Ultra-Humanite (Earth-3839)

Superman first encountered him as Superboy in 1920, trying to protect the Waynes as they were visiting the county seat of Smallville to set up a family planning clinic. His men captured their young son Bruce Wayne and held him for ransom, while the Ultra Humanite used an electrical shocking device on Superboy to keep him from rescuing Bruce. During Superboy's final rescue attempt, when he was joined by Bruce himself in the guise of the Flying Fox, the Ultra Humanite cranked up the power of his portable generator in order to give Superboy a taste of its maximum power levels when Jonathan Kent came on the scene and destroyed the generator with his shotgun, causing an electrostatic shock to the Ultra Humanite's spine that immobilized him from the waist down, crippling him.

In 1939, the Ultra Humanite made his headquarters underneath the Hyperglobe at the Metropolis World's Fair, remotely controlling the Electrox robot that was on display to rampage the crowds and kill whoever got in its way if his demands for $1 million before the end of the day weren't met. However, the rampage was stopped by Superman, who crushed the robot into a metal ball and threw it into the river. Later, the Ultra Humanite discovered there was another costumed hero, the Batman, that was snooping around at the fair looking for evidence. During a final sweep of the Electrox display building to make sure no other clues were left behind, the Ultra Humanite's henchmen captured the investigating Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane and held her hostage inside his underground headquarters until Superman and Batman showed up, with one of the henchmen captured by the heroes revealing its location. The Ultra Humanite attempted to make his escape by having himself and his henchman Ell Ell (Lex Luthor) escape in a rocket built into the Pyramax while having the Hyperglobe rigged to explode. Superman brought both Batman and Lois Lane to safety, then picked up the Hyperglobe and threw it straight at the launching Pyramax, stopping "two birds with one stone".

Unknown to Superman, the Ultra Humanite's robotic servants found him alive in the wreckage, though now his body was destroyed, while his henchman Lex Luthor had his brain destroyed while his body was left intact. The Ultra Humanite then had his servants transplant his brain into the body of Lex Luthor, while Luthor's brain was kept preserved and worked on for decades by a group of putty-faced alien scientists. However, there was a glitch in the transplant that caused it to be imperfect, and the Ultra Humanite was trapped in that form. Nonetheless, the Ultra Humanite took advantage of being in the form of Lex Luthor, even at one point making Superman believe that both he as the Ultra Humanite and Lex Luthor were both alive in 1942. In 1949, he used his resources to rescue the Joker from being in a Soviet Union prison camp in exchange for his stealing a sample of Gold Kryptonite and then kidnapping Clark Kent's (Superman) wife Lois Lane, who was at the time pregnant with Joel Perry Kent, in order to draw Superman out. Bruce Wayne (Batman) and Dick Grayson (Robin) alternately posed as Superman in order to distract both villains long enough for the real Superman to melt the handle of the case that held the Gold Kryptonite. However, the Ultra Humanite succeeded in exposing the unborn Joel Kent to Gold Kryptonite, causing him to be born without any of his father's superhuman abilities.

In 1959, the Ultra Humanite as Lex Luthor appeared unto young Joel Kent to "reveal the secret" that his father Clark Kent, who was actually Superman, was the one who stripped Joel of his powers prenatally out of fear that his son's powers would be greater than his own, thus causing a rift in the relationship between Joel and his father. From that point until he went to Vietnam, Joel began to have clandestine meetings with Ultra posing as Lex, considering Lex to be his "true father". When Joel was nursed back to health by Mei-Lai, whom he fell in love with after his troops shot him and nearly left him for dead, she contacted Luthor, who brought the two of them home, where she married Joel and gave him a son in 1979.

Also in 1979, Clark's wife Lois Lane Kent was undergoing treatments for cancer when Ultra posing as Lex appeared unto them as Dr. Holurt, promising that he would enable Lois to live long enough to see the wedding of their daughter Kara to Bruce Wayne Jr. While he did so, he also gave Joel Perry Kent a formula that would give him powers just like his father, though he didn't tell Joel that the formula would kill him after a few hours. Wearing an armored battle suit, Joel attacked his family at the wedding while Ultra as Lex posed as Dr. Holurt, "revealing" himself to be Luthor when Clark and Lois were trapped within a force field. Weakened by a blast of Kryptonite energy, Clark watched helplessly as Luthor broke Lois' neck and then transported himself away. Later on, when Superman found the villain's hideout and saw his son dead, he tried to seize Luthor, but found out that he was nothing more than a hologram, as he had already teleported himself into the future, though he left behind holographic "calling cards" in various places to taunt Superman as he tried to find his adversary.

In 1989, Superman finally confronted Luthor, who this time truthfully revealed himself to be the Ultra Humanite using Luthor's body, which at this point was becoming old and decrepit. Ultra had removed Superman's powers by wearing Gold Kryptonite cuff links and then trapped him behind an electrical cage as he got ready to use an invention he created that would enable him to swap minds with the Man of Steel's so he could gain all the Kryptonian's powers, as he also now created a formula that would enable a Kryptonian to regain powers that were taken from him by Gold Kryptonite exposure without killing him. Superman tried to stop Ultra by throwing a slender piece of metal in the hopes of pinning him to the machine. However, the piece of metal ended up electrocuting Ultra, causing him to die instantly. Surprisingly, Ultra had his machines record that particular moment in order to frame Superman as a murderer and then destroy itself to remove any evidence that could prove Superman's innocence.

However, in 1999, Superman along with Bruce Wayne (Batman), Clark Wayne (Knight-Wing), and Kyle Rayner (Green Lantern) discovered the formula the Ultra-Humanite had created for himself in his own fortress, and thus Kal-El used it to restore his own Kryptonian powers and to also give his grandson Clark Wayne similar powers on a lesser scale once he found out how to replicate the same formula.

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Genius Level Intellect: Brilliant scientist.
Medicine

Weaknesses

In his original human form, suffered paralysis in his legs.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Various types of inventions which include holograms.

Notes

This version of the character is native to the Superman & Batman: Generations series of stories.

Ultra-Humanite (Earth-3839)

Contents

History