The Residents of the Land of Light , or the People of Nebula M78 , also known as Ultras or Giants of Light , are the race who live on the Land of Light. They are beings of light who are known for their great powers and strong sense of compassion and justice, which motivates them to promote peace across the universe.
History
Constructing the Plasma Spark
The Land of Light and its humanlike inhabitants prior to the construction of the Plasma Spark, showing that even before the Spark's activation, the precursors to the Ultras had a highly-advanced civilisation
Land of Light's dying sun and its replacement, the Plasma Spark
Within the original continuity, the Ultras were once an extraterrestrial race who resembled humans and lived on a planet located in Nebula M78. Their sun was nearing the end of its life, and it going out would mean the end of their race. Unwilling to give up hope, the planet's greatest scientific minds created an artificial sun called the Plasma Spark, which brought light to their planet once again.
The light from the Plasma Spark changed the people of the Land of Light into titanic silver beings who had many wondrous, magic-like abilities. As the light of the Plasma Spark expanded outward, the device's Differator Rays that had been responsible for creating the first generation of Ultras reached other planets, including Planet L77, with its own civilisation experiencing a miraculous transformation into Ultras much like those of the Land of Light.
The Ultras believed their powers should be used to bring peace and to protect others from harm, and in order to do this they created the Inter Galactic Defense Force. As the Inter Galactic Defense Force battled evil beings, various races such as the Babarue, Temperor, and Baltan aliens saw them as a threat and made attempts to destroy them.
The Ultimate Wars
One of the greatest threats to the Land of Light came from a being called The Emperor, who with an army of monsters and aliens attacked the Land of Light in an event known as the Ultimate Wars. The Emperor conquered the Land of Light but the Ultras fought back and reclaimed their homeworld. The hero of this conflict was an Ultra named Ken, who would go on to become Father of Ultra. He dueled the Emperor in a battle that left both with matching wounds and forced the Emperor to retreat, not to be seen again for thirty thousand years.
Revolt of Belial
The next great threat to the Ultras came from an exiled Ultra named Belial. Belial was a veteran of the Ultimate Wars and a comrade to Ken and Marie. After seeing the Emperor's might, his mind was consumed by a need for more power. When Ken, instead of Belial, was made the Inter Galactic Defense Force's Top Commander, Belial's pride led him to attempting to steal energy from the Plasma Spark for himself. However, his attempt failed as the power of the Plasma Spark was too much for him. For this crime, which could have destroyed Planet Ultra, he was exiled by his fellow Ultras. Shortly after his exile, an encounter with Alien Reiblood led to Belial being turned into a dark Ultra. He attempted to destroy the Land of Light and was defeated by Ultraman King, who then created the Space Prison to imprison him.
Dark Zagi's Invasion
At an unspecified point after Belial's first attempt at insurrection, a rift was torn open on the Land of Light from another universe, and from it, Dark Zagi appeared, closely followed by Ultraman Noa, who had pursued him across the multiverse. Dark Zagi mounted an attack on the Land of Light, but Noa was able to subdue him by working together with the Land of Light's Ultras, casting him back into the rift from whence he came before leaving through the same rift himself.
The Life-Solidification Technology and the Ultra Annihilation Project
At some point between Belial's attempted revolt and Zagi's battle across the multiverse, Ultraman Hikari developed the Life Solidification Technology, a means to bring Ultras who had fallen in battle back to life. News of this invention reached Planet Bat, home of the Alien Bat, and a civil war erupted over tensions resulting from the Land of Light's decision to refuse to give this technology to other races, as the risk of it falling into enemy hands was too great. As a result, the Planet Bat Federal Army, which had seized power over Planet Bat, enacted the Ultra Annihilation Project, which took the form of an attempted invasion of the Land of Light, while an individual Federal Army soldier simultaneously targeted MAT and Ultraman Jack, the Ultra who was on Planet Earth at this time. Jack was able to defeat the soldier and his Zetton, then left Earth to assist his comrades in repelling the invasion. While not much is known about the extent of the battle that followed, the Ultras emerged victorious, thwarting the attempted conquest of the Land of Light.
