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We might not immediately associate Spider-Man with Japan, but the fact is that the Toei Spider-Man series did a lot to help make the webslinger into the global pop culture force that he is. However, its biggest impact wasn’t on Marvel Comics or other live-action movies like in the MCU. In fact, it wasn't even on a Spider-Man project at all. Instead, it was in a totally different pop culture phenomenon – Power Rangers.

Back in the late 70s, Marvel teamed up with Toei to create a live-action Spider-Man TV show for Japan. However, plopping the webslinger down in a foreign country required some significant changes to his lore. Instead of Peter Parker, he was Takuya Yamashiro. Instead of getting his powers from a radioactive spider, he got his powers from an alien spider and a pseudo-science wristband. And instead of merely swinging from building to building, Toei’s Spider-Man has access to a wicked spaceship called the Marveller that, importantly, transforms into a giant mech called the Leopardon, which was used to fight enlarged versions of the show’s villains.

Those last two bits are the important part of this story because, a few years earlier, Toei had debuted one of their most iconic shows, Super Sentai. Up until then, it had been focused on hand-to-hand fights against the bad guys. However, one of the learnings from their short-lived Spider-Man show was that kids loved buying robot toys. The Leopardon toys sold surprisingly well and, within a few years, a similar giant robot was introduced into Super Sentai. 

The formula for Super Sentai became clear. The team fought briefly against standard-sized enemies before battling giant-sized versions of them in their robot. The day is saved before the process is repeated in the next episode. That formula got even more apparent when the footage was edited into Saban’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers series in the US. Meanwhile, the Super Sentai series has been going strong for more than 50 years. 

Would Super Sentai or Power Rangers have been as popular without the influence of Toei’s Spider-Man series? It is tough to say, but, at the very least, it wouldn’t have looked quite the same. 

Marvel's most reliable superhero has proven he can do a whole lot more than just 'whatever a spider can.' Swing into Spidey's history with Popverse's...

• Best Spider-Man comic books 
• The best Spider-Mans (or is it Spider-Men?)
• Spider-Man movie watch order
• Spider-Man's actors, ranked
• The best Spider-Man suits
• and the Spider-verse explained!

Just watch out for that radioactive blood.