Ultraman Belial


Ultraman Belial was initially the main antagonist of the 2009 film , and has made subsequent appearances in the Ultra Series.
He was originally an Ultra Warrior of the Land of Light, but his proud nature caused him to try and harness the power of the Land of Light's power source, the Plasma Spark, which led to his banishment and transformation into his current monstrous state after being merged with Alien Raybrad. He was imprisoned by Ultraman King for attempting to invade the Land of Light, but was eventually freed by Alien Zarab many years later and defeated by Ultraman Zero. Ever since then, the two have been archenemies, constantly clashing should they cross paths. Uniquely among other evil Ultras, Belial is the first whose origin is from the Land of Light, like most of the Showa Ultras. In Ultraman Geed, Belial was revealed to have fathered the series namesake Ultraman, who was born from his own genetic material.
In Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy and Revenge of Belial, Ultraman Belial was voiced by comedian of the manzai duo Ameagari Kesshitai. Starting from Ultra Zero Fight 2 and so on, he was voiced by. His suit actor was in the first movie and as of Kaiser Belial.

Character conception

Belial is designed by Masayuki Gotou and Junya Okabe, who used a shark as his motif basis. As for his movements, this was instructed by the director Koichi Sakamoto. Belial's suit was simultaneously made with Ultraman Zero, based on wetsuits with the materials shaped in a three-dimensional appearance. As a result, his body pattern is three-dimensional instead of coloured. The element of wire fu is also included in Belial's actions, and thus two wires were used: up and action. Although the mask was originally moulded integrally with the head, Belial and Zero were structured out of plane. In the original plan, the mask was supposed to have a mouth-opening mechanism but this was removed to better fit the suit actor. In hopes of emphasizing the concept of "evil Ultraman", his body posture and neck hunch forward.
In Ultraman Geed, Koichi Sakamoto regarded the season as Ultraman Belial's final chapter from his first appearance in Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy and is also his first time fighting on Earth. Writer Otsuichi decided to tone down his chimpira-esque trait towards one that is worthy of an evil emperor.
Other forms are as follows:
His name, Belial, is a reference to the similarly named devil in the Judaism and Christianity religions.

History

''Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy''

Long ago, Belial was a powerful Ultra Warrior and a friend to Father and Mother of Ultra in their younger age. After participating in the Great Ultra War, Belial seek inspiration in Alien Empera's army and grew envious to the Father of Ultra's election as the Supreme Commander of the Space Garrison. This jealously tempted Belial to steal energy from the Plasma Spark in hopes of obtaining greater power, only for the energies to inflict him pain in the attempt as he was banished soon after for his selfish act of endangering Planet Ultra. It was then that Belial encounters the spirit of Alien Raybrad, who further corrupted Belial by forcefully entering the Ultraman's body and transforming him. Now an Ultraman Reionics with an army of 100 monsters at his command, Belial orchestrated the to attack the Land of Light until he was defeated by Ultraman King and imprisoned in the while his Giga Battle Nizer was sealed in the Valley of Flames.
During the events of Ultra Galaxy, Belial was freed by Alien Zarab, who assumed they can form an alliance before his liberator killed him. Belial fought his way through the numerous Ultramen in the Land of Light to successfully steal the Plasma Spark, turning his homeworld into a frozen wasteland. Belial uses the Plasma Spark's power to revive the Monster Graveyard's residents before being challenged by Ultraman, Ultraseven, and Ultraman Mebius, who brought the Human Reinoics Rei for additional aid. But Belial, learning of their ties as Reinoics, corrupts Rei to attack his comrades until his ZAP Spacy teammates restore his senses. All seemed lost until Ultraman Zero appears and avenges his father Ultraseven by effortlessly defeating the remnants of Belial's army and then Belial himself. But Belial summons the souls of the Monster Graveyard's monsters to join with him to create the gigantic Belyudra with the evil Ultraman as its brain. Belial has Belyudra overpower everyone present until Rei uses hijacked the Giga Battle Nizer to take control of the composing the monsters, leaving Belial as Zero apparently kills him while the others destroy Belyudra. But as the Plasma Spark is restored, it would be revealed that Belial survived.
In the English dub, Belial is voiced by Beau Rue Marie.

