Ultra-Humanite

Ultra-Humanite
File:Jloa196.jpg The Ultra-Humanite on the cover of Justice League of America #196 (Nov. 1981), in albino ape's body. Art by George Pérez
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Action Comics #13 (June 1939)
Created by	Jerry Siegel Joe Shuster
In-story information
Alter ego	Gerard Shugel
Team affiliations	Secret Society of Super Villains Time Stealers
Notable aliases	Delores Winters, Johnny Thunder
Abilities	Superhuman intelligence Mind transference Mental powers Superhuman physical attributes in ape body

The Ultra-Humanite is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Action Comics #13 (June 1939), and was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Debuting as an enemy of Superman, he is the first recurring comic book supervillain.

Fictional character history

Golden Age

The Ultra-Humanite is the first supervillain faced by Superman. He was designed to be the polar opposite of Superman; while Superman is a hero with superhuman strength, Ultra-Humanite is a criminal mastermind who has a crippled body but a highly advanced intellect.

Ultra-Humanite's original body. Art by Joe Shuster.

The Ultra-Humanite represents one of the most significant threats to 20th century incarnations of the Justice Society. The origins of the super-criminal known as the Ultra-Humanite are shrouded in mystery. Even he claims not to remember his true name or appearance and attributes his vast intellect and mental prowess to scientific experiments of an unknown nature.

A fiendish "mad scientist" (Act No. 17, Oct 1939), hopelessly paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair, whose "great goal" is the "domination of the Earth" (Act No. 14, Jul 1939; and others). Portrayed as nearly bald in two texts (Act No. 13, Jun 1939; Act No. 19, Dec 1939), and as completely bald in two others (Act No. 14, Jul 1939; Act No. 17, Oct 1939), he is a "mental giant" -- the "head of a vast ring of evil enterprises" -- whose "fiery eyes burn with terrible hatred and sinister intelligence."

His real name is never stated in the chronicles, but he has been known as the Ultra-Humanite -- Ultra, for short -- ever since "a scientific experiment resulted in [his] possessing the most agile and learned brain on Earth!"

"--Unfortunately for mankind," proclaims the villain in June 1939, "I prefer to use this great intellect for crime. My goal? DOMINATION OF THE WORLD!!" (Act No. 13)

In June 1939 Superman sets out to smash the so-called Cab Protective League, an underworld organization, headed by a racketeer named Jackie Reynolds, which is attempting to seize control of the city's lucrative taxi trade by launching a reign of terror against the independent cab companies, murdering their drivers and demolishing their taxicabs in an effort to coerce the independents into joining the League. Reynolds organized unscrupulous cab drivers into a union, the Cab Protective League. Reynolds' union, financed by the Ultra-Humanite, intimidated other cab drivers through violence and threats of against passengers. In the summer of 1939, a cab carrying Clark Kent was assaulted by a CPL driver.

Finally defeated and apprehended by Superman, Reynolds is convicted of his crimes and sentenced to a term in the Sing Sing penitentiary. However, while en route to the prison by automobile, under police guard, Reynolds asks for, and receives, permission to smoke a cigarette, and within moments, he has knocked his police escort unconscious by exhaling smoke from a specially prepared cigarette containing "a mysterious gas," hurled from the unconscious policemen from the speeding car, and made good his escape.

Superman finally corners Reynolds at his secluded cabin hideout and is about to take him into custody when his attention is called to a second figure in the cabin, a "paralysed cripple" whose "fiery eyes...burn with a terrible hatred and sinister intelligence."

"So we meet at last, eh?" smiles the sinister paralytic. "It was inevitable that we should clash!"

"Who are you?" asks Superman.

"The head of a vast ring of evil enterprises," replies the paralytic, "--men like Reynolds are but my henchmen. You have interfered frequently with my plans, and it is time for you to be removed!" "If what you say is true," retorts Superman, "the thanks for giving me the opportunity to capture you!"

"You may not find that task as simple as it appears on the surface," remarks the paralytic confidently. "You may possess unbelievable strength--but you are pitting yourself against a mental giant! I am known as 'the Ultra-Humanite.'"

As Superman lunges forward to grab him, the villian unleashes a barrage of electricity sufficient "to kill five-hundred men," and Superman, trapped "amidst a sheet of flame" produced by the high-voltage current running through the electrified floor, lapses into unconsciousness. With Superman now helpless, Reynolds and the Ultra-Humanite attempt to annihilate him with a buzz saw, but as "the mighty saw" makes contact with Superman's invulnerable skin, there is "a great rasping--the sound of cracking metal--and the saw explodes into a thousand fragments-!"

