Ulysses (DC)
Ulysses is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
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Biography
Neil Quinn was the only son of Peter Quinn and Bridget Quinn where he was born over 25 years ago. His parents were both physicists that worked for the American military when one day they were approached by Dr. Margaret Night who knew everything about them despite their work being classified. She sought to recruit them in finding a better world as she showed them the widespread killing and violence in the world causing the Quinn's to lose faith in tomorrow. Dr. Night showed them her private facility that was the Ulysses Research Lab where former military scientists from around the world were looking for a better tomorrow by finding an habitable alternate dimension with the intention of relocating there. During this time, a reality-eating strange matter was inadvertently released that killed Dr. Night and several others that threatened to destroy the laboratory. (Superman v3 #34) It emerged from their study of Dimension Two with it ripping apart in the facility with the Quinn's unable to escape and fearing for the life of their son who they brought with them to the lab. The danger from the strange matter was so great that it was believed that once it consumed the laboratory that it would eventually destroy the entire world. As a result, Peter Quinn convinced his wife to send their son in a rocket to Dimension Four that they had briefly studied and determined it contained life that could shelter their child. Thus, they prepared the ship and the young Neill Quinn was launched into Dimension Four thus escaping the Ulysses Research Center. (Superman v3 #32) The Quinn's believed that the world was doomed from the strange-matter event and that they were facing certain death but they managed to contain the incident thus saving the world. However, their son now was lost in another dimension and they had lost their research in the destruction caused which meant that they had no way of recovering him. Meanwhile, Neill passed through interdimensional energy as he crashed into the Fourth Dimension where he landed on a world to be adopted by its native inhabitants. As he was growing up, it was discovered that he had been altered in his journey with his adoptive father attributed this to his interdimensional journey into the Fourth Dimension. (Superman v3 #34) In that time, he came to help in the harvest of many worlds to help fuel the perfect society of the Great World. (Superman v3 #36) He was found by Klerik who adopted the human and inducted him into the ranks of the Seekers. (Superman v3 #37)
Arriving on Earth, he pursued Klerik and battled him alongside the Kryptonian superhero known as Superman. Working together, the pair helped defeat Klerik whereupon Quinn expressed his surprise at Earth still existing and that he was a human operating as a hero in another world. (Superman v3 #32) With Klerik apprehended, the villain came to be transported to the Stryker's Island prison to contain him. Meanwhile, Ulysses explored the Earth and he came to track Superman to the Daily Planet in his guise as Clark Kent. He was asked to stay at Kent's apartment whilst Superman investigated his claims about Quinn's origins. However, Ulysses decided to use this as an opportunity to explore Earth and wore clothes that allowed him to blend amongst civilians. It was then that Metropolis came under attack from mechanical men with Ulysses battling them to protect other civilians in the area. Superman arrived at the scene to help Ulysses who expressed confusion on why there seemed to be no peace on Earth. It was then that Superman took Ulysses to a residence in the city that was actually the home of his parents who Neil had believed were dead. This led to the Quinn family being reunited with one another. (Superman v3 #33) Neil came to learn about his past and the events that led to him being sent to the Fourth Dimension. In turn, he told his parents about his own life on the Great World in the other dimension. He would also claim that Klerik was an old foe who swore enmity against Neil for killing his brother. With Klerik imprisoned, Neil said that he had no need to return to the Great World and instead planned to stay on Earth. Later that night, Ulysses spoke to Superman about their shared experiences of growing up on an alien world and thinking about their world of origin. (Superman v3 #34)
Quinn later told Superman that he had been studying one of the mysterious robots that had been attacking Metropolis. From its remains, he was able to track its unique energy signature to its place of origin. Superman and Ulysses then travelled to a scrap yard in Metropolis where they uncovered a secret lair underground. It was then that a mechanical tick attached itself to Quinn and took control of him forcing him to attack Superman. The Man of Steel managed to render Quinn unconscious and removed the mechanical implant whereupon the pair were confronted by the creator of the robots who was a masked villain called the Machinist. He was a creator of weapons looking to test his products out so that he could sell them and unleashed more of his mind controlling ticks against Superman. By this point, Quinn had recovered and in anger he used his eye vision beams to kill the Machinist. This shocked Superman but it was later discovered that the man underneath the mask was simply another person that the Machinist had controlled to masquerade as him whilst the real mastermind was away. (Superman v3 #34) Neil felt guilty over killing an innocent man as the authorities examined the scene but Superman later revealed that the man behind the mask was already dead and the Machinist simply puppeted them remotely. (Superman v3 #35)