''[Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial]''

Following his defeat at the Monster Graveyard, gaining a large scar from Zero's attempted death blow, Belial established the Belial Galactic Empire under the name Kaiser Belial. His forces based in the hand-like Malebrandes space station, Belial led his army to conquer the planet Esmeralda in another universe to usurp its supplies of emeralds. During that invasion, Belial drove off all resistances while corrupting Esmeralda's protector Mirror Knight and had the whole planet chained to his base, Malebrandes. He also send the mass-produced army of Darklopses, robots based on Zero's specs, to invade Planet Ultra before they are destroyed by the Space Garrison.
When Zero was captured by Iaron, Belial had his rival imprisoned in his command center and forced him to watch his homeworld invaded while holding his Ultra Zero Eye before Mirror Knight freed him. When Zero regained his Ultraman form, Belial absorbed all of the emeralds he harvested to become Arch Belial, successfully overpowering Zero and holding off against the resistant forces. Setting his sight on Planet Esmeralda, Belial prepared to destroy the planet, but not before Zero and his allies formed an energy shield and died from exhaustion. It was then that the hopes from the resistance brought forth the Shield of Baraj, which transformed into the Ultimate Aegis and for Ultraman Noa to revive Zero. Transforming into Ultimate Zero, the rest of his comrades delay Belial long enough for him to deliver the finishing blow, successfully killing him in the process.
In the English dub, he is voiced by Kyle Rea.

''[Ultra Zero Fight]''

Ultraman Belial's spirit soon made his way to the Monster Graveyard and possessed Armored Darkness, forming another army called the Darkness Five, consisting of five evil aliens whose races had fought the Ultra Warriors before. After successfully rescuing Pygmon and defeating Sly of the Dark Magic, Zero soon met Armored Darkness, then revealed to be housing Belial and re-dubbed as Kaizer Darkness, fully healed to the point that his previous scar had vanished. When the two archenemies clashed once more, Zero managed to deliver a killing blow, but this was a part of Belial's plan to possess his rival and be reborn as Zero Darkness, using Ultraman Zero's own power to assassinate the Ultimate Force Zero. With victory in his grasp, Belial was about to lead the Darkness Five in a conquest of the whole universe but while attempting to kill a helpless Pygmon, it was then that Zero regained control. Lashing Belial for not being a true Ultra Warrior, Zero expelled the evil Ultra from his body. Revealing a new form, Shining Zero, the gilded warrior reversed time in the immediate area to undo all the damage done by Belial and revived his fallen friends. The Darkness Five soon retreated, but because of Shining Zero, Belial was also revived. Belial resorted to make himself stronger as he led the Darkness Five.

Subsequent history

Prior to the series, after killing off Reibatos, Belial battled the Ultramen once more as they developed the Ultra Capsules as a way to fight him before he detonated a Super Dimension Eradication Bomb as a last resort, destroying himself while wiping out the known universe in an event that came to be known as the. But through Ultraman King's intervention, the universe was restored with Belial reduced to an incorporeal state as he takes refuge in a dimensional tear while entrusting the Alien Sturm Kei Fukuide to steal the Ultra Capsules and Risers from Planet Ultra to orchestrate his restoration. To that end, Kei created the Nebula House and used a sample of Belial's DNA to create Riku Asakura as the Sturm's pawn.
19 years later, their plan were put into motion as they orchestrate Riku's transformation into Ultraman Geed and had him collect the Ultra Capsules in hopes of restoring Belial's corporeal form. He also had Kei play the role of the monsters by providing him means of transforming into, a classification of chimeric monsters who bear Belial's. As a result of AIB's investigation, Belial chastised Kei for his failure to secure all eight Capsules from Riku and the vulnerability of exposing their hideout, forcing him to utilize them within his Sturm Organ as Pedanium Zetton. Although Zero managed to seal the entrance to Belial's dimension, he easily escaped sometime later as he raced towards Earth and absorbed Geed as the Belial Fusion Beast Chimeraberus. Belial's attempt to completely absorb his son while winning him over with illusions failed due to Zero, Laiha and King's intervention, allowing Geed to escape, obtain King's Ultra Capsule and destroy Chimeraberus with his new Royal Mega Master form. Despite his apparent death, Belial lived on, having chosen a young woman named Arie Ishikari as his host to keep tabs on Kei until his Sturm Organ was ready for him to take as his own. Abandoning his host and Kei, having incorporated the Sturm Organ into his body to siphon King's essence to use a power source, Belial uses the Dark Lugiel and Alien Empira Monster Capsules to assume his Atrocious form. While his ability to absorb King's power is severed, Belial manages to overwhelm his opposition before Geed manages to drag his father into a dimensional void and, making a final attempt to reason with his father after seeing his memories. Unfortunately as Belial was too focused on his grudges, Geed was forced to kill in a beam struggle. His death in the final episode sealed his fate to remain spiritually trapped in the dimensional void whereas Geed escaped not long after.

