Christine (Christie) Kelly

Secret Identity: none

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: student

Known Relatives: Chris (father) Carl (deceased uncle), Arlene (mother)

Base of Operations: Earth A

Powers/Abilities: Ultrastrength, invulnerability. Fluoroscopic vision, laser vision and ultra-hearing. Able to fly, possesses ultraspeed.

History: Daughter of Chris (Ultiman) Kelly and Arlene (Arliss) Kelly. Perfectly normal little girl whose parents divorced when she was five years old. She lives with her mother but spend as much time with her father as possible, usually at the compound in the Rockies. She tried to be there especially when he recharged his powers to nurse him through the resulting radiation sickness.

On one such visit something went terribly wrong and the meteor exploded, charging Christie with powers like her father’s. Ultiman disappeared and was presumed dead, but was actually supercharged with energy and transformed into a raging hulking monster.

When the energy faded, Chris Kelly let the world and his daughter believe that he was dead. The Uranium meteor was gone and the only source of power was Christie herself. Ultiman discovered to his horror that his body greedily sucked the energy from christie along with her life force. He disappeared so as not be tempted by the power. Christie became ULTRAGIRL to try to make up for the absence of her father.

Ultragirl first began appearing in Big Bang Comics in the late 1960s. The stories, “Tales of Tomorrow” were set in the near future, after Ultiman had married and had an ultra-powered teenaged daughter. Christine Kelly’s mother was always shown in shadow or from behind, her face never shown, so the readers couldn’t be certain which of his many girlfriends Ultiman had married.

Because she was from an undetermined future, most of her adventures took place 1000 years farther into in the future, where she joined a group of super powered teenagers called the Pantheon of Heroes.

Real Name: Christopher Kelly

Secret Identity: none

Nicknames: The Man of the Future; The Ultimate Human Being

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Powers/Abilities: Ultra level: strength, invulnerability, speed, and senses. Able to fly. Fluoroscopic vision.

Strength Level: Possibly the most powerful of all Big Bang characters. He doesn’t have his Earth-A’s weakness to magic or the need to recharge his powers.

Known Relatives: brother Carl Kelly

Base of Operations: Earth B

Affiliations: Knights of Justice in the 1940s thru 60s.

National Guardians in the 1980s & 90s.

History: Chris Kelly was a 4F reject driving home from his draft board, whose car was hit by a glowing meteor, charging him up with atomic power. He became as strong as an ox, as fast as a racing car, had skin like steel and could jump the length of a football field.

His abilities grew more powerful. Soon he was flying instead of leaping. His senses were sensational: he could see long distances, and through or around almost anything. His hearing and sense of smell were fantastically advanced, and he could even hold his breath for hours underwater and eventually in outer space.

This Ultiman was actually something of a bully, using force to show people the error of their ways. One of his favorite tricks in the early days was to drop someone off of a skyscraper, jump off and harass them on the way down, only to catch them before they hit the ground.

He did mellow a bit. The Man of the Future became something of a benevolent “big brother’ to Empire City. He established an office in the penthouse of the Empire City Building where he watched over the city for signs of trouble, using a myriad of telescopes and listening to a police band radio in the earliest days, eventually hiring a secretary, Lori Lake (Ultiman’s Girl Friday).

People could actually come and ask for help, just like applying for a loan at the bank. Lori soon fell in love with her boss and plotted to somehow make him feel the same way about her.

Instead of two-bit thugs and social problems, the Ultimate Human Being soon found himself facing more powerful adversaries: Cortex, the human brain. Bombshell, the femme fatale with exploding lipstick and a penchant for blowing things up. Mr. Mixitup, visitor from another world who looked something like Charlie McCarthy and caused his victims to suffer from delusional dementia. The Time Pirates.

Ultiman eventually married Lori Lake, and settled down to domestic tranquility and bliss – until Lori died giving birth to their super powered baby. He is a bitter older man, his powers continuing to grow over the years.

Real Name: Chris Kelly

Secret Identity: Adopted the persona of deceased brother Carl

Nickname: The Man of the Future; The Ultimate Human Being

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Astronaut

Affiliations: Round Table of America;

Known Relatives: Carl (brother), Arlene (ex-wife), Christine (daughter, Ultragirl)

Base of Operations: Earth A

Powers/Abilities: Ultrastrength, invulnerability. Fluoroscopic vision, laser vision and ultra-hearing. Able to fly, possesses ultraspeed.

History: Lt. Chris Kelly was an astronaut aboard a Gemini space capsule which was struck by an radioactive meteor. The radiation killed his fellow astronaut, but Kelly survived re-entry to Earth where he was terminally ill with radiation sickness. Luckily, his body metastasized and instead of killing him absorbed the radiation, transforming it into energy. Kelly became a human battery: the ultimate human being!

Kelly, already famous as one of the original astronauts was now doubly so, his illness and miraculous recovery having played out on the TV. The press was calling him the “ultimate human being” and eventually Ultiman. Unfortunately, the radiation absorbed by Kelly’s body played havoc with the delicate instruments in space capsules and even airplanes, and it appeared that his military career was over.

President Kennedy was intrigued by this charismatic new superstar and tapped him as the spokesman for the physical fitness program. The U.S. government was ecstatic to have a superhuman the payroll and gave him his own department and office at the Pentagon. General Black was his liaison and Lori Lake became his personal secretary.

Kelly took on the job to help mankind, refusing be used as a military super weapon and kept his word, despite increasing pressure from succeeding Presidents. Ultiman’s very existence spurred a new arms race, with all countries striving to develop their own super humans.

Ultiman ended up either fighting or banding together with many of these other super weapons. His arch-enemy was the brilliant but evil Dexter Cortex who got even smarter by plugging his brain directly into a computer. Cortex become as much machine as man, sending robot drone bodies out to harass Ultiman.

Perhaps the most dangerous villain of all was Chris Kelly’s much younger brother Carl, who was jealous of Chris’ powers and fame. Carl was in love with Lori Lake and always looking for a way to make his famous brother look bad in front of her and the world. He eventually fell in with a criminal crowd. After a stint in reform school, the now grown up Carl re-emerged looking nearly identical to his brother. Working with Cortex, Carl found a way to finally steal his brother’s powers, only to perish while saving the powerless Chris.

Being a full-time hero and celebrity grated on Chris Kelly. He created his Secret Citadel in an extinct volcano as a place where he could get away from it all. After brother Carl’s death, Chris assumed his brother’s identity and secured him a job on the payroll at the Pentagon, giving himself a measure of peace and quiet. It also gave him an inside track to the criminal world, where Carl was known as a shady character.

Ultiman’s main weakness is that his body burns the atomic energy and must be periodically recharged by the Ultranium (ultra-uranium) meteor. At first it operated like Popeye eating spinach. Over time, he had to expose himself to larger and larger doses, suffering from radiation poisoning in the process until his body could adapt and absorb the energy. His powers have varied in intensity thereafter, and if Ultiman exerts himself too much, he is in danger of exhausting them.

Tired of the radiation sickness and failing powers, Chris Kelly let the powers fade away in the 1980s and retired to a fantastic house in the Rocky Mountains with his new bride. It wasn’t Lori Lake, but a TV reported named Arlene Arliss. Using his army of robot doubles to fight. The marriage eventually failed, Mrs. Kelly not liking the solitary life and then becoming fearful of the radiation effects on her and their baby when Ultiman ended his retirement.