Director Zack Snyder has given us our first look at Martian Manhunter, a member of the Justice League and DC icon who will be making the leap from cartoon to live action in the upcoming The Snyder Cut. Snyder showed off some official concept art of the character during a recent Zoom meeting, and the image gives us a good look at what the character will look like when realised in Snyder's supposed magnum opus.

Looking like a mixture of a few different iterations of the character from the comic book source material, Snyder's Martian Manhunter looks to be wearing a full suit rather than the more minimal costume he is often seen wearing. Snyder's take has also given the character much more alien-like features which are sometime toned down when the character appears in animated form.

Created by writer Joseph Samachson and designed by artist Joe Certa, Martian Manhunter first appeared in 1955 in the story "The Manhunter from Mars" in Detective Comics #225. The character, whose real name is J'onn J'onzz, is the only surviving member of the Martian race, who is mistakenly teleported to Earth following the destruction of his people. Martian Manhunter possesses the ability to change his appearance at will, as well as super strength, speed, flight, and telepathy, and should prove to be a visual delight when brought to life on screen.

One of the original seven members of The Justice League, rumors have persisted for some time that Man of Steel's General Swanwick, played by Harry Lennix, is Martian Manhunter in his human guise, something which Zack Snyder has since confirmed was always the plan. Between his physicality, his voice, and the fact that Martian Manhunter has been commonly depicted as a Black man in recent years, the idea that Snyder had always planned for Lennix to play Martian Manhunter certainly tracks, and with The Snyder Cut now a reality, the director can finally put his plan into action.

The Snyder Cut will follow a similar outline to the Justice League movie that audiences saw in theaters. Following the death of Superman in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Batman and Wonder Woman recruit the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg to form the Justice League and protect the world from Darkseid and his army of Parademons, who seek the three Mother Boxes.

Of course, the appearance of Martian Manhunter is just one of the changes that Snyder is making. Along with the inclusion of Lennix as J'onn 'Jonzz, The Snyder Cut will reportedly feature Joe Manganiello reprising the role of Deathstroke, the arrival of Ray Porter as the tyrannical cosmic overlord Darkseid, and even the return of Suicide Squad's Jared Leto as the Joker. The studio are putting a lot of effort and capital in allowing Snyder to finally realise his vision, with reshoots reportedly costing an estimated $70 million.

The Snyder Cut is set to be released around early to mid-2021 on HBO Max. The plan is to initially release it as a four-part miniseries, with each episode being an hour long. This will then be followed by a version that combines the episodes into a four-hour movie epic. This comes to us from The Nerd Queens.