Spiderman is Japanese
YouTube – 1978 – Spider-Man live action
This endorsed, live action version of Japanese Spiderman (スパイダーマン) in 1978 pre-dates and shows how much of an influence that it had on the later shows of the 90s such as Zyuranger (16th; 1992) and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993, copy of Zyuranger).
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March 15th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
It was odd that Marvel comics back in the 70s would give the license to Toei but give it carte blanche to use the characther any they wanted
http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/spiderman-tokusatsu-japanese-version/
March 16th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
In the 70s, Japan was the end of the earth—a backwater. I beat Marvel figured that anything that happened in Japan didn’t affect their image in the Real World.
Oddly, that attitude is still held by Western actors who are not embarrassed to do doggie-doo TV commercials here in Japan. Western celebrities feel safe in the knowledge that “nobody” will see them—as chronicled by japander.com.
http://japander.com/japander/schwarz.htm