The Martians, also known as the Invaders,
are the fictional race of extraterrestrials
from the H.G. Wells novel The War of the Worlds.
They are the main antagonists of the novel,
and their efforts to exterminate the populace
of England (and later the Earth) and claim
the planet for themselves drive the plot and
present challenges for the novel's human characters.
They are notable for their use of extraterrestrial
weaponry far in advance of that of mankind
at the time of the invasion.
== In the novel ==
Little about the Martians is definitive, the
story being told by a first-person narrator.
The Martians are described as octopus-like
creatures: the "body" consisting of a disembodied
head nearly 4 ft (1.22 m) across, having two
eyes; a v-shaped, beak-like mouth; and two
branches each of eight 'almost whip-like'
tentacles, grouped around the mouth, referred
to as the 'hands'. They reproduce asexually,
by "budding" off from a parent. Internally,
the Martians consist of a brain, lungs, heart,
and blood vessels; they have no organs for
digestion, and therefore sustain themselves
on Earth by mechanically transfusing blood
via pipettes from other animals, notably humans.
The ear, a single timpanic membrane located
on the back of the head, is believed "useless"
in Earth's denser atmosphere. The Martians
arrival on Earth is aboard large, cylindrical
spacecraft launched from some kind of immense
cannon on Mars, and their chief weapon of
war is the invisible 'Heat-Ray' that produces
a white flame that consumes any organism it
touches. This is mounted on an articulated
arm attached to the front of the tall tripod,
called a 'fighting-machine' in Wells' novel,
which travels across the landscape destroying
humans and their habitat. A secondary weapon,
the "Black Smoke," is a toxic gas released
from canisters launched at a distance from
Bazooka-like tubes, referred to in the novel
as a "gun," which kills humans and animals
alike; it is rendered harmless by Martian
high-pressure steam jets and water. Mention
is also made of a Martian aircraft, but it
is hardly seen, except to possibly spread
the deadly Black Smoke from above over a wider
area.
Evidence of a second race of Martian appear
in the dominant race's cylindrical transport
vessels, presumably for use as their food
supply while in transit; but they are all
killed before the Martians reach Earth. These
secondary Martians are bipedal, nearly 6 ft
(1.83 m) tall, and have "round, erect heads,
and large eyes in flinty sockets"; however,
their fragile physical structure, made up
of weak skeletons and muscles, would have
been broken by Earth's heavier gravitational
pull. It is possible that these creatures
are not native Martians, but similar to the
Selenites described in Wells's other interplanetary
work, The First Men in the Moon.
Based on their physical features, the Martians
might be the descendants of a species similar
to human beings, that evolution has reduced
to only a large brain and head and two groupings
of eight tentacles (hands). They are described
as sluggish under terrestrial gravity, heavier
than on Mars. It is reported that several
Martians attempt to "stand" on their tentacles,
implying that they are capable of locomotion
in this manner while in Mars' lighter gravity,
but not on Earth.
Communication between the Martians is never
made evident, but the narrator, as he sees
Martians working together without audible
means, concludes that they use telepathy.
He makes mention of a "queer hooting" sound,
but attributes it to the exhalation of air
prior to fatally transfusing blood from their
human victims. Some evidence of audible communication
is associated with the Martian Fighting-Machine,
which are described emitting siren-like calls,
and the repeated "Ulla, ulla" call (similar
to a distress signal) that echoes throughout
London after the mass death from bacterial
infection of the Martians.
Despite their advancement, the Martians' technology
lacks the wheel, and it is implied they are
ignorant of disease and decomposition. It
is theorized that their advanced technology
eliminated whatever indigenous diseases were
present on Mars, and so they no longer remembered
their effects. Ultimately, their lack of knowledge
or preparation against any bacteria indigenous
to Earth, causes their destruction here (though
the epilogue states they may have successfully
invaded Venus) by what Wells described as
“putrefactive bacteria,” which digests
organic materials upon death.
== In other adaptations ==
Most adaptations of H.G. Wells' novel incorporate
Martians as the invading race. A few draw
upon their description from the original novel
such as the infamous radio adaptation, as
well as musical version, and Pendragon film
adaptations.
Most versions of the Martians differ from
Wells' version. Despite a lack of verbal language
in the novel, for example, many versions give
them one nevertheless.
