James Gunn’s Superman movie trailers left DC fans asking a fair amount of questions, and one of the biggest has been the identity of what looks to be the most powerful foe that Superman (David Corenswet) will face in the film. Every Superman trailer has featured a sequence of the Man of Steel having a superpowered throwdown with a masked mystery villain in a black suit, with a metallic “U” insignia on his chest. That suit led to a whole lot of speculation about which famous DC bad guy Gunn has included in the film. However, all that speculation is over now, since the identity of Superman‘s mystery villain has been confirmed – in the most unexpected way.
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….Unless you’re a longtime fan of comic book movies. In that case, this is once again par for the course.
The merchandising line tied to Superman has revealed an action figure that seems to be based on the mystery brute from the film, and that figure is labeled as “Ultraman,” which confirms the most popular theory that fans have had since first seeing the DC Universe version of Ultraman onscreen. The comic book version of Ultraman has a long history in the DCU, as he’s an alternate-universe version of Superman who turned evil instead of embracing the nobler sentiments of humanity. And while the version of Ultraman we’re seeing in Superman has (so far) appeared to be a kind of generic brute henchman, it doesn’t mean that Gunn isn’t setting up some of the deeper, larger DC lore that comes with the character.
[RELATED: Is Superman Introducing A Whole New Realm of the DCU?]
Who Is DC’s Ultraman?
Ultraman was a version of Superman from Earth-3 of the DC Multiverse – a world controlled by evil variants of the Justice League known as the “Crime Syndicate of America.” Ultraman (evil Superman) led a squad that originally included Superwoman (evil Wonder Woman), Owlman (evil Batman), Johnny Quick (evil Flash), and Power Ring (evil Green Lantern). In various DC comic storylines (and one great animated film), the Justice League of the prime Earth have been brought to Earth-3 to fight the Crime Syndicate – or had the villains invade their own world, making for some of the most high-stakes and compelling battles within the all-too-famliar “evil mirror image” comic book trope.
Again, the new DCU franchise has yet to make it clear if it will include a character like Ultraman as a mere mindless brute villain who has an Easter egg for a name (like Marvel tends to do), or if Ultraman’s appearance in Superman is Gunn playing chess three or four moves ahead, laying the groundwork for a larger story about the DC Multiverse, and what could be lurking out there. Other scenes from the Superman and Peacemaker Season 2 trailers certainly back up that theory.
Superman will be in theaters on July 11th.
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