The third season of Ultraman sees the Ultramen facing a new nemesis who plans to turn the humans against them before proceeding to kill them. The third season is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Right before a mission, Shinjiro envisions a monster in his dream. He wakes up screaming, and Moroboshi tells him to stay alert. During the mission, Shinjiro shows hints that his powers have enhanced when he destroys a part of the building while busting the door.
Shinjiro and Moroboshi successfully save people from an alien who had kept them hostages. Moroboshi later criticizes Shinjiro for using his powers unnecessarily.
Ide, Hayata, and Edo have also taken note of Shinjiro’s powers, which have reached a more advanced level now. They just don’t know the reason behind this sudden rise in levels, which has always been the case when it comes to Shinjiro.
Ide lets Shinjiro know that they are also aware of the change in his powers. They are required to build a new suit to control it. Though Shinjiro’s father, Hayata, is against it, Ide still wanted to propose this idea to him.
Shinjiro agrees to test this new suit. Amidst the test run, they are alerted about an alien on a killing spree. Shinjiro insists that this is a far better way to test this suit.
The officials at SSSP allow him to use the suit for this mission. Shinjiro goes a little overboard and kills that alien ruthlessly upon learning that this alien murdered people just to lure the Ultramen in.
Shinjiro is condemned for his actions, and even he feels guilty about it. It is also revealed that someone is keeping an eye on his actions.
Since Shinjiro can’t control his powers and neither can this new suit, he is asked to stay away from it.
Shinjiro then decides to go meet Rena, as promised, to see her rehearsal for an upcoming show. An alien shows up there out of nowhere. Shinjiro, as Ultraman, not only kills this alien but also destroys the surrounding buildings, causing casualties.
Shinjiro disappears, and when he wakes up, he is not able to remember doing such a thing. For the time being, Shinjiro is dismissed as an Ultraman.
Shinjiro worries about the visions he is having. He intended to talk to his father about it. They agree to meet in a park, where Hayata is attacked by an unknown alien.
This unknown alien gives Hayata the choice to either chase him or save the people around him. Hayata chooses the latter and ends up dying in the process.
Shinjiro, who arrives late and sees his father die, charges toward the unknown alien. Shinjiro finds out that he still has control over the new suit. Using the same, he chases after this unknown alien and disobeys the orders of the SSSP.
While trying to kill that alien, Shinjiro faces the visions he is having again and destroys more buildings while the unknown alien runs away.
The humans turn against the Ultramen, and the SSSP is left with no option but to bring Shinjiro into custody. Moroboshi finds out that this alien is named Mephisto.
Mephisto is making his moves carefully. He gets rid of Bemular as well, apart from Hayata. He comes live on television and supports the narrative that Ultramen are a menace. He says that they have been the victims of the Ultramen’s aggression too, and the humans should support his mission of eliminating the Ultramen.
While this carries on, Mephisto’s minions break into SSSP’s facility. One of them has the ability to change his form whenever he wants. He pretends to be Ultraman and faces Shinjiro.
Shinjiro brutally kills the fake Ultraman and is found by Kotaro in that state. Believing that the whole world is against him, Shinjiro runs away to investigate this mess on his own.
SSSP and Mephisto’s minions continue to track him down. He is rescued by Daisuke Arashi, a former member of the SSSP. Arashi has access to the SSSP database.
Arashi and Shinjiro figure out that Mephisto is taking down Ultramen who are able to use the power of the Giant of Light. Hayata, Bemular, and Shinjiro can use it. There is a fourth one, and they need to find that person.
Shinjiro also shares the dreams he is having about a monster that resembles his father’s old nemesis, Zetton. Shinjiro’s father wanted to tell him something before dying, and to find out exactly what, Arashi suggests Shinjiro go to the location where his father fought Zetton.
Shinjiro learns that after every battle, his father used to visit the people who suffered because of it. At a hospital, a nurse shares that Hayata once helped a pregnant woman who needed a transfusion. Shinjiro remembers that Rena also lost her mother after she was born. Her mother was also a victim in Ultraman’s fights.
Amidst all of this, Mephisto’s minions also target Rena’s father, Endo, for having connections with Bemular. Hokuto is told to keep Rena safe. He also hands her a choker that Bemular intended to give to her father.
