Ultiman is a fictional character published by

Big Bang Comics ''Big Bang Comics'' is an American comic book anthology series, designed to be an homage to Golden Age and Silver Age comics. Most stories in ''Big Bang Comics'' take place either on "Earth-A" during the 1960s, or on "Earth-B" during the 1940s ...

. First appearing in ''

'' #1 (Spring 1994), he was created by Gary Carlson and drawn by his partner Chris Ecker, among others. There are two existing versions of Ultiman.

Metafiction Metafiction is a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...

ally, the first is from the

Golden Age of comics The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era in the history of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many ...

on Earth-B, and the second from the

Silver Age of comics The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and widespread commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those featuring the superhero archetype. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books, the Silver ...

on Earth-A. Ultiman has proven to be the most popular of all Big Bang Comics heroes.

Fictional character biography

Earth-A

The Earth-A Ultiman is a member of the Roundtable of America, though he frequently battles evil in Empire City. His main foe is Reverso, a parody of

Bizarro Bizarro () is a supervillain or anti-hero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp as a "mirror image" of Superman, and first appeared in ''Superboy (comic bo ...

. The Earth-A Ultiman received his powers after surviving a

Project Gemini Project Gemini () was the second United States human spaceflight program to fly. Conducted after the first American crewed space program, Project Mercury, while the Apollo program was still in early development, Gemini was conceived in 1961 and ...

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

incident. The cosmic radiation gave him "ultrapowers" (rather than superpowers), and so Ultiman set out to do good in the world. Ultiman also has link to Lori Lake, a pastiche of

Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning ...

. By accident, Chris' daughter Christine got exposed to a radioactive meteor giving her his powers after his death.

Earth-B

His Earth-B counterpart is a member of the Knights of Justice, and was a 4-F reject from the army who received powers after his car was hit by a meteorite that gave Ultiman ultrapowers. The Earth-B equivalent also appeared in the Big Bang TV movie, ''Knights of Justice''.

Powers

Both forms of Ultiman have flight, ultrastrength, ultraspeed and laser-vision, and Ultiman himself is seen as a homage of

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

, and both go by the name of Chris Kelly. However, besides time-zones and origins, the Ultimen differ because of the costume. Earth-A has gloves, while Earth-B has a belt. Ultiman must also recharge his powers from a meteorite. Repeated exposures appear to slowly poison him, causing him to experience steadily more severe symptoms each time before recovering with his powers restored.

Enemies

Ultiman has an assortment of enemies: * Dr. Dexter Cortex is a bald

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insanity, insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabas ...

who has a computer-linked brain. He is a mixture of

Doctor Sivana Doctor Sivana is the name of two fictional, related characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original Doctor Sivana's alter-ego is Dr.Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, a recurring enemy of the superhero Captain Marvel created ...

Lex Luthor Alexander "Lex" Joseph Luthor () is a supervillain in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the character first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #23 (published on February 22, 1940, with a cover d ...

and Brainiac. * Reverso is a supervillain who comes from a reverse reality. He is a parody of

. * Super Stormtrooper is a

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

version of Ultiman.

In other media

Miscellaneous

* An Ultiman pastiche, named Optiman, from Earth-36 was included in the two-page spread of the Supermen of the

Multiverse The multiverse is the hypothetical set of all universes. Together, these universes are presumed to comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information, and the physical laws and constants that describ ...

in ''

Final Crisis "Final Crisis" is a crossover storyline that appeared in comic books published by DC Comics in 2008, primarily the seven-issue miniseries of the same name written by Grant Morrison. Originally DC announced the project as being illustrated solely ...

'' #7.

External links

International Heroes: Ultiman
Image Comics superheroes Image Comics characters with superhuman strength Image Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds Extraterrestrial superheroes Big Bang Comics {{Image-char-stub