Superman Analogue: Ultra Boy (Jo Nah)
95Ultra Boy is the type of hero that can do it all... just not all at once.
Music by Bret Eagleston - www.breteagleston.bandcamp.com
Original Thread: https://twitter.com/CaseAiken/status/1100893252025225218
Original Text: I talked about Duplicate Boy before and how a weakness for him was forgetting to turn on necessary powers, but I wanted to spend today discussing a #SupermanAnalogue who has all the right powers, a little stronger even, but can only use one at a time: Ultra Boy
Jo Nah was trapped inside a space whale (yes, really) and surviving inside that environment linked him to the Ultra Energies that allowed the creature to survive in space. As a result, he gained all the powers of Superman, but his body could only have one active at any point.
As with many classic Legionnaires, he was first introduced in Superboy's book. I "think" his deal was that he travelled to the past with his father. At the time he was only shown to have his vision powers. The rest would show up with later appearances.
I mentioned his powers were stronger than Superboy's. The obvious example is his penetra-vision can see through lead. In the early days you needed a "unique" power to join the team so he was only allowed on the team because of that. So weird!
Anyway, his other powers are likewise rumored to be greater than Superboy's, but he lacks the secondary superpowers to use them to their fullest. For example, he can't move at his top speed without ripping up his body because he's not invulnerable.
In most timelines, he's romantically linked with Phantom Girl/Apparition.
As far as personality, Ultra Boy is a little rougher than the clean cut Superboy. He's often drawn and written like Harrison Ford as Han Solo (in my opinion), due to having connections to crime in his youth. Like Han Solo, his heroism always shines through.
Actually, Phantom Girl is a bit of an aristocrat, so very Princess Leia.
His uniform has a very garish base, but I've always been a fan of the modern iterations. His 90s look is one of my favorites (as evidenced by my selection of images on this thread). Some of the others, not so much...
Ultra Boy's powers are a fascinating mental excercise for me. Any of these powers would be amazing to have but you have to wonder how you'd make it all work. Good thing he has a Legion flight ring so he can always fly PLUS do whatever.
With his raw power, classic presence, interesting schtick, and hot shot attitude, he makes it into most Legion adaptations. It's amazing what a small limitation can do to inspire story ideas and establish stakes.
He's not the heaviest hitter on a team with so many heavy hitters, but Ultra Boy is a fun hero with every power you need to have a high fantasy story, just not encumbered by having all of them all of the time.
Master Thread: https://twitter.com/CaseAiken/status/1346189702580342785
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