Where Is M’gann? Why Young Justice Season 4 Is Ignoring Her

Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Young Justice season 4.

Many are wondering why M’gann M’orzz (aka Miss Martian) seems to have gone missing from Young Justice season 4. The young hero was one of the focal characters of the first four episodes of Young Justice: Phantoms, which centered upon her and her fiancée Superboy as they traveled to Mars to hold a traditional Martian wedding ceremony with M’gann’s family. The show’s focus suddenly shifted gears with Young Justice season 4, episode 5, “Tale of Two Sisters,” and moved to a new storyline focused on Artemis Crock (aka Tigress) and the mystery offered by two assassins trying to defect from the League of Shadows.

Picking up one year after the ending of Young Justice season 3, Young Justice: Phantoms opened happily, with Superboy and Miss Martian anxious to enter into married life. Sadly, what should have been the happiest day of their lives became a tragedy, after Superboy was seemingly killed, sacrificing himself to destroy a viral weapon that could have killed most of the Martian population in Young Justice season 4, episode 4, “Involuntary.” The closing credits of the episode played out over Miss Martian, sobbing uncontrollably, as she leaned upon the ceremonial altar that had been constructed specifically for their wedding, in accordance with Martian tradition.

Many expected the following episodes to focus on M’gann and her grief, or follow up on a fan theory that Conner had been saved by the Legion of Superheroes and taken forward in time. Instead, the focus shifted to Tigress and how the news of Superboy’s death affected her. M’gann was only mentioned in passing, as Artemis commented that she knew exactly what M’gann must be going through, having lost the love of her life, Wally West (aka Kid Flash), under similarly tragic circumstances in the Young Justice season 2 finale. M’gann also did not appear in Young Justice season 4, episode 6, “Artemis Through the Looking Glass,” despite the episode showing how Garfield Logan (aka Beast Boy) was coping with Superboy’s death. While Beast Boy and Superboy had come to view one another as brothers and it made sense to show that Garfield was depressed and hiding in his room watching the news reports on the various memorials being held in Superboy’s honor, it still seemed odd to some that M’gann’s tragedy was not directly addressed.

While this expectation is natural, it ignores that Young Justice is an ensemble show with dozens of heroes in its Justice League and that Superboy’s death would touch many lives. It also fails to consider that M’gann, as a sensitive telepath, might not be able to cope with the amplified grief of being surrounded by many people at a time of mourning. There is also the practical consideration that an episode devoted to showing M’gann crying and barely being able to speak would make for a rather dull episode of an action-oriented animated series like Young Justice.

Given that, the show’s shift in focus to Artemis, who can appreciate M’gann’s pain like no one else makes sense. The opening montage of Young Justice season 4, episode 5, “Tale of Two Sisters,” which showed a typical day in Artemis’ life before and after she learned of Superboy’s death and how her grief distracted her to the point that she could not recall the first line of A Tale of Two Cities, was an effective way of conveying the tragedy with a minimum of static scenes of characters standing around and directly discussing their feelings. The scenes with a depressed Beast Boy effectively conveyed the same point that people grieve in different ways while equating their suffering to M’gann’s. It is only natural that fans of Young Justice would want to see Miss Martian and learn how she is handling Superboy’s death, but the way the series shifts its focus to other characters allows it to tell other stories at the same time that it explores the aftermath of Superboy’s death.

About The Author

Matt Morrison
(1835 Articles Published)

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Matt Morrison has been writing about comics since before the word
“blogging” was coined. He got his start writing for the
legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing,
before receiving his own column, The Mount. Since then he has gone on
to write for over a dozen websites, including 411
Mania, Comics
Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He holds both an MS in Information
Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the
University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book
history trivia, he has delivered lectures on the history of American
Comic Books, Japanese Manga, Doctor Who, and Cosplay at over a dozen conventions
and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels
for Librarians at the University of North Texas. In addition to his
work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the Editor In Chief of
Kabooooom.com and writes reviews for No
Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime review site
aimed at teachers and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog –
My Geeky Geeky Ways –
which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series
making up The Arrowverse as well as his
comedic Let’s Play videos. What little spare time he has is
devoted towards acting, role-playing, movie-riffing and sarcasm. You
can follow his adventures on Twitter, @GeekyGeekyWays.

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