Ulysses (DC)

**Ulysses** is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.

## Biography

**Neil Quinn** was the only son of **Peter Quinn** and **Bridget Quinn** where he was born over 25 years ago. His parents were both physicists that worked for the American military when one day they were approached by Dr. **Margaret Night** who knew everything about them despite their work being classified. She sought to recruit them in finding a better world as she showed them the widespread killing and violence in the world causing the Quinn's to lose faith in tomorrow. Dr. Night showed them her private facility that was the **Ulysses Research Lab** where former military scientists from around the world were looking for a better tomorrow by finding an habitable alternate dimension with the intention of relocating there. During this time, a reality-eating strange matter was inadvertently released that killed Dr. Night and several others that threatened to destroy the laboratory. (Superman v3 #34) It emerged from their study of Dimension Two with it ripping apart in the facility with the Quinn's unable to escape and fearing for the life of their son who they brought with them to the lab. The danger from the strange matter was so great that it was believed that once it consumed the laboratory that it would eventually destroy the entire world. As a result, Peter Quinn convinced his wife to send their son in a rocket to **Dimension Four** that they had briefly studied and determined it contained life that could shelter their child. Thus, they prepared the ship and the young Neill Quinn was launched into Dimension Four thus escaping the **Ulysses Research Center**. (Superman v3 #32) The Quinn's believed that the world was doomed from the strange-matter event and that they were facing certain death but they managed to contain the incident thus saving the world. However, their son now was lost in another dimension and they had lost their research in the destruction caused which meant that they had no way of recovering him. Meanwhile, Neill passed through interdimensional energy as he crashed into the Fourth Dimension where he landed on a world to be adopted by its native inhabitants. (Superman v3 #34) He was found by **Klerik** who adopted the human and inducted him into the ranks of the **Seekers**. (Superman v3 #37)

As he was growing up, it was discovered that he had been altered in his journey with his adoptive father attributed this to his interdimensional journey into the Fourth Dimension. (Superman v3 #34) In that time, he came to help in the harvest of many worlds to help fuel the perfect society of the Great World. (Superman v3 #36)

Arriving on Earth, he pursued Klerik and battled him alongside the Kryptonian superhero known as Superman. Working together, the pair helped defeat Klerik whereupon Quinn expressed his surprise at Earth still existing and that he was a human operating as a hero in another world. (Superman v3 #32) With Klerik apprehended, the villain came to be transported to the Stryker's Island prison to contain him. Meanwhile, Ulysses explored the Earth and he came to track Superman to the Daily Planet in his guise as Clark Kent. He was asked to stay at Kent's apartment whilst Superman investigated his claims about Quinn's origins. However, Ulysses decided to use this as an opportunity to explore Earth and wore clothes that allowed him to blend amongst civilians. It was then that Metropolis came under attack from mechanical men with Ulysses battling them to protect other civilians in the area. Superman arrived at the scene to help Ulysses who expressed confusion on why there seemed to be no peace on Earth. It was then that Superman took Ulysses to a residence in the city that was actually the home of his parents who Neil had believed were dead. This led to the Quinn family being reunited with one another. (Superman v3 #33)

He then made a message to everyone on Earth where he claimed that Earth was a world ravaged by disease, famine, natural disasters and violence. Thus, he offered a more perfect world to the people of Earth that would be in the Fourth Dimension which was when extradimensional transports from Neill's adoptive homeworld arrived. These arks offered to take anyone that wanted to journey to Great World. where it was claimed that they would live in a more harmonious and perfect society. (Superman v3 #36)

The super flare badly injured Ulysses whose skin was burnt as a result but he was rendered unconscious allowing him to be taken into custody. He was then kept imprisoned in a specially designed cell on Stryker's Island that leeched his energy to prevent him from escaping. (Superman v3 #38) Ulysses was in his cell when he read in a newspaper that Superman had recently died. (Superman v3 #52)

## Overview

### Personality and attributes

In appearance, Ulysses was a male human noted for his long blonde hair. He once claimed to be the **Last Son of Earth** and as the **New Superman**. (Superman v3 #32)

He claimed that he wanted to bring peace to Earth and that this was his parents dream. (Superman v3 #33)

After seeing Earth, he came to hate being human. (Superman v3 #37)

He came to see the Great World as a paradise and wanted to ensure its survival. (Superman v3 #37)

His parents were **Peter Quinn** and **Bridget Quinn** both of whom were noted physicists. (Superman v3 #34) It was noted that they had worked on the U.S. Navy's nuclear program before being recruited in Margaret Night's Ulysses Research Lab. (Superman v3 #33) His biological parents told him that they loved him regardless of what evil things he had done in the past. (Superman v3 #38) After being sent to Dimension Four, Ulysses came to gain an adoptive father in **Klerik** who was a cruel leader of the Great World that forced Quinn to serve as their Seeker. (Superman v3 #37)

At first, he came to acknowledge that **Superman** was a good person and it was with great reluctance he forced himself to fight the Man of Steel. (Superman v3 #36) This view changed though after the Great World was destroyed with Ulysses blaming Superman for its destruction. This saw Neil looking to destroy Superman and his world as revenge for the destruction of his adoptive homeworld. Superman though would say that Neil was not a villain and unlike the costumed criminals of Arkham as he was lost and confused which caused him to lash out at others after being overcome by grief. (Superman v3 #38)

### Powers and abilities

Originally, Neill was an ordinary human but passing into the Fourth Dimension led to his cells permanently infused with its essence. As a result, he gained the power of flight, increased strength along with the capacity to store and release energy of all kinds. His body acted as a kind of magnet for concentrated and compacted energies. He also no longer had a need for sleep with it theorised that his ability to store and expel residual energy giving his body an endless supply of fuel. A result of constantly being awake was that he was no longer capable of dreaming. (Superman v3 #34) It was said that his energies came directly from the Great World's Core. Thus, after its destruction, he became infused with the energy of the dead plane. (Superman v3 #38)

It was shown that he could leech off the powers of others such as Superman. In addition, Ulysses had a degree of superhuman strength as he was able to knock Superman away and was fast enough to catch him by surprise. (Superman v3 #36) He demonstrated that he was able to take the energy from Kryptonian heat vison to empower himself. (Superman v3 #38)

Though able to absorb energy, it was possible to overload him with too much power with powerful explosions capable of injuring him and knocking him unconscious. (Superman v3 #38)

After being stranded in another dimension, he had on his person a journal that belonged to his parents. From it, he came to learn English and much about his homeworld. (Superman v3 #33)

On the Great World, he came to join the ranks of the **Seekers** who were dispatched across dimensions to find planets to sacrifice to power their world. Designated Seekers travelled across the five dimensions in search of these worlds that would provide the necessary fuel for their planet. Those taken had their bodies broken down and the bio-energies within them was then processed to be introduced into the planetary core. (Superman v3 #37)

## Notes

* Ulysses was created by Geoff Johns and John Romita, Jr. where he made his first appearance in Superman v3 #32 (August, 2014).
* In an interview on CBR, Romita, Jr. said, *"Believe it or not, Geoff's idea for the character was for him to be a counter-character to Superman and similar in a lot of ways too. But it's the reverse. It's the coin flip. He's coming over from another dimension, so to speak, and switching with Superman. Superman was sent here from an alien planet and Ulysses is a human that went to an alien planet in a different dimension and came back."*