All spoilers for Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial (known as Ultraman Zero The Movie: Super Deciding Fight! The Belial Galactic Empire) is a 2010 film made by Tsuburaya Productions and directed by Yuichi Abe for the Ultra Series. It serves as a sequel to the Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends movie and focuses on Ultraman Zero as its main hero. It was followed by a sequel movie Ultraman Saga, which was released 2 years later in 2012. The movie itself is notable for several homages of other Tsuburaya characters joining Zero, such as GlenFire, Mirror Knight and Jean Bot.
Somewhere in another universe, Ultraman Belial has set himself up as Galactic Emperor Kaiser Belial, despotic ruler of the galaxy. He has set his sights on the planet Esmeralda, wanting its emeralds for their great power. The planet itself is decimated, with its champion Mirror Knight infected by Belial's evil. All seems lost for this universe.
Meanwhile, in the M78 universe, Darklopses are invading. They are all easily dispatched thanks to Ultraman Zero and his father Ultraseven. Upon inspecting a Darklops core, The Ultras see that the energy is coming from another universe. Zero is sent, with the "Zero Bracelet" as a backup power, to investigate who is attacking Galaxy M78 and why. Taking the form of Run, a young man from the planet Anu, he goes with Run's brother Nao, Princess of Esmeralda Emerana and her ship Jean Bird, they travel the galaxy making allies with the Pirates of Flame and Glen Fire, cleanse mirror Knight and the hunt for the fabled "Shield of Baradhi" to stop Belial's evil once and for all...
Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial provides examples of the following tropes:
- Action Prologue: The film opens with the action-packed scenes of Belial's forces taking over Planet Esmerana and Mirror Knight fighting a Legionoid.
- Another Dimension: Most of the film takes place in an alternate universe. In fact Ultraman Zero can only reach there by receiving the powers from various other Ultras on M78. Zero is able to return home after obtaining the Ultimate Aegis, which allows him to travel between Universes without any issue.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Per tradition there's the Ultras, both good and evil; as well as 3 new heroes: Jean Bot, Mirror Knight and GlenFire, all homages of Tsuburaya Productions Showa Era Heroes.
- Back-to-Back Badasses:
- Ultraseven and Ultraman Zero perform this in the battle against the Darklops trio when pushed back.
- Also Ultraman Zero and GlenFire during their fight against Belial's forces.
- Badass Crew: The Ultimate Force Zero by the end of the film have truly become a team and swear to protect the Multiverse from threats just like Belial.
- Big Bad: Ultraman Belial, returning to the role of main antagonist after Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends.
- Big Damn Heroes: GlenFire returns during the Final Battle to save Ultraman Zero from Arch Belial's grasp before the latter can fully drain his lifeforce. And he brings the fleets of Planet Emerald, Nao's homeworld and the Space Pirates of Flame to fight against Belial's own fleet as well.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Jean Bot has a secret compartment hiding an axe, which allows him to use it to take Dark Go Ne by surprise and kill him.
- Boisterous Bruiser: GlenFire is fully aware of his massive strength and powers and isn't one to keep it a secret in a fight.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Belial has Zero stuck in human form, captured and defenseless. So naturally, he takes this time to show him the entire revenge plan and gloat about how he'll destroy the Land of Light to make Zero suffer.
- The Cavalry: GlenFire shows up with the Space Pirates of Flame's, Planet Esmeralda's and Nao's planet fleets at the Darkest Hour to help turn the tide of the Final Battle against Belial's forces.
- Cool Starship: All over the place. From Belial's fleet of ships, to his planet-sized mothership; as well as the Emerald Aliens' ships, the Flame Pirates' pirate-themed ships and Nao's planet fleet.
- Continuity Nod: In the original Ultraman and Ultraman Max the blue stone of Baradhi, which was required to defeat Antlar, was said to have been provided by a "God of Noa", whose statue and depictions showed was an Ultra. This film calls back to it with the Shield of Baradhi and all but confirms that the God of Noa is Ultraman Noa, who appears in the final battle to empower Zero and defeat the seemingly unstopabble Arch Belial.
