Since his 1962 debut, Spider-Man has been Marvel Comics’ flagship hero. His powers, origin, and morality are baked into the world’s pop cultural consciousness, cemented by innumerable big and small screen adaptations. Virtually anyone can tell you that Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, gaining the proportional strength and agility of a spider and enabling him to fight crime. They’ll also tell you about the tragic demise of Peter’s beloved uncle, a preventable tragedy that taught Peter about the great responsibility that comes with his powers. Like most heroes, Spider-Man is dedicated to upholding the law, refusing to take a life even in the cause of justice. All this has held across more than sixty years … unless the version of Spider-Man you saw was on Tokyo’s Channel 12 in 1978 and 1979. Then, you’d be looking at a gun-totting one-man army with his own robot, an “emissary of Hell” bent on the destruction of an invading alien armada.
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Taking a page from series like Ultramanand Kamen Rider, Toei reimagined Spider-Man as a Japanese motorcycle racer empowered with alien DNA to battle an invading army of space monsters. The Japanese Spider-Manseries is, without a doubt, the single loosest adaptation of the character – and perhaps of any super-hero – ever brought to the screen. For this reason, the show has gained a massive cult following over the decades, with there even being talk of bringing this wildly off-model Spider-Man back for the animated Spider-Versefilms. While the series was on the air in Japan, toy manufacturer Popy went all-out with a tie-in line, producing die-cast versions of Spider-Man’s giant robot, Leopardon, his GP-7 supercar, and a 12” action figure of the hero himself. Massively collectible today, these figures rarely surface outside of Japanese markets. Next week, Heritage is auctioning one of only two graded samples in the world of the Popy Spider-Man action figure, still mint in box.
The Complicated Origins of Toei’s Spider-Man,On and Off-Screen
In 1978, Marvel Comics publisher Stan Lee and president Jim Galton were interested in expanding into the Japanese market. They brought on publishing liaison Gene Pelc to broker a deal with Japanese children’s television producer Toei for use of Marvel Comics characters. Toei’s initial concept was to use Spider-Man as a supporting character in a series about the Japanese hero Yamato Takeru (akin to a King Arthur figure in Japanese folklore). When the series fell through, Toei instead shifted to a full “tokusatsu” (special effects) series geared around Spider-Man. Toei felt that the character would need to see significant alteration to resonate with Japanese children, hence the liberties taken with the character. For Marvel’s part, Toei had the license, giving them legal free reign to reinterpret their characters as they wished. Moreover, their communication with Toei was limited enough that they likely weren’t even aware of the extent of the changes being made to Spider-Man for the series.
Instead of Peter Parker, Spider-Man is Takuya Yamashiro, whose archaeologist father is killed by the wicked Professor Monster and his Iron Cross Army after discovering a crashed spaceship, the Marveller. The Marveller’s pilot, Garia, is the last survivor of the warrior race of Planet Spider, who has come to Earth to prevent its conquest at the hands of Professor Monster. Garia sends a telepathic signal to Takuya, drawing him to the Marveller so that he can give him the power to defeat Professor Monster and his minions – making this Spider-Man’s origin much closer to that of the Hal Jordan incarnation of Green Lantern. Takuya is injected with Garia’s blood, giving him a Spider Warrior’s fighting abilities, and is given a bracelet that contains his web-shooters and Spider-Man costume.
When Garia is killed in battle with Professor Monster, Spider-Man becomes steward of the Marvellerand its awesome weaponry, including the Leopardon robot and the GP7 supercar. Famously, Takuya has no qualms about killing members of the Iron Cross Army, wielding high-powered machine guns against them on numerous occasions, and declaring himself to be “the emissary of Hell, Spider-Man!” This becomes something of a catch-phrase, used by Takuya as Spider-Man before he kills a villain. In one episode, it is memorably preceded by the declaration “those of you who want to live, get out of my way!” Toei’s Spider-Man would likely have a much easier relationship with the Punisher than his Earth-616 counterpart.
The series ran for forty-one episodes, and was one of three Toei Marvel productions to result from the 1978 agreement. The others were an additional tokusatsu series, Battle Fever J(an even looser adaptation of Captain America than this series was of Spider-Man), and an animated film based on Tomb of Dracula. Marvel released a subtitled version of all forty-one Spider-Manepisodes to its website in 2009, today the series is easily found on YouTube. In 2014, the Toei Spider-Man was brought into mainstream Marvel Comics continuity as part of the Spider-Versestoryline.
A Closer Look at the Popy Spider-Man Action Figure
The Popy Spider-Man figure was innovative and exceptionally well-designed, one of the first ever toys that actually recreated Spider-Man’s iconic powers. The figure’s right arm had a spring-loaded “web-line” string that enabled the action figure to actually cast a retractable web. The web could be hung through a hook at its end, suspending the figure in the air. An additional “web” was included that could be suspended and turned into a zip-line for the figure, allowing Spider-Man to really look like he was web-swinging.
A hole in the left hand could be plugged with missiles, launched from a hidden button at the figure’s wrist. Included plastic spiders could be clipped onto the missiles, launching with them. To simulate Spider-Man’s wall-crawling, suction-cups were included, able to be clipped onto the figure’s arms. Crucially, the suction-cups were also removable, making it so that the toy’s playability and functionality weren’t otherwise impaired (as compared to, say, Toy Biz’s Nightcrawler figure). A capture web net is also included to snare (not included) bad guys. The figure’s instruction booklet depicts Godzilla ensnared in the web – an impressive feat, even for Spider-Man.
Interestingly, the box art is taken from Ross Andru and John Romita, despite the figure being based on the Toei series. Overall, the toy forms an incredibly attractive package, perfectly preserved in the 85-graded AFA (Action Figure Authority) graded sample on auction at Heritage. Putting aside the cult classic status of the series, the action figure is one of the most detailed and elaborate vintage Spider-Man figures ever produced, incredibly impressive even today. At the time of writing, the price is already over two hundred dollars with nearly two weeks left to bid. Given the eight hundred dollar price attained by the last complete, non-mint sample sold on eBay, that price-tag is likely to get much higher as bidding continues.
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