I am a soldier, I have always been such, for more years than I could remember. I do not know how old I am, or for how long I've walked this planet Earth, or the reasons for what seems to be my immortality. All I know is--I've always been this age, and I've always been a warrior--and as such, the angry red planet has always held me in an irresistible enchantment. 
- —John Carter[src]
History
John Carter was a veteran of the American Civil War having fought for the Confederate States Army. Following the war, he and a fellow veteran, James K. Powell, were in the Arizona desert to prospect for gold, but they were attacked by the native Apache. Carter was cornered inside a cave but found himself unable to move and suddenly his astral form was transported to the planet Mars, called Barsoom by its inhabitants.[2]
Upon arriving to Barsoom, Carter came across an incubator for the Green Martian eggs. There he was captured by the war-like tribe the Tharks. While with the tribe, Carter used his increased strength and agility to impress the Green Martians, gaining their trust, and even befriending one of their chiefs Tars Tarkas. From the young Green Martian woman named Sola he learned the language and telepathic abilities, while he also taught them how to properly treat their animals, and even gained a pet named Woola. One day, the Tharks captured one of the survivors from a fleet of fliers that had been attacked. That prisoner was the Red Martian princess of Helium Dejah Thoris with whom Carter immediately fell deeply in love. Being determined to free her and return her to her people, Carter with the assistance of Sola, broke Dejah out and escaped from the Tharks.[3]
Finding themselves lost, Carter was captured by another Green Martian tribe, the Warhoons, and was forced to fight for their gladiatorial games. During the games, Carter met and befriended a Red Martian man and fellow fighter Kantos. The two were eventually pitted against each other. They faked their fighting until dark, when Kan pretend to kill Carter, earning his freedom. Carter later managed to escape himself and wandering through the wastes he cashed into a battle between Tars' Tharks and the Warhoons, helping him in the fight. Carter and Tars decided to return to the Tharks' city and confronted the corrupt ruler Tal Hajus. Carter managed to convince the Tharks that Tars was better suited for the position of Jeddak, leading to the two Green Martians fighting in a duel to the death. During the fight, Carter revealed to Tars that Sola was his daughter, infuriating him as Tal had made advances to her. This gave him enough willpower to overpower Tal and kill him, gaining the title of Jeddak.[4]
Learning that Dejah was to be wed to Prince Sab Than of Zodanga, the enemy nation of Helium, Carter with the assistance of Tars and the Tharks warriors, attacked Zodanga. They interrupted the marriage, and Carter fought Than in a battle. Carter was able to defeat the prince, but didn't kill due to Martian custom, leaving Tars to finish him. Carter and his allies brought Dejah back to Helium where celebration soon ensued. Dejah's grandfather, Tardos Mors, formed an alliance between Helium and the Tharks, while Carter married Dejah, making him the prince of Helium.[4]
Two years after his first arrival to Barsoom, a group of Green Martians abducted Carter's wife Dejah Thoris and companion Tars Tarkas. Looking for the abductors Carter ran through the ruined city of Zodanga where he came across a group of Warhoons. Fighting them, Carter spared one of the Warhoons for interrogation, learning that Dejah and Tars were locked in the tower of law. Dejah was being interrogated by the Warhoons about the Atmosphere factory before Carter came to rescue both her and Tars. They then learn that behind all of this was an enemy who sought to kill of life in Barsoom.[2]
In the city, the three noticed a Red Martian man and suspecting his involvement in the abduction, capture him and bring him in Helium to be trialed. However, while imprisoned the man ripped off his prosthetic arm, revealing a hidden weapon he used to escape. Carter and Tars then went to the atmosphere factory which was being attacked by the White Apes. They fought the monsters, until Dejah Thoris arrived on her Helimitic airship. Unfortunately for her, the airship crashed, leading to her getting captured by the apes which were being controlled by the one armed man. Carter attempted to rescue her but was knocked out unconscious off the roof of the factory.[5]
Carter was captured by the one armed man, whose name was revealed to be Stara Kan, a warrior of Zodanga who had been wounded by Carter when he freed Dejah, and imprisoned him in his palace. Fearing about Dejah's safety, Carter broke free from his chains and killed Kan's beasts. Sadly, Kan had put an obedience collar around Carter's neck which forced Carter to obey every command of Kan. Carter was undeterred and fought Kan, and after some struggle managed to beat him.[6] However, seeing that his wife had been taken somewhere else and her life endangered, Carter decided to obey Kan for now and embarked with him on his warship and assisting his army in pillaging various cities against his will. When attacking the city of Zeere, Carter found all of its people under the thrall of an alien monster named T'ralla. He slayed the monster and freed the people who went on to destroy the idols they erected of T'ralla, forcing Kan and Carter to retreat.[7]
