White Martians

A White Martian is not an alcoholic beverage, so put that thought out of your head. In fact, it is a particular breed of Martian featured in comic books published by DC Comics. They first appeared in JLA #1 in January, 1997.

Description
They are cousins to the Green Martians and are distinguished from them by their albino skin pigmentation, their tapered heads, angular bodies and large claws and teeth. White Martians are a sentient race, but are also known as ruthless predators. They are sworn enemies of the Green Martians. Both races are adept shape-shifters, capable of assuming any form they please (given a relative size and mass).

The Hyperclan
White Martians first came to Earth several years ago disguised as a humanoids in heroic attire and called themselves the Hyperclan. They professed to having witnessed their home world suffer great ecological destruction, and sought to prevent the same thing from happening on other worlds. The general populace of Earth immediately ingratiated themselves to the Hyperclan, but members of the super-hero community had concerns over the team's seeming generosity. To demonstrate their pledge to heal the Earth, the Hyperclan used their combined powers to turn the barren Sahara Desert into a veritable Eden. The Hyperclan also lent their power to the cause of law enforcement. However, instead of incarcerating criminals, they were actually executing them. This was also supported by the general public.

Before long though, the Hyperclan began to take offensive action against those who might threaten their goals; specifically the Justice League. The Hyperclan ambushed the League aboard their satellite, completely tearing through the sides of the structure. Metamorpho encased the entire team and jettisoned himself from the satellite before it exploded entirely. The League members survived the planet fall to Earth, but they all suffered severe injuries. Metamorpho was rendered inert. Soon after, Hyperclan leader, Protex, erected a watchtower structure in the icy plains of Antarctica named Z'onn Z'orr.

As tensions between the two teams heated up, it wasn't long before the Hyperclan and the Justice League came to blows. Protex approached the Martian Manhunter and tried to sway him into betraying the League and joining the Hyperclan. He had hoped to play on the Manhunter's feelings of isolation to win him over, but ultimately, the Manhunter stood by his teammates. The rest of the Hyperclan engaged the other League members, ultimately capturing Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman.

Protex then fought against Superman outside of Z'onn Z'orr. He realized that he didn't need to maintain any pretenses about being a global savior to the Man of Steel and quickly felled him when he produced a chunk of Green Kryptonite. Protex brought the weakened Superman into the fortress and bound him to a chair, forcing him to watch as he tortured the other captured League members in a device called the Flower of Wrath.

Superman eventually figured out that Protex was a Martian and that the Kryptonite he used to defeat him was really just a psychic projection that produced psychosomatic symptoms. Dispelling the illusion from his consciousness, Superman broke free of his restraints and fought Protex one on one. They exchanged blasts of heat vision vs. Martian vision, but when this proved ineffective, Protex shape-shifted into a cocoon and wrapped himself around Superman, hoping to smother him. Superman freed himself, and holding tight to Protex's body, drilled deeply into the Earth where he was able to overpower him.

The rest of the League freed themselves and defeated the remaining members of the Hyperclan. The Martian Manhunter gave Protex and the others a psychic lobotomy, erasing their memories and forcing them to assume mundane, humanoid forms. He then reprogrammed their brains with false memories and sent the Hyperclan members out into the world to join the human race.

Supergirl TV series
White Martians made a brief appearance on the CBS television series Supergirl. They were presented in similar fashion to their comic book counterparts, and were revealed to have been a subterranean race, who rose to the surface and wiped out nearly all of their green cousins. J'onn J'onzz, one of the last of the green Martians watched his family burn to death in the fires before successfully escaping the holocaust and coming to Earth.

One White Martian arrived on Earth and used its shape-shifting powers to assume the identity of Senator Miranda Crane. Through Crane, it publicly elevated anti-alien hysteria amongst the general public, all as a ruse to lure out J'onn J'onzz. The plot worked and the two Martians battled one another, but J'onn proved victorious with the aid of his comrade, Kara Danvers, aka Supergirl.