The Vile Menagerie: THE MARTIAN CRIMINAL

Known Aliases: "Magician-Thief"
Occupation: Thief
Marital Status: Unknown
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: None
Base of Operations: Space-Prison orbiting Mars
First Appearance: Detective Comics #231 (May, 1956)

History:
An outlaw from Mars was serving sentence for his crimes, floating in space for the duration of his term. However, his guard belt malfunctioned, and whisked him to Earth. Once there, the Martian Criminal launched a crime spree around Middletown U.S.A. Although disguised as a human, the Martian Criminal openly flaunted his many powers, attracting widespread attention. Following his fantastic heists at a bank and aboard the luxury liner Queen Ann, the Martian was soon dubbed a "Magician-Thief."

Having drawn the attention of Police Detective John Jones, who was himself a concealed Martian, the thieving Martian was initially presumed an "Earthling magician... a master of the art of deception!" Severely undermining that theory, the "Magician-Thief" was next seen robbing an armored car by literally picking it up and carrying it through the streets on his back. After John Jones' Atom Vision super-heated the car, the Magician-Thief dropped it and appeared to vanish into thin air. Instead, the Criminal had turned invisible and run to hide in his hotel room. Detective Jones traced him by listening for the thief's distinctive footsteps with super-hearing, then nabbed him through a combination of invisibility and intangibility.

The Magician-Thief would not give up so easily, and again vanished from sight, this time shrinking to the size of a mouse. John Jones joined the thief at three inches' height, and with a tackle, ended the chase. The Martian Criminal revealed his true form, handed his guard belt over to John Jones, and seemed to expect some measure of leniency from a countryman. Instead, Jones repaired the belt and sent his cursing countryman back to life in Space-Prison.

Powers:
Martians are known to possess a virtually limitless array of potential super-powers. Among those displayed by the Martian Criminal were intangibility, invisibility, levitation, super-strength, shrinking, shapeshifting, and a form of Martian Vision favoring telekinesis.

Weaknesses:
Like most of his race, the Martian Criminal has a catastrophic vulnerability to fire, so much so that its mere mention sends him running in a panic.

Quote: "Huh? I don't know how you managed to find me, mister, but you'll never take me in..."

Created by Jack Miller and Joe Certa