Ultra Boy

Original Ultra Boy

Jo Nah was born on Rimbor, a world that lives in perpetual night and where gang warfare is a way of life. His parents raised him with a strong moral foundation but he ultimately took to the streets. In his time as a gang member, Jo sharpened his body and mind, and was instilled with a certain moral code. NOTE: Ultra Boy's parents are Crav and Mytra Nah. They first appeared in Adventure Comics #356 (May 1967).

When Space Dragons gathered near Rimbor, thrill-seeking Rimborians would take a spacecraft to "play" among them. When one of Jo's friends set out to engage a dragon, Jo tried to stop him. He ended up being swallowed by the beast, which was actually an Ultra-Energy Beast. Jo was not killed; instead he absorbed some of its energy and soon found that he was able to focus the ultra-energy in various ways. He had penetra-vision and flash vision, super-strength, super-speed and an invulnerable force-field. He could only channel his energy into one of these abilities at a time.

Jo applied for membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes as Ultra Boy, and for his initiation he was required to travel into the 20th century with the Legion's advisor, Marla Latham, to uncover the secret identity of Superboy. (Superboy vol. 1 #98) Notes: In his first appearance, his code name was hyphenated, and it was implied that his only super-power was penetra-vision.

Immediately after joining, sparks began flying Ultra Boy and his fellow Legionnaire, an upper-class girl with a taste for bad boys, Phantom Girl. She was his steadfast supporter when evidence implicated Ultra Boy in a crime. The Legion voted to expel him, but in fact the whole affair was an elaborate ruse concocted by Jo to infiltrate and capture the alien criminals. (Adventure #316) His prowess and personality were infectious. He was well-liked by his teammates and he was twice elected Legion leader. (Adventure #371, Superboy vol. 1 #184)

Ultra Boy returned home to Rimbor when he was summoned by his former girlfriend, An Ryd, who had partnered with a masked cohort. She double-crossed Jo and blasted him into unconsciousness. The masked man then killed An and took Ultra Boy's flight ring, framing him for the murder. By the time the Legion located Jo, he had been officially implicated in An Ryd's death (Marla Lathtam even returned from his retirement as Legion advisor to help the investigation). Ultra Boy escaped but was followed back to Rimbor by Chameleon Boy, who conducted a thorough investigation. Cham uncovered the fact that Wildfire had been replaced by a robot and it was the perpetrator of the murder. This left a crucial and unresolved question: who controlled the robot and killed An Ryd — and why? (Superboy & the Legion #239)

The case remained open with investigators on Earth, who eventually implicated Brainiac 5. Brainy resigned from the Legion and Chameleon Boy resumed his investigation back on Rimbor. The Legionnaires discovered that the real culprit was Pulsar Stargrave (the former Brainiac). (Legion vol. 2 #273)

This villain was mad for revenge against his 'descendant,' Brainiac 5, who had refused to join him. (Superboy & the Legion #226) Stargrave had driven Brainy mad with fever (#251) and framed Ultra Boy for the Ryd murder. Stargrave appeared to have blasted Ultra Boy into nothingness, and Brainiac 5 returned to face his twisted ancestor, using his force fields to trick him into destroying himself. (Legion vol. 2 #273)

The Legion held a memorial service for Ultra Boy, but Jo had actually survived. Stargrave's blast gave him amnesia, melted his Legion flight ring, and propelled him far through space where he joined the pirate crew of Captain Alisia Frake. The Legion fared poorly in a conflict with Captain Frake, but Saturn Girl sensed the truth that Ultra Boy was still alive among her crew. (#274)

Before she and the Legion could reach him, though, he was blasted by Frake, and vanished again. Saturn Girl kept this secret from Phantom Girl. (#275)

When Ultra Boy was blasted, the hero's ultra-energy manifested as invulnerability in an unusual way; it turned him into a virtual ghost who could float through time. While his body was trapped in limbo, he sent his consciousness into the past, into Superboy's body. But Superboy was drawn into a nuclear bomb explosion and it rendered both of them amnesiac. They instinctively retained the instinct to seek help from the Legion, but they were cautious and crafted the guise of Reflecto. (#282) Note: The character Reflecto has a curious Legion history.

