The Japanese 'Spider-Man' Series You Didn't Know Existed Is Here [Video]

Hey there, there goes the Spider-Man! Only this isn't the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler you know so well from the pages of Marvel Comics and stiffly-animated cartoon shows. As part of a promotional push for their Spider-Verse comics event, which brings together Spider-Men from the past, present and parallel universes, Marvel.com is spotlighting two vintage episodes of the 1978 Japanese-language live-action series produced by the Toei Company.

Spidey's name and his red-and-blue outfit are pretty much the only things that this Spider-Man has in common with the original Spider-Man. As the pilot episode establishes, instead of being bitten by Peter Parker's radioactive spider, new web-head Takuya Yamashiro inherits his arachnid abilities via an extract injected into his bloodstream by an intergalactic soldier from the planet Spider, who has been stranded on Earth for some 400 years. With these great powers, comes the responsibility of battling Professor Monster and the alien members of his Iron Cross Army. Good thing that Spidey has some additional weapons beyond his spider-sense and webbing: He's also in possession of a zippy set of wheels called the "Spider Machine GP-7" and, best of all, a spaceship that can transform into a giant robot that stomps loudly and carries a big sword.

Marvel.com is currently hyping the first and seventh episodes from the show's 41-episode run, but with a little digging you can find additional installments on the site as well, which finds our hero facing off against such creatures as a cat demon and a killer unicorn. (The company previously released the long-unavailable series online in 2009.) Forget those Andrew Garfield movies… this show puts the "amazing" in Amazing Spider-Man.