Ultraman (Shin Ultraman)

was the titular character of the 2022 film Shin Ultraman, serving as a reinterpretation of the similarly named character from the 1966 TV series. While his real name is ,Shin Ultraman Singapore Screening September 4, 2022 English subtitle. he had since adopted the name given to him by mankind.
==Conception==
===Etymology===
The term "Ultraman" is shortened from the full codename assigned by the SSSP and is a portmanteau of "Ultra", a top secret codeword used by Asami's previous agency, and "man", for his humanoid build. Although he is also considered as an by the group, Ultraman was not designated by numbering, unlike Zarab and Mefilas, who took on the numbers 2 and 0.
His real name, Lipiah, comes from Lippia, a genus of flowering plants named after a French naturalist and botanist, Augustus Lippi. In the flower language (Hanakotoba), Lippia means bond, honesty and understanding.
In the movie, the only person to call Ultraman by his true name was Zōffy, but has since switched to the former, accepting that his brethren had adopted a new name on Earth.
===Design===
The first concept art was made in October 3, 2018 by Hideaki Anno, using Ultraman's first suit actor Bin Furuya as a base for the body frame.https://twitter.com/khara_inc/status/1211179597636620289 Wanting the Ultraman's design to live up to Tohl Narita's vision, Anno sought permission from Narita's son, Kairi, to use the 1983 painting as a reference.https://en.tsuburaya-prod.co.jp/news/1680https://m-78.jp/news/post-5367
The final design of Ultraman took various design cues harkening back to its original draft, such as:
*The mask produced by modeler Akira Sasaki, supervised by Narita.
*The body frame being based on Bin Furuya's figure (according to Khara's official Twitter site, only the legs from the original draft made it to the final).
*The lack of a Color Timer, dorsal fin and peepholes in the eyes per Tohl Narita's original intention.
In addition, the design also seemingly takes elements from suits used in the 1966 series, such as the C-type suit's facial features and the B-type suit's slightly pointed feet. The red lines on the body and legs were also made to be more angular than those typically seen in other appearances.
The finalized design was first publicly unveiled in late 2019, at TSUBURAYA CONVENTION (TSUBUCON). In addition to its modeled figurine (both in white and colored versions), a CGI photo was unveiled as a reference scale of Ultraman to his surroundings. In November 2020, a statue of Ultraman was placed in Sukugawa, Fukushima, the birthplace of Eiji Tsuburaya, in the Sukagawa Tokusatsu Archives Center.https://m-78.jp/news/post-5688
The Spacium Beam used in the movie was animated by Sadao Iizuka, who had worked on the original Ultraman's Spacium Beam, and others.https://twitter.com/shin_ultraman/status/1470589359598407681 The motion capture used for Ultraman's Spacium Beam was performed by Hideaki Anno.https://twitter.com/shin_ultraman/status/1542311964583542787
For Ultraman's flying motion, the prop for the flying models from 1966 and the one from Ultraman Jack (1971) were 3D scanned as a basis for his CG motion. https://web.archive.org/web/20220701190233/https://www.khara.co.jp/sudw_0513/ultra_S01-S02_ultraman.htmlThis even includes a model where he fired Spacium Beam while flying against Zetton. For his iconic rising motion, the doll props of Zoffy in Ultraman Mebius episode 51 and an alternate Ultraman from Great Decisive Battle! The Super 8 Ultra Brothers were 3D scanned for the CGI's basis. The finalized rising scene however lacks the original's left leg bending downward.https://web.archive.org/web/20220605153239/https://khara.co.jp/sudw_0513/ultra_S01-S02_ultraman2.html
In the trailer, Ultraman's first arrival on Earth (more specifically in against Neronga) was portrayed in his usual figure to hide the movie using an all-silver model and the face's "wrinkled" appearances that resembles the 1966 Ultraman's Type A suit. For this, the film uses a silver spray-painted figurine of Ultraman as a basis.https://twitter.com/khara_inc2/status/1526508250333556736
==History==
===Shin Ultraman===
Lipiah was assigned by the Planet of Light to watch over Planet Earth after a series of ancient leftover biological weapons, designated "S-Class Species" or Kaiju, were awakened in Japan. In response to the emergence of Kaiju, the SSSP was formed as a specialized anti-monster to fight against them. Their efforts had been successful until the emergence of Neronga, who was beyond their ability to defeat. Seeing this, Lipiah entered the Earth for the first time, in the form of a silver giant, and promptly defeated Neronga by shooting his Spacium Beam at the monster. Lipiah then flew away and seemed to disappear mid-air, puzzling all the military personnel observing him.