=== Edison's Conquest ===
In one of the first sequels, 1898's unauthorized
Edison's Conquest of Mars, a good deal of
text is spent describing the Martians. In
illustrations and descriptions, they are made
to resemble bug-eyed, 15-foot-tall human figures,
and have a vocal speech. Around 7500 BC they
visited Earth, and constructed the Pyramids
of Giza and Great Sphinx of Giza as a memorial
to their leader. When a plague forced them
to return to Mars, they brought with them
a number of humans from the Fertile Crescent
(transported to Egypt), whose descendants
continued to serve as slaves to the Martians
until they were wiped out in the aftermath
of the Martian invasion of Earth, due to Martian
fears of humans. At the same time as The War
of the Worlds, the Martians were said to be
involved in a war against the giant inhabitants
of Ceres. The Martian leadership is described
as:
At the top of the steps on a magnificent golden
throne, sat the Emperor himself. There are
some busts of Caracalla which I have seen
that are almost as ugly as the face of the
Martian ruler. He was of gigantic stature,
larger than the majority of his subjects,
and as near as I could judge must have been
between 15 ft (4.57 m) and 16 ft (4.88 m)
in height[...]I had also learned from [a Martian
slave] that Mars was under a military government,
and that the military class had absolute control
of the planet. I was somewhat startled, then,
in looking at the head and centre of the great
military system of Mars, to find in his appearance
a striking confirmation of the speculations
of our terrestrial phrenologists. His broad,
mis-shapen head bulged in those parts where
they had placed the so-called organs of combativeness,
destructiveness, etc.
Also in Edison's Conquest of Mars, a number
of Martians were said to have managed to return
to Mars after their compatriots died out,
by building another space cylinder and launching
it from Bergen County, New Jersey. The blast
of the launch is said to be large enough to
have destroyed the remains of New York City
that the Martians had left alone.
=== DC Comics ===
In a crossover with the early Superman mythos,
Lex Luthor helps the Martians, although he
eventually betrays them. Scarlet Traces reverses
this, with a Martian survivor helping the
British prepare for a counter-invasion of
Mars.
=== Marvel Comics ===
In the Marvel comic book Killraven: Warrior
of the Worlds, the Martians return to Earth
in the year 2001 in an alternate, post apocalypse
version of the Marvel universe. Killraven,
alongside other heroes such as Spider-Man
fight the Martians and their human slaves.
The Martians would later have a small appearance
in 2010's The Avengers volume 4. When Kang's
interference of the timestream shatters it,
random events of history occur in present-day
New York City, including the arrival of Killraven
and the Martians, piloting their Tripod walking
machines. They are defeated by Thor.The Martians
later appeared in 2015 in All-New Invaders
#11-15. The story was collected under the
title "The Martians are Coming".
=== 1953 film ===
In the 1953 film adaptation, the Martians
are short, brown creatures having three-fingered
hands with suction cups at the end of long
arms and a cyclopean eye divided into three
sections: one red, one green, and one blue.
The bottom-half of the creature is never fully
shown; but blueprints show three legs having
each a single suction-cup toe, similar to
those on their fingers; other art shows two
legs. No description of the alien's internal
structure is given; but they are revealed
to have blood, and their anemic blood cells
are viewed by scientists under a microscope.
As in other versions of the story, the Martians
succumb to terrestrial bacteria. The aliens
appear to have no use for human beings, unlike
the original book's Martians who also used
them as a blood supply.
=== Asylum films ===
In the Asylum film H.G. Wells' War of the
Worlds, also known as "Invasion", the Martians
resemble a short, green, disc-like head with
four long tentacles acting as legs. Their
feet have mouths having the ability to spit
a deadly, corrosive acid. Inside these mouths
are three tongues that closely resemble the
Martians' fingers on the 1953 film version.
On the DVD's Behind the Scenes feature, actor
Jake Busey describes the aliens as looking
like "floating pool chairs". It would appear
that these Martians also have a need for human
blood, and tend to appear mostly at night
(possibly because sunlight on Mars is weaker
than that on Earth). The cause of their deaths
is uncertain, but it is presumably a virus.
The main character, George Herbert, injects
an alien with a rabies vaccine, with hope
that "life fighting life" can stop them when
guns and bombs have failed. At the end of
the film, the aliens curiously stand paralysed
when infected. Survivors confirm that they
were infected by an airborne virus. They are
not given the name "Martian" in the film,
but are only named "aliens" once in the film,
and a few times as "demons" by a Pastor. Their
machines have six legs and resemble a crab,
similar to the 'handling-machine' of the original
novel.
