Beware the Ultraman

the evil Ultraman!!

Ultraman is a supervillain who appears in stories published by DC Comics. He is the evil criminal counterpart of Superman. Ultraman first appeared in Justice League of America #29 (Aug. 1964).

Ultraman originally hailed from the parallel Earth called "Earth-Three", and was a member of the criminal organization the Crime Syndicate of Amerika.

Unlike Superman, Ultraman gets stronger every time he is exposed to kryptonite, often developing a completely new superpower each time. In one such encounter, Ultraman acquired the ability to see through dimensional barriers, thus alerting the Crime Syndicate to the existence of alternate Earths in their first appearance. This allowed the Syndicate to attack the Justice League and Justice Society. Ultraman also differed from Superman in that his version of Krypton hadn't exploded. Where the Kryptonite came from is unknown.

In the early 1980s, Ultraman teamed up with Lex Luthor of Earth-One and Alexei Luthor of Earth-Two in an unsuccessful attempt to eliminate the Supermen of Earths-One and -Two (the Supermen were, in turn, assisted by the heroic Alexander Luthor of Earth-Three). Later, Ultraman joined the rest of the Crime Syndicate in a teamup with a time-traveling villain named Per Degaton in his attempt to conquer Earth-Two, but this proved unsuccessful as well, and the events were wiped from the timeline afterwards. The original Ultraman was eliminated in the 1985 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths. Distraught at the fact that his superpowers were useless at the one time he actually needed them, he flew straight into the anti-matter cloud that was destroying Earth-3, telling Power Ring "I do what I have done all my life. Fight... to the very end!"

A version of the Pre-Crisis Ultraman showed up in the pages of Animal Man. There he learned that he was seemingly a comic book character himself, who existed only for the entertainment of others. He also fought against a more homicidal version of himself, who wished to kill, seemingly for the sake of killing. This Ultraman later faded into the mask of the Psycho-Pirate, who, for a time, was the only one who remembered the Pre-Crisis universe.

In One Year Later there are hints that a man controlling Kandor under the name Kal-El could be Ultraman. He has been using the help of a group of followers called the "Praisesingers" and the guidance of the "Holy Mother." Supergirl and Power Girl fought his efforts, causing his cult-like following to falter. The fact that his mother turns out to be Saturn Queen, however, suggests a connection to an alternate Superman described in the pages of "Superman/Batman", rather than to Ultraman, although his rantings included a mention to Owlman and his need for medicines. It has now been revealed that this Kal-El is indeed Ultraman, who was saved from the Crisis and brainwashed by Saturn Queen, one of the masterminds behind the "Absolute Power" arc in Superman/Batman.

In 1998, Ultraman was reintroduced in the story arc JLA: Earth 2. The Crime Syndicate is revealed for the first time to the Justice League by Alexander Luthor, the heroic antimatter counterpart to Lex Luthor. In this current continuity the CSA comes from the Antimatter Universe, each member being the antimatter counterpart to a core League member.

Ultraman was fully rewritten for modern continuity as Lieutenant Clark Kent, a human astronaut from the antimatter Earth. After a fiery space shuttle crash, an unknown alien race reconstructed Kent in an attempt to repair the damaged astronaut, which ended up altering the human both mentally and physically, giving him ultrapowers similar to Superman's superpowers. According to Alexander Luthor, the process also twisted Ultraman's mind. In contrast to Superman, Ultraman's power relies on his proximity and exposure to a substance called Anti-Kryptonite; the longer and farther he is separated from it the weaker he becomes. This substance has no apparent effect on Superman.

Ultraman is married to his Crime Syndicate teammate Superwoman; at least in the identity of their alter-egos, Clark Kent and Lois Lane. In the early 2000s, the two had a child together. However, Superwoman maintains a periodic affair with another member of the Crime Syndicate, Owlman, much to Ultraman's frustration.

In 52 Week 52, an alternate version of Earth-Three was shown as a part of the new Multiverse. In the depiction were characters that are altered versions of the original Justice League of America, including Superman. The names of the characters and the team are not mentioned in the two panels in which they appear, but the altered Superman is visually similar to Ultraman.[1]

Based on comments by Grant Morrison, this alternate universe is not the pre-Crisis Earth-Three, making this a new character unrelated to previous versions.[2] The name of this Earth-3 team has been revealed to be the Crime Society of America. The Society will make their first solo appearance in Countdown Presents The Search for Ray Palmer: Crime Syndicate #1 written by Sean McKeever and illustrated by Jamal Igle.[3][4][5]