When Lipiah first landed, the impact caused rocks to hit and kill a human, Shinji Kaminaga, who had used himself to protect a boy that had not yet evacuated. Curious over Kaminaga's decision to use his own life to protect another, Lipiah decided to take his form, memories, and identity to pose as him in order to better understand humans while leaving the real Kaminaga's body preserved where he had died in the forest, despite knowing that fusing with a human was forbidden under the Code of the Planet of Light. Posing as Kaminaga, he went to work in the SSSP, but his personality had slightly changed and spent his time reading various books to learn more about humans. Hiroko Asami, a new recruit to the SSSP sent by the Public Security Intelligence Agency, was assigned as his partner but they did not get along well initially. The silver giant is tentatively named "Ultraman" for use by the humans.
Not long after, Gabora, another Kaiju similar to both Neronga and Pagos, emerged and headed towards a nuclear waste management facility to devour the nuclear waste there. The SSSP order American forces to bomb Gabora to bring it out of the ground, but their attempts were futile. With Gabora getting ever closer to its target, the SSSP seemed to be out of luck and were tempted to simply destroy Gabora when it appeared, despite the nuclear contamination it would have caused. Hearing of their plight, Kaminaga went out into the forest to transform into Ultraman, who now had red patterns all over his body as a result of the sharing his life force with Kaminaga. Unknown to him, Kaminaga's transformation was caught by cameras stationed there. Ultraman fought against Gabora just outside of the facility, avoiding its drill attacks and using his body as a shield from its uranium beam, negating all the radiation that would have been emitted. The SSSP noticed that Ultraman's red lines started to turn green as a result of loss of energy. When Gabora was open for an attack, Ultraman punched it in the face and instantly knocked it out, instead of using his Spacium Beam to destroy it before carrying the Kaiju's corpse away.
Soon, the next threat in the form of Zarab arrived on the planet and first appeared in the SSSP's headquarters, knocking out the power with "accidental" electromagnetic interference upon landing. He had entered political deals with the government of Japan, offering to lend them his abilities and advanced technology which would undoubtedly give them the upper hand while causing panic in other countries, as it was his true and hidden objective to cause humans to eventually destroy themselves through international conflict. Kaminaga met up with a former colleague of his from his time at the police's Public Security Division, who had uncovered Zarab's plans to cause international conflict. Just as his partner left, Zarab appeared in Kaminaga's car and threatened him. Kaminaga attempted to reason with Zarab, who simply stated that he was doing his job as an extermination marker had already been placed on the Earth, and that humans were inferior beings who deserved to be eradicated anyway. 
Unable to kill his target because of the merger with Ultraman, Zarab stunned Kaminaga and carried him away using invisibility, but not before Kaminaga had showed a signal to his partner and left behind drops of ink. He had also placed his Beta Capsule into Asami's bag as a sign of trust knowing that something bad might happen to him. She then managed to find Kaminaga with the help of that former colleague, tracking him down to an abandoned building and freeing him from his chains just as Zarab impersonated Ultraman and was attacking the city. Their reunion was cut short when the imitation Ultraman grabbed Asami from inside the building, forcing Kaminaga to transform and fight his impostor. After securing Asami's safety, Ultraman shot the imitation into a building where his disguise faded away, revealing Zarab's true nature to the world. After a short grounded battle and an aerial chase, Ultraman cut Zarab in half using his Ultra Slash.