Galaxy Crisis
- Main article: Galaxy Crisis
Hundreds of years after Mebius defeated Alien Empera, peace had finally been achieved on Earth in the World of the Land of Light, as monsters had disappeared, seemingly for good. However, all was not well in the universe; Alien Reiblood, an extremely powerful being who had once ruled over the universe, used his powers to summon Bullton, which was then tasked with gathering monsters from across the wider multiverse. As a result of this, kaiju once again inhabited the Earth, and were also brought to planets where monsters were normally absent. Among the monsters summoned by Bullton were ones that had never even existed in this particular universe, including Ultra-Ancient Monsters, agents of the Radical Destruction Bringer, and Space Beasts.
Alongside the exploration team ZAP SPACY, the Ultras took an active position in finding a way to stop Reiblood and bring the crisis under control. With the end of the crisis, peace was restored. While sightings of monsters continued, including on Earth, where they had successfully returned to the planet's ecosystem, the Ultras and humans alike had gained valuable knowledge about the existence of other universes and timelines which would be used for years to come.
However, unbeknownst to everyone, the stage had already been set for Ultraman Belial to make his grand return, and with it, the universe would be faced with peril once again.
The Return of Belial
At some point after the Galaxy Crisis, Belial was freed from his prison and waged war on the Land of Light once again. He was successful in removing the Plasma Spark, which resulted in the majority of Ultras on the planet being frozen. The remaining Ultras, along with the help of Rei and Ultraman Dyna, fought Belial at the Monster Graveyard. Belial was ultimately defeated by Ultraman Zero and the Plasma Spark was brought back to Planet Ultra, restoring life to the planet.
Dark Spark War
Land of Light residents participated in the Dark Spark War. Like all the other combatants they were turned into Spark Dolls by Dark Lugiel. They were restored following Lugiel's defeat.
Omega Armageddon and Crisis Impact
Before the events of Ultraman Geed, the Ultras ventured to the World of Side Space and participated in the Omega Armageddon, fighting against Belial and his army. However, the Ultras could only gaze at their failures as Belial succeeded in triggering Crisis Impact before Ultraman King sacrificed his corporeal form to undo the damages Belial had caused, effectively becoming the World of Side Space's host. Afterwards, the Ultras became a popular legend among the people of that universe’s restored Earth.
Characteristics
An Ultra's average height is usually 130-160 feet (40-50 meters) with their unique biology being made from a special substance, Spacium. Ultras have various abilities, most notably their ability to manipulate energy through their own light. They are able to fire energy beams from various positions of crossed hands, levitate objects, and create barriers. Ultras are able to fly and have displayed the ability to heal other beings using the same light.
Since the Earth's atmosphere naturally filters out most of the light that hits it, an Ultra's energy supply is limited while they are on Earth. Some Ultra shows state the problem is that the Earth's atmosphere is too badly polluted to allow enough light through. Ultras do not have time limits in space or on planets lacking a polluted atmosphere as Earth does.
Regardless of the reason, Ultras can only stay in their giant form on Earth for three minutes on average. Their Color Timer or Warning Light will turn red and begins to blink with increasing frequency as their power dwindles. To counter this time limit and stay on Earth indefinitely, an Ultra will almost always obtain a human form or merge with a host. If the host was recently deceased then the Ultra's powers will revive them, and they will then share a life force with the Ultra.
Ultras are difficult to permanently kill. Numerous times an Ultra has died, only to be revived by another member of their species or through other means. A large amount of energy is able to revive them, usually supplied by their human allies. It has been stated by Mirai Hibino that though it is possible for an Ultra to be revived, it is not a guaranteed event, meaning the phenomenon is almost "miraculous" in nature.
