By [ad_1]
In Marvel’s Ultraman: The Trials of Ultraman, one of the franchise’s classic kaiju just made the leap from the classic TV show to comics.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Ultraman: The Trials of Ultraman #4 by Kyle Higgins, Mat Groom, Francesco Manna, Espen Grundetjern and VC’s Ariana Maher, on sale now.
The world of Marvel’s Ultraman has only gotten more and more complicated since the U.S.P. has decided to move itself in a more transparent direction. While Shin and his colleagues have been busy dealing with the fallout of the worldwide revelation that both Kaijus and Ultraman exist, the reaction to that revelation by the general populace has been mixed, to say the least. As the U.S.P. has recently discovered, there are some who have gone to dangerous lengths to discredit their efforts, and the new threat of mechanical Kaiju has led Shin and his team to Iceland to investigate.
Unfortunately, man-made monsters aren’t the only ones lurking out in the snow, and Ultraman has just uncovered a fan-favorite beast from his time on the small screen, Zumbolar the Scorching Monster.
With the help of former U.S.P. engineer turned tech billionaire Katsuichiro Kato, the heroes have tracked the likely origin of these new mechanical Kaiju to one “Professor” Nokaido. The self-proclaimed professor isn’t a hard man to track down, especially not when he gives the world an open invitation to witness him discredit the U.S.P. entirely by unleashing his own mechanized monster in the middle of the Icelandic wilderness. This prime opportunity to spy on the enemy is too good for the U.S.P. to pass up, though they are quickly spotted in the crowd by Nokaido himself. As soon as things turn violent, Shin knows that he has to drop in, though the need for Ultraman hasn’t yet arisen. The sudden, strange energy readings picked up by the Ultra turn out to have nothing to do with Nokaido’s creations, but rather a classic Kaiju.
First introduced during the 1967 episode of Ultraman entitled “The Endless Counterattack,” Zumbolar is a massive reptilian Kaiju with some truly explosive capabilities. In his original appearance, Zumbolar was awakened by land development happening above his subterranean lair. The U.S.P.’s weapons served only to fuel the beast’s fire as it tore a flaming swath through the countryside on its way to Tokyo, forcing Ultraman to defeat the Kaiju with hand-to-hand combat and his Spacium Beam. Zumbolar also appeared in the U.S. produced Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero in the 1993 episode “The Fires Beneath,” coming into conflict with the titular hero under much the same circumstances as the first time around. This battle ended in a less climactic fashion than the first, with Ultraman calming Zumbular’s fires before convincing it to retreat.
So far the threats that Shin has faced have been largely terrestrial in their capacity for destruction, but Zumbolar is something else entirely. With any luck, the U.S.P. won’t find themselves adding fuel to the flames as before, though there is little doubt that the mechanized Kaiju and human supporters of Nokaido’s campaign will attempt to do so for themselves. Zumbolar might not have intended to bring Ultraman down when they appeared, but this particular Kaiju could very well be the one that finally spells doom for the hybrid hero.
About The Author
[ad_2]