The mysterious hero called Reflecto appeared in the 30th century and saved Phantom Girl's life; she began to suspect that this hero was secretly Ultra Boy. (#277) Reflecto followed the Legion during their case to take down Grimbor the Chainsman. Grimbor blasted off Reflecto's disguise and the Legionnaires were shocked and confused to learn that he was actually Superboy in disguise. (#278–279)

Even more strange, after waking up from this disguise, Superboy believed that he was Ultra Boy! The Legion ventured back to Superboy's era to uncover the truth, which led them to the Time Trapper. (#280) Dawnstar was able to discover a way to track Ultra Boy, where he was trapped and immobile between dimensions. Once freed, he explained everything to them, and finally returned home. (#282)

Notes

Jim Shooter on Ultra Boy:

"For whatever reason in his background he is kind of a depressing person. He equates being negative and sober and worried and dull with being serious about what he is doing. His humor is strictly sardonic, a kind of black humor. He is always certain that the worst will happen. Even Phantom Girl, the love of his life, is a source for more dire imaginings on his part. He is certain she will die, or be hurt, and is vastly overprotective. On the good side, he is strong, solid, dependable and absolutely devastating in anger. He angers easily. He bears authority well and can lead, but his judgment is suspect—it is occasionally bent by his bleak outlook and a system or priorities that puts Phantom Girl over everything. He is, however, selfless and bright and willing to risk his own life often in a morbid, intense, almost passionate rage. Ultra Boy would be hell in bed. He undoubtedly, however, makes gentle, tender (and expert) love to Phantom Girl and saves his occasional forays into the bizarre for someone less angelic to him — say, Dream Girl. This guy is probably the Legion's closest to being a mental case. Though he would deny it, he needs a Bouncing Boy type — I think he is smart enough to know that. But Bouncing Boy is gone now ... hmm..." —Interlac (1976)

Tom & Mary Bierbaum on Ultra Boy:

"A street rat with a heart of gold. Raised in the squalor of an amoral frontier world, he picked up from his parents an unyielding sense of morality. From his hardscrabble background he picked up the resourceful intelligence of somebody who's survived a thousand scrapes that would have wiped out those of us from more genteel worlds. Yes, he's overmatched by Tinya's charms and powerful personality, but it all works out. Given some of the secrets he's carrying around, he desperately needs to be under-estimated, and coming off as Tinya's big, dumb plaything doesn't hurt that cause." —Interlac (2000)

Glorith Reality (Legion vol. 4)

The Legion's reality was reshaped when Mon-El killed the Time Trapper. (Legion vol. 4 #4) The reconstructed timeline was the domain of Glorith, who replaced the Trapper and ascended to power, Ultra Boy's origin story was greatly embellished. Also, in the absence of a "Superboy" from the Legion's history, Ultra Boy's initiation involved a trip to the 20th century to discover the fate of the great twentieth-century hero, Valor (the renamed Mon-El).

In transit, a freak time-storm bounced him and Marla Latham to a slightly earlier period. Ultra Boy found that he was helping to create the legend of Valor. This paradox bothered him; he quietly continued his investigation, but kept his suspicions to himself. Using his acting skills, he covertly goaded the powerful magician Mordru into a battle with Glorith. It ended in stalemate and each severely weakened. Ultra Boy had saved the universe... but couldn't tell anyone about it and he'd made a mortal enemy in Glorith.

Glorith took her anger out on Brainiac 5, who had also deduced her involvement. Her poison kiss drove him mad (and in this realty), this was what led him to frame Jo for the murder of An Ryd (not Pulsar Stargrave).