Anatomy
- Ultra Armor: The skin of an Ultra. Its name comes from the fact that it acts like armor as much as it is skin. Each individual Ultra Armor is generally resistant to fire and lasers. Upon suffering a serious wound, particles of light may emerge from openings in the Ultra Armor. Their Ultra Armor is weak to the cold unless they have access to a direct light source. It is also stated that Ultras absorb heat and light through the silver parts of their skin to produce energy. It is also known that the skin of Ultras is made of Spacium.
- Inner Workings: It has been stated that the insides of Ultras are not pure energy. They have bones and organs not unlike humans and possess organs humans do not have, such as a color timer, beam lamp, or sluggers. It should be noted that the injuries of an Ultra translate between their Ultra and human forms, unless they are joined with a host. Several Ultras have been wounded in ways that imply organic inner workings. Some examples are: Taro, whose arm had been broken, Mebius being poisoned by Birdon, and Seven's compound injuries weakening his strength near the end of his series.
- Immune Systems: Ultra have shown considerable immunity to diseases and biological weapons.
Body Colors and Family Traits
In the Land of Light there are three main groups of Ultras, the Silver Tribe , such as Ultraman, Zoffy and Ultraman Jack, the Red Tribe , such as Ultraseven and Ultraman Taro, and the Blue Tribe , such as Ultraman Hikari and Ultraman Tregear. These colors are to Ultras what 'ethnicity' is to humans. Red Ultras tend to be much stronger and more athletic than their blue counterparts, hence most of the Inter Galactic Defense Force is comprised of Red Ultras. Conversely, Blue Ultras are much more gifted mentally and are likely to join the Space Information Center, working as scientists and engineers, though there are also many Blue Ultras who have become esteemed soldiers in the Inter Galactic Defense Force as well. Silver Tribe Ultras, in spite of the tribe's name, are well known for their balance of red and silver markings. There are also Ultras who have both red and blue colors in the Land of Light, most notably Ultraman Zero.
Reproduction and Growth
Unlike humans, Ultra reproduce using their technology, in a form of what can best be described as a gestation pod. This device takes genetic samples from a mother and father and uses them to create a new Ultra who will develop in this pod. Eventually when the child has matured enough the pod will double as a case for carrying the baby by the parents until it is old enough to walk on its own.
While the length of this gestation process is unknown, one can assume it is fairly long in comparison to a human lifespan, considering that the relative growth rate of Ultras is considerably more drawn out compared to humans. With some exceptions, most Ultras become young adults by around 4 - 6,000 Earth years.
Longevity
Ultras have extremely long life spans, when compared to humans and seemingly most other races by some sources. Although Zero is more than 5000 Earth years in age during his first appearance, he is considered a teenager by Ultra standards. The oldest known Ultra in the World of the Land of Light is Ultraman King, at over 300,000 years old. Mother of Ultra, Father of Ultra, and Belial are around half his age. In the Ultraman Tregear Novel, Tregear stated that the people of Nebula M78 were seen as having 'infinite lifespans' (or 'immortality') by other species of the universe.
Powers
- Ultra Beam: The majority of Ultras are able to fire an Ultra Beam from hands crossed in a T, L or even X style. This beam can also be fired in ways such as an outstretched hand or from a jewel on an Ultra's forehead. A basic Ultra Beam is powerful enough to destroy the average monster in one shot.
- Light Bullets: A lesser form of their beam abilities, Ultras are able to fire small bursts of energy at a target. This technique is also known as Energy Bullets and Energy Blasts.
- Strength: All Ultras have displayed enhanced strength. For example, they are able to lift monsters their own size over their heads and throw them. Ultras with red bodies have greater natural strength than Ultras of other colors.
- Endurance: Ultras are considerably more durable than human beings. They have shown resistance to lasers, Ultra Beams, fire, and high temperatures. Ultras from M78 have a weakness to cold temperatures.
- Acceleration: Ultras are capable of enhancing their speed. However, this is only for short bursts.
- Size Alteration: Ultras are able to change their physical size from microscopic to giant.
- Mental Abilities: Ultras are able to communicate with their own kind and other beings through their telepathy. This telepathy is able to operate over long distances. A number of Ultras such as Taro are trained to use a form of telekinesis called Ultra Psychokinesis.