The next extraterrestrial, Mefilas, made his presence known by enlarging and controlling Hiroko Asami using a device of his own, the Beta Box, a less advanced version of the Beta Capsule the Ultraman uses to transform. Mefilas chose to make deals with the governments of the world, providing them with Beta Boxes to weaponize humans that would become immune to virtually all forms of damage just like Ultraman was, under the pretense of defensive measures against Kaiju and malicious aliens like Zarab; the price of it was that Mefilas essentially now owned the planet. Mefilas then met up with Kaminaga at a park, knowing that he was Ultraman, to divulge the truth of his plans to make use of the Earth's seven billion humans as weapons via the Beta Box: first he would awaken the leftover biological weapons (Kaiju) on the planet and pass it off as acts of nature caused by reckless human development. He then used the next-generation biological weapons (Neronga and Gabora) to lure out Ultraman, hoping that he would fuse with a human so that it could prove that the Beta System is compatible with humans. Then he used Zarab's appearance to instill fear of extraterrestrial threats on humans. Finally, he used his demonstration of the Beta System on Asami to make humans feel both intellectually and physically impotent, ensuring their subordination to extraterrestrials. It seemed that Mefilas' plan was perfect and unstoppable, Ultraman could do nothing to incriminate him because according to space laws, conflict with another civilization was limited to the use of only living creatures and the Code of the Planet of Light prevented Ultraman from interfering with the deals of humans, which Mefilas had already sealed via contract with the government. Ultraman disagreed, saying that the Code does not apply to the human he had bonded with, and would use Kaminaga's will to stop Mefilas even by force.
Having heard all of that, Kaminaga returned to the SSSP where he told them the truth. They planned to steal the Beta Box before Mefilas can complete the handover to the government, but were unable to physically get to it due to it being heavily guarded and kept within a location only Mefilas knows and can access. To circumvent this, Kaminaga resorted to using the leftover "scent" of the Planck Brane where the Beta System stored the physical form of objects to trace back the Beta Box that Mefilas used, memorizing it using the leftover "scent" on Asami. Just as the handover was about to commence, Ultraman's hand came through the Planck Brane and grabbed the Beta Box, throwing it into a helicopter that the SSSP prepared. Mefilas used the device to enlarge himself remotely, preparing to fight against Ultraman. Due to the burden of fusing with Kaminaga and the enlargement via the Beta System, Ultraman's reserves of Spacium 133 were depleting quickly, and almost lost in a beam clash against Mefilas. Their fight came to an abrupt end when Mefilas noticed someone watching in the distance, saying that the planet is already doomed before he disappeared.
Ultraman, using Kaminaga's visage, went back to the forest where Kaminaga's corpse was preserved and reflected on his actions. It was there that he encountered the next observer of the Earth sent from the Planet of Light, Zōffy, who had come to replace Lipiah for his violations of the Code of the planet. Zōffy voiced his disapproval and concerns for the path the humanity was now taking, saying that the entire Multiverse now knows of the humans' compatibility with the Beta System and their potential to be weaponized, while also stating that humans may one day take a similar path of evolution to the beings of the Planet of Light themselves and become a threat as a result. Zōffy stated that exterminating one of the 18 billion life forms recorded by the Planet of Light would not mean anything in the wider scope of things, and then unleashed the Ultimate Celestial Suppression Weapon, Zetton to wipe out the whole solar system, activating its autonomous program to begin charging up a one-trillion degree fireball. However, Ultraman did not want to listen to Zōffy, fusing fully with the body of Kaminaga as he prepared to take on Zetton.
Kaminaga returned to the SSSP to inform them of what Zetton's appearance would entail, making Akihisa Taki despair as humans could do nothing against such a threat. Government members then came to retrieve Kaminaga, as Japan and the UN had signed a treaty over control of Ultraman. Kaminaga refused to go with them, but then they threatened to use the SSSP members' lives as a bargaining chip, which greatly angered Ultraman who in turn stated that if they had resorted to such means, he would wipe out humanity himself before Zetton did, making the officials leave as they did not want to engage in a zero-sum game. Still believing in humanity, Kaminaga then left the data of the Beta System, translated into English, on a USB device and left it to Taki before he transformed into Ultraman and fought Zetton in space, knowing that he would most likely lose anyway. Ultraman was shot down by Zetton and as he fell into the sea, Zōffy told him to stand down and simply await destruction. Kaminaga was then put out of action while he was hospitalized unconscious.
Getting over his despair, Taki managed to gather the greatest minds in the world to come up with a solution to defeating Zetton using the Beta System's data that he left behind. Kaminaga woke up just in time after humanity had managed to come up with a plan, which involved using the Beta Capsule twice to open a sixth-dimensional hole where Ultraman can throw Zetton into, but the whole thing had to be executed within just one millisecond. Kaminaga transformed into Ultraman and did as he was told, ramming into Zetton's fireball. Unfortunately, Ultraman was caught in the blast and fell into a wormhole along with the destroyed Zetton.