Growing frustrated, Carter escaped from the ship and went to Kan's base. There he overheard Kan ordering a group Green Martians to just kill the imprisoned Dejah. Carter broke inside to prevent them from killing his wife, and fought Kan. Despite Kan's best effort to subdue Carter, the latter fought through the control and successfully beat him to death. Despite this, Kan had the last laugh as he was the only one who knew where Dejah was imprisoned.[8] Carter returned to Helium, but agents of the Council of Five, the same society that had assisted Kan, had arrived before him to spread the information about Carter assisting the pirates. Being labelled a traitor Carter was attacked by the citizens, forcing him hide. During this, a pack of savage Thoats were unleashed on the defenceless citizens, leading to Carter attempting to lead them away but found that he was unable to control them. As the Thoats were directed to the hatchery, Carter directly fought them to ensure the children's safety. The crazed crowd didn't care and still attacked him.[1]
Thankfully he was rescued by Sola and treated by a doctor, but was bedridden due to blood loss. While he recovered, Dejah was able to free herself from the Council of Five's imprisonment and spotted by Carter's loyal friends. Informed that Dejah was fighting their enemies at the atmosphere factory, Carter quickly made his way there to come to her aid. The couple fought together against their enemies, until the battle ended in their victory.[9] Helium was eventually attacked by the Council's floating city of the Ebony Island. Carter led his forces during the fight, and the floating city was successfully destroyed.[10]
At night, Carter was awoken by an agent of the Council who told him that his master wanted to see him. Intrigued, Carter decided to follow the creature and went to a hidden cave where he was confronted by the Great One, the founder of the Council. He believed himself to be the prophesized savior of Barsoom meant to save the planet by destroying all life and recreate it from scratch. Carter refused to let him accomplish his goal, and so the two fought. Although both of them became exhausted, Carter got the upper hand, prompting the Great One to try to escape on his flier. Carter wouldn't let him escape and jumped on his flier. On his way, the Great One became delusional and began believing that he had arrived at the Tree of Life which had birthed him. The Great One crashed into the site, killing himself, leaving Carter to jump off into a nearby body of water.[11]
Carter, wanting to be left alone with his thoughts for a while, flew through the Martian sky on his royal flier. He then noticed a White Martian man fighting a group of Green Martians and came to his aid. However, after rescuing the man, whose name was Pan Dan Chee, he was taken prisoner by other White Martians and was brought to the Jeddak of Horz, Ho Ran Kim, who ordered the execution of both Carter and Pan in order to keep their existence a secret. They were brought to the pits where they were attacked by ulsios. They managed to kill them, and attempted to find a way out but instead came across the tomb of an ancient warrior. Carter took the sword from the warrior's body and sought the way out, but was stopped by Pan, telling him that he couldn't allow Carter to leave and expose his people. Although Carter promised to not tell the secret to anyone, Pan was unconvinced and the two fought. Carter defeated Pan but refused to kill him out of nobility. Suddenly they heard a laughter and following it they found an old man named Lum Tar O who had been living in the pits for years and offered the two men some water. However, the water had been drugged as Lum Tar O recognized Carter's stolen sword as that of the jeddak Hor Kai Lan. Carter managed to fight the effects off and fought the old man off. Regaining themselves Carter and Pan witnessed all of the dead came to life, which included Hor Kai Lan and deified daughter S-Lana. While Pan marveled at S-Lana, Carter was attacked by Lan's men after he attempted to tell them that they've been dead for five hundred years. Having found the doorway outside, Carter showed Lan the land of Mars which used to be covered with water. This only angered Lan more and tried to slay Carter, forcing the latter to flee. To astonishment the environment around them began changing to between the present and that of Lan's. Time caught up to the deceased and soon they turned to dust, but to Carter's dismay Pan remained by Lana's side and perished alongside them, leaving Carter to return to his people on foot.[12]