- Barriers: Ultras can erect energy barriers to protect themselves from enemy fire.
- Flight: All Ultras have the ability to fly. They have also been known to fly interstellar and even intergalactic distances. Profiles on Ultras have stated that organs in their legs generate anti-gravity waves that allow them to fly.
- Healing: Ultras who take on hosts are able to fully heal themselves between battles, while Ultras in human form are not able to heal as quickly. In addition to this, Ultras are able to externally heal other beings. Mother of Ultra is known as the greatest healer in the Land of Light and is the leader of the Silver Cross Aid, a division of Ultras dedicated to healing.
- Assimilation: Ultras are able to share their life force with a human, fusing the two of them into one being. This act can revive a recently deceased person, though they will have to depend on the Ultra's energy to live.
- Human Mimicry: Instead of taking a host, an Ultra may take on their own human form. In principle, this body operates in the same way as a host body, and it shares any injuries the Ultra obtains in giant form. An Ultra may copy the appearance of another human being for their human form, or they may create their own appearance.
- Teleportation: Some Ultras are able to instantly travel across great distances using teleportation. The trade-off for using this ability is a massive energy drain that leaves an Ultra weakened. In recent years, Ultras such as Ginga have shown the ability to teleport without a noticeable energy drain. This implies that the extent of this side-effect depends on the distance traveled and the user's skill.
- Emotion Empowerment: Ultras are repeatedly shown to gain literal, tangible strength from emotional bonds with and support from others, from suddenly being able to overpower Kaiju and Aliens they were seriously struggling against after others began cheering for them, to outright gaining new transformations, such as Mebius gaining Burning Brave from his bond with the GUYS team or Tiga becoming Glitter Tiga from the hope of Humans and/or other Ultras.
- Energy Form: Ultras have shown repeatedly to able to transform into pure energy, generally manifesting as a ball of light. Out of-universe this ability is often lumbed together with the Travel Sphere, however, a Travel Sphere is formed around a user, while the energy form is he user's body transformed into energy. An example of this is Ultraman Hikari, who transformed into a ball of light, yellow in color and smaller than a full sized Ultra, to speak with Ultraman Victory's host, and yet has also generated the Travel Sphere around himself and several other Ultras, which was bright red in color.
- Digitization: Ultraman Mebius was able to convert himself into data to fight against a Maquette Zetton in one instance. In Ultraman X, the titular character explained that he transforms himself into data when flying about in his travel sphere, implying that all Ultras do this. Several other Ultras have shown the ability to transform themselves into data.
- Travel Sphere: Ultras are known for traversing space by generating a large sphere of light around themselves, usually red in color, but Taro had demonstrated an orange sphere, while Father of Ultra has used a green one repeatedly. These spheres are generated around the user's body and acts akin to spaceships, with an interiorThese spheres appear to be dimensionally transcedant, being repeatedly shown to possess space for their occupants to move about in if needed. At one point a sphere was to hold around seven Ultras with ease.
- Type Change: Certain Ultras have shown the ability to assume different forms, allowing them to adjust their combat abilities to better match the situation, such as increasing certain physical traits, gaining new abilities or boosting their overall power. The exact mechanics behind this capacity are unclear, with certain Ultras seemingly being able to accomplish this on their own, while others make use of various types of tool to facilitate the transformations, and some instances even have them being triggered by infusion of energy from, or even outright fusion with, other Ultras.
- There is also examples of detrimental type changes, Ultra's being forced into weaker forms due to various factors, such as serious injury or being unable to satisfy some requirement beyond their basic energy needs.
- Ultra Sign: A form of long distance communication between Ultras. Ultra Signs appear in the sky or space as a series of characters created from light. Usually only the Ultras were able to see the signs, with them being invisible to naked eyes of species such as humans.
- Twinkle Way: Ultras can create wormholes to quickly travel the vast distances of space. This technique is generally used as a shortcut back to the Land of Light. The exact limits of this ability are unknown at the moment.