"Reynolds dies a horrible death," notes the text, "as one of the steely fragments pierces his throat---!" Leaving Superman behind to perish in the cabin which the Ultra-Humanite has ordered them to set on fire, the villain's henchmen carry their crippled leader outside to a waiting aircraft, but Superman regains consciousness in the nick of time and leaps upward into the sky "out of reach of the hungry blaze."

"I'll bet that strange ship belongs to 'the Ultra-Humanite'!" cries Superman as he spies the weird aircraft carrying the villian and his henchmen. "--His fiendish deviltry is going to end RIGHT NOW!"

"Deliberately," observes the textual narrative, "Superman crashes into the planes propellor---down toward the distant Earth hurtle both doomed plane and Man of Steel---'the Ultra-Humanite's' vessel crumples sickeningly as it strikes the ground with a thunderous crash---" but Superman remains unharmed.

"Strange," muses Superman grimly, as he searches painstakingly through the wreckage of the aircraft, "I can't find any trace of 'the Ultra-Humanite'! Well that finishes his plan to control the Earth---or does it?" (Act No. 13, Jun 1939).

In July 1939, after scores of subway riders have been injured in the collapse of a subway tunnel and an inspector is nearly killed by a train when he is knocked out on train tracks, Superman discovers that Star, Inc., the firm that built the tunnel, defrauded the city by charging the city for expensive materials and then using substandard materials on the actual project. Before long, Superman has cornered Mr. Lyons, the head of Star, Inc., and forced him to sign a full confession of his crimes, but but as he races after the speeding automobile in which Lyons's two henchmen are attempting to escape, one of the henchmen presses a button inside the car and the vehicle instantly becomes invisible.

"Those men wouldn't have the ingenuity to make that car invisible," muses Superman, "... there's something sinister behind this!"

Although the automobile has become invisible, however, it still leaves tire tracks, and Superman's pursuit of the vehicle soon leads him to a boarded-up shed in the countryside where the Ultra-Humanite is lying in wait for him.

As Superman barges headlong into the shed, the villian freezes him inside a block of crystal. "BEHOLD!" gloats the Ultra-Humanite. "My mortal foe imprisoned in crystal....so that I can look upon him and laugh until eternity!

"When he destroyed my plane, he thought that I, too, had been eliminated! But unknown to SUPERMAN, I escaped with a parachute!

"He alone stood between me and my great goal!...DOMINATION OF THE EARTH! Now I can hasten my plans, unhampered!"

However, the villian has not reckoned on the Man of Steel's amazing recuperative powers. "As SUPERMAN revives, he flexes his great muscles and the crystal block explodes!"

Now realizing that capture is imminent unless he somehow escapes, the Ultra-Humanite presses a hidden button and vanishes mysteriously through the center of the floor. A search beneath the floorboards reveals nothing, and when Superman finally races outside, he finds that "the invisible car's gone! He's made good his escape!" Lyons's two henchmen, however, are still inside the shed, and Superman swiftly apprehends them and turns them over to the authorities.

"The 'Ultra-Humanite' has got to be stopped before he succeeds in his mad plan to dominate the Earth," muses Clark Kent afterward. "if not, the world will succumb to evil forces!"

"Only one obstacle confronts me-Superman!" thinks the villian aloud to himself in the safety and seclusion of some hidden laboratory. "He must be wiped out! It's a terrific task... but my tremendous brain can devise some way to trick him!" (Act No. 14, Jul 1939).

In October 1939, after quelling a raging fire aboard the steamship Clarion, Superman learns that the Clarion is the fourth Deering Lines ship to have recently been "deliberately destroyed" and that a mysterious extortionist has been demanding a payment of $5,000,000 in return for bringing the sabotage to a halt.

To compound the mystery, the Deering Lines' general manager has been receiving telephone calls from the extortionist that do not travel over the telephone company's wires, even though he does receive them on his regular office telephone. "only one person could have accomplished the miraculous scientific feat of telephoning without using the telephone company's lines," thinks Clark Kent to himself, "Ultra,' the mad scientist who seeks domination of the Earth."

After trailing the Ultra-Humanite's henchmen to his secret laboratory hideout, Superman finally confronts the villian, who has been attempting to extort money from Derring Lines in order to aquire the funds he needs "to continue my costly subversive activities."

Superman hurls himself at the Ultra-Humanite, but his hands only "pass thru [sic] 'Ultra's' figure" as "the scientist's body wavers" and then abruptly vanishes into thin air.

