Across every timeline, there are a few foes which are synonymous with Ultraman’s fight. Alien Baltan. Zetton. Such foes are legendary for their battles with Ultraman. And yet, there is one whose conflict with the Giant of Light, while briefly coming to blows, is far more famous for the lack of violence to its resolution. A devil on the shoulder of humanity — Alien Mefilas.
In the upcoming ULTRAMAN: FINAL Season on Netflix, it appears that Mefilas has returned once again, though this time his focus seems to be squarely on Ultraman himself, Shinjiro Hayata — and the relationship he has with the human race. Let’s take a look back at the two most famous iterations of Mefilas, to see what the past can teach us about future conflicts with this well-spoken devil.
Ultraman (1966)
Debuting in episode 33, “The Forbidden Words,” Mefilas sought to take the Earth from humanity not by force like previous aliens, but through subterfuge and interstellar bureaucracy. His plan hinged on a lone boy, Satoru Fuji, through which he planned to receive “ownership” of the Earth after being bequeathed it.
Through this plan, Mefilas’ legendary modus operandi was established — he was not a being who conquered through sheer power, though his strength seemed to certainly be up to the task. Instead, like the devil Mephistopheles from which his name is derived, he stood as an ideological opposite to Ultraman, believing in humanity’s nature as short-sighted fools that he could manipulate, rather than in their potential for growth.
Ultimately, Mefilas failed — Satoru had no desire to trade away the Earth, no matter what coercive measures and threats Mefilas made — and Ultraman, who had been trapped by Mefilas to keep him from interfering, broke loose. The two clashed briefly, but as Mefilas himself claimed, the alien was no fighter. He left peacefully, though he promised that he would someday return to take the Earth for himself.
Shin Ultraman (2022)
Here, Mefilas — just Mefilas, no use of the Alien prefix— is, above all else, a schemer. Having arrived on Earth before any of the previous extraterrestrials, it was he who had released a certain few Kaiju — with one of them, Neronga, being the one to actually draw Ultraman to Earth and kickstart the events of the film. Fascinated and inspired by the Ultra Lipiah’s merger with a human, Mefilas realized the potential for humanity as biological weapons, and attempted to manipulate them into his hands with the mysterious Beta Box technology.
Well-spoken, erudite, and dangerously skilled at manipulation, Mefilas might have been Ultraman’s greatest foe in this story — but to speak too much more would tread dangerously into spoiler territory, and there are many fans out there who haven’t yet gotten to watch the movie. So we’ll stop there. Shin Ultraman will be released on DVD shortly.
ULTRAMAN: FINAL Season
As for this new Mefilas… Well, it’s a mystery. Sleekly redesigned for the anime based on his appearances in the ULTRAMAN manga, he is still recognizable as one of our hero’s most formidable foes. He seems to have some connection to the Alien Zetton known as Edo, as well as Shinjiro Hayata, the new Ultraman. We won’t know the truth of this new foe, however, until ULTRAMAN: FINAL Season drops on Netflix globally on May 11th. Until that day comes, we’ll continue to share whatever the mysterious FINAL Season has to offer — all here on Ultraman Connection!
