Long Shadow

Long Shadow
Species:	Metahuman (genetically engineered)
Hair:	Black
Eyes:	Black
Affiliations:	Ultimen, Project Cadmus, Justice League
Abilities:	Self-magnification Super-strength Super-hearing
Voiced by:	Gregg Rainwater

Long Shadow was a former member of the Ultimen. As with the rest of the team, he was genetically engineered by the U.S. Government to be a powerful team of superheroes obedient to them, unlike the Justice League.

History

Long Shadow had memories of having been born unusually sickly and small, and his parents, being scientists experimenting with growth hormones, had developed a growth formula that in time gave him the power to become a giant. However, Long Shadow later learned that these had been implanted memories and he had only been alive for about a year.

After helping the League, Long Shadow developed somewhat of a crush on Wonder Woman. He even helped her take on Bizarro and Giganta, where he took out Giganta while Wonder Woman took on Bizarro.

Long Shadow wanted his team to join the Justice League but the other Ultimen were against it. Unlike the rest of the group who had been enjoying their newfound fame, wealth, and popularity, Long Shadow earnestly wanted to join the Justice League to help more people and be a better hero. Long Shadow's efforts were constantly rebuffed and mocked by his teammates.

Then one night, the team was being held over for examination by Project Cadmus after Wind Dragon abruptly developed a new superpower in their earlier mission, surprising everyone (including himself). Ironically, while waiting in their shared examination room, Long Shadow suddenly developed a new power of his own; Super-hearing. This allowed Long Shadow to eavesdrop on a conversation between Maxwell Lord and Professor Hamilton that revealed the true origin of the Ultimen; They were merely the current batch from a perennially doomed experiment of creating superpowered clones with implanted memories.

Upon discovering this devastating news, Long Shadow and the other Ultimen rebelled and tried to find answers. Unlike the others who went on a rampage, Long Shadow did what he could to begin rescuing civilians trapped in the office building that the Ultimen were attacking. During the ensuing battle, Long Shadow was forced to choose sides against his teammates and the Justice League. In the end, he was able to convince Wind Dragon to stand down, just as Wind Dragon was about to kill Superman.

When Amanda Waller showed up to take the captured Ultimen away, Long Shadow chose to stand with the Justice League, who refused to let Waller's goons take him away. Waller eventually relented, but not before taunting Batman and insinuating that there was more to Cadmus than meets the eye.

The League formally inducted Long Shadow in gratitude for the courage he had shown. It is unknown what other activities Long Shadow engaged in afterwards, or even how long he lived due to his cellular breakdown, but if he did die, unlike the Ultimen who died like lab rats, Long Shadow was given a hero's death. An earlier estimate by Professor Hamilton gave him as little time as a month.

After Long Shadow was out of the picture and presumed dead, Cadmus manufactured an army of Ultimen clones, including Long Shadow, in order to support Galatea's attack on the Justice League Watchtower. While retaining the Ultimen's powers and expertise in using them, the clones were essentially mindless, possessing no free will so as to be used only as living metahuman weapons of destruction (which, ironically, was what the original Ultimen feared the government wanted them to be all along). The clones served to distract the League while Galatea went after the reactor. However, the assault failed as the League successfully defended their home in a massive battle.

Powers and abilities

Long Shadow had the ability to grow beyond his normal size, much in the same way that super villainess Giganta did. It is unknown what his maximum size was, but he was able to stand one (giant) head over Giganta during a prison break. Despite his super-size ability, he usually fought at human size where his naturally large body frame gave him a degree of superhuman strength in his own right.

During this episode, Long Shadow developed a secondary power — super-hearing. This allowed him to overhear information from another room regarding the Cadmus Project when his other teammates couldn't. Developing a new superpower wouldn't be unusual for an Ultiman, as Wind Dragon had suddenly developed an ice-related "freeze wind" power during their battle with the magma creatures.

Clones

Before the Ultimen escaped their base, they discovered fully grown clones of themselves, inside of test tubes. During the Ultimen invasion of the Watchtower, dozens of Ultimen teams were unleashed against the Justice League when Superman went against the Cadmus Project but were defeated.

Background information

• Like the other members of the Ultimen, Long Shadow was based on an original character from the old SuperFriends show. In that respect, Long Shadow was a reference/update to Apache Chief, another giant-sized superhero of Native American origin. However, as an artificial human, Long Shadow has no genuine Native American background beyond his implanted memories. Also unlike his SuperFriends counterpart, he requires no phrases to activate his powers. (Apache Chief would shout the magic phrase "Eh-neeek-chock" to activate his power and grow to fifty feet tall.)

Appearances

Justice League Unlimited

• "Ultimatum"
• "Flashpoint" ^(clone)
• "Panic in the Sky" ^(clone)

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