Ultimen

The Ultimen is a group that features in Justice League.

History
The Ultimen were a group of artificial lifeforms that were genetically designed at Project Cadmus. Their purpose was the creation of a government owned team of superheroes that would be controlled unlike the heroes of the Justice League. Among those involved in the project included Dr. Hamilton who served as chief scientist, Maxwell Lord who managed the team and ultimate control was in the hands of Amanda Waller. A year after their creation, the clones were given implanted memories and actors were hired to serve as key individuals in their lives such as their parents. Thus, a convincing backstory was created that led to the Ultimen completely unaware of their true origins and came to believe their respective origin stories. These included Longshadow believing his parents used growth hormones to give him powers and that his father only survived after the death of his mother or Wind Dragon once worshipping Superman. The group was later deployed on missions leading to repeated encounters with the Justice League who offered membership to the Ultimen, however, they respectfully refused. Many of their activities saw the Ultimen profiting financially from their deployments with Maxwell Lord justifying the money as being fed back into the group to pay for expenses. A growing popularity saw posters of the team being on the walls of teenagers around the world and Cadmus secretly projected the Ultimen as more down to earth heroes compared to the Justice League. Amongst their latest activities included stopping a group of lava monsters that attacked an oil drilling platform that cracked into the molten core of the planet. This saw the League sending Aquaman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman being sent to the platform. They were assisted by the Ultimen with the lava monsters being defeated when Wind Dragon manifested a new power that allowed him to freeze them through intense wind generation. During a press meeting, Wonder Woman offered the Ultimen membership in the Justice League but Wind Dragon graciously refused despite the willingness of Longshadow.

Afterwards, the team returned to their headquarters where Maxwell Lord provided large sums of money by cheques as an indirect means of removing any doubts about their roles. However, his superiors were concerned about the development with Wind Dragon and thus asked the group to agree to be tested. Dr Hamilton, however, concluded that the situation was even worse than they feared and that the Ultimen were facing cellular atrophy with Wind Dragon facing the worst degeneration. He determined that the clones were dying with their end being painful and advised that they be treated with care. Despite his suggestion, Amanda Waller refused and decided this incarnation of the Ultimen were expendable with the clones being ready to take their place. Unknown to them, Longshadow developed heightened hearing allowing him to overhear their conversation. Following that point, Maxwell Lord placated the group by saying that there were no problems but asked if they could stay for observation. The other Ultimen were unhappy with staying behind but Longshadow said that they would be happy to do so. Longshadow later convinced his fellows to stage a breakout into the tower in order to find a secret room so that they could find what secrets Lord was hiding. This saw them destroying the security cameras where they encountered a laboratory with tubes containing clones of themselves in suspended animation. Thus, the team were confronted with the truth of their origins and fled the tower. They waited nearby in the shadows where Wind Dragon abduted Maxwell Lord in order force him to reveal their true nature. In anger, some of the Ultimen attempted to kill him but Longshadow stopped them where he convinced his comrades that they needed to find Lord's superiors but the laboratory had been cleaned out. Thus, they went on a rampage as they learnt that they were slowly dying and struggled to cope. Longshadow later brought the Justice League but the damaged minds of the other Ultimen came to believe that they only way they could be remmebered was if they defeated the League. They were defeated and Longshadow convinced his comrades to stop their rampage as they believed themselves to be heroes. The team were ready to leave with the Justice League when government forces under the command of Amanda Waller came to take back their property except for Longshadow who stayed behind with the League.

At some unknown point afterwards, Cadmus cloned large numbers of Ultimen but unlike the originals these were completely blank slates with no personalities. Following a seeming attack from the Watchtower, Amanda Waller came to believe that her organization were being assaulted by the Justice League. Thus, she ordered a counteroffensive involving Galatea being mentally linked with the cloned army of Ultimen and launched into orbit to attack the Watchtower. The clones attacked the various Justice League members whilst Galatea intended to destroy the station. Only afterwards did Waller learn that the League were not responsible for the attack on Cadmus and attempted to recall the Ultimen. However, Galatea broke communication and continued with the attack on the superheroes. Despite this being the case, the army of Ultimen were defeated by the Justice League who were all left unconscious onboard the Watchtower.


 * The fate of all the clones was never elaborated on the show.

Overview
Each member of this team were Metahumans that had individual varying abilities and distinct personalities. They were completely unaware of their origins with their identities actually the result of implanted memories whilst recent activities such as meeting their parents was simply actors hired to play their role. Cadmus maintained a series of clones of the Ultimen to serve as potential replacements for the group in case the previous group died or worn out. The nature of the clones meant that they would be activated and completely unaware of their predecessors. However, their genetics were unstable leading to cellular atrophy that would ultimately bring about death for each clone who would die in a painful manner. The results of their genetic structure meant that some of the Ultimen also unexpectantly developed new abilities. After their nature was revealed, the Ultimen were seemingly repurposed and became simple mindless clones designed to operate in large numbers.

Unlike the Justice League, the Ultimen earnt a great deal of profit from their activities with the management being handled by Maxwell Lord. It was claimed that this money was used to finance their operations and each member was provided a large cheque for their missions. Wind Dragon tended to serve as the spokesperson and seemingly the leader of the group. He claimed he once idolized Superman but his attitudes changed when he began to want more things in life. All members of the Ultimen initially believed that they were superheroes and thought that they would live up to the example of the Justice League but their cellular decay saw them becoming mentally unstable. Their headquarters was their own tower but ultimately they and their base was owned by Cadmus.

Members

 * Wind Dragon : a man of East Asian descent, he possessed wind related powers and served as the spokesperson of the group. He claimed that he used to idolize Superman but attacked the Justice League after learning his true origins.
 * Juice : a black man with electric based abilities allowing him to shock enemies, turn into electricity or trap targets. He tended to be speak in a graveley electronic voice and joined Wind Dragon in attacking the League but was defeated with his comrades.
 * Longshadow : a male Native American who had the power to grow in size with proportionate strength and believed his origins lay in his parents experimentations in growth hormones. He idolized the Justice League and wanted to join them with him being a fan of Wonder Woman. Longshadow convinced his comrades from accepting the help of the League and went with them rather than with Amanda Waller.
 * Shifter : a female albino skinned being with pointed ears and pink eyes who could change into any animal with her form retaining white skin. She claimed to be the twin sister of her brother Downpour and joined Wind Dragon in attacking the League after learning her origins.
 * Downpour : a male albino skinned being with pointed ears and pink eyes who could turn into a water form as well as possessed hydrokinesis. He claimed to be the twin brother of Shifter and was protective of her. Downpour joined Wind Dragon in attacking the League where he was defeated and joined his comrades in going with Amanda Waller.

Appearances

 * Justice League Unlimited: "Ultimatum" (2004)
 * Justice League Unlimited: "The Doomsday Sanction" (2005)
 * Justice League Unlimited: "Flashpoint" (2005)
 * Justice League Unlimited: "Panic in the Sky" (2005)
 * Justice League Unlimited: "Divided We Fall" (2005)