- Critical Annoyance: Ultraman Zero, after adopting a human host, had to contend with the three-minute rule all Ultras had to face with his color timer now blinking when his time is running out.
- Dark Is Evil: Belial's Galactic Empire prides itself in its usage of darkness as their theme, with their robots sporting dark and muted color schemes, one of their generals being called Dark Go-Ne, and Belial himself keeping his red/black color scheme and keeping himself often in the shadows to cover his image.
- Defeat Equals Friendship: Between Glen Fire and Ultraman Zero.
- Disney Death: Happens with Emerana who seemingly dies using herself as a power source for Jean-Bird to transform into Jean-Bot, but ultimately shows up alive after Zero kills Belial.
- Downer Beginning: The film opens with Belial's forces successfully conquering Planet Esmeralda and Belial himself corrupting their guardian, Mirror Knight, in order to make the hero into his servant all before the title card is introduced.
- Evil Overlord: Ultraman Belial has founded an empire between the events of Ultra Galaxy Legends and this movie, big enough to give him control over most of the Universe
- Evil Plan: Belial's evil plan consists of:
- Step 1: Make Darklopses from resources gathered by his minions while also conquering planets caught in the crossfire to serve him.
- Step 2: Power them with emeralds stolen and harvested from Planet Esmeralda and then open portals to other Universes with said emeralds.
- Step 3: Send armies of them to destroy the Land of Light with numbers.
- Expy:
- Belial's One-Winged Angel form, Arch Belial is based on SpaceGodzilla from Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, being a bipedal Kaiju with a pair of crystals on his back and a "crown" with horns.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Ultimate Force Zero
- Sanguine — Ultraman Zero, an undisciplined, extraverted and adventurous Ultra who serves as the protagonist and leader of the force. Has Superpower Lottery to match his creativity and outward adventure instinct.
- Choleric — GlenFire, a short-tempered, cocky, trash-talking hothead not afraid to charge into battle and bring harm to his foes with fire and destructive powers to match his energy.
- Melancholic — Jean Bot, a reserved, disciplined and level-headed warrior who at times finds himself exasperated by the antics of his teammates, his attacks are based on calculated strikes and waiting for the right chance to fight befitting his calmer demeanor.
- Phlegmatic — Mirror Knight, a calm, quiet and orderly young warrior who carries a level of mystery to himself and has defensive and reflective powers to match his personality.
- Healing Hands: Well, it's healing light, but Zero does this for Mirror Knight with his power in order to purge Belial's corruption from his body.
- Henshin Hero: Zero becomes one himself for the first time after bonding with Run, being forced to remain only 3 minutes active while transformed and requiring a host to move around without dying like every other Ultra before him.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Run sacrifices himself to save his little brother, Nao, from a Legionoid attack, dying in the process. Zero, moved by his bravery and seeing no other suitable host, saves his life by merging with him, though Run's conscience remains dormant for the duration of his possession.
- After revealing his knowledge of the Shield of Baradhi and being intercepted by Belial's forces, GlenFire uses his powers to fight off the fleet and buy time for Zero, Nao, Emerana and Jean-Bird to escape. It's subverted when he returns in the final battle along with the many allies of the heroes.
- Princess Emerana seemingly sacrifices herself to give enough power to Jean-Bird to become Jean-Bot and fight off against Dark Go Ne. She turns up alive after Belial's defeat, however.
- In the final battle, Zero, despite being on death's doorstep, does his best to stop Arch Belial from destroying Planet Emerald and seemingly dies when his Color Timer runs out. However the hopes and encouragement of his allies revive him when they power up the Shield of Baradhi, allowing Ultraman Noa to restore Zero's energy and give him the Ultimate Aegis, which lets him finish off Belial.
