It’s safe to say that James Gunn’s Superman doesn’t have a ton of unexpected plot twist reveals, but there are a couple of big ones. One of the bigger ones is learning that Lex Luthor’s masked metahuman soldier, Ultraman, is actually a clone of Superman. And one who doesn’t seem to be very cognizant of his actions. If that all sounds familiar, it’s because it sounds an awful lot like one of Superman’s most persistent foes in the pages of DC Comics, Bizarro. Having said that, Ultraman doesn’t go full Bizarro mode quite yet. But James Gunn certainly plants the seeds in this film for that to happen down the line.
Bizarro’s Silver Age Comic Book Origins
In the comics, Bizarro has been one of Superman’s most frequently recurring villains since the Silver Age, when he first appeared as an enemy for young Kal-El in 1958’s Superboy #68. He was created when a scientist used a “duplicating ray” on Superboy, resulting in an imperfect copy that had Kal-El’s powers, but none of his intellect. He also had chalky white skin, which made him appear monstrous. Clearly, the idea behind Bizarro was “what if Frankenstein’s monster had Superboy’s powers?” Only a little more kid-friendly. The writers designed him as a one-off adversary, but he proved too popular with readers, and DC soon resurrected the character.
A year later, Lex Luthor used the duplicating ray on the now-adult Superman, creating a new, more confused Bizarro in Action Comics #254. The Frankenstein parallels were even stronger, with Bizarro speaking in a broken, childish English, and saying everything in “opposite” fashion. This Bizarro became a staple of Silver Age comics, creating his own Bizarro world with strange duplicates of all of Superman’s friends and allies. And they even lived on a square planet. (The Silver Age was very silly, folks.) Bizarro gained even more relevance when he became a member of the Legion of Doom on the Saturday morning series Super Friends. Christopher Reeve fighting an evil duplicate of himself in a dingy costume in Superman III also seemed very Bizarro-inspired.
Bizarro in the Modern Era of Superman Comics
In the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot of Superman by John Byrne, Bizarro was created once again by Luthor. Only this time, via cloning. But because Lex wasn’t aware that Superman was an alien (it wasn’t public knowledge at this time), they couldn’t compensate for the non-terrestrial DNA. So he came out…wrong. Soon, this imperfect clone escaped Luthor’s control, and began to terrorize Metropolis. Although, it wasn’t coming from malice, so much as confusion. And this version of Bizarro was the template for his Superman: The Animated Series incarnation. Most comic book versions subsequently went with this take on the character as well.
Could Ultraman Become the DCU’s Bizarro?
So Ultraman in the DCU already fits much of the typical Bizarro origin story. He’s a Luthor-created clone of Superman, except slow-witted and not fully developed. He doesn’t wear a version of Superman’s costume, and he doesn’t have Bizarro’s signature corpse-like skin. However, should he survive the black hole in the collapsing pocket universe? Which he almost surely will, with that Kryptonian DNA. Then he might come out even worse for wear. Perhaps a little pale and monstrous looking? Clearly, whatever form a Superman sequel takes, it seems Ultraman is primed to become Bizarro. Now, Gunn has to make sure he has a dirty Superman costume on with a backwards ‘S’ symbol. It’s not so much “if” Ultraman becomes Bizarro, to us, it’s just a question of “when.”
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