He then made a message to everyone on Earth where he claimed that Earth was a world ravaged by disease, famine, natural disasters and violence. Thus, he offered a more perfect world to the people of Earth that would be in the Fourth Dimension which was when extradimensional transports from Neill's adoptive homeworld arrived. These arks offered to take anyone that wanted to journey to Great World. where it was claimed that they would live in a more harmonious and perfect society. (Superman v3 #36)
The super flare badly injured Ulysses whose skin was burnt as a result but he was rendered unconscious allowing him to be taken into custody. He was then kept imprisoned in a specially designed cell on Stryker's Island that leeched his energy to prevent him from escaping. (Superman v3 #38) Ulysses was in his cell when he read in a newspaper that Superman had recently died. (Superman v3 #52)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Ulysses was a male human noted for his long blonde hair. He once claimed to be the Last Son of Earth and as the New Superman. (Superman v3 #32)
He claimed that he wanted to bring peace to Earth and that this was his parents dream. (Superman v3 #33)
After seeing Earth, he came to hate being human. (Superman v3 #37)
He came to see the Great World as a paradise and wanted to ensure its survival. (Superman v3 #37)
His parents were Peter Quinn and Bridget Quinn both of whom were noted physicists. (Superman v3 #34) It was noted that they had worked on the U.S. Navy's nuclear program before being recruited in Margaret Night's Ulysses Research Lab. (Superman v3 #33) His biological parents told him that they loved him regardless of what evil things he had done in the past. (Superman v3 #38) He in turn loved them and never blamed them for sending him away as he was glad to learn that they were still alive. (Superman v3 #34) After being sent to Dimension Four, Ulysses came to gain an adoptive father in Klerik who was a cruel leader of the Great World that forced Quinn to serve as their Seeker. (Superman v3 #37) Neil would claim that his adoptive parents had passed from the physical world a long time ago with his father having been a doctor whilst his mother was a member of the Great World's governing assembly. (Superman v3 #34)
At first, he came to acknowledge that Superman was a good person and it was with great reluctance he forced himself to fight the Man of Steel. (Superman v3 #36) This view changed though after the Great World was destroyed with Ulysses blaming Superman for its destruction. This saw Neil looking to destroy Superman and his world as revenge for the destruction of his adoptive homeworld. Superman though would say that Neil was not a villain and unlike the costumed criminals of Arkham as he was lost and confused which caused him to lash out at others after being overcome by grief. (Superman v3 #38)
Powers and abilities
Originally, Neill was an ordinary human but passing into the Fourth Dimension led to his cells permanently infused with its essence. As a result, he gained the power of flight, increased strength along with the capacity to store and release energy of all kinds. His body acted as a kind of magnet for concentrated and compacted energies. He also no longer had a need for sleep with it theorised that his ability to store and expel residual energy giving his body an endless supply of fuel. A result of constantly being awake was that he was no longer capable of dreaming. (Superman v3 #34) It was said that his energies came directly from the Great World's Core. Thus, after its destruction, he became infused with the energy of the dead plane. (Superman v3 #38)
It was shown that he could leech off the powers of others such as Superman. In addition, Ulysses had a degree of superhuman strength as he was able to knock Superman away and was fast enough to catch him by surprise. (Superman v3 #36) He demonstrated that he was able to take the energy from Kryptonian heat vison to empower himself. (Superman v3 #38)
He was able to perceive the energy from the unique magnetic fields produced by every living being or object. Quinn could even see the residual energy and studying remains allowed him to replicate it so that he could track it back to its source. (Superman v3 #34)
Though able to absorb energy, it was possible to overload him with too much power with powerful explosions capable of injuring him and knocking him unconscious. (Superman v3 #38)
After being stranded in another dimension, he had on his person a journal that belonged to his parents. From it, he came to learn English and much about his homeworld. (Superman v3 #33)
On the Great World, he came to join the ranks of the Seekers who were dispatched across dimensions to find planets to sacrifice to power their world. Designated Seekers travelled across the five dimensions in search of these worlds that would provide the necessary fuel for their planet. Those taken had their bodies broken down and the bio-energies within them was then processed to be introduced into the planetary core. (Superman v3 #37)
Notes
- Ulysses was created by Geoff Johns and John Romita, Jr. where he made his first appearance in Superman v3 #32 (August, 2014).
- In an interview on CBR, Romita, Jr. said, "Believe it or not, Geoff's idea for the character was for him to be a counter-character to Superman and similar in a lot of ways too. But it's the reverse. It's the coin flip. He's coming over from another dimension, so to speak, and switching with Superman. Superman was sent here from an alien planet and Ulysses is a human that went to an alien planet in a different dimension and came back."
Appearances
- Superman v3: (2014)
External Links
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