By [ad_1]
In Superman and the Authority #3, the Man of Steel’s first supervillain returns with a vicious plan that puts DC’s greatest hero on the defensive.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Superman and the Authority #3, on sale now from DC Comics.
While the more infamous figures among Superman’s extensive rogues gallery may be Lex Luthor, General Zod and Brainiac, one Golden Age supervillain predates them all as the first recurring antagonist that the Man of Steel faced off against in the comic books: Ultra-Humanite. In the strange iteration of the WildStorm Universe that Superman finds himself on, with reimagined versions of several DC Universe characters, Ultra-Humanite is similarly present and has unveiled his sinister agenda for Superman and the Authority in his most ambitious scheme yet.
From his orbital headquarters above the Earth, Ultra-Humanite is no longer the brain of a single mad scientist but a collection of preserved, functioning brains interfaced with one another. In this form, the villain sees himself as the pinnacle of human evolution, resenting Superman for his reputation as the Man of Tomorrow while inequality, international unrest and ecological disruption have significantly accelerated under his watch. Devising a plot to distract the rest of the Authority and leave his longtime nemesis vulnerable, Ultra-Humanite reveals that he is aware that Superman’s powers are steadily diminishing with age and that his new headquarters is left vulnerable via an old, compromised Justice League teleportation system. And in Superman and the Authority #3 (by Grant Morrison, Mikel Janin, Travel Foreman, Jordie Bellaire, Alex Sinclair and Steve Wands), Ultra-Humanite kicks his master plan into motion.
While the rest of the Authority is away, with the Last Son of Krypton overseeing the scene from his newly christened headquarters Fort Superman, Ultra-Humanite infiltrates the facility with one of his brains implanted into the body of the undead supervillain Solomon Grundy. Ambushing Superman, Ultra-Humanite easily overpowers his arch-nemesis — even after Superman breaks out the Super-Mobile — and reveals that he plots to implant his mind into the Man of Steel’s body as the ultimate merger between brains and brawn. In order to find a surgical center with the tools and facility necessary, Ultra-Humanite plans to take his unwilling patient to the bottled city of Kandor.
Introduced by Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster in 1939’s Action Comics #13, Ultra-Humanite was intended to be the polar opposite of the Man of Steel; an opponent with a withered body but an infinitely more devious mind. After his apparent death in 1940, Ultra-Humanite was replaced by Lex Luthor as Superman’s primary antagonist for decades until he resurfaced after implanting his brain into a large, albino ape strong enough to physically trade blows with the DCU’s mightiest heroes. The villain was last seen maintaining a secret hideout under Gotham City to build his own army of mindless drones to carry out his bidding.
Judging by Ultra-Humanite’s usual grandstanding as the ultimate that humanity has to offer, the supervillain will likely move to completely reshape humanity in his fiendish, tightly controlled image. Even in this alternate incarnation of the WildStorm Universe, combining WildStorm with the DCU, Ultra-Humanite is aware of the existence of Superman’s son and plots to target him once he has seized control of the Man of Tomorrow’s body.
After having successfully infiltrated Superman’s most protected sanctum and easily defeating him in contact, Ultra-Humanite is closer than ever to achieving final victory in their longstanding feud and plunging the world into an eternal darkness of his choosing.
About The Author
[ad_2]
