Ultraman is an alien from a place called the Land of Light in Nebula M78, who chased the monster Bemular to Planet Earth, and merged with Shin Hayata during his tenure there. He is the first Ultra to visit Earth and defended the planet against Kaiju until he was recalled after his battle with Zetton. Ultraman was given his title by his human host.
It was the introduction of this iconic character that had popularized the Ultraman Series in Japan and the world, arguably being the face of the franchise as a whole.
Ultraman was designed by Tohl Narita, who was originally asked to create and design an alien monster for a canceled episode of Ultra Q. However, under the direction of Narita himself, staff art Kymio Sasaki was told to repeat the work by molding clay, and the mask and body were created. The suit was created based on the model of Bin Furuya, who was Ultraman's original suit actor. Some model changes were made due to damage. Three types of suit exist: Type A (from episode 1 to episode 13), Type B (from episode 14 to episode 29), and Type C (episode 30 until the end of the series). Small peepholes resembling black dots were made near the eyes for the suit actor to see out of.