Sensing Ultraman's will to live, Zōffy was able to find him in a strange dimension. Having been touched by the courage, intellect and determination of humans, Zōffy decided that they will be spared, but Ultraman would have to return to the Planet of Light to answer for his violations of the Code, despite Ultraman's wish to remain on the planet to protect humans form further alien invasions. He instead offered to give his life to Kaminaga so that at least he may live, a compromise which Zōffy agreed to. Using his own Beta Capsule, Zōffy separated Ultraman's body from Kaminaga and gave the human Ultraman's life essence.
==Profile==
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===Stats===
*Height: 60 m
*Weight: 2,900 t (weight is estimated through his footprint)
*Home World: 
*Maximum Flight Speed: 12,000 km/h (travel sphere)https://twitter.com/shin_ultraman/status/1547385388007772160
*Weakness: Ultraman's time on Earth is limited due to his fusion with Kaminaga and the expansion on the Planck brane, which rapidly deplete his Spacium-133 reserves. Once he is approaching said limit, the coloration on his body turns from red to green.
===Transformation===
Ultraman transforms into his true form from Shinji Kaminaga, a human that he bonded and impersonated as. "Kaminaga" does this through the Beta Capsule, wherein he presses the button. During the transformation, Ultraman's translucent red fist surfaces and grabs "Kaminaga", and rises from human size to his true height as a flash of red light accompanies the transformation.
ShinUltramanTransformationM87.gif|Transformation
SU-Ultraman-Rise.gif|Rise
===Abilities===
*: Ultraman's body naturally contains the superheavy element Spacium with an atomic number of 133. The substance confers to him a number of abilities.
**Flight: Ultraman flies by manipulating the Spacium 133 in his body to distort gravity.
**Energy Projection: Ultraman can project his internal Spacium energy in the form of a Light Wave Heat Rays of various forms. The most basic method appears to be his Spacium Ray but he can manifest it in other forms, and shapes.
**Size Change: Unlike the Beta Box, Ultraman's Beta Capsule is merely an 'ignition' device, the cost of expanding in size and maintaining that stature draws upon his own internal energy reserves.
**Durability: When captured by Zarab in alien form, the alien elected to hold him captive rather than kill him because it would be 'difficult' implying that even beyond the Beta System, Ultraman is very durable, which makes sense, if his body is heavily imbued with a superheavy element. This durability seems to extend to his human form, as when Kaminaga fell from orbit into the ocean, his body was still recoverable and he laid dormant until Zetton's activation awoke him. Also, while not directly stated or shown, Shinji was held for a considerable time by Zarab and showed no signs of starvation or fatigue, implying he can also go without eating longer than a human.
*Beta System-Based Immunity: Via the properties of the Beta System used in his transformation, Ultraman has an almost absolute form of immunity against virtually any form of damage including physical harm, electricity, and radiation. However, other beings using the Beta System are able to hurt him, and getting pulled into a black hole is seemingly fatal regardless.
*Planck Brane Traversal: Using the same method he uses to transform, Ultraman can instead transfer himself to the Planck Brane dimension and navigate it. He is able to leave it for regular space whenever he wishes.
*Travel Sphere: Ultraman can turn himself into a red sphere of light which allows him to reach his maximum flight speed. Although not stated directly, this state is likely an ability granted by use of the Beta System rather than his own biological abilities.
*Life Force Sharing: Ultraman is able to share his life force with the body of a human, but by doing so, the human he bonded with is put under a comatose state. Should Ultraman sacrifice his entire life to the human, a full resurrection can be achieved.
*Human Disguise: Ultraman is capable of disguising himself as a human, more specifically the one he bonded to, Shinji Kaminaga.
**Memory Absorption: While not perfect, Ultraman was able to make use of his host's memory in the form of his skill in spycraft and intelligence gathering.
*Speed Reading: While in human form Ultraman demonstrated this ability, reading entire pages, or twice in a mere momentary glance, before turning the page.
*Extra Sensory Perception: While in human form and seemingly unconscious for an extended period of time, Ultraman was aware of Zetton completing it's pre firing preperations.
*Acute Sense of Smell: Ultraman was able to use his sense of smell to track the Beta Box to its location.
