That Ultraman ‘Superman’ twist and the comic book history behind it

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Superman.

Aside from the Man of Steel himself, the most sought-after secret identity in the DC Universe belongs to Ultraman.

Ahead of the release of James Gunn’s Superman (in theaters now), speculation spiraled around who exactly was underneath the black suit of this mysterious figure. When early paparazzi pics emerged from the set, some likened him to Black Noir from The Boys, Amazon’s satirical superhero drama, based on the character’s black uniform alone.

We at least knew Ultraman was part of Team Luthor. When asked whether he was the product of Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) attempting to recreate Superman (David Corenswet), Gunn, the film’s writer/director and the co-head of DC Studios, told Entertainment Weekly, “I think that’s close. Ultraman is sort of Lex’s thug and is pretty powerful.”

His true nature was preserved for theaters.

Who is Ultraman of the DCU?

The events of Superman revealed David Corenswet plays Ultraman in a surprise dual role. Following a previous battle that occurred off screen in the events predating the main story, Luthor acquired the Kryptonian strongman’s DNA. From just a few hair follicles, he created a clone, whom the tech billionaire dubbed Ultraman.

Ultraman isn’t an identical clone. He is formidably powerful and maintains the same abilities as Superman. However, Ultraman is simple-minded and purely exists to follow Luthor’s directions, down to the exact attack moves his handler shouts into his earpiece during fights.

Ultraman is also the guy behind the Hammer of Boravia, who arrived early on in the film’s story and was responsible for Superman’s very first defeat, forcing the hero to retreat to his Fortress of Solitude for restoration. The Hammer claimed to be a hero from Boravia who attacked Metropolis in retaliation for Superman’s interference in the Boravia-Jarhanpur conflict, but he proved to be a fake persona Luthor engineered to smear Supe’s public image.

The Ultraman of this DCU that Gunn is building across multiple movies and TV shows isn’t a strict one-to-one adaptation of the character from the comics. Instead, he feels more like a blend of different elements.

Who is Ultraman of DC Comics?

Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Mike Sekowsky for 1964’s Justice League of America #29, “Crisis on Earth-Three,” Ultraman was introduced as a Superman figure from an alternate reality, called Earth-Three.

In that universe, the Last Son of Krypton veered towards evil. Instead of the Justice League of heroes, the Crime Syndicate of villains was formed. Alongside Ultraman were also evil doppelgängers of Batman (now Owlman), Wonder Woman (now Superwoman), The Flash (now Johnny Speed), and Green Lantern (now Power Ring). Growing bored of being the undefeated criminals of their world, the Syndicate set their eyes on the reality inhabited by Superman and the Justice League.

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Ultraman and the Crime Syndicate received multiple makeovers in the comics over the years, one notably from Grant Morrison (writer) and Frank Quitely (artist) for 2000’s JLA: Earth-2 story arc. The character broke out beyond the comics by featuring in a 1979 episode of the animated series The World’s Greatest SuperFriends. Actor Tom Welling played Ultraman in live-action form on a 2010 episode of Smallville, which introduced the character as Clark Luthor of Earth-Two.

Welling’s Smallville proved to be influential for Superman stars Corenswet and Hoult, both of whom mentioned the CW series as the most prominent depiction of Superman when they were younger.

Other notable pop culture appearances include animated movies Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010) and Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths (2024). But the specific Ultraman of Gunn’s Superman feels more akin to other figures from DC.

A Bizarro mix

In the space of Superman-clones-gone-wrong, Bizarro is king.

That character’s exact origins have varied in the years since his debut in 1958’s Superboy #68, but most commonly, Bizarro is depicted as either a scientifically engineered clone of Superman (in some cases by Luthor himself) or a twisted being from another world (Htrae/Bizarro World). Bizarro looks more like a zombie than he does a passable identical clone, but he bears a similarity to Corenswet’s Ultraman in Superman in that they both maintain comparable powers to Kal-El but none of his mental or emotional intelligence.

Yet another Superman clone comes to mind when thinking of the context from Gunn’s Superman. Christopher Reeve’s big-screen run as the DC hero was another touchstone for the filmmaker. And one such movie, 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, happens to feature a character by the name of Nuclear Man, portrayed physically by Mark Pillow and voiced by Lex Luthor actor Gene Hackman.

In that film, Luthor steals a sample of Superman’s hair to create a genetic matrix. And with the help of a nuclear missile exploding into the sun, it creates a clone.

Ultraman’s black suit in Gunn’s Superman is also an interesting element because of the history of Superman in black in the comics. It’s typically referred to as his “Recovery Suit.” The Man of Steel wore it after he was killed by the villain Doomsday in the classic Death of Superman comic arc of 1992. It’s meant to help the Kryptonian absorb healing solar energy more easily.

The black suit features in multiple other comic stories over the decades, including in 1993’s The Reign of the Supermen, which notably features a partial Superman clone, Superboy. That’s not to say Superboy is as volatile or dimwitted as Gunn’s take on Ultraman, but the similarities remain.

The ending of this month’s summer movie event shows Corenswet as Ultraman trapped in the out-of-control pocket universe Hoult’s Luthor created before it closed up. It’s giving General Zod and his black-suited Krypton cronies hurtling towards oblivion in the Phantom Zone from the Reeve-led Superman II (1980). Coincidence? Probably not. In the spirit of remixing DC comics of the past to present new stories for DC’s future, all of it is likely both Ultraman inspiration and not.