- Homage: As the film was made in anticipation of the Ultra Series' 45th Anniversary, Tsuburaya Productions took the chance to homage various other series of theirs:
- On the heroes' side we have: GlenFire based on the titular hero of Fireman, Mirror Knight based on Mirrorman and Jean Bot based on Jumborg Ace.
- On the villains' side we have: Iaron who is based on Iron, the first and most popular Monster of the Week of Mirrorman, and Dark Go Ne based on the Go-Ne group the main antagonists of Jumborg Ace.
- Hot-Blooded: GlenFire, who is every bit as impatient, shouty and flashy as Zero and is a fire humanoid to boot.
- Humongous Mecha: Jean Bot, also a Transforming Mecha.
- The Empire: In the years between his last defeat and this movie, Belial has amassed a massive collective of evil forces, creating a universe-spanning empire known as the Belial Galactic Empire, which he plans to use to conquer all universes, starting with the one in this film and M78.
- Evil Laugh: Belial is quite fond of laughing manically when his plans are coming into fruition or when he's performing vile deeds such as corrupting Mirror Knight into his servant.
- Kaiju: None of the traditional ones are present, instead the film mostly has humanoid aliens, with Dark Go Ne and Iaron being the sole non-human giants in the film.
- Kid Hero: Nao, a young boy (around 10-11 years old), serves as one of the film's main heroes. He ends up tagging along with Zero after his brother Run ends up comatose and possessed by Zero, and eventually pilots Jean-Bot to fight Dark Go-Ne
- Kid With The Remote Control: Nao takes control of Jean Bot in the climax to fight against Dark Go Ne.
- Lancer vs. Dragon: Played straight in the final battle. As Ultraman Zero fights Belial, Zero's new friends, Mirror Knight and Jean-Bot, takes on Belial's Co-Dragons, Iaron and Darkgone, in that order.
- Light Is Good: As usual, the light represents the side of good, with Zero, the titular hero of the film representing it. In the climax, when Ultraman Noa shows up, he is shown bathed in a golden light as he gifts Zero the Ultimate Aegis so he can defeat Belial once and for all.
- Magnetic Hero: By the end of the film, a lot of characters introduced in the film have become Ultraman Zero's allies and friends, to the point that he is able to form a brand-new team: The Ultimate Force Zero to protect the Multiverse alongside with.
- MacGuffin: The Shield of Baradhi, an ancient mystical artifact left behind by Ultraman Noa and sought out by the heroes as the only weapon that can help turn the tide against Belial.
- Mooks: The Legionoids and Darklopses serve as this to Belial's Empire, with the Legionoids being the standard Mook force with the Darklopses serving as the Elite Mooks.
- Multiversal Conqueror: Belial's ambitions have expanded far beyond just the M78 Universe as now he plots to conquer all universes, starting with the one in this film and M78 simultaneously before moving on to the rest.
- The Multiverse: Zero (and the audience) get a small peek of it as Zero travels through it to reach the source of the Minus Energy from the Darklopses. After obtaining the Ultimate Aegis, Zero is able to travel freely around the whole Multiverse with it.
- My Hero, Zero: Ultraman Zero, returning as the main protagonist of the film.
- No Body Left Behind: To make sure Belial doesn't makes a last-minute survival this time around, Zero straight-up obliterates him into nothing this time with the Ultimate Aegis starting by pulverizing the evil Ultra's Color Timer, leaving no traces of Belial's body or the emeralds he empowered himself with behind.
- Not Quite Dead: Ultraman Belial, who the Ultras thought was dead turns out to have survived Belyudra's destruction in the previous film and isn't too happy about the scars he has left from that battle. And GlenFire later on after it appeared that he had blown himself up for good to save Zero, Nao, Emerana and Jean Bot from Belial's forces.
- One-Winged Angel: Kaiser Belial absorbs all the emeralds and transforms into the gigantic Arch Belial for the final battle, growing to 300 meters tall and dwarfing the heroes.
- Planet Spaceship: The Malebrandes, Belial's colossal mothership and base of operations shaped like his hand.
