History
Ultraman was born into the partially "reversed" universe of Earth-Three. Similar to the story of Superman, the son of Jur-Ll was sent from the planet Krypton to Earth-Three where he first encountered Kryptonite in outer space which began to change him into a superpower house of vast powers and abilities. Upon his arrival on Earth-Three, the boy grew up developing new powers every time he encountered Kryptonite. Upon reaching adulthood, he renamed himself Ultraman and began a life of conquest and destruction. It would be during his conquering that he encountered four other superpowered beings who would all loosely gather together in various schemes to dominate their world and become the Crime Syndicate of America.
It would be after largely conquering most of their world that Ultraman developed a new type of supervision that allowed him to see into Earth-One dimension. Seeking an open battle to test their powers after defeating the military forces of their native Earth-Three, the Crime Syndicate challenged the combined forces of the Earth-One Justice League of America and Earth-Two Justice Society of America. Not able to withstand the combined mights of two Earths greatest superbeings, the Crime Syndicate was defeated and imprisoned in an extradimensional bubble created by the Earth-One Green Lantern. Over a period of time, the Crime Syndicate members escaped.
It would be on one of these periods between ruling and imprisonment that Ultraman was recruited by the extra-dimensional Alexei Luthor of Earth-Two and Lex Luthor of Earth-One who sought to destroy their native Earths and rule Earth-Three as their new base of operations in their attempt to completely defeat their respective Supermen. Ultraman directly fought and defeated both Superman of Earth-Two and the Superman of Earth-One who were brought to Earth-Three by Alexander Luthor, Sr. as his body was directly powered by the very source that depowered both Supermen. Seeing that the Supermen could not directly take on Ultraman and defeat him, Alexander Luthor, Sr. directly entered the fight after donning superpowered armor. Tricking Ultraman into thinking himself unable to directly fight the infinitely powered Ultraman, Luthor was able to get close enough to Ultraman to dephase Ultraman into an intangible state and allow the Supermen of Earth-One and Earth-Two to recover from Ultraman's Kryptonite powered attack.[1]
After being defeated by Luthor, Ultraman was once again imprisoned. But Ultraman and the Crime Syndicate were able to routinely escape as shown when the Ultra-Humanite and his new time-traveling band of the Secret Society of Super-Villains.[2] Ultraman and the others would battle against Luthor, Sr. and other heroes on many occasions who would routinely defeat Ultraman and the other members of the Crime Syndicate.
This basic stalemate of almost endless escape and imprisonment would continue until the antimatter wave attack of the Anti-Monitor came to Earth-Three during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Unable to stop the antimatter wave that was destroying Earth-Three, Ultraman and the other members of the Crime Syndicate teamed up with Luthor, Sr. in an attempt to stop the attack. Seeing that his infinite powers were unable to stop the wave, Ultraman decided to attack the wave head on after stating to the helpless Power Ring that 'I do what I always do...I'll fight to the end.'
He along with everyone else native to their dimension died in the attack and were completely erased from all history with the reset of the single surviving universe, except for the Superman of Earth-Two and Alexander Luthor, Jr. who remembered Ultraman and his world.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Kryptonite Energy Absorption: Ultraman powers are based on his body's ability to absorb, process, and store Kryptonite radiation.
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- Self-Sustenance: He does not need to eat or sleep (but is still capable of doing so) and doesn't require oxygen to breathe enabling him to travel in space and underwater unprotected.
- Superhuman Stamina
- Superhuman Speed
- Superhuman Hearing:
- Super-Breath: Ultraman can create hurricane force winds by blowing, and also chill his breath to freeze a target.
- Heat Vision
- Super Vision: Ultraman also possesses a superior sensory arrangement of visual capabilities.
- Telescopic Vision: The ability to focus his vision to see something at a great distance, without violating the laws of physics.
- Microscopic Vision: The ability to see extremely small objects and images down to the sub atomic level.
- X-Ray Vision: The ability to see through anything except lead. Since it is passive, this ability would not generate harmful radiation in the same manner as a focused projection of hard X-rays.
- Dimensional Vision: If exposed to kryptonite, he can watch what happens in other dimensions. [3]
Weaknesses
- Power Loss: Lack of exposure to Kryptonite will result in loss of his abilities. With massive exposure to kryptonite, Ultraman's body become paralyzed with the overcharge. [4]
Notes
- This version of Ultraman reappears after the Crisis a few times as a recreation. He is first recreated in Animal Man #24 (June 1990) and most recently in the Infinite Crisis series, but both times was clearly indicated to be a recreation (aka clone) of the original being who was killed in the first Crisis.
Trivia
- Ultraman's costume differs from Superman's in that it features a blue epaulet onto which his cape is attached, his bodysuit features no red tights but it does have red cuffs on the sleeves, and that its U symbol is not affixed to a shield design of any sort.
- Despite the name, he is not to be confused with the fictional alien superhero created by Tsuburaya Productions and actually precedes that character in naming by two years. (DC's Ultraman debuted in 1964 while Tsuburaya's Ultraman debuted in 1966).
Related
- 41 Appearances of Ultraman (Earth-Three)
- 12 Images featuring Ultraman (Earth-Three)
- 3 Quotations by or about Ultraman (Earth-Three)
- Character Gallery: Ultraman (Earth-Three)
Footnotes
  This character is or was primarily a member of the the CSA (Crime Syndicate of America • Crime Syndicate of Amerika • Crime Society of America), in any of its various incarnations, either on Earth-Three, Earth-3, Earth 3, or in the Antimatter Universe. As with all other CSA members, they are an evil version of a hero of the mainstream DC Universe, primarily the Justice League. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "CSA members" category. |
 This character has been primarily an enemy of Superman in any of his various incarnations, or members of the Superman Family. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Superman Villains category." |
 This character is or was primarily an enemy of the Justice League, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Justice League Villains." |