The first official image of Ultraman from the 2025 Superman movie has been released online. While Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor took most of the villain spotlight in James Gunn's theatrical DCU debut, the mysterious Ultraman was right by his side, serving as the brawn to Lex's brain. The masked character's identity was a key beat that the movie kept hidden until release, but now, spoilers are abound as fans have gotten to see who is under the cowl.
Now that Superman has been in theaters for several weeks, fans finally got the first official set photo of David Corenswet unmasked in the Ultraman costume. Audiences may remember that Superman's leading man played double-duty in the new movie, with Ultraman revealed to be a clone of Corenswet's Man of Steel (which could potentially set up several other iconic DC big bads).
Engineer actress Maria Gabriela De Faria shared the new photo online on her personal Instagram page.
Among a collection of behind-the-scenes glimpses at the Superman set, one image showed Corenswet sitting in the Ultraman costume without the character's menacing mask.
The Superman actor seems expectedly jovial in the picture, throwing a 'hang loose' and sticking out his tongue to the camera. About the image, Faria danced around the spoilers in the image's caption, "David Corenswet as you know who."
This marks the first time audiences have seen Corenswet in the Ultraman costume without a mask outside the film, showing that the actor appeared in the villain's hulking suit at least once during Superman production.
Superman is now playing in theaters worldwide, debuting James Gunn's new DCU franchise. The film, which has soared sky-high at the box office, follows Corenswet's Clark Kent/Superman three years into his superhero career as he comes up against the villainous Lex Luthor (Hoult) and his Superman clone, Ultraman.
Lex and Ultraman are just two of several big-name villains in the new movie—a list that includes a massive kaiju, the terrifying Engineer, and Mr. Handsome.
What Could Ultraman Set Up in the DCU?
Even though Superman, quote/unquote, defeated Ultraman at the end of Superman (2025), that does not mean the character is gone forever. In fact, he could pave the way for a few big-name DC villains to appear in a potential Superman sequel.
Ultraman was notably not killed at the end of James Gunn's Superman movie. Instead, David Corenswet's Man of Steel shunted the character into a black hole, sending him to the far reaches of the universe.
In the comic, Ultraman is an alternate Superman from a separate reality where all the Justice League are evil. Perhaps, throwing Ultraman into a black hole in Superman was a roundabout way to set up this evil Justice League, with the character being banished to another universe entirely, where he could put together the evil supervillain team.
This could also be the beginning of the classic comic book villain, Bizarro. Typically, Bizarro is a pure clone of Superman created by Lex Luthor.
While Ultraman had a few shortcomings (like not being able to think for himself all that well), the character could be a prototype for Lex's next attempt at cloning the ol' Big Blue, creating a full-fledged Bizarro.
