Superman has hit and it’s amazing. James Gunn had a lot riding on this film, and it’s paid off. This is perfect Superman, a movie that really brings the Man of Steel’s mythos to life in the best possible way. For longtime Superman fans, Superman has elements from multiple eras of the character, but the one that is most apparent is the post-Crisis version. For those of you who don’t know comic history better than you know world history, post-Crisis refers to the DC Universe after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Crisis was a hard reboot of DC Comics, and Superman was given an entirely new history. There are multiple aspects of the movie that are definitely reminiscent of post-Crisis DC, but one of the deepest cuts is the identity of Ultraman.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The name Ultraman has always been important to the mythos of Superman. The original Ultraman was the Earth-Three (the Earth were the heroes are evil) version of Superman, but this big screen version of the character isn’t that Ultraman. There are clues to who Ultraman is right from the beginning of this excellent DC reboot, and for fans who have been reading Superman for ages, it’s an awesome little Easter egg.
SPOILER ALERT – This article contains spoilers for Superman
Ultraman Was Created by Lex Luthor
The whole point of Crisis was to make the DC Universe more modern and grounded. Man of Steel introduced the new version of Superman, and made a lot of changes to the character. Superman’s origin was changed so that he was “born” on Earth, and his power level was lowered. Lex Luthor went from an evil mad scientist to a corporate villain. However, Luthor was still very smart, and used his intellect to go after Superman. Lex was able to get his hands on some of Superman’s DNA, and used it to clone him. This clone battled Superman in Man of Steel #5, but because of the nature of Kryptonian DNA, he couldn’t make a perfect clone of Superman. Instead, he created Bizarro, a twisted version of the Man of Steel. Pre-Crisis Bizarro was the Superman of Bizarro-Earth, and he was played as the perfect opposite of Superman. The post-Crisis DC Universe was much less silly than what came before, so Man of Steel remade Bizarro, having him created by Luthor. Superman would defeat Bizarro, but it wasn’t the last time that Luthor would create a Bizarro, and Superman would face off against the clone again (the best version of this comes from the New 52 story Forever Evil, humanzing Lex and Bizarro tremendously).
I’m sure by now you’ve figured out who Ultraman is. He’s a clone of Superman, made by Lex Luthor after combing the sites of Superman’s battle to find his DNA. He’s basically Bizarro for the DCU. However, Ultraman doesn’t have the trademark white skin of Bizarro. He doesn’t speak in opposites — Bizarro speaks in a way where everything he says is the opposite of what he means, so for example he would introduce himself by saying, “Me am not Bizarro”; in fact, he doesn’t speak at all. The main Bizarro trait is that Ultraman isn’t intelligent at all. He can be taught and understands English — Luthor had him trained in fighting so that he would pull off certain moves when given verbal cues — and is able to get into the Fortress of Solitude because of his Kryptonian DNA. Lex Luthor creating Bizarro to battle Superman is a tried and true Superman concept. The great thing is that all of the clues to who Ultraman is are there in the movie right off the bat. This is a perfect Easter egg for comic fans, because it shows just how far Lex Luthor will go to destroy Superman (this movie has Lex constantly upping the ante in order to destroy the Man of Steel) and just how intelligent he is. Supeman clones in the post-Crisis DC Universe weren’t just Bizarros, either. The post-Crisis Superboy was also a Superman clone, and the reason he didn’t become a Bizarro is because they added in Lex Luthor’s DNA to stabilize him. I was honestly expecting Lex to reveal this same thing to Superman when he told the Man of Steel about Ultraman, but Gunn instead goes in a different direction.
The Identity of Ultraman Shows Just How Much Love Gunn Has for the Comics
James Gunn’s love of comics has been a huge part of his work for both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Cinematic Universe. Gunn loves to include little Easter eggs to the comics in his superhero films and the identity of Ultraman is one of the coolest because it’s honestly pretty esoteric. Ultraman being an evil Superman clone or copy of some sort has always been a part of the character. When they announced Ultraman, I thought that there was a chance he could be a multiversal Superman, but this is much cooler.
Bizarro in the comics is back to his original origin, so this is a throwback to a completely different age of Superman. Gunn’s Superman is definitely closer to the post-Crisis version than any other version of the character, so bringing in this post-Crisis idea fits perfectly. This is vintage Gunn, putting a great idea up on the screen that fans who love the comics will get, but also one that makes sense for fans who have never read a comic.
Superman is in theaters now.
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Starz -
Image Courtesy of Prime Video.
