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 (arts), homage to Golden Age of Comic Books, Golden Age and Silver Age of Comic Books, Silver Age comics. Most stories in ''Big Bang Comics'' take place ei ...

. 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 which emphasises its own narrative structure in a way that continually reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and stor ...

ally, the first is from the

Golden Age of comics The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era 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 well-known chara ...

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 and an interr ...

on Earth-A. Ultiman has proven to be the most popular of all

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/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'' #68 ( ...

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

Project Gemini Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to spaceflight, fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth ...

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 Character (arts), 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 ...

. By accident, Chris' daughter Christine got exposed to a

radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consi ...

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, 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 - 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 " insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly a ...

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

Doctor Sivana Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Parker (comics), Bill Parker and C. C. Beck, the character is a recurring enemy of the superhero Captain Marvel (DC Comics), C ...

Lex Luthor Alexander Joseph "Lex" Luthor () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Lex Luthor originally appeared in '' Action Comics'' #23 (cover dated: ...

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

. * Super Stormtrooper - A

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

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 a hypothetical group of multiple universes. Together, these universes comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information, and the physical laws and constants that describe them. The di ...

in '' Final Crisis'' #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