ACTION COMICS 13 (1939)
by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
To inaugurate our new Villain Origins section, what better way to start than the very fist super-villain, the Ultra-Humanite?
Yes, this guy wasn’t just the first Superman supervillain… he was the first supervillain in a superhero comic, period.
To give you an idea of just how old this is: Batman’s very first story was published just one month earlier.
It’s also incredibly early for Superman: not only his symbol is different, but he doesn’t have all his classic super-powers just yet. He can’t even FLY.
He’s also involved with the kind of adventures we tend to associate to street level heroes. This time, he runs into the Cab Protective League.
Secret identities were much easier to keep in 1939, and I’m not just talking about the glasses. Can you imagine Superman getting away with this today? There would be plenty of pictures!
I can understand common criminals trying to shoot Superman in 1939. It’s a little less ridiculous than trying it for the next 80 years.
An interesting problem the non-flying Superman has is that, while he’s invulnerable, he’s not unstoppable: when the crook tries to STAB HIS EYE, it makes him miss the landing.
With the goody-two-shoes reputation of Silver Age heroes, you might assume that the Golden Age heroes would be even more Boy Scout types, especially in pre-war times.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
He’s not without humor, though. When he catches the other members of the Cab Protective League, he forces them to smash their OWN cars!
First the Human Torch, now Superman… were ALL Golden Age heroes allergic to doors!?
The man arrested by Superman gets away with poison gas, which Superman finds more than a little suspicious. And he’s easily able to track him.
Now you might be thinking, “are there going to be any supervillains in this supervillain origin?”.
And here it is, THE first supervillain!
Despite appearances this is NOT Lex Luthor.
Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll let me introduce you to the Ultra-Humanite and his great monologuing skills.
Sure, going from a cab extortion racket to world domination is a bit of a stretch, but he does manage to knock out Superman , so the Ultra-Humanite is not a lightweight by 1939 standards.
Unfortunately he didn’t get the memo on Superman’s invulnerability.
Another Golden Age fact you might not be accustomed to: they’re not afraid of being violent (this is decades before the Comics Code).
As you might have noticed, the Ultra-Humanite is also the first disabled supervillain. That’s neat, but can anyone please give him a wheelchair? It’s hard to take him seriously when he needs to be moved this way!!!
Superman is naturally perfectly fine, and he manages to crash the Ultra-Humanite’s plane.
But he doesn’t capture him, because the Ultra-Humanite is also his first RECURRING villain!
The Ultra-Humanite will face Superman a couple of times before their final confrontation.
Historical significance: 5/10
The first supervillain, the first recurring Superman villain and a CLEAR inspiration for Lex Luthor… but to say the Ultra-Humanite is a minor character is almost overselling him.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
From Superman not caring about killing people to the gruesome death of a henchman, not really.
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
Taking into consideration the standards of the time, this is not a bad story! But it’s unthinkable to present it today with this pacing, plus the Ultra-Humanite is rather underwhelming.
How close is this to the modern character? 0/10
I could make the joke “what modern character?”, but there IS a Ultra-Humanite running around.
You might remember him from the Justice League cartoon:
Which is actually rather comic accurate in the sense that, after disappearing from comics in the 40s, he was brought back in the early 80s on the pages of Justice League… where he transferred his mind into a superstrong genetically engineered albino gorilla.
So, yeah, a bit different from his first appearance!!!