In the sequel War of the Worlds 2: The Next
Wave, the antagonists are the "squid-walkers",
a cybernetic race of tripods controlled by
a single entity inside their mothership. Inside
the mothership, humans are kept alive and
their blood is filtered, homogenised, and
fed to the aliens. They are killed by infected
blood injected into the mothership's core,
telepathically shutting down the Tripods.
=== Pendragon Pictures film ===
In the film H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds,
the Martians are large, bullish creatures,
keeping the two large eyes and tentacles described
in the book; but do not seem to possess the
beak-like mouth. They meet the same fate as
the originals, having caught Earthly diseases.
Their fighting-machines are extremely tall,
with very long silver legs and numerous appendages,
and emit a similar sound to the "Ulla" Wells
described. The aliens crash to Earth in cylinders,
which more closely resemble a meteorite (a
similar aspect was used in the 1953 film adaptation),
and spread their red weed during the invasion.
They feed on human blood, extracted from the
human prisoners via a Handling-machine. For
these reasons, a character names them "vampires."
=== Other ===
In Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds, in
which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes,
Dr. Watson, and Professor Challenger battle
the aliens, it is hinted that the Martians
may have accelerated their evolution using
selective breeding and eugenics, and that
their original body type may have resembled
the form of the tripods. It is also made clear
that the aliens are not Martians, but originate
from a more distant planet flooded with water,
which puts the long legs of the Tripods into
motion.
In Rainbow Mars they also appear as one of
the many races from inhabiting Mars; killed
not by bacteria but by the higher gravity
of Earth, which caused organ ruptures and
internal bleeding. They are mentioned as having
launched two invasions of Earth, one in the
early 20th century and the second in the 1950s
(to correspond with the novel and 1953 movie).
In the Wold Newton family, they are mentioned
as possibly related to the kaldanes and Cthulhuoids.
The Mars People from the game Metal Slug are
inspired by the designs of the Martians.
The novel series known as The Tripods features
a race of extraterrestrials invading Earth
by means of gigantic, three-legged machines
compatible with Wells' description of "a great
body of machinery on a tripod stand"; but
these are not used as war-machines, and the
extraterrestrials commanding them do not use
humans as prey.
== Non-Martians ==
Not all of the antagonistic invaders are from
Mars. Because science has revealed that the
red planet is devoid of intelligent life,
the concept of using Martians is sometimes
dropped from some adaptations as it is no
longer deemed realistic.
=== TV series ===
One of the earliest known to take a new spin
on the invaders was in a pilot presentation
made by George Pal for an unrealized War of
the Worlds TV series. Though Pal's 1953 film
is established as a basis for the look of
the invaders and their technology (their war
machines bearing no clear dissimilarities),
there is no seeming intended continuation.
These invaders, depicted only in production
art, only differ in certain detail as they
appear leaner and their cyclopean eye sporting
apparently only a single color. The most notable
difference is that these aliens are not stated
to be Martians. In part of the series' set-up,
humanity sends ships to pursue the defeated
invaders. Instead of chasing them to Mars,
they are tracked down to the distant Alpha
Centauri. It is then revealed that these aliens
are not even the main villains, but rather
an underling race to a greater force that
is not revealed in the presentation.
The actual War of the Worlds TV series that
was made, a sequel to the 1953 film, goes
into more detail with its invaders. When the
show begins, there is no mention of Mars (with
the exception of one episode in which characters
are confusing them with the Martians of the
radio broadcast). Though some minor details
are given away to indicate that their home
planet was not Mars, it is not confirmed on-screen
until midway through the season that they
originate from a world named Mor-Tax. With
their beautiful planet becoming uninhabitable
from a dying star, they invade Earth with
plans to take it over to preserve the traits
that it shares with their old world. Their
society is highly collective with the only
sense of division in the form of their ternary
caste system: a high-ranking and seemingly
infallible ruling class (itself divided between
the supreme leadership of a Council and their
Advocacy to the lower classes), a military
force in the middle, and scientists relegated
to the bottom. They are incredibly intelligent,
able to communicate in seconds over light-years
of space, create effective booby traps, and
even adapt seemingly normal human objects
for their own purposes. However, their intelligence
lends itself to their one true weakness: their
hubris, as it is established that they often
claim victory before it is accomplished, do
not admit to their mistakes, and with the
exception of the Advocacy, those who fail
are executed.