"Wh... What?" exclaims Superman, completely bewildered. "... Then it wasn't 'Ultra' who was here, after all--just a projected image of him!" Indeed, the Ultra-Humanite is still at large, but his plot to extort $5,000,000 from the Deering Lines has been thwarted, and his henchmen, apprehended by Superman, will be turned over to the authorities (Act No. 17).

In December 1939 a strange epidemic plagues the population, with strange purple blotches killing the affected. Soon, "the streets are clogged with death [...] Horror grips the city!!" A young scientist, Professor Henry Travers, after reading on old history books of a similar "Purple Plague" that blighted the middle ages, recognizes that the symptoms are identical, and concocts an antidote. Ultra sees Travers interest in the old book, and after intercepting Traver's call to Clark, kidnaps him. Superman rescues the scientist. After receiving news of Superman's interference, swears that "No freak of nature will stop me from achieving my goal!" and then assures that "The human race shall be blotted out so that I can launch a race of my own".

Later, Ultra's henchmen fire an unknown ray and knock out Superman. Ultra tries hypnotizing him by placing a helmet on hi head, but Superman fakes being controlled, and when he is taken to spread te plague with a henchman, he destroys the "fantastic airship of Ultra's creation" that was spreading its "cargo of Purple Death".

Superman then returns to Ultra's stongholds where the villain tries to blast him, but Superman places the Ultra-Humanite in front of the gun, killing him (Act 19, Dec 1939).

In January 1940 Superman learns that Ultra's assistant revived him "via adrenalin", but as this recovery was only temporary, he orders his henchmen to kidnap Dolores Winters, a movie actress, and then "places his mighty brain in her young vital body." As Dolores, the Ultra-Humanite announces her retirement from acting, and plans a retirement party on her yacht, the Sea-Serpent, where she invites "a gay crowd of leading movie actores, writers, directors, and producers". When the party is in full-swing, she slips away unnoticed and moves the yacht to sea. She then corrals her guests with guns, having replaced the crew with her henchmen, and shoots one in cold blood. Ultra then announces via the ship's radio that she's holding the celebrities captive and that a sum of five million dollars must be paid to see them again.

The ransom note is delivered to a radio studio manager, and while Superman secretly stands by, the note materializes in front of the studio-head. Seeing that the ransom should be delivered within a buoy near the Centel Lighthouse, Superman follows it into a submerged submarine after magnetic force is used to drag it down, and then, to an air-filled cavern. Here Dolores has helmets on the heads of the captives, wired to a control board where she can electrocute them. The Man of Steel throws a huge stalagmite into the switchboard, breaking the electrical connection, and then tries to capture Dolores. She waves a lighted torch in front of the captives, but after seeing Superman blowing it out, she dives into the water and escapes (Act No. 20, Jan 1940).

Siegel and Shuster replaced the Ultra-Humanite as Superman's archfoe when Lex Luthor was introduced into the Superman comic. Originally, Luthor was depicted as a mad scientist with a full head of red hair. An artist later mistakenly drew Luthor with a bald head and Siegel approved of Luthor's new look. Because Siegel and Shuster didn't need two bald mad scientists battling Superman, they dropped the Ultra-Humanite from Superman comics in favor of Luthor. The Ultra-Humanite made his last Superman appearance in Action Comics #21 (1940), where he kidnaps an inventor and forces them to build a disintegration ray to extort $2,000,000 before diving into a volcanic crater to escape Superman, and made no further comic book appearances for several decades.

Silver Age and the Multiverse

With the introduction of DC's multiverse system, the continuity of Golden Age Superman stories and the Ultra-Humanite were retroactively placed on Earth-Two, the Earth of DC's Golden Age characters. The Ultra-Humanite was reintroduced during the Silver Age as a recurring villain in the Mr. and Mrs. Superman feature in the Superman Family anthology comic. Mr. and Mrs. Superman consists of stories about the early years of the marriage between the Earth-Two Superman and Lois Lane, and features a number of Golden Age Superman villains of which the Ultra-Humanite is the most prominent. In the annual JLA/JSA teamup in Justice League of America #195-197, the Ultra-Humanite transfers his consciousness to an albino ape body and becomes a major super-villain of Earth-Two. Afterwards, he regularly appears in DC Comics titles, opposing the All-Star Squadron in the 1940s, and the Justice Society of America and Infinity, Inc. in the decades since World War II.

Post-Crisis

After the 1985-1986 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, Superman's history was rewritten in The Man of Steel miniseries, and the Earth-Two Superman was removed from continuity. However, the Ultra-Humanite was excluded from Superman's reboot, and his post-Crisis history remained tied to the 1940s and to the Justice Society of America and All-Star Squadron. Previous appearances of the Ultra-Humanite fighting Golden Age Superman in the 1940s in Action Comics #13-21 and in All-Star Squadron were re-told for the sake of continuity (a technique known as retconning) to show him having fought other 1940s heroes.

