If you’re not a long-time fan of comic books and superheroes, in general, you may not realize that Marvel’s penchant for licensing out the film/TV rights to its characters is far from a new thing. In fact, it’s been going on for decades, as the comic book company has never been shy about allowing other studios to take a stab at its library of characters. Granted, most of the time, that has led to disastrous, often silly results. One such example is the ‘70s Japanese ‘Spider-Man.’
Well, thanks to the minds that brought us “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” it appears that the Japanese Spider-Man might actually get redemption on the big screen.
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Back in the late-‘70s, Marvel licensed Spider-Man to the Toei production company in Japan, with the studio developing a short-lived TV series based on the character. However, when we say “based on,” what we really mean is that Toei took the name “Spider-Man” and created a brand-new character with very, very Japanese origins.
The series followed a motorcycle racer named Takuya Yamashiro. Yamashiro discovers a crashed UFO and brings his father (a space archeologist, naturally) to investigate. There, they find the last remaining survivor of the planet Spider, who gives the young Yamashiro a bracelet that turns him into Spider-Man and allows him to control his very own large robot. As we said, very Japanese.
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When it was recently announced that ‘Spider-Verse’ is returning with a sequel coming in 2022, an eager fan asked for Japanese Spider-Man to make an appearance. Phil Lord, one half of the famous Lord and Miller, producers of ‘Spider-Verse,’ happily replied.
“He’s designed!” tweeted Lord.
Obviously, ‘Spider-Verse 2’ is the perfect place to showcase Japanese Spider-Man. In the previous film, various Spider-people were given their chance to shine, alongside Peter Parker and fan-favorite Miles Morales. With the dimension-hopping story, it’s fairly simple to bring Yamashiro to the animated film.
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2” is expected to arrive in theaters on April 8, 2022.
He’s designed!
— Phil Lord (@philiplord) November 5, 2019
