the weapon themselves; Would forcibly merge them into a horrific chimera utilizing Martian dark mysticism coined by his unwilling participants as the Anti-Red to remake them into The Martian Maneater.