As the geek world is in a humorous uproar about Batman not being allowed to go down on Catwoman (no, really – it’s a thing and the memes are funny), a friend sent me a distraction in the form of a new foreign Spider-Man ripoff. I will share that one today for sure, but I also want to make sure you see two others.
You can’t call yourself a Spider-Man fan until you’ve seen these.
Supaidaman (Japanese Spider-Man)
In the late 70s, Marvel actually allowed a company in Japan a license on Spider-Man to create a TV show – and, man, did they deliver?!
In addition to having some Spider-Man traits you may be familiar with (super strength, webbing, wall-crawling, etc.) – “motorcyclist Takuya Yamashiro, who [was] injected with alien blood in order to defend Earth from Professor Monster and the Iron Cross Army,” (source) wore a huge wrist gauntlet that released his costume when it was pressed so that he could “transform” into his heroic alter-ego. He fought uniformed henchmen who essentially amounted to Putties (from Power Ranger-fame). Oh, and he had vehicles with weapons on them and was able to call on a giant flying mech named “Marveller”.
Yep… he was a damn Power Ranger.
But he also a little street-level. Supaidaman wasn’t afraid to use the heat if he had to…
Oh, 70s.
The action is over the top and an embodiment of tropes appropriate for the culture and period. There was even a movie!
This series has gained somewhat of a cult following even though it was only around for like 2 years, and people actually want some version of this Spider-Man to potentially appear in a future installment of Sony’s Spider-Verse franchise. We shall see.
Italian Spiderman
According to Wikipedia…
Italian Spiderman is a film parody of Italian action-adventure films of the 60s and 70s, first released on YouTube in 2007.
Wikipedia
Wow. Where do I begin with Italian Spider-Man?
This 2007 parody “version” of Spider-Man (if you reeeeealllly want to call it that) has a lot going on. Smoking, orgies, violence, murder, chickens, motorcycles, Luchadore masks, surfing, guns, and giants.
Yes, really — all of that.
Oh, and it also gave the internet this gem of a .gif reaction meme…
“It started out as a short trailer by an Australian film company for a movie that didn’t exist until the audience demanded that it really exist. Thus, the full movie was made.” (source) Intended to spoof and make fun of all of the international knock-off versions of heroes out there, Italian Spiderman ended up being one of those “so bad it’s good” videos to remember and endeared to many who like stupid stuff.
Spiderman Africa
Rounding out the set is the one my friend sent me the other day. I don’t know much about this new iteration other than it will surely join the pantheon of great superhero knock-offs down the line. This is clearly a budget YouTube series put together by a group of friends, but I have to say that I admire the effort.
I mean… Would a Spider-Man/Jax fight go down this way?? No. Spider-Man would CRUSH Jax if it came to blows, but for what this is – I’ll allow it.
This is just one, but there are several episodeS (with an “s”) of this comedy series. Click the image below if you’re curious and want to see more.
I’m always confused when I see things like this getting attention online and notice that big companies don’t do anything to protect their intellectual property, but if they’ll allow it – so will I.
None of this is intended to be silver-screen material, and it’s all in good fun – so as long as other countries keep putting out “great” spoofs like this and international copyright law doesn’t apply, I’m in. Let the geekdom reign. Do you know of any other specific Spider-Man iterations that I missed? If so, please share them in the comment section below.
Peace, and thanks for reading.
The soundtrack for this post provided by…
Image Credits:
– Cover Image © ClassicVector (Shutterstock)
– Body Images 1 & 2 © Toei Company / Marvel Comics Group
– Body Images 3 & 4 © Alrugo Entertainment
– Body Image 5 © WALKER REIGNS TV