Ultimen

The Ultimen (Wind Dragon, Juice, Long Shadow, Shifter, and Downpour).

The Ultimen were created by Project Cadmus to have a team of superheroes loyal to the United States government.

History

The Ultimen were test tube babies, created in Cadmus laboratories by Emil Hamilton and possessed complete sets of false memories (most likely implanted there by Dr. Hugo Strange, the only member in Cadmus with such knowledge). When Wind Dragon began exhibiting unexpected changes in his powers, Cadmus discovered that the clones were unstable.

After discovering that they were merely the current batch from a perennially doomed experiment of creating superpowered clones with implanted memories, the Ultimen rebelled and went on a rampage against both Cadmus and the Justice League. They were reasoned with by members of the League and stopped their rampage. Long Shadow, who had tried to stop the rampage, left with the Justice League while the remaining members were returned to Cadmus.

With that, the original Ultimen were out of the picture (final fates unknown). It was never revealed if the sentient Ultimen first encountered by the Justice League were able to be saved by Cadmus or the League, in the case of Long Shadow. But in case they did all die from massive cellular degradation (as presumed), the Ultimen died for nothing as caged lab rats in Cadmus captivity while Long Shadow was given a hero's death, nobly giving his life for the honor and glory of the Justice League during his last moments.

Some time later, Project Cadmus manufactured and activated an army of at least twenty-six groups of Ultimen clones in order to support Galatea's assault 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.

Members

• Wind Dragon
• Shifter
• Downpour
• Long Shadow
• Juice

Background information

• The Ultimen bear strong resemblances to the original characters created for the Super Friends series in the 1970s and 80s (with the exception of El Dorado, which was not updated).

Ultimen	Super Friends	Similarities
Wind Dragon	Samurai	Air manipulation
Juice	Black Vulcan	Electricity manipulation
Long Shadow	Apache Chief	Self-magnification
Downpour and Shifter	Zan and Jayna (The Wonder Twins)	Assume and control any form of water (Zan/Downpour) Assume any animal form (Jayna/Shifter)

• The League members appearing in this episode were the same four characters that comprised the original Super Friends team: Batman, Superman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman.
• The Lava Men are similar to the creatures from the Super Friends episode of the same name.
• The Ultimen's headquarters resembles the Hall of Justice, headquarters of the Super Friends.
• Dwayne McDuffie claims that "the beast that threw itself against the bars" is a nod to the Wonder Dog.[1]
• The Ultimen suddenly developing convenient new powers is probably a nod to observations that Super Friends writers seemed to be making up powers for the show's original characters as they went along.

Appearances

Justice League Unlimited

• "Ultimatum"
• "The Doomsday Sanction" ^{(Mentioned Only)}
• "Flashpoint"
• "Panic in the Sky"
• "Divided We Fall" ^{(Mentioned Only)}

Project Cadmus
Members
Leader	Amanda Waller
Sponsor	Lex Luthor
PR / Manager	Maxwell Lord
Division Heads
Genetics	Emil Hamilton
Psychology	Hugo Strange • Moon
Splicing	Milo
Mysticism	Tala
Military Tactics	Wade Eiling
Agents
Captain Atom • Doomsday • Galatea
Ultimen	Downpour • Juice • Shifter • Long Shadow • Wind Dragon
Task Force X	Captain Boomerang • Clock King • Deadshot • Rick Flagg • Plastique