Ultraman just unleashed the Kaiju menace on Earth, and he just so happened to have set free one of the series most beloved heroes as well.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Rise of Ultraman #5 by Kyle Higgins, Mat Groom, Francesco Manna, Espen Grundetjern and VC’s Ariana Maher, on sale now.
The Ultraman series has seen a multitude of heroic humans take up the mantle of the titular hero since it was first introduced in 1966, even if Ultraman himself wasn’t properly introduced until the second season of the original show. While Marvel’s The Rise of Ultraman is a departure from many of the typical trappings that the franchise is known for, it’s also made mention of one of the very first Ultra heroes as an important part of its mythos. Dan Moroboshi has been missing for decades, but thanks to Shin Hayata he has finally made his way home after years of being trapped in Hell.
USP Cadet Kiki Fuji went searching for answers regarding the organization’s secrets, and in doing so ended up trapped in the same Limbo dimension that Kaiju are transported to by the USP’s K-Ray weapons. Once the truth of the matter had been revealed, Shin Hayata took it upon himself to go rescue his friend as Ultraman. His short time in Limbo uncovered some terrifying facts about the USP’s operations so far. Once Shin and Kiki arrived back on Earth, they realized that something followed them home, and Ultraman was forced to fight a towering Kaiju while running down the clock on his powers. With the threat of a Kaiju prison break looming over the near future, Shin determines that the only way to win is to open the interdimensional floodgates and let the monsters loose on Earth where they can be permanently disposed of. It’s a risky move, but one that is ultimately the only sound option the heroes have left.
It doesn’t take much convincing for Shin to be allowed to go through with his plan. In his Ultraman form, Shin tears through the veil between our world and Limbo in the hopes that a controlled release of the Kaiju in relatively unpopulated areas of the world will not only give him a chance to stop them once and for all but will also give the USP a chance to come clean to the world in a way that they won’t be regarded as another dangerous organization operating out of the shadows by the public. Unbeknownst to Shin and his allies, Kaiju weren’t the only ones trapped in Limbo, and he’s just freed one of the series most well-known characters from a waking nightmare.