ShinUltramanFlightM87.gif|Flight
SU-Lipiah-Beta-System-Based-Immunity.gif|Beta System-Based Immunity
SU-Lipiah-Planck-Brane-Traversal.gif|Planck Brane Traversal
SU-Lipiah-Travel-Sphere.gif|Travel Sphere
Shinji Kaminaga Ripia.png|Human Disguise
SU-Lipiah-speed-reading.gif|Speed Reading
SU-Lipiah-ExtraSensory-Perception.gif|Extra Sensory Perception
SU-Lipiah-Sense-of-Smell.jpg|Acute Sense of Smell
===Techniques===
====Special====
*:File:SU_SpaciumBeam133_FusionFight.png: Ultraman unleashes the Spacium 133 in his body as a light-wave heat ray when he puts his hands in a cross. When he first landed, it was powerful enough to damage the surroundings and ionize the air into plasma. It seems he's able to control the intensity of the beam, as when he fought Neronga, Ultraman charged up the Spacium Energy in his body before unleashing the beam at its fullest, resulting in the destruction of a large hill along with killing Neronga. When he fought Zarab impersonating him, Ultraman instantly fired the Spacium Beam instead of charging it, and the result was the beam sending Zarab flying several miles up into the air. Ultraman likely did this to avoid causing collateral damage in the middle of the city.
*: Ultraman can form a buzzsaw-like energy disc in his hand and toss it at foes, slicing through monsters with ease. He can also use a giant sized version of the Ultra Slash that can split into many smaller discs upon being thrown.
ShinUltramanSpaciumBeamM87.gif|Spacium Beam 133 (Promotional)
Lipiah-Spacium-Beam-(Pre-Merger).gif|Spacium Beam 133 (Full Power)
Lipiah-Spacium-Beam-(Post-Merger).gif|Spacium Beam 133 (uncharged)
ShinUltraSlashM87.gif|Ultra Slash
Lipiah-Giant-Ultra-Slash.gif|Ultra Slash (giant)
====Physical====
*Rotation: In a similar manner to his original counterpart's High Spin, Ultraman can spin at high speed either to build up rotational force for a kick attack or to block a limited number of enemy projectiles.
*Ultra V Barrier: By crossing his arms, Ultraman can block a stream of energy beam fired against him.
Lipiah-Rotation.gif|Rotation
Lipiah-Rotation-(Blocking).gif|Rotation (blocking)
ShinUltramanBlock.jpg|Ultra V Barrier
====Other====
*: Similar to the original counterpart's Ultra Barrier, Ultraman can generate a transparent, rectangular shield in the air to protect himself from attacks.
Lipiah-Rebound-Beam.gif|Rebound Beam
===Weapons===
*: The transformation item for Ultraman to revert to his true form. It works on the principles of the , which was developed to enlarge the user while making them immune to most forms of damage via the extradimensional .
**Sixth-Dimensional Hole: By pressing the Beta Capsule again, an extradimensional energy sphere (technically, a dimensional hole to the Planck Brane) is generated around Ultraman for a millisecond. As theorized by Taki, through the principles of dimensional transfer the heat energy of Zetton's 1 Trillion Degree Superheated Fireball would be transferred into the Planck Brane when both entities come into contact, creating a wormhole in a parallel dimension.
ShinUltramanBetaCapsule.png|Beta Capsule
Lipiah-Sixth-Dimensional-Hole.gif|Sixth-Dimensional Hole
==Other Media==
===Shin Ultra Fight===
Ultraman stars in Shin Ultra Fight, parodying his original iteration and Ultraseven's roles in the original Ultra Fight.
===SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble===
Ultraman will be a downloadable character in the Steam and Nintendo Switch game, SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble.SPECIAL │ SD シン・仮面ライダー 乱舞 | バンダイナムコエンターテインメント公式サイト (bn-ent.net)
==Trivia==
*During the Ultraman Series' cross-promotion with the smartphone game Puzzles and Dragons, the silver-colored form that Ultraman appeared from the movie is referred to as .https://m-78.jp/news/post-6419 The Ultra Action Figure and the Movie Monster Series toys of the character calls it as "Landing Version", while the S.H.Figuarts action figure refers to it as "First Contact".
*According to SSSP member Akihisa Taki, the after-effect of firing Spacium Beam and destroying Neronga in the process releases high ion concentration that turns into plasma once the particles exposed to air.https://twitter.com/shin_ultraman/status/1548834943354241024
==References==
Category:Shin Ultraman
Category:Shin Ultraman Characters
Category:Ultra Warriors
Category:Heroes
Category:Protagonists
Category:Movie Ultras
Category:Counterparts