After falling off Helium's flagship when he attempted to help his men during a storm, Carter found himself in the strange land of Bantoom where he witnessed enslaved headless men. While wandering through the land, Carter encountered Aard and Tal Tarag. Aard told Carter his origin as a Kaldane, a race of disembodied heads that attached themselves to the headless bodies of the Rykor race, and how he was outcast by their evil ruler Taak after falling in love with Saar. Tal Tarag then took over the explanation, telling Carter of how he and his lover Vala Dia had their brains removed and replaced with Saar and another Kaldane, while his own brain was placed into the body of a White Ape by the scientist Ras Thavas. Learning that Taak planned to use his people to infiltrate the Red Martian society and wanting to bring justice to his newfound friends, Carter decided to aid Aard and Tarag in attacking the Kaldane. During the ambush, the trio confronted Saar in the body of Vala Dia and the other Kaldane in Tarag's body. They tried to bring Saar to her senses, but Taak himself appeared to them. Utilizing his telepathic abilities Taak forced Aard to come to him before striking the lower Kaldane. He then revealed to Tarag that his lover's body along with his own had been irreversibly mutated by the Kaldane possessing them, and Dia was forever gone. Enraged Tarag lunged towards Taak, causing them both to fall to a nearby pit and into their deaths. Alone, Carter fought through the remaining Kaldane before reaching Tarag's ship which he used to escape. Some days later, he was found by a scouting party from Helium and was reunited with his wife.[13]
Eventually Dejah Thoris laid an egg containing their future child, filling Carter with happiness. Following his time helping the miners at the Korz plateau, Carter decided to fly back to Helium. On his way back home, he saw other flying ships chasing a poor defenceless woman. Carter fought off the ships and rescued the young woman who revealed her name to be Klys. As gratitude for saving her Klys brought Carter to her hidden city of Paradise which was solely populated by Martian women. Once there, they were attacked by the flying vampire monsters, but Carter was able to defend the women. Klys and her people then utilized their hypnotizing perfume to seduce Carter and have him under their control. The women brought Carter to the underground sacrificial obelisk surrounded by lava where Klys revealed herself as the matriarch of Paradise and sought to sacrifice him to their goddess to ensure her people's safety. Carter tried to fight back but was too weak and soon was left chained to the obelisk. Thankfully, while all of the women danced as part of the ritual, Dejah and Tars, who had come looking for Carter, infiltrated the city and came to his aid. While Dejah battled Klys and Tars fought the flying monsters, the goddess emerged from the fiery pit. Klys managed to mortally wound Dejah, enraging Carter who broke free of his restraints and held to his dying wife. Seeing this great love, the goddess healed Dejah and brought the couple to safety, telling everyone present that she never wanted any sacrifice but only acts of love. Realizing her wrongdoings, Klys apologized to Carter and vowed to bring her people out of secrecy to form relations with other cities. In the aftermath, the couple and their companion returned home.[14]
One day, the Atmosphere Factory suddenly broke down and shut down, resulting in the inhabitants of Barsoom to die from asphyxiation. Carter broke inside the facility through a telepathic code to bring in an engineer to fix. Unfortunately Carter suffocated and died during this. He woke back in the cave where he had originally been transported. Carter became a wealthy man thanks to his service in the war and lived in a house in Virginia, but still longed to return to Mars and be reunited with his wife.[4] He lived on Earth for ten years before finally returning back to Mars. In his will he left the house to his nephew Edgar and instructed him to buried in a specialized tomb with air ventilation and that could be opened from the inside.[15]
Upon returning to Mars, Carter found himself in the unfamiliar Valley Dor where he saw a group of Green Martians being ambushed by the Plant Men on the River Iss. Carter attempting to intervene but only one of the Martians survived who turned out to be his old friend Tars, having taken a pilgrimage to the river to find Carter. The duo then came across the Therns, a race of White Martians that had deceit most of the Martians into believing that they were gods and had them take pilgrimages into the river Iss to enter their paradise only to be either slain by the local beasts or captured and enslaved by them. Carter and Tars saved one of their slaves Thuvia and escaped, which a group of Black Martian pirates attacked the Therns. The trio attempted to hijack a couple of the pirates' fliers, with Carter saving the Therns princess Phaidor and capturing the pirate Xodar. From Xodar Carter learned that the Black Martians known as the First Born, similar to the Therns, thought of themselves as gods, and Xodar revealed to him that Phaidor was the daughter of the Therns' high priest. Carter, Xodar and Phaidor were captured by the First Born and brought to the self-proclaimed goddess of Mars Issus who imprisoned Carter and made Xodar his slave for his betrayal.[16]
While in prison, as Carter and Xodar became friends they encountered a fellow inmate named Carthoris who later turned out to be Carter and Dejah's son. Father and son were forced to fight in gladiatorial fights, but the first spectacle was the slaughter of defenseless women. Carter became furious over this, and got in the way to protect them. This inspired Carthoris to incite a slave revolt and together fought their way to Issus herself. They planned to kill her, but she escaped, leaving Carter and Carthoris to go through some underground tunnels, going back to the prisons and freeing Xodar. The trio stole a flying vessel and left Omean, and their way they encountered Thuvia, telling them that Tars had been captured by the Warhoons. Carter went to rescue his friend, leaving his party at the hills. He fought the Warhoons and rescued Tars but after regrouping with the others they find themselves being pursued by their enemies, while Thuvia was missing. Thankfully they were saved by a navy fleet from Helium led by Carter's friend Kantos and the Zodangan Zat Arras, the latter seeking to have Carter executed due to returning from the Valley Dor being outlawed. On their way back to Helium, Carter learned that his father and grandfather-in-law had been absent from Helium to search for Carthoris and Dejah was taking a pilgrimage to the valley in search for him.[17]
