Ultraman is a character featured in television programs in Japan. Although Ultraman is the first series to feature an Ultra-Crusader, his is actually the second Ultra Series. Ultra Q was the first.
A major pop culture phenomenon in Japan, the show has spawned dozens of imitators as well as numerous sequels and remakes, which continued to be popular as of early January of 2011.
To distinguish him from subsequent Ultra-Crusaders, Ultraman is referred to as the original Ultraman, the first Ultraman, Ultraman Hayata (a reference to his host's surname) or as simply Man.
The storyline begins in the near future, as referenced from the mid-1960s. In episode 23, "My Home Is Earth," it is definitively established that the series takes place in the early 1990s, via a plaque shown at the end of the episode dated 1993. Sinister aliens and giant monsters constantly threaten civilization during this period. The only Earth organization equipped to handle these disasters is the Science Special Search Party, or SSSP, a special worldwide police force equipped with high-tech weapons and vehicles, as well as extensive scientific and engineering facilities; this organization is called the Science Patrol, or the United Nations Scientific Investigation Agency, in the English-dubbed version syndicated in the United States. The branch of the Science Patrol that is focused on in the series is located in Tokyo, Japan. Led by Captain "Cap" Muramatsu (shortened to "Captain Mura" in the dubbed English-language version), the Science Patrol is always ready to protect the Earth from rampaging monsters, but sometimes it finds itself outclassed. When the situation becomes desperate, Hayata, the Patrol's most capable member, holds the key to salvation in the form of the "beta capsule," which, when activated, allows him to transform secretly into the super-humanoid-powered giant from space, who becomes known to the people of Earth as Ultraman.
While active as Ultraman, Hayata's human body goes into a type of deep coma, reviving only after the threat has been neutralized and Ultraman willingly departs. Victory is never assured, however, as Ultraman's powers--his very life force--comes from rapidly depleted, stored solar energy. At the beginning of each transformation from Hayata-to-Ultraman, the warning light on the giant's chest begins as a steady blue color. Yet as Ultraman exerts himself, the Color Timer changes to red, then blinks-—slowly at first, then with increasing rapidity—-as his energy reserves get closer to exhaustion. As the voice-over narration reminds the viewer, beginning with episode 2 and for each episode thereafter, if Ultraman ever reaches the point of total energy depletion, he "will never rise again."
Green Lantern is the name of several fictional characters, superheroes appearing in comic books published by DC Comics.
Each Green Lantern possesses a power ring and power lantern that gives the user great control over the physical world as long as the wielder has sufficient willpower and strength to wield it. The ring is one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, and can be very dangerous. While the ring of the Golden Age Green Lantern (Alan Scott) was magically powered, the rings worn by all subsequent Lanterns were technological creations of the Guardians of the Universe, who granted such rings to worthy candidates. These individuals made up the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps.
After World War II, when sales of superhero comic books generally declined, DC ceased publishing new adventures of Alan Scott as the Green Lantern. In 1959, at the beginning of the Silver Age of Comic Books, DC editor Julius Schwartz assigned writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane to revive the Green Lantern character, this time as test pilot Hal Jordan, who became a founding member of the Justice League of America. In 1970, writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neal Adams teamed Green Lantern with archer Green Arrow in groundbreaking, socially conscious, and award-winning stories that pitted the sensibilities of the law-and-order-oriented Lantern with the populist Green Arrow. Several cosmically themed series followed, as did occasional different individuals in the role of Earth's Green Lantern. Most prominent of these are John Stewart, Guy Gardner, and Kyle Rayner.
Each Green Lantern wields a power ring that can generate a variety of effects, sustained purely by the ring wearer's imagination and strength of will. The greater the user's willpower, the more effective the ring. The upper limits of the power ring's abilities remain undefined, and it has been referred to as "the most powerful weapon in the universe" on more than one occasion. It has also been stated that every weapon has a weakness and the weakness a Green Lantern ring has is its wearer (though some argue that this is its strength). Across the years, the rings have been shown capable of accomplishing almost anything within the imagination of the ring bearer. The ring's long-established ineffectiveness on yellow objects, stating that the ring-wielder need only feel fear, understand it and overcome it in order to affect yellow objects (however, it is a learned and practiced ability, making it a weakness to some Green Lanterns), giving retroactive credence to the explanation of the ring's real but surmountable weakness to yellow.