Spider-Man (Takuya Yamashiro)
, also known as 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 "" (2023) and "" (2024), the upcoming sequels to "" (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 vampric 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. Comic appearances. Section::::"Spider-Verse" and "Spider-Geddon". 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. In other media. Merchandise. A Takuya Yamashiro Funko Pop Vinyl figure was released as a Previews exclusive in 2021, with a second Funko  Pop Vinyl figure bundled with a soda drink becoming available in 2022.