Mephisto’s minions find Rena while looking for Ultraman, and Rena accidentally unleashes her Ultraman powers through that choker. Rena is able to use the Giant of Light as well. It turns out that Rena is the fourth Ultraman Mephisto is looking for because she has Hayata’s blood.
Shinjiro is brought back to SSSP by Kotaro and Jack, safe and sound. They arrive after battling Mephisto’s minions, and now they know that Mephisto was all along trying to frame Shinjiro.
Mephisto plans to make Shinjiro look like an existential threat to humanity. The local police invade SSSP, as Ultramen are now seen as humanity’s sworn enemies.
Mephisto lures Shinjiro in by kidnapping Rena. In an attempt to save Rena, Shinjiro reveals the power Mephisto wants him to show. This power will prove the kind of threat these Ultramen pose to humans.
Though Shinjiro manages to kill Mephisto, he falls right into his trap, and the anti-Ultraman sentiment among people grows. Before dying, Mephisto uses Shinjiro’s Specium Beam to create a Subspace Gate. The gate will be summoning something.
Ultraman season 3 ending explained in detail:
Who was Mephisto working for?
Shinjiro and Moroboshi, who comes back with Zaraby as one of the witnesses to Mephisto’s plan, together break into SSSP, where they learn someone has been leaking information on the Ultraman’s suit location and the Specium Beam energy.
Initially, it was believed that only Ide had control over such things. Shinjiro and Moroboshi give this some thought and remember that Edo is the other person who has access to such information. Furthermore, he was insisting that Shinjiro should use the new suit.
Shinjiro and Moroboshi confront Edo, who reveals that all he seeks is peace and harmony. The Star Cluster Council had plans to invite the humans in, but the faith of the humans in Ultraman stopped them.
The Star Cluster Council sees Ultraman as someone powerful who has a one-sided sense of justice. They cannot allow such a force to be free in the universe. He says that, in the past, Ultramen have already destroyed many planets.
The humans, on the other hand, see Ultraman as their protector. Killing Ultraman right away wouldn’t have worked, as the humans would have never joined them in the first place.
The Star Cluster Council needed to kill the humans’ misplaced faith in Ultraman to make sure that their killing of Ultraman is justified.
What comes out of the Subspace Gate?
Zetton, Hayata’s old nemesis, comes out of the Subspace Gate. Although many humans are still against Ultramen, Shinjiro and his friends don’t care. They join hands to fight Zetton.
Hayata and Bemular are alive and trapped inside Edo’s spaceship. Bemular uses all the power he has and sacrifices himself to help Hayata break out. The Ultramen fight together and kill Zetton once and for all.
Does Shinjiro defeat Edo?
Shinjiro gets busy fighting Edo, who shows up with a suit of his own. Edo forces Shinjiro to activate the power of the Giant of Light. Despite Shinjiro’s immense efforts, he is defeated.
The humans see the impact Shinjiro’s body has created. They start regretting that they called him a menace. After all, Ultraman was only trying to protect them, whether they liked it or not.
Shinjiro himself feels the responsibility he has toward humans. He not only wakes up, but through his power of Giant of Light, he summons the suit Yapool, Hokuto’s father, was working on.
When Edo faces the wrath of the Giant of Light, his spaceship comes to his aid. Similarly, Shinjiro’s team of Ultramen shows up for him, and together they all defeat Edo.
What happens after Edo’s defeat?
Before perishing, Edo warns Shinjiro that the more powerful he gets, the more there is a chance that he will impose his one-sided justice on others. Shinjiro agrees, and that is the reason he will always be looking for the right path.
After Edo’s defeat, Ide, Hayata, and Arashi hand over the SSSP to the new generation. Moroboshi is the new captain who guides Kotaro and Jack during the missions.
Hokuto asks Rena if she has heard from Shinjiro. It is revealed that Shinjiro is adhering to his duties as the Ultraman of the Earth.
In the post-credits scene, Maya, Zaraby, and Valkyura meet at a bar. Adad has a job for them from the Star Cluster Council. He hints that their battle will never end as long as the Ultramen are still alive.
Also Read: Sweet Tooth season 2 review: Feels longer and less exciting