- Playing with Fire: GlenFire, of course. From launching fireballs to creating an inferno and erupting himself into an inferno.
- The Quest: Zero, Nao, Emerana, Jean-Bot and Mirror Knight find themselves enthrusted in one to find the Shield of Baradhi which is the only weapon that can stop Belial from taking over the Multiverse.
- Revenge: Belial plots to not only continue his already established revenge against the Land of Light, but also wants to get his revenge on Ultraman Zero for thwarting his plans in the last film.
- Revenge of the Sequel: The film depicts not only Belial's continued revenge against the Land of Light for his exile, but also a newly gained one towards Zero, who previously defeated him. The film's original and international title put this front and center in them.
- Rule of Cool: Glen Fire and the Pirates of Flame having fire IN SPACE! According to the film, the space they navigate in is called the Nitro-Methane Sea which is a methane constellation that serves as their source of fuel for their ships.
- Scenery Porn: The Land of Light, Planet Esmeralda, the Nitro-Methane Sea, the Baradhi Temple, and various space shots, starship interiors, etc. The film goes out of its way to depict them with magnificence and an abundance of colors, shapes, and more leading to rather beautiful backgrounds even when the protagonists aren't fighting.
- Shout-Out:
- Mirror Knight, Jean-Bot and GlenFire are all walking references to three of Tsuburaya's productions lesser-known heroes (Mirrorman, Jumborg Ace and Fireman respectively).
- The music cues for GlenFire, Mirror Knight and Jean-Bot are remixes of their inspirations' series opening themse (Fireman, Mirrorman and Jumborg Ace respectively). Belial's Co-Dragons, Iaron and Darkgone are based on Iron, the first and most popular Monster of the Week of Mirrorman and the Go Ne faction (the main villains of Jumborg Ace)
- Slasher Smile: Ultraman Belial has a permanent one, courtesy of his previously shown merge with Alien Rayblood.
- Symbiotic Possession: As is tradition for Ultras, Zero temporarily merges with Run to save the latter's life and have a host that can help him move around without exhausting his Color Timer.
- Space Pirates: The Pirates of Flame are Exactly What It Says on the Tin, pirates in outer space who have fire-themed weaponry and ships to boot they "navigate" a constellation known as the Nitro-Methane Sea.
- Spin-Offspring: While already established in the past film, Zero is the son of Ultraseven. And this time he's the front and center protagonist from the get-go.
- Super Mode: At the climax, Zero gains the Ultimate Zero form through Ultraman Noa's Ultimate Aegis, allowing him to kill Belial once and for all and save the Universe as well as returning back to his home Universe and subsequently establish a Multiversal defense force.
- Tagalong Kid: Nao, Run's little brother who ends up under the care of Zero when the latter saves Run's life by merging with him and therefore ends up accompanying him in his many adventures, eventually getting to help out himself in the climax.
- Theme Song: Susume! Ultraman Zero
. In the film itself, the song plays as Zero travels through the Multiverse. - Toku: Perhaps Tsuburaya's Production most visually stunning film ever.
- Transformation Sequence: When going from human to Ultra form, Zero transforms by putting on the Ultra Zero Eye and changing like every other Ultra before, while Jean Bot gets one when he changes from spaceship to giant robot form.
- Transformation Trinket: Zero's Ultra Zero Eye which allows him to transform into his Ultra form after his merge with Run.
- Transforming Mecha: Jean Bird to Jean Bot.
- The Virus: Belial infects Mirror Knight with his corrupting Reionics essence in an attempt to transform him into one of his servants. Luckily, Zero is able to purge this corruption.
- Villain Ball: At the climax of the film, Belial has imprisoned Run/Zero in a forcefield. Instead of destroying him, Belial decides to partake in Evil Gloating. Worse, throughout the whole scene Belial has the Transformation Trinket in his hands; did he destroy it so Zero won't be able to transform and thus ensure Belial's victory? Nope, he just holds it up for everyone to see.