Alternate Versions
Ultraman Taro Manga
In the manga by Ken Ishikawa, the Ultras have a similar but different nature. In this version, the Ultras visited Earth in its ancient past, teaching primitive apes the basics of civilization. It was revealed that the Ultra Armor were suits the Ultra wore, as one removed their helmet, with their true selves being luminous human like giants. The light they shone transformed the apes into humanity. Taro would later shine this light when gravely injured, freeing mankind from the control of an evil alien. Beyond this and the fact that the Ultras used a flying saucer to get to Earth, there is no difference between them and the canon Ultras.
Despite this, some Ultras like the Ultra Brothers and Taro, are revealed to have been once human, transformed by Mother of Ultra who appears to Kotaro (who becomes Taro) as a blazing sun in space.
Ultraman: Another Genesis
In this version the equivalent of the Ultras live in the Kingdom of Light, ruled by Ultraman King's counterpart, known simply as King, from his private planet. In this universe, the 'Ultras' are less uniform in appearance, with some appearing organic and metallic, robotic, Angelic, similar to a merman, or a centaur. Their planet was destroyed by Belial, who in this version was sealed by King, in the very core of the planet. He destroyed it as he freed himself from his prison, killing many giants and scattering debris from the planet across the universe, creating monsters and possibly giants where they land. The abilities of these giants is not so uniform, but for while in general they have the same basic powers, they seem to possess their unique powers (at least those shown). There are also other giants, similar to them across space who do not seem to originate from the Kingdom of light. Another thing of note is that none of these individuals are known by the title of 'Ultraman' except Ultraman's counterpart. Ultraman: Another Genesis
Ultraman Dual
In this novel, we are introduced to an alternate version of the Land of Light and are given info about its Ultras and their evolution. In this version the Residents of the Land of Light sport traits of their main counterparts and the People of U40. All of them have natural Human forms and typically spend most of their time in that state. The Ultras appear to culturally relish their lost 'humanity' as noted that Ultras and those turned into Ultras, are unable to cry even in human form. Another cultural point stated is that 'once a week', Ultra families sit down and have a regular meal instead of using their technology, the Ultra Conditioner, to automatically satiate them, and cleanse their bodies of impurities.
Like their U40 counterparts only a select few can become Giants. Their warriors, called the Space Guard, are noted for bearing red markings and a crest on their heads. This is due to predisposition instead of training which heavily implies the possibility of a caste system. To the wiki's knowledge it is never outright confirmed but highly implied.
In this continuity, it is stated that the original Ultras were all silver, and had the ability to directly manipulate/take the life force of others. At present, all that remains of this group are the Ultra Priests/Saints. It is more than implied, but never stated, that they have taken this position due to fear from the other Ultra groups over their abilities, especially the Space Guard. In the sequel it is later learned that the feelings of distrust towards the Ultra Saints is at least partly due to cultural regrets. The Ultras of this story did not 'invent' the Space Garrison, but instead inherited it after defeating the prior incarnation, their ancestors having been invasive but in their victory they adopted the culture and teachings of their predecessors and became the Space Guard of the story's present. Besides protecting planets from invasion they also operated prison facilities for powerful monsters and aliens and set guard stations around certain planets to prevent exploitation. These and other Space Guard activities brought them into conflict with an alliance of four invasive civilizations known collectively as the Galafians. Their conflict with them lead to the events of the first novel.
There is the question if the other Tribes, or their Dual equivalents, who arose due to the potential ability and disparity of the members of the original generation or individually. Those with greater fighting potential gained more red markings, and could presumably have passed it on. Unlike the canon version of the Land of Light, the Ultra are implied to be born naturally in human form, instead of using the gestation capsule of their mainline counterparts. There was also a Yellow Ultra, who was trying to be a bridge between the Ultra Warriors, and Ultra Priests, which implies that Ultras at present may be able to change their colors and associated abilities, but that Ultra was the Brother of an Ultra Priest and thus from a Saint family. It is likely his yellow markings are merely the result of the 'red marks of warriors' appearing on a priest. However, there is later a Warrior/Priest hybrid in Ultrawoman Dual, who does not bare this coloration. There was also a psychedelic orange Ultra, who was previously an alien but was converted into Ultrahood via the Ultra Operation technique by an Ultra Priest. Another reason for fear of them was later demonstrated by an untrained Priest whose power activated instinctively, draining life from the monsters she defeated and even unknowingly steal the combat potential of another converted Ultra.
