Does Ultraman spell doomsday for the Man of Steel? Director James Gunn has teased that the Superman villain is “Lex’s thug and is pretty powerful,” as evidenced by the film’s trailers showing Ultraman in league with Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) and proving to be just as strong — if not stronger — than the Kryptonian Superman (David Corenswet). But is he powerful enough to kill Superman?
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Gunn revealed a new look at the masked villain looking worse for wear, his full body suit in tatters. The image appears to be from the same scene unmasking Ultraman in the latest trailer (where the villain’s uncovered face can be seen briefly as he unleashes his own heat vision against Superman).
The film’s toyline has already revealed that — spoiler alert! — Ultraman is also the Hammer of Boravia, the armored terrorist seen attacking Metropolis over Superman’s interference with the foreign war between Boravia and Jarhanpur.
We’ve speculated that Ultraman’s secret identity might be that of the brain-swapping supervillain called the Ultra-Humanite, but the closer look at Ultraman’s mask brings to mind yet another Superman foe: Doomsday. More specifically, Doomsday’s containment suit that concealed the monster’s spike-covered form as he rampaged across the country in “Doomsday!,” which culminated in The Death of Superman.
Making his first full appearance in 1992’s Superman: The Man of Steel #18, the ultimate killing machine wore the body-covering containment suit as he wreaked havoc and acts of destruction before battling the Justice League of America (including Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern).
Superman #74 was the first to reveal the gray-skinned monster beneath the green suit as he traded blows with the Man of Steel (who remarked he’d never been hit so hard before). By the time Superman dies defending Metropolis in Superman #75 — the conclusion of a battle with Doomsday that rages across multiple cities and issues — Doomsday’s suit has been torn to shreds.
In the comics, Doomsday was created hundreds of thousands of years ago as part of an alien genetics experiment that birthed the most destructive creature in the DC Universe. Ultraman is, essentially, an evil Superman from another Earth, with similar powers to his counterpart — including super strength, speed, flight, and heat vision — but draws his power from radioactive green kryptonite, Superman’s greatest weakness besides magic.
It could be that Lex’s answer to Superman might be another Kryptonian, or, potentially, a clone made from Kryptonian DNA. (Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor created Doomsday from a dead Zod in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.) In John Byrne’s The Man of Steel comic book run, Lex Luthor discovered that Superman was an alien when he tried to create a duplicate Superman as part of “Project Changeling.”
Luthor’s Superman clone couldn’t replicate the Kryptonian’s alien DNA, and so his body began to break down and crystalize. The artificial, chalk-skinned “Superman” became a Bizarro but was soon destroyed. Whether Ultraman is doomed to such a fate remains to be seen.
Superman stars David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. The cast includes Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern Guy Gardner, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher, María Gabriela de Faría as Angela Spica/the Engineer, Wendell Pierce as Perry White, Alan Tudyk as Superman Robot #4, Neva Howell as Ma Kent, Pruitt Taylor Vince as Pa Kent, Sean Gunn as Maxwell Lord, and Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr. The DC Studios movie flies into theaters July 11.
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