Carter was tried by the Zodangans for heresy, but instead of being executed he was imprisoned due to Helium's interference. He remained imprisoned for 365 days, until his son Carthoris came to free him, allowing Carter to go rescue his wife. Unfortunately, he was captured by the Zodangans, and was met with the Jed of Zodanga, Zat Arrras, who offered to free Carter on the condition of being granted the title of Helium's Jeddak. Carter refused and as a result he was again imprisoned. This time he remained in prison for half a Martian year, at which point he managed to escape. He immediately set course to Omean, secretly backed up by an armada led by Tars Tarkas. They battled the Therns, Zat Arrras and the First Born, leading to the Therns and the First Born to fight between while the Zodangans sided with Carter. The First Born were all defeated by the Heliumites and the Tharks, and Issus was killed. This left Carter to go look for Dejah Thoris, but found that she was imprisoned alongside Thuvia and Phaidor within the Temple of the Sun which could only be accessed once a year. As he was on his way to rescue them, Phaidor attempted to kill Dejah due being jealous for Carter. Fortunately, the two lovers were finally reunited, and seeing their sincere and deep love Phaidor abandoned her attempts to get together with Carter and committed suicide to atone for her sins.[18]Attributes
Powers
John Carter was originally an average human with some firearm skill thanks to his time serving in the Civil War. After being transported to Mars Carter gained an enhanced physiology:
- Superhuman Strength: Because the gravity in Mars is lower than that of Earth's, Carter's strength increased.[2]
- Superhuman Reflexes: Because the gravity in Mars is lower than that of Earth's, Carter's agility increased[2]
- Advanced Longevity: On Mars Carter was able to live far longer than normal humans.[7]
- Reincarnation: Carter appeared to have the power to reincarnate, as he remembered having fought previous battles in Earth history years apart from each other.[7]
- Limited Telepathy: During his time with the Green Martians, Carter learned minor telepathic abilities which allowed him to control the simple minded animals.[1]
Paraphernalia
Weapons
Transportation
Notes
- John Carter was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs in the novel A Princess of Mars (1911).
- John Carter's appearances were all adaptations of the first novels written by Burroughs, though with small differences from the original sources.
- Marvel Comics began writing about John Carter's adventures following the success of the Conan Comic Books.[citation needed]
- Although Tarzan exists on Earth-616, it is not clear that John Carter has a version in that universe, however, Gullivar Jones, created by writer Edwin L. Arnold exists in that universe, the novel Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation is seen as a possible inspiration for Burroughs' A Princess of Mars.
- In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Alan Moore showed John Carter confronting the Martians from The War of the Worlds, the same occurs in the short story Mars: The Home Front by George Alec Effinger, published in 1996 in the anthology War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches, given that they are part of the Ideaverse, such a confrontation could have happened there as well.[19][20]
Trivia
- Carter didn't believe in magic or sorcery.[21]
- Several original characters from Marvel Comics were references to John Carter such as Duck Carter of Mars,[22] and Nightcrawler.[23]
See Also
- 41 appearance(s) of John Carter (Ideaverse)
- 44 image(s) of John Carter (Ideaverse)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about John Carter (Ideaverse)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 John Carter Warlord of Mars #6
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 John Carter Warlord of Mars #1
- ↑ John Carter: A Princess of Mars #1–4
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 John Carter: A Princess of Mars #5
- ↑ John Carter Warlord of Mars #2
- ↑ John Carter Warlord of Mars #3
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 John Carter Warlord of Mars #4
- ↑ John Carter Warlord of Mars #5
- ↑ John Carter Warlord of Mars #7
- ↑ John Carter Warlord of Mars #9
- ↑ John Carter Warlord of Mars #10
- ↑ John Carter Warlord of Mars Annual #1
- ↑ John Carter Warlord of Mars Annual #2
- ↑ John Carter Warlord of Mars Annual #3
- ↑ John Carter: The Gods of Mars #1
- ↑ John Carter: The Gods of Mars #2
- ↑ John Carter: The Gods of Mars #3
- ↑ John Carter: The Gods of Mars #4–5
- ↑ John Carter of Mars
- ↑ Mars: The Home Front
- ↑ John Carter Warlord of Mars #8
- ↑ Crazy Magazine #36
- ↑ Excalibur #16