WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Justice League: Last Ride #7, on sale now from DC Comics.
Across the multiverse, plenty of heroes and villains have received radical new forms and abilities that elevate them in terms of sheer power over some of their core-DC Universe counterparts. This extends to the world of Justice League: Last Ride, which found a way to empower one of the major DC heroes.
Justice League: Last Ride #7 by Chip Zdarsky, Miguel Mendonca, Enrica Angiolini, and AndWorld Design introduces perhaps one of the multiverses most powerful incarnations of the Martian Manhunter ever by making him a living construct of the Green Lantern Corp energy -- and he should retain this newfound power.
In the reality featured in Justice League: Last Ride, the titular team has been splintered by a mission into space that ended disastrously for the heroes of Earth. Various heroes were lost in a major universal conflict with Darkseid and his allies on Apokolips, without perhaps the most heartbreaking ultimately being the loss of Martian Manhunter. With little other option, the Martian Manhunter saved the Earth and helped destabilize the world of Apokolips -- but was seemingly destroyed by the ensuing outpouring of fiery energies that burst out in the process.
The loss of a variant of Martian Manhunter came as a serious blow, splinting the team almost irrevocably in the process. The Justice League barely reunited to return to Apokolips in the hopes of helping Lobo face justice for his slaughter of the New Gods. But in doing so, they opened themselves up for a series of attacks from numerous villains, who all rushed to Apokolips to confront them. This includes Darkseid himself -- revealed to have been possessing Hal Jordan and puppeteering him into a situation where he could claim the power of the Green Lantern Central Power Battery. But while confronting Wonder Woman, both were caught by surprise by the apparent return of the Martian Manhunter.
It turns out that while hus physical form had been indeed destroyed in the blast, his Martian Consciousness was able to survive within the remains of Apokolips. By fueling the world with Green Lantern energy, J'onn was able to assume a new energy form and reconstruct himself. If anything, this new form actually makes him more powerful and might be the ultimate potential endgame for the hero. Martian Manhunter is shown still having his telepathy, and the Green Lantern construct body allows him to be just as fast, strong, and durable as he was before. He maintains his shapeshifting abilities and likely can improve upon them with a fully fluid energy body.
He even likely now lacks his innate Martian weakness to fire, allowing him to overcome the kind of vulnerability that got him killed in the first place. On top of this, physical constraints like exhaustion likely no longer apply to the Martian Manhunter, instead of cementing him as perhaps this universe's most potent fighter. The Green Lantern Energy is some of the DC Universe's most impressive powers, with the ability to survive world-ending events with relative ease.
The biggest drawback seems to be that he's forever now bonded to the fate Green Lantern Corps -- which certain inventions have been created to disrupt and counter -- and cannot leave New Oa. But it's still a serious advancement for the longtime hero. It likely even makes him more or less immortal like his DC One Million counterpart -- but still capable of interacting and defending the universe. The end of the story doesn't restore Martian Manhunter to a body, and he really should avoid taking one back -- as his new powerful form could be a huge boon for the heroes.