Many years later, Glorith finally figured out that Ultra Boy was wise to her manipulations of the Legion. Just after Jo and Tinya were engaged to be married, Glorith sent a powerful bolt to destroy Phantom Girl's spaceship. Tinya was presumed dead (although she had actually been transported to the 20th century, where she helped found the L.E.G.I.O.N., as Phase.) (Legion vol. 4 Annual #1)

Ultra Boy left the Legion in grief. He returned to Rimbor and fell into old habits and created a smuggling ring. As the Green Dragon (he never used the name "Ultra Boy" again), he had several years of moderate success. But the Khunds were beginning to push into to United Planets space and on Rimbor, cybernetic assassins called Kaston and Algronsk were hired to attack the Legionnaire. They killed Nah's girlfriend Ginny and attempted to kill Kono (his young new "associate"). (Legion vol. 4 #2)

Former Legionnaires Reep Daggle (Chameleon Boy) and Rokk Krinn (Cosmic Boy) asked Jo to help rescue their teammate, Mysa Nal (the White Witch) from Mordru. (#3–7) This battle led to the official reformation of the Legion, but Jo was hurtled far back in time by a bomb set off by Roxxas the Butcher. Jo was sent into the distant past, on the Dominion-occupied planet of Khundia. (#11, 13)

It took him some time to realize he was in the past (#15), and he found a way to get back to Earth. (#18) He landed there in Egypt, where Jo was manipulated into falling in love with a Lord of Chaos who had taken human form. He was monitored for months by Nabu the Wise (the power behind Doctor Fate), who ultimately sent the time-lost Legionnaire back to 30th century Winath (the point from which Jo had originally disappeared). It had been an emotional journey for him as well and he went to visit Tinya's grave where he allowed himself to mourn for her fully. (#19)

Jo Nah leapt right back into service with the Legion, on a mission that led the team into unwitting opposition to Darkseid. (#21-24)

Ultra Boy II: Batch SW6

On Earth, the Dominators had secretly taken over Earthgov. One of their greatest secrets was the "Batch SW6," chambers beneath Metropolis that contained clones of the Legionnaires. When massive explosions rocked the globes, these Legionnaires were freed; they included a much younger version of Ultra Boy. (#24)

These Legionnaires were actually "chronal duplicates" made by the Time Trapper and stored as a secret army for a future battle. The teens were copied from a time early in the Legion's existence and they eventually reestablished themselves on Earth. The Ultra Boy of Batch SW6 kept his original codename. His love (now called Apparition) was somewhat haunted when she saw how traumatized the adult Jo was by Phantom Girl's death. (#40)

His grief for Tinya lingered but it certainly didn't inhibit other women's attraction to Jo. The Khund Legionnaire, Veilmist, tried to entice him into kill her husband, Firefist. (#45) And it seemed that Jo might begin a relationship with Spider Girl after she joined the Legion. (#43)

But the next time Jo encountered Glorith, the sorceress let it slip that Tinya was still alive: "You'll never find her." (#53) Before he could begin a search, the Legion was forced to go undercover and avoid authorities. He used the name "Green Dragon" during this time. (#54)

Zero Hour

Valor suggested to Jo that Tinya might be in the 20th century. (#59) But when he finally made his way into the past, he discovered that Phase was Enya Wazzo, Tinya's cousin who was also on the ship the day Tinya died. (L.E.G.I.O.N. #68-70)

Jo returned to the 30th century just as reality was disintegrating from the time distortions of "Zero Hour." The remaining Legionnaires decided to sacrifice themselves by using the power of the Time Trapper to merge with their younger/SW6 selves and (hopefully) seed a new reality. In these final moments, the Trapper retrieved Tinya from just before her death. Jo and Tinya were reunited for only moments before their entire reality was wiped away. (Legion vol. 4 #60-61)

Notes

Earlier stories strongly suggested that Phase was Phantom Girl. The switch to her being Enya was made because the creators knew that the Legion (and Phantom Girl) was about to be rebooted in Zero Hour, but they wanted to keep using Phase in L.E.G.I.O.N. Phase's connection to Tinya was reinterpreted in the Reboot reality.

Powers

Ultra Boy has super-strength, super-speed, flight/antigravity, "flash vision," "penetra-vision," and invulnerability, ultra-breath but he can only use one of these powers at a time. By default, he became accustomed to leaving his invulnerability "on" at most times. He gained these abilities from exposure to an ultra-energy beast.

He is most vulnerable to types of energy that are radioactive.

Appearances + References