Takuya Yamashiro Supaidāman / Spider-Man | |
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Toei's Spider-Man character | |
![]() Shinji Todō as Spider-Man in Spider-Man (1978) | |
First appearance |
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Based on | |
Adapted by | Shozo Uehara Susumu Takaku |
Portrayed by | Shinji Todō |
In-universe information | |
Alias | Spider-Man |
Nicknames |
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Species | Human mutate |
Gender | Male |
Occupation |
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Affiliation | International Criminal Police Organization Spider-Army/Web-Warriors |
Family | Dr. Hiroshi Yamashiro (father) † Shinko Yamashiro (sister) Takuji Yamashiro (brother) |
Significant other | Hitomi Sakuma |
Nationality | Japan |
Takuya Yamashiro (山城拓也, Yamashiro Takuya), also known as Spider-Man (Japanese: スパイダーマン, Hepburn: Supaidāman) and colloquially as the "Japanese Spider-Man", is a fictional character, a superhero portrayed by Shinji Todō that is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. He is the protagonist of Toei's Spider-Man television series in 1978 series, subsequently reappearing as a supporting character in the 2014–2015 Spider-Verse and 2018 Spider-Geddon comic storylines, and will return in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse (2024), the upcoming sequels to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), set in the Spider-Verse franchise.
The success of Yamashiro and his giant mecha robot Leopardon made Toei adapt concept to their Super Sentai franchise in Battle Fever J, ultimately becoming the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers television series and franchise, making the character the narrative-forefather of the Power Rangers.
Character development and execution
The character had nothing to do with the Spider-Man comics from Marvel in terms of story. All that was taken over were Spider-Man's name, costume, and his best-known superpowers. The series also had nothing to do with the Spider-Man manga that was being released in Japan at the time. The series had a huge influence on later Tokusatsu series and anime series. Thus, in this series, the concept of a superhero who had a huge robot at his disposal to fight the same enemy twice was introduced. Series about heroes with a huge robot have been around for a while, but never before have these been combined with a superhero who also fights enemies himself. Thanks in part to the success of the series, this has now become a permanent part of all Super Sentai series.
Fictional character biography
Takuya Yamashiro was a motocross driver, son of the astrophysicist Dr. Hiroshi Yamashiro, and the man who would become his reality's Spider-Man. Whilst practicing on his motorbike, Takuya began to receive telepathic messages from an alien called Garia, who had been imprisoned in a cave by a vampiric warlord called Professor Monster. His sister, Shinko and Hitomi Sakuma asked for his assistance in investigating the crashed Leopardon but Takuya refused as he had a race to compete in. His father, who had been searching for Garia, accepted this and set out with Shinko and Hitomi. Later, before leaving for the contest, Takuya received more messages from Garia and went to investigate. In the mountains he found Hitomi and Shinko who told Takuya their father had been attacked. Takuya found his dying father, who had received fatal injuries from a creature working for Professor Monster called Boukunryu. After his father died, Takuya was attacked by the Iron Cross Army and gravely injured and he fell into the cave where Garia was imprisoned. Garia saved his life by giving him the Spider Bracelet and Spider Extract, which granted him Spider-like abilities, and she then informed Takuya of the invasion of Professor Monster, as well as his personal history. Back at his house, Garia told Takuya of his new costume and abilities and tested them out, before discovering the Iron Cross Army had kidnapped Professor Fujita. Spider-Man set out to confront the group and freed the Professor. He was then attacked by his first Machine Bem monster Boukunryu and found himself unable to defeat the monster, until he summoned Leopardon and unleashed its sword vigor and destroyed Boukunryu, vowing to defeat the rest of the Iron Cross Army.
After defeating Boukunryu, Yamashiro continued to operate as a superhero after heading a message from his father's diary which read 'always take responsibility for your actions'. After joining Interpol, he eventually confronted and seemingly killed Professor Monster, finally avenging his father's death. He also accidentally gave a young orphaned boy named Ichiro Murakami superpowers after a blood transfusion.[1]
Comic appearances
Spider-Verse and Spider-Geddon
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20220530154326im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/50/Supaidaman_and_Leopardon_Comic.jpg/200px-Supaidaman_and_Leopardon_Comic.jpg)
Takuya was brought into the war against the Inheritors by Earth-616's Spider-Man and Spider-Girl, as well as Earth-65's Spider-Woman. As soon as the group arrived in their former safe zone, Earth-13, Takuya, who was already piloting the Leopardon, faced off against Solus, but the villain made quick work of the giant robot. Luckily, Takuya managed to escape the confrontation alive and join the rest of the spiders. Yamashiro stayed with the group of Spiders and during the final battle in Loomworld, he was reunited with Leopardon. Spider-Man 2099 and Lady Spider managed to fix the robot with "some future tech and some steam-power". After the Inheritors' defeat, Takuya safely returned to his world.
Yamashiro remained on Planet Spider, where he had lived in a traditional Japanese house, and allowed Spider-Zero to stay with him until Miles came. Soon after, Spider-Zero and Miles began their journey to repair the multiverse.
The Machine Bem Monsters that were created to stop Takuya attacked the new team of Spider-Men, and Takuya came through a portal from Planet Spider along with Leopardon. He participated in the final battle, and was later sent back to his home universe by Spiderling.
Powers and abilities
His powers include superhuman strength, speed, accelerated healing, being able to cling to most surfaces, heightened eyesight, and X-ray vision. He ages slower than regular humans, and is a skilled practitioner of ninjitsu. He can also has the ability to communicate with spiders, and like many other versions of Spider-Man, he possesses a spider-sense which warns him of danger, in addition to having precognitive dreams. Similarly, he also uses a web shooter bracelet to shoot webs and nets, with the device also being able to magnetically unlock doors, identify aliens in disguise, and deflect lasers. The bracelet vanishes when it is not in use, in addition to being able to produce a spare version of his costume if his original is damaged. His powers can be transferred to other people via a blood transfusion.[1]
In other media
Film
- Takuya Yamashiro and Leopardon will appear in the upcoming film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.[2]
Merchandise
A Takuya Yamashiro Funko Pop Vinyl figure was released as a Previews exclusive in 2021,[3] with a second Funko Pop Vinyl figure bundled with a soda drink becoming available in 2022.[4][5]
Miscellaneous
- Apart from the costume and powers of the main character, this TV series is unrelated to Ryoichi Ikegami's earlier manga adaptation of Spider-Man or the original Spider-Man comics. However, several manga adaptations of the Toei version were published by different magazines, such as TV Land, Tanoshī Yōchien, TV Magazine, and Bōken'ō.[6]
- A version of Spider-Man's giant robot, Leopardon, appears in Ernest Cline novel Ready Player One.
See also
References
- ^ a b Spider-Geddon Handbook #1. New York. November 5, 2018. p. 33.
- ^ Ross, Diandra (November 7, 2019). "Spider-Verse 2: Phil Lord Teases Japanese Spider-Man Appearance". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
- ^ Fallon, Sean (August 10, 2021). "Marvel Japanese TV Series Spider-Man Gets An Exclusive Funko Pop". ComicBook.com. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
- ^ Pickett, Daniel (March 15, 2022). "Funko's FCBD2022 Vinyl SODA Marvel Japan TV Spider-Man w/Glow Chase Figure Swings into Action". Action Figure Insider. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
- ^ Fallon, Sean (March 11, 2022). "Marvel Iron Man Hall of Armor Funko Pop Series Kicks off With Two Figures". ComicBook.com. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
- ^ "Manga versions of Toei's Spider-Man". Archived from the original on 2007-01-08. Retrieved 2007-01-15.