Bleach: Is Ulquiorra in ‘Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War’?

As far as Bleach characters go, the characters from the earlier arcs have managed to, a lot of them, survive the test of time and are still enormously popular, despite not being present in later arcs. Many of these characters were villains, and many were also the Espada, as this group of villains was enormously popular and is still regarded to be the best by many fans. Among them, Ulquiorra Cifer stands out as a brilliant character with a great story and a persisting popularity that has surpassed his appearances in the Arrancar Saga. Seeing how we’re going to see some Arrancar in the upcoming anime episodes, in this article, we are going to tell you whether you can expect to see Ulquiorra in the Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War anime.

No, Ulquiorra Cifer will not appear in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. Ulquiorra notoriously died after being severely injured by Vasto Lorde Ichigo above the ceiling of Las Noches in Hueco Mundo. He then completely disappears, which makes his comeback impossible. Still, some flashback scenes featuring Ulquiorra have already been seen in the anime, but they were simply recapping scenes from the anime that were relevant to some current explanations.

The rest of this article will be about Ulquiorra Cifer, his fate, and his possible appearance in the Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War anime series. We will tell you what happened to him and, based on that, whether there is a chance for him to come back in the current anime season of Bleach. If you’re not fully up-to-date with absolutely everything that has happened in Bleach, we have to warn you that there will be a lot of spoilers in this article, so be careful how you approach it when you read.

No, Ulquiorra won’t be making a comeback in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, but his influence lingers on

Now, as we’ve said, Ulquiorra was one of the most popular Bleach characters back in the day and is still one of the series’ most beloved villains. He was the Cuatro Espada of Aizen’s Arrancar Army, making it the fourth most powerful Arrancar and one of the first Espada seen in the series, along with Yammy Llargo. As the story progresses, he becomes Orihime Inoue’s kidnapper and one of Ichigo Kurosaki’s greatest rivals, with his battle against Ichigo still being considered one of the best in anime history.

So, knowing that Ichigo ultimately defeated Ulquiorra, we will recap these events before we tell you what happened later. Namely, you must know exactly what happened to Ulquiorra so that you can completely understand his fate post-battle and whether he can appear in the current anime series or not.

After breaking out of Caja Negacion, Ulquiorra returns to the palace of Las Noches to take over Aizen’s responsibility for the palace since he wants to go towards Karakura with the top three Espada. While awaiting Ichigo’s arrival, Ulquiorra asks Orihime, who Coyote Starrk retrieved, what it means to have a “heart” and further questions whether a heart, as described by Orihime, actually exists. However, before he can question Orihime further, Ichigo approaches, and Ulquiorra draws his Zanpakuto to fight him.

During the fight, Ulquiorra shoots his Cero at Ichigo, but Ichigo is able to resist it. Ulquiorra then notices that Ichigo has gotten stronger and asks if that’s because he defeated Grimmjow, wants to save Orihime or all his friends below are fighting with him. However, he says that it doesn’t matter since Orihime is already one of “them,” and nobody can change that. When Ichigo replies that Ulquiorra has no power to decide, Ichigo says it is Aizen’s choice.

As the battle progresses, Ichigo then learns to read through Ulquiorra’s movements, which he says is either because Ulquiorra has become more human or because he himself has become more Hollow. In response, Ulquiorra shifts up a gear but is stopped by Orihime’s Santen Kesshun. Ulquiorra then asks why she didn’t protect Ichigo from the start of the fight. Ulquiorra discovers the principle behind Ichigo’s Bankai as the two begin their fight.

As the two fight, Loly and Menoly sneak up on Orihime from behind to torment and then kill her. When Ichigo notices this and plans to attack, the two threaten to rip out Orihime’s left eyeball if attacked. When Ichigo then tries to launch a Getsuga Tensho at her, Ulquiora intervenes and deflects the attack. However, he tells Loly not to draw the wrong conclusions since he doesn’t want to help her.

Turning to Ichigo, Ulquiorra says he has to kill him before he can move on to other fights. Then Yammy appears from the same door as Loly and Menoly before. Ulquiorra remarks that he has fully recovered but refuses the help Yammy has offered him, saying he’d better go back to sleep or help fight the Captains.

However, Yammy doesn’t feel like doing either, so he turns to Loly, Menoly, and Orihime. After defeating the two Arrancar, Yammy asks Ulquiorra whether he can now kill Orihime. But, just as he is about to kill her, Uryu Ishida appears and incapacitates the Décima Espada with the help of Mayuri Kurotsuchi’s special landmine.

After this incident, Ichigo pulls out his Hollow mask again, this time strong enough to withstand Ulquiorra’s attacks and even crack open his blade. Ulquiorra then escapes to the Las Noches dome, where he tells Ichigo that Aizen has forbidden the Espada to do two things under the Las Noches dome: first, from using the Gran Rey Cero, and second, the top four Espada are not allowed to use their Resurrección under the dome. Immediately afterward, he releases his Zanpakutō, Murciélago.

Even though he is now clearly superior to Ichigo, Ichigo refuses to give up, which Ulquiorra can’t understand. The Espada now wants to show Ichigo real desperation and activates the second stage of his Resurrección, even if it is absolutely unnecessary. He brutally destroys Ichigo, but Ichigo assumes a previously unknown Hollow form, and Ulquiorra asks how this is possible since it is in the form of a Vasto Lorde.

He was even more surprised when Ichigo Sonídoed past him and effortlessly ripped off an arm. After a short but bitter fight, in which Ulquiorra also uses his last trump card, the Lance del Relampago, his life is ended by a gigantic Cero, as his body is so wounded that it cannot regenerate on time, and Ulquiorra disappears into oblivion.

Having said all of this, we can conclude that Ulquiorra is dead, as are most of Espada. But, knowing that Mayuri will later revive some Arrancar, fans might wonder whether Ulquiorra will reappear in the Thousand-Year Blood War series. But, sadly, fans of the character have to know what, since Ulquiorra completely disappeared, there is no way for Mayuri to bring him back to life, so he won’t be returning to the anime. We have, though, and could see some flashback cameos later in the series, but sadly, Ulquiorra won’t be making a comeback personally.