It’s been 15 years — a decade and a half — since Ultraman Zero made his big-screen debut in Ultra Galaxy Legends the Movie. Uniting the two generations of the Ultraman series at the time and heralding the New Generation to come, Zero is easily one of the most important characters to the entire decades-long series since his father, Ultraseven.
Ultra Galaxy Legends is available at this very moment from Mill Creek Entertainment in a special set with Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle, the series that led up to it, but today, we’d like to focus specifically on not just the movie, but Zero’s unique place in it — his personal timeline, if you will.
Zero’s story starts in a very dangerous place — the Plasma Spark chamber, where the precious, seemingly-divine power source that fuels the entire Land of Light, the Plasma Spark, is held. In a worrisome parallel to the evil Ultraman Belial, Zero once reached to take the Spark for himself, seeking power. Unlike Belial, however, Zero was stopped from taking that final step in the last moment by Ultraseven, his own father — though he didn’t know it at the time.
Due to Seven’s intervention, Zero was saved from permanent exile, but instead was imprisoned on the desolate Planet K76, under the watchful eye and fearsome hand of Ultraman Leo. Though Zero assumed this was a punishment, in truth his time on K76 was training, with Seven having entrusted his old student with his own son, trusting him to hone Zero’s body — but more importantly, his spirit.
The time on K76 paid off, as the weighted Tector Gear Armor and harsh training made Zero among the most powerful Ultras to ever live — and his time with a local Pigmon on the planet gave him a noble heart with which to use that strength. When Zero put himself in the path of an attack that would have struck and killed the defenseless monster, Leo knew that his training was complete — and with perfect timing, since the Land of Light had just been attacked by Ultraman Belial, and the Plasma Spark stolen!
Ultraman King, who had been watching over Zero’s training, appeared to the young Ultra just as the Eye Slugger, Seven’s signature weapon, fell from the sky — a distress signal from the hero, who was battling Belial and his newly raised 100 Monster Army alongside Ultraman, Ultraman Mebius, Ultraman Dyna, and the heroic Reionics Kaiju tamer, Rei. Before Zero left, King explained why Zero had undergone this whole tribulation — and the true nature of his parentage, as the Son of Seven.
Zero rushed off to the Monster Graveyard to find the Plasma Spark and Belial, and found Ultraman, Mebius, Dyna, and his own father on the ropes, with Rei being mind-controlled by Belial’s own Reionics powers. Despite the terrible odds, Zero made a dynamic entry into the battle and turned the tides of the dire struggle alongside his fellow heroes!
When pushed against the wall, Belial combined with his entire army to form the nightmarish, chimeric titan known as Belyudra. At this scale, even the assembled heroes could not hope to prevail — and so, Zero made a desperate gamble, reaching for the Plasma Spark once more. This time, however, there was no self-interest in his actions, and the Plasma Spark, able to mysteriously sense his intent, accepted Zero and granted him the power he needed to fight back against Belial and his army. Zero was able to triumph with the help of the other warriors present, cutting down Belial and causing Belyudra to collapse.
With the universe saved, Zero was finally able to return to the Land of Light after so long, and reconnect with his father — but he would not stay idle for long! Come back next week when we follow Zero’s path to The Revenge of Belial!