=== 2005 film ===
Virtually nothing is known about the alien
invaders in Steven Spielberg's 2005 film adaptation
of War of the Worlds. On the DVD's 'Behind
the Scenes' feature, Spielberg says The reason
the word "Martian" is never said in this film
is because my aliens are not from Mars. They
[the aliens] probably come from as far away
as E.T, but a much darker part of the universe.
Physiologically, these creatures have greenish/grey-colored
skin, and are tripodal. Each limb ends with
three fingers (resembling those from Byron
Haskin's 1953 film version), and they also
have two small limbs, also with three fingers,
on their chest (similar to a theropod, or
to the Xenomorph queen). The biological needs
of this race are largely unknown. They somehow
"ride lightning" in small transport pods during
a storm to reach their buried Tripods (a plot
device that Spielberg might have adapted from
a Super Friends episode entitled "Invasion
of the Brain Creatures"). They require human
blood; but only as part of their xenoforming
project. Throughout the film, their tripods
spill a strange fluid that is presumably connected
to the invaders' needs (indeed, in the script
David Koepp refers to it as "lifeblood", though
it is described as rose-colored, rather than
the film's orange). In the climatic scene
of the film, a downed tripod opens a hatch
that belches the liquid before one of the
sickly creatures crawls forth. The death of
these invaders is evident as they seemingly
dehydrate upon their death; but this occurs
only in the end, and thus may be a result
of their exposure to bacteria. These aliens
do have a language, uttered amongst themselves
at some point, and there is logographic writing
seen on their tripods.
=== Other ===
In Sherlock Holmes' War of the Worlds, Professor
Challenger theorizes to Sherlock Holmes that
the Martians came from another, wetter planet
due to their seeming familiarity with the
ocean while battling the Thunder Child; their
small lungs (which would have been inadequate
in Mars' atmosphere); and the fact that no
construction was evident on Mars before the
1894 opposition. Their apparent struggle to
move in Earth's gravity is given as a mixture
of caution and embellishment in the accounts
of Wells, "the known atheist and radical".
Challenger further speculates that they came
from another solar system in the galaxy.
In the Scarlet Traces comic, it is eventually
revealed that the Martians came from a planet
that exploded to form the asteroid belt; they
then settled on Mars, driving the native species
into extinction before launching similar wars
against the races of Mercury, Venus, the Moon,
and finally Earth. (A similar concept appears
in Diane Duane's A Wizard of Mars.)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume
II, also has the Martians being as foreign
to the existing Martian civilization as they
are to Earth, and evacuate the planet to conquer
Earth after losing a war against the forces
of John Carter and Gullivar Jones. It is said
that the material they use to build their
machines is secreted by the creatures themselves.
By the year 2009, the Martians are believed
by a post-Big Brother society to have been
fiction.
In "To Mars and Providence" (the H. P. Lovecraft-inspired
entry in War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches,
written by Don Webb) it is stated that the
Martians are an extrasolar race with similarities
to both the Elder Things and Great Race of
Yith.
In the Killraven comics, the "Martians" are
an extrasolar race who used Mars as a staging
area.
== Names ==
Wells never gave the Martians a specific name.
One of the earliest names of the race was
the Mor-Taxans, from the 1980s TV show. In
Larry Niven's Rainbow Mars they are called
"Softfingers", and in The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen, Volume II, the native Martians
of the Barsoom books refer to them as "molluscs",
"mollusc invaders", or "leeches", while Hawley
Griffin contemptuously refers to them as "afterbirths".
George Alec Effinger's "Mars: The Home Front"
in the shared world anthology War of the Worlds:
Global Dispatches, has Edgar Rice Burroughs'
John Carter has the inhabitants of Barsoom,
Burroughs' vision of Mars, refer to Wells'
Martians as "sarmaks", which name has become
somewhat popular and appears in the Wold Newton
universe and in articles in ERBZine, the official
Burroughs fanzine.
In Ian McDonald's short story "The Queen of
Night's Aria", a sequel to The War of the
Worlds published in the 2013 George R. R.
Martin and Gardner Dozois anthology Old Mars,
the Wells Martians are named the Uliri.
== Bibliography ==
Gosling, John. Waging the War of the Worlds.
Jefferson, North Carolina, McFarland, 2009
(paperback, ISBN 0786441054
