If you were to base your worldview on what movies tell you, then you would probably think that all superheroes live in the US and all radioactive monsters originate from Japan. However, that is not entirely true as Japan has plenty of superheroes of its own, one of which is Ultraman. First debuting in 1966, Ultraman has since gone on to star in more than 25 different series over the years and has become an important part of Japanese pop culture.
The concept of a giant hero from outer space bonding with a human to fight evil monsters and aliens has proven a popular one, and even Netflix has found success with its own Ultraman anime series heading into a second season, along with new shows including Shin Ultraman and Ultraman Trigger on its way to the streaming service.
Netflix’s love affair with the character only continues to grow though, as Tsuburaya Productions – the owners of the property – has announced that a new CG-animated movie is now in development at Netflix. Rather than build a big, interconnected franchise though, this new movie will reportedly not be related to any of the anime series and will rather focus on a new original story of its own, as detailed below:
Baseball superstar Ken Sato returns to his home country of Japan to pick up the mantle of Earth-defending superhero Ultraman, but quickly finds more than he bargained for when he’s forced to raise the offspring of his greatest foe, a new-born Kaiju. Struggling to balance the roles of teammate and new father, Ken must confront his own ego, his estranged father, and the conniving Kaiju Defence Force to rise up and discover what it truly means to be Ultraman.
Alongside Tsuburaya, Industrial Light and Magic will reportedly also be involved in the production of the film, which hopefully means we will see a far better quality of animation than what we are typically used to seeing with these shows. The script for this new take on the character is being written by Shannon Tindle and Marc Haimes, with Tindle also co-directing alongside John Aoshima. The project has no planned release dates yet, though given the popularity Netflix is having with the character they will probably want to get this movie out as soon as possible.
Last Updated: May 17, 2021
Mandalorian Jim
May 18, 2021 at 07:51
It’s strange, I was introduced to Ultraman because a friend had the old show on VHS, and at the time, I was heavily into Guyver. Two pretty fantastic shows – whether live-acction or anime.