Martian Manhunter attempted to conquer his fear of fire and made a deal with a flame-wielding villainess named Scorch, who wanted J'onzz' telepathic help in dealing with her own mental issues. 20,000 years before, an extremely dangerous race of beings called 'the Burning' caused large fires to help themselves reproduce asexually. In order to prevent the Burning from destroying much of the universe, the Guardians of the Universe split the species into the Green Martians and the White Martians, changed their reproductive behavior, and instilled in them a fear of fire. When the Martian Manhunter confronted his fear of fire, he reverted into one of the ancient creatures and changed his name to Fernus.
Fernus increased the powers he gained from J'onn, acquiring instant self-healing power and pyrokinesis. His tremendous strength also allowed him to dominate the Justice League in combat even without his Martian telepathic powers. The Justice League eventually defeated Fernus by re-enlisting Plastic Man, who was immune to Fernus' psychic powers and had superior shape-changing abilities. Fernus was destroyed and the Martian Manhunter restored.
