UltraMan

## Character Description

UltraMan is, by nature, and by training, a proponent of justice in all its forms. He believes that evil should simply be stopped. He keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice.

Although a lawman, he is also somewhat of a philosopher, albeit a pragmatic one. Generally, his thoughts remain inwardly directed, and he does not usually seek the council of others, with the exception of trusted friends. He has a great facility for turning theories into solid plans of action. He values knowledge, competence, and structure.

A disciplined man, he views the world rationally. When innocents are threatened, particularly when exacerbated by anything resembling politics or bureaucratic means, he can lose his temper, which does not bode well for his enemies. Although not a killer, he occasionally needs to be reined in by more level-headed teammates.

## History

UltraMan is from a parallel Earth whose primary influence was the ancient Ionian tradition of natural philosophy, which tried to explain the phenomena of the natural world according to non-supernatural laws. As that civilization influenced the Greco-Roman world, and Rome spread its influence to China and beyond, the scientific revolutions that occurred on Earth-Standard happened millennia earlier on UltraMan's Earth.
Earth-Ultra, as it became known, is a global democratic, egalitarian, humanist society that has largely overcome violence. The prime function of government on UltraMan’s Earth is to protect its citizens from what little violence remains. He volunteered to be the recipient of various meta-human abilities from the State, in order to act as a protector of the citizens of his homeland as a law enforcement officer.
While on a mission in near Earth orbit, a massive explosion occurred that opened an inter-dimensional breach, transporting him to a parallel world.

Upon (crash) landing on Earth-Standard (Baltimore, Maryland, USA), the first thing he encountered was a shoot-out between uniformed police officers and criminals. He created a barrier between them to keep them from killing each other. While UltraMan observed from a nearby rooftop, he didn't automatically side with the uniformed officers, but when he observed one officer pull a bystander to safety, he disabled the criminals and handed them over to the police.

UltraMan’s native language is based on Latin. One of the bystanders recognized some of the words and they had a basic conversation. Seeing the insignia on his costume, the bystander took it as a stylized “V” (in Latin, a "U") and named him “UltraMan.” The sobriquet was seized upon by journalists and was broadcast worldwide thereby becoming his super-hero name (*UltraMan* #1).

In the wake of his arrival, Dr. Susan David (see Susan David) studied the debris that came through the rift with him, and removed samples. They would prove instrumental years later when she tried to help him return home.
As one of the first publicly known encounters with a being from another planet, UltraMan was made an Ambassador to the United Nations, which conferred a form of diplomatic immunity.

He was approached by Optima (see Optima) to join the Planet's Ultimate Super Heroes, the Sentinels (see The Sentinels). Finding the offer appealing in its similarity to his chosen occupation, and hoping it would fill the void left by his now distant family, he accepted (*UltraMan* #3).

Once he intended to confront and depose the despotic ruler Dreadhelm on his own soil, primarily relying on his diplomatic immunity to achieve that goal. UltraMan was “deterred” by the outcry from the international community that such an action could have global consequences (UltraMan #26).

He has worked with scientific advisers Susan David and Jill Trent in their development of multiversal detectors in an attempt to locate and eventually travel to his home world.

A young red-haired man, Alex Olsen, claiming to be UltraMan's “arch enemy” appeared, ranting that the debris from UltraMan's original appearance (which he had stolen from David's lab) was deadly to UltraMan. Using a giant robotic exoskeleton, he threatened UltraMan with the debris, but UltraMan was not amused or affected, and quickly neutralized the “threat” (*UltraMan* #62).

Minor-league super-villain the Crusher accidentally came into possession of a chromoplastic shifter, a Doomsday-level weapon developed by genius super-villain IQ (see Crusher, IQ). Crusher had no idea what it was capable of, so it was up to UltraMan to not only get it back, but keep Crusher from destroying anything with it in the meantime (*UltraMan* #84).

He has also encountered heroes from parallel worlds (Cosmic Crossover #1), but the ability to breach the dimensional barriers resided in their home dimensions, and there was no known way to identify which of the seemingly infinite parallel universes was his home.

UltraMan has come into conflict with this Earth's greatest villains, including Cyborilla, Dreadhelm, the Guild Nefarious, and Khronocide (see individual entries) among others. UltraMan continues his mission of protecting his adopted home, while searching for a way to return to his true home.

### Powers & Abilities

**Powers**
UltraMan is one of the most powerful meta-humans operating on Earth today. By absorbing ambient radiation from multiple sources, and converting it through some unknown process, he is able to channel this energy into a number of superhuman feats. Chief among those are the ability to distort the local space/time continuum in the following ways:

* Density Alteration: UltraMan can become ultra-dense to improve durability.
* Energy Projection: He can project beams of great destructive force, heat, light, and radiation.
* Flight: By gravitational manipulation and inertial dampening, he can fly at ultra-speed.
* Gravikinesis: He can mentally manipulate gravitons (that carry the attractive, gravitational force between atomic nuclei), enabling him to control gravity (i.e., increase, decrease, negate or reverse gravitational attraction).
* Inertia Dampening: He has limited invulnerability/ shielding.
* Teleportation: UltraMan can create conduits through space-time.
* Ultra Reflexes: By distortion of the flow of time, he possesses ultra-fast reaction time and reflexes.
* Ultra Speed: Through a combination of inertial shunting or simple teleportation, he can move at the effective equivalent of light speed.
* Ultra Strength: Using a combination of increasing his density, decreasing gravitational fields, shunting inertial forces, and creating force fields, he is able to perform feats analogous to super-human strength. He is able to lift and displace masses as great as a large ocean liner (80,000 tons) with maximum exertion.

**Abilities**

UltraMan is highly intelligent, particularly in advanced sciences (physics, technology). He's also knowledgeable in the history of his home, which enables him to provide information to Earth's scholars on the history of his world.
He speaks a variety of languages in addition to his native language, including English, Russian, German, Swahili, Japanese, and Mandarin.

## Weapons and Equipment

**Equipment**

UltraMan's suit is made of telepathically controlled nanites, which can clean and repair damage to it, remove waste products from his body, and perform computing functions he can access at will. It assisted in greatly reducing the time it took for him to learn a variety of Earth's languages.

## List of Comic Book Appearances

* Standard Comics Encyclopedia (Abridged) Vol 1
* Sentinels Issue 267