Another interesting fact is that said Yellow Ultra, Bridge was noted for being an 'Ace Type', using Metalium Energy, and is described as having features akin to Ultraman Ace. This, and the main character becoming the second Ultraman Dual, being the same tribe, and using the same energy, and having the same features as the first Dual, implies that Ultra features are greatly determined by the energy they use. It is not certain how accurately this reflects the 'Canon' M78 Ultras, but this is similar to how Ultraman and Jack both have very similar features, both using plain Spacium Energy.
The Rise of Ultraman
In the comic by Marvel Comics, the history of the Ultra Tribe is similar but also radically different in some ways. Instead of the appearance of Ultras coinciding with the first appearance of monsters, the ancestors of the Ultras are said to have evolved to their current form in response to the monster threat. As monsters appeared and were attracted to large amounts of negative emotions, negative energy, they evolved to not only cease attracting them but also to become beings who could combat them. Thus the term 'Ultra' was coined due to them 'reaching this ultimate state'. Since then the Ultras have fought to hold back the deluge of monsters across the universe, and stopping to educate lesser/younger races into reaching a similar state.
Another difference between them and the main Ultras is that their travel spheres, are actual space ships, and implied to not simply be creations of their bodies. The Rise of Ultraman
A QnA on Reddit with the comics writers, revealed that the evolution of this version of the Ultras is much the same as their original counterparts, including the Plasma Spark.
Shin Ultraman
While never officially called 'Ultra' in the film, for the sake of compehension, and the obvious, we will refer to them as such. The counterparts of the Giants of Light in Shin Ultraman are very similar to their mainline counterparts, but also radically different in some aspects. While the motivation of their main counterparts is justice, the Ultra of Shin operate on the grounds of preventing interstellar conflicts. From the two members seen, Lipiah and Zoffy, it appears that they are a highly individualistic, and behave in a robotic fashion when compared to humans, yet operate under a strict code.
This "Code" prohibits their interference with the independent progress of another planet's native species. Other than that, fusing with a native of a planet is forbidden and carries a strict penalty. Under this code they operate activities similar to the Inter Galactic Defense Force, sending out agents to protect vulnerable worlds/civilizations from Kaiju, bioweapons in this setting, and if needed destroying harmful life forms, even if it means destroying solar system. Their methods are much more ruthless and detached yet honor the Interstellar Accords, a sort of Geneva Convention of space that dictates the rules of interactions between civilizations.
Comments about humanity, by Zoffy, implies that like their mainline counterparts, they also evolved from a human-like species. In their current forms their bodies are heavily comprised of a super heavy element called spacium, which provides them with great strength, durability, even in human form, flight by manipulating gravity around the and the abilitie to emit light wave fields, such as their iconic heat ray. Lipiah demonstrated the ability to neutralize radiation with his body, tracking an object through another dimension using scent, and speed reading a small library's worth of books in a few days aproximately. Unlike their counterparts, they are not natural giants, and instead use the Beta Capsule, their version of the Beta System used by other aliens to become giants. The Ultras use their own spacium energy to power the devices. They are also heavily implied to be technologically superior to even Alien Mefilas and most other civilizations because of the comparison between the Capsule and Mefilas' coffin sized Beta Box.
Gallery
Mega Monster Battle Ultra Galaxy: The Movie
Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial
Ultraman Geed
Individuals
Miscellaneous
See Also
- Ultras
- Ultra Warriors
- Ultra Citizens & Warriors
- Inter Galactic Defense Force
- Ultra-Ancient Giants of Light
- Ultra People
- O-50 Ultras