Spider-Man (Takuya Yamashiro)

The Takuya Yamashiro incarnation of Spider-Man is drastically different from the traditional Marvel Comics version, with the former sharing the same name, costume, and primary superpowers.

The series greatly influenced later Tokusatsu series and anime series, as Yamashiro's series introduced the concept of a superhero summoning a giant robot to fight a massive enemy for them. While series about heroes with a giant robot have been around prior to Yamashiro, it had yet to be combined with a superhero who also fights enemies himself. As a result, it became a permanent staple of the Super Sentai franchise beginning with Battle Fever J.

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 vampiric warlord called Professor Monster. His sister, Shinko and girlfriend, 