Back in middle school, after I read War of the Worlds for the first time, I created an OC and plotted out a basic storyline for him*, but never really pursued it because I thought it was a little far-fetched and silly, perhaps even cringe. Then the 2025 movie came out and I realized my story is way better than that so I went back to it and started playing around with it again out of spite. So fuck it, this is Ezekiel the Martian and he’s my middle school OC who I’ve reworked.
The original book mentions that we know how Martians reproduce because a baby Martian was born on Earth during the invasion. In my version, that baby survived either due to acquired immunity from the human blood it consumed or from a random genetic mutation (I don’t feel like committing to one or the other fully) and was secretly raised by a human scientist. Because he was raised by humans, he displays many traits that others of his species don’t, like speaking and mimicking facial expressions and hand gestures. Thus, he’s caught in a weird limbo state where he can’t really fit in with humans because he’s too alien and also couldn’t fit in with other Martians because he’s too human; a manifestation of my own sense of alienation from my peers as a queer, disabled, neurodivergent kid. The main part of the story takes place in an alternate 1975-ish shortly after the scientist dies and his estate and secret Martian son become his granddaughter’s problem.
Ezekiel’s favorite band is Black Sabbath and he may occasionally dismantle household appliances to get parts for his inventions (currently he wants to build a particle accelerator in the backyard but his niece is refusing to buy him several miles of copper wiring for it).
*they don’t really have genders but the narrator of the book frequently refers to Martians with he/him so. Whatever.