Legacy

According to the Amazon Japan's description: "The dark Ultra Warrior that was born from the Land of Light. Having abandoned the heart of an Ultra Warrior, he sought for the strongest power in the universe."

Features and weapons

As a Reionics, a being infused with the DNA of the Raybrad, Belial usually relies upon the use of brute strength and his Giga Battle Nizer which he uses to subjugate monsters to fight for him. His main finisher is, which appears as a corrupted version of the original Ultraman's Spacium Ray.
During the events of Revenge of Belial, the right side of his face scarred at the moment of Belyudra's destruction. Belial traveled to another dimension where he established the Belial Galactic Empire and took the mantle of. With the exception of the he wears and his claws reddened, Belial's abilities are mostly the same. Because of his major influence, he is usually addressed as by his subordinates, both as his original self or Kaiser Belial. By the time Belial was resurrected in Ultra Zero Fight, as a result of merging into Armored Darkness, his trademark scar completely healed.
The rest of his forms includes:

Arie Ishikari

is a 28 year old aspiring nonfiction writer who approaches things from a non-biased point of view. She had been researching Kei's background ever since his rise to popularity as a famous writer.
She provided Kei refuge in exchange of her writing the man's biography, remained adamant of that even after witnessing Kei fighting the Ultramen and his attempt to kill her in his weakened state, becoming his willing accomplice as a result. Despite Arie's undying loyalty and love towards him, she was quickly killed by Kei once she served his purpose in retrieving the Alien Empera and Dark Lugiel Capsules. After Kei's final battle with Geed, Arie revealed to have survive her assassination, along with the fact that she was possessed by Ultraman Belial ever since his defeat as Chimeraberus. Tearing the Sturm Organ from Kei, Belial used it to revive himself before abandoning Arie's body. Once Belial was free of Arie, the young author collapsed and her fate was left unknown.
Arie Ishikari is portrayed by. She is named after Victorian era author/novelist Mary Shelley.
The late reveal of Arie as Belial's host was made intentional by director Sakamoto to mislead the audience into believing that the evil Ultra had died while seemingly giving the role of the main antagonist to Kei Fukuide. Arie was a late addition by Koichi Sakamoto, as her debut episode by Otsuichi was never meant to feature said character. In the original planning, director Takesue envisioned a doppelganger of Riku Asakura plots to revive Belial but decided to use Arie for this after realizing that the first one was difficult to be written in the story. Arie is written by Otsuichi as a foil to Donshine, where both are Showa Era-esque characters with relation to their respective partners.

In other media

Variety show

Like many actors of the Ultra Series, including that of actors/voice actors of Ultra Warriors, comedian Hiroyuki Miyasako felt delighted when he was offered with the role of Ultraman Belial, remembering his childhood watching the Ultra Series, although he did express his confusion about his character being a villain despite Belial's status as an Ultra Warrior. Director Koichi Sakamoto praised Miyasako for his good voice of the character and because of him, Belial's approach was completed without any signs of disturbances. Mamoru Miyano, Ultraman Zero's voice actor, stated that both Belial and Zero are the main center of attraction for the movie and was impressed with Miyasako's work, as the two performed the voiceovers of their characters despite having little time to interact with each other.
Having obtained permission from Tsuburaya Productions, Japanese theater website Cinema Today "interviewed" Ultraman Belial himself, who stated that he viewed the Japanese citizens as his "servants" while Ultraman King was a figure that he feared. In several of the unanswered questions, he only told the interviewer to watch Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy to get the answer.
In the Ultra Series' 45th anniversary, Ultraman Belial scored 5th place in an Ultra Hero popularity ranking, with his rival Zero placed at number 1.