The Ultra-Humanite's most ambitious scheme occurs in the 2002 "Stealing Thunder" story arc from JSA #32-37, where, in the aged body of Johnny Thunder, he deceives Jakeem Thunder into handing over his magical pen. With the power of the omnipotent Thunderbolt, the Ultra-Humanite first restores his body's youth, and then proceeds to take over the world. Under his rule, Earth is transformed into essentially a single mind, with nearly every metahuman becoming an extension of the Ultra-Humanite.

However, a select few heroes manage to escape the control of the Ultra-Humanite: Jakeem Thunder, Captain Marvel, Hourman (Rick Tyler), the third Crimson Avenger, Power Girl, Sand, and the second Icicle. Wildcat and Hector Hall are also free- Wildcat as an apparent side effect of his 'nine lives', and Hall so that he could summon the garb of Doctor Fate and thus provide the Ultra-Humanite with access to Nabu's power-, but both are held captive by the Ultra-Humanite. After the reserve JSA are able to temporarily short out the Thunderbolt to deprive their enemy of access to the Thunderbolt's power, the Ultra-Humanite is seemingly killed by the Crimson Avenger (although the Icicle nearly beats her to it) as revenge for the death of the first Crimson Avenger, who dies earlier in an explosion triggered by the Ultra-Humanite.

One Year Later

Main article: One Year Later

After the events of Infinite Crisis, history was altered to bring Dolores Winters (now called Delores Winters) back to life via the reveal that her brain was placed in a new body after Ultra-Humanite stole her body for his own use in the pages of JSA Classified #19-20 (2007). In Power Girl (vol. 2) #2 (2009), the Ultra-Humanite's secret origin is revised, shedding more light on his past life as a genius youth, Gerard Shugel (a name derived from Superman creators Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel). He was born with both an intellect that surpassed the world's greatest minds and a degenerative disease that was slowly eating away at him. He used his intellect to find ways to keep the disease at bay, while trying to find a way to transplant his brain into a healthy body.

Working with a reckless and young Satanna, a fellow college researcher, they worked together at their brain/transplant and animal hybridization technologies. Forced to relocate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and beset by rebel forces and the military, Satanna was forced, as a stop-gap measure, to transplant the healthy brain of Gerarld into the altered body of an albino gorilla. They shared an intimate relationship for a while, then they parted way for a long time, paving the way for their separate adventures as chronicled pre-OYL.

In the 2006-2007 "Lightning Saga" crossover between Justice Society of America and Justice League of America, the untold story of how Ultra-Humanite transitioned from Delores Winter's body to his albino-ape form was revealed: Per Degaton, the villainous time traveler, and a young version of Despero rescued the Delores Winters-version of Ultra-Humanite from a hospital in the year 1948. It is revealed that the Ultra-Humanite was stricken with terminal cancer and in exchange for his loyalty, Per Degaton agreed to provide a new body for the villain, in the form of a rare albino ape from the secret civilization known as Gorilla City. Christening themselves the "Time Stealers", they align themselves with Mr. Mind, Rex Hunter, the mysterious "Black Beetle", and the villainous father of Booster Gold in an attempt to manipulate time for their own selfish goals. However, their conspiracy ultimately unravels at the hands of Booster Gold and Blue Beetle Ted Kord. In the end, Ultra-Humanite and Despero were sent back into the past after their group were defeated, while other members were returned to their previous places in time.

In Justice League of America (vol. 2) #1 (2006), Ultra-Humanite is said to still be alive and well, having stolen a copy of Steve Dayton's "Mento" helmet.

Later on Ultra-Humanite is seen aiding the Reach in their plans to conquer Earth; he is defeated by Blue Beetle and Guy Gardner. Most recently he appears in the first arc of Power Girl (vol. 2), using an anti-gravity mechanism to raise New York City into the air, holding the city hostage in exchange to transfer his mind into Power Girl's body. The attempt fails, and Power Girl accidentally scars his whole body with acid burns, maiming his form for good.

Satanna returns to New York, attempting to aid her former lover, stealing the body of the current Terra, Atlee to give that for Gerard's use. After a lengthy fight, however, Power Girl is able to retrieve Terra's brain (now in the crippled simian form of the Ultra-Humanite) and bring both of them to Strata, Atlee's advanced underground birth society, to get her friend restored to her proper body. Strata's scientist agree to clone a new, fully human body for Gerard Shugel, resembling an healthy version of his twenty years old human self, cured from his degenerative disease. Power Girl agrees to hire him as a scientist for her Starr Labs, and Gerard plays along showing a fake desire of reformation.

Powers and abilities

The Ultra-Humanite is a scientific genius, and possess one of the most advanced human minds in the DC Universe. He has the power to transfer his brain into another body. Various bodies occupied over the years include actress Delores Winters, a giant insect, a Tyrannosaurus rex, Justice Society member Johnny Thunder, and a glass dome. His best-known and most frequently revisited form is that of a mutated albino gorilla.

Other versions

• An alternate Ultra-Humanite appears in issues three and four of the Tangent: Superman's Reign series. This version is a living weapon created by the Soviets, that went out of control. He is allegedly destroyed in battle by the Tangent version of Superman, but it is later revealed that he was preserved and reprogrammed to fight for the Tangent's Superman's cause. He is finally destroyed by the combined efforts of the Tangent Batman and New Earth Superman.
• Ultra-Humanite appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold #3. The character targets the President causing Batman and Green Arrow to team up and stop Ultra-Humanite. The reason established for him switching his mind into apes is that he didn't want people to mistake him for Lex Luthor.
• The first three issues of Legends of the DC Universe feature the post-Crisis Superman, early in his career, battling a scientist named Morgan Wilde who, angered by the death of his wife, swore revenge on Luthor and gains the ability to transfer his "life essence" (called "Under-Light") as the U.L.T.R.A. Humanite.
• In the Elseworlds miniseries, The Golden Age, the Ultra-Humanite places his brain into the body of Tex Thomson, known as the "Americommando". He also arranges to place the brain of his ally, Adolf Hitler, into the body of Danny Dunbar, while simultaneously arranging to give Hitler (as Dunbar) super-powers.
• The Ultra-Humanite is the principal villain in the John Byrne limited series Superman & Batman: Generations. He first appears in the 1939 story, but is believed to be killed when his escape rocket explodes. Decades later, it is revealed that the Humanite had his brain placed in the body of his lackey Lex Luthor, and posed as Luthor for the intervening time. He then attempts to swap bodies with a then-powerless Superman, but is killed when Superman, attempting to escape, throws a metal spar into Humanite's computer, causing it to electrocute the villain.

In other media

Television

The Ultra-Humanite and The Flash deliver toys to orphans in the Justice League episode "Comfort and Joy".

• Ultra-Humanite appears in his gorilla body form in three episodes of the Justice League animated series voiced by Ian Buchanan. In this version, he is depicted as a cultured intellectual criminal with a deep love for classical music and violent hatred for most modern forms of art. The animated series version is shown to be somewhat more benevolent than his comic counterpart, as he, in one way or another, always helps the primary protagonist in the episodes in which he appears, albeit for his own reasons (such as once betraying Lex Luthor in exchange for Batman bribing with better offer than Luthor).
• The Ultra-Humanite appeared in Batman: The Brave and the Bold in the final short of the episode "Four Star Spectacular". He took the body of a white Tyrannosaurus on a deserted island populated by dinosaurs. There he mind controlled the dinosaurs and used them to destroy allied planes in his bid to conquer the world. The Creature Commandos are sent in to rescue Batman who is being held captive on the island. During the ensuing fight the heroes manage to destroy Ultra-Humanite's mind control device which causes the dinosaurs to regain their senses. He manages to escape the other dinosaurs and make his way back to his base where he then retreats from the Tyrannosaurus body and back into his brain jar and runs for his life. We last see him backed into a corner by the dinosaurs which have broken into the facility. He is voiced by Jeff Bennett.

Video games

• Ultra-Humanite appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by Brian Jepson. He is encountered in a wrecked spaceship on Gorilla Island where he plots to fire missiles at Metropolis if his demands aren't met. The players managed to defeat Ultra-Humanite. Gorilla Grodd was watching the outcome from his base and stated that Ultra-Humanite is no true ape. He is assisted by UGA Commanders, UGA Commandos, UGA Elite Guards, UGA Elite Snipers, UGA Engineers, UGA Marksmen, UGA Sergeants, UGA Soldiers, Bean, Furious George, and Tiny.

Toys

• Ultra-Humanite received a figure in Mattel's Justice League Unlimited toyline.
• Ultra-Humanite was the Collect and Connect figure for the fourteenth wave of the DC Universe Classics line.

See also

• List of Superman enemies

External links

• Ultra-Humanite on DC Database, a DC Comics wiki
• A biography about the Ultra-Humanite
• Supermanica: Ultra-Humanite Supermanica entry on the Pre-Crisis Ultra-Humanite