Calvin Swanwick was introduced in Man of Steel as a military commander who was initially skeptical about Superman presence on earth but assisted him against Zod and the other Kyptonians. He still sent drones to spy on him but was more trusting to help Lois Lane investigate a case that framed superman.
His reveal as Martian Manhunter in Justice League Synder cut puts a lot of new context to scenes where he questioned Superman intentions on earth and kept spying on him.
I wonder if he will ever come back in the new DCEU and whether this kind of characterization will stay with him afterwards.
As cool as it’d be, I highly doubt it. I don’t know if it’s been officially confirmed, but the DCEU going forward doesn’t seem to be treating the Snyder Cut as canon, just the theatrical version. Granted that doesn’t mean Swanwick couldn’t still be J’onn since nothing in the Whedon cut contradicts that, but I’d ultimately be pretty surprised (in a good way) to see it brought up again in the DCEU
I’m not sure about the comics, but it does remind me of his role on Supergirl where he had to go undercover as head of the DEO for years. But regardless of whether there’s any precedence for this or not, why does there need to be? It’s something new for his character that can be added on while still maintaining the core of who he is
The job description of a General is ordering battalions of soldiers to do this and that. If MM is a general, then he’s always going be involving troops in conflicts, so seems like a poor choice for his secret identity. Also, if he’s Swanwick, why does he spend all of Man of Steel and BvS on the sidelines, not helping out at all?
So that’s a lot of people problem with MM in the Synderverse, why didn’t he help them?
But honestly given how skeptical the world was to trust superman I could totally buy he choose hiding as a safe alternative to revealing himself. Now why he likely didn’t give Superman the benefit of doubt in Man of Steel could honestly be two different reasons.
He wanted less suspicion on him to prevent people in the US government like Amanda Waller discovering his true self.
Much like the new 52, Martian Manhunter was more cynical about the Justice League, believing they weren’t ready to protect the world. Working with the U.S government to find other super beings to monitor.
I guess other issues are he isn’t going to be picked to be a General unless he has decades of history with the military. There’s no such thing as getting a General post in the U.S. Army by just showing up and wow-ing them at the interview.
The U.S. is in danger of being wiped out in both Man of Steel and Bv.S, so not apparent what the value of maintaining the secret identity would be in that scenario. If he doesn’t mind the U.S. being wiped out, then his level of responsibility in the military is a gigantic worry, as well.
Also, every explanation ignores the fact that he’s got little reason to be putting time into giving Lois Lane a pep talk. Also, since she already knows and respects Swanwick, what does he gain by disguising himself as Martha and trying to pretend he knows the complete Martha/Lois background.
Also, the “it wasn’t really Martha” surprise isn’t faithful to what the true “Snyder Cut” was going to contain, and more a misguided attempt at fan service, coupled with insecurity that the “Snyder Cut” by itself wasn’t going to be enough
Not sure about Smallville but the undercover cop/detective has definitely been a pretty big part of his character for a long time now. Of course being a major US general is a huge step up from that, but it does give credence to J’onn having a pretty deep and detailed cover