The 1970s Japanese Version of Spider-Man Was a Motorcyclist Who Received His Powers From a Dying Alien

In 1979, the Tokyo-based Toei Company produced a live-action Spider-Man television series, which was based on Marvel‘s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. They had an entirely different take on the web slinger. Their version of Spider-Man was taken on by young motorcycle racer, Takuya Yamashiro, who was played by Shinji Tôdô. The motorcyclist received his special powers from a dying alien who crashed on Earth and injected Takuya with some of his own blood. You can stream episodes of the Japanese Spider-Man series online at Marvel.

video via Roman Glukhov

via TIME