Antlar is the most cunning and awesome opponent Ultraman has ever faced. This stag beetle or ant lion or whatever you want to call him was the first actually tough opponent for ol' Ultra. In fact, he never beat the 'Magnetic Monster' without the help of the Blue Stone of Baraj. Antlar, unlike a lot of the monsters in the Ultra-verse at the time, was really smart and made plans when fighting. It's no surprise that he's my favorite Ultra kaiju. The Stag Beetle had woke up to once again to terrorize the lost City of Baraji, that is where the events of the The Blue Stone of Baraj takes place.
Antlar had been living outside the lost City of Baraj in the desert, occasionally terrorizing it for years. However, when a meteor struck the ground, the always-ready ant lion had once again risen. What he hadn't expected was to see a plane there. Before he went to destroy it, he popped up his massive head to see what was inside it. It turns out it was Ito, who is scared silly by him. (Then again, who wouldn't be scared to see this massive head pop in from out of nowhere outside your window?) By the time Ito had brought the other Science Patrol members back,. Antlar had already buried their ship. However, Antlar isn't one to bury stuff then call it a day. These humans were new and new to him meant possible threat. So he had waited patiently in the ground when they had appeared. Once he heard Arashi getting stuck in a hole and yelling for help, the Magnetic Monster started to rise. When Captain Mura fired a ray at him, he was surprised. He had never encountered a beam like that before. But it didn't truly matter, the beam tickled at most. Antlar had decided to use his magnetic ray, which took away the gun. Seeing the humans retreat, Antlar went back into the ground to hang out for a bit before doing his final assault on the lost City...
Today was the day Antlar was finally going to destroy the lost City. Perhaps it was the new humans that had provoked him, but he had arrived, destroying the opening building. He knew the people feared him, as he kept hammering down the opening building. Of course, the Science Patrol were the first to attack with their ray guns. The beams didn't truly bother Antlar, they were just a nuisance easily taken care of thanks to his Magnetic Ray. Why bother running after and stomping on them when you could just use a magnetic ray to do things simpler and faster? Antlar went, destroying every single building he could. By this time, Hayata had transformed into Ultraman and went to confront Antlar in what would be his toughest battle yet.
Antlar had heard something was coming and turned around, roaring his Rodan roar in readiness. Antlar isn't big on attacking head-on at first, he likes to slowly bring down his opponent's strength with surprising and burrowing. By blinding Ultraman with a cloud of dirt, he already had the advantage. First, he managed to sneak up behind Ultraman and trip him with his pincers. Don't think Antlar is an ultra serious or honorable fighter like Battra, he has a sense of arrogance and curiosity. As he rises out of the ground he roars at Ultraman, almost like he's analyzing him. Before Antlar could make contact, Ultraman flew into the air. Antlar, thinking of a new plan, slowly retreated back into the ground. When Ultraman landed he had no clue where his cunning opponent had went. Not to overuse the term, bur Antlar displays his cunning best in his next attack. He quietly rises up behind Ultraman and unleashed his magnetic ray. The plan was to lure Ultraman into his pincers, and was he ready. As Ultraman went closer and closer you could see the killer within Antlar as he eagerly awaited to pincer his opponent to death. But Ultraman was no mere opponent, he barely escaped death by ducking. Antlar roared in defiance then the hand-to-hand battle begun, or rather hand-to-pincer. Antlar kept roaring as if he's saying "You're going to lose" "You're going to lose" and then Ultraman finally released his Spacium Ray. However, unlike all the other monsters before him, the ray had no effect. In fact, it had provoked Antlar to charge into his opponent. This resulted in a wrestling match until Ultraman broke his right pincer. Antlar was then on the ground most likely laughing it up as Ultraman really tried his best to stop him. But alas, Anltar just kept overwhelming him, and he knew that, he could sense Ultraman slowly dying. He now had Ultraman on the defensive, laughing it up cause he knew had this in the bag. However, the last thing he was expecting was to get thrown at himself was the Blue Stone. This happens to be his only weakness. The impact from the Stone killed him. So no, Ultraman wasn't the one to stop him, it was the Blue Stone of Baraj that defeated Antlar. This makes him one of the show's strongest villains, only behind Zetton and Gomora.
Antlar had one of the more dignified ends in the show. He's shown to be cunning, patient, and extremely durable. (Well, not his pincers anyway, those things are delicate.) But he shrugged off Ultraman's Spacium Ray like a true boss, that ray has destroyed whole monsters in the past. Antlar never quite reached the fame of Red King and Gomora, but in my eyes he's the most awesome Ultra kaiju out there.
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