Overhyped , mars would the worst place to start a civilisaion.It would be more beneficial to go to moons of Saturn or other planets such as Jupiter.Sure it would take long and be hella expensive but Titan can be morphed easily to suit our needs.
There is nothing similar to our earth in our galaxy. Mars which is closely associated with the Earth, but drastically different when it comes to weather. In summer, average temperature is about 35 C on mars but extremely cold in winter and averages -45 C to -143 C. The Carbon Dioxide freezes over and falls as ice on its surface during the cold weather according to NASA observations.
The observations they made on human health in space has shown bad results. Three major health problems were observed in Astronauts who spent longer periods in space. Bone and Muscle deterioration is one of them. Vision problems and Body fluid shifting to the upper body and causing a cascading effects on eyes, creating nasal congestion, swollen faces throughout the space work-duration(months) and brain shift were the rest.
I am guessing from these observations in space, going to Mars which has thin atmosphere with CO2 being the main gas in Mar's Air, its gravity being 2.66 times less than Earth's with that extreme weather, best use for it will be a dumping ground for what Earthlings could not recycle lol. Assuming the technology for travel within reasonable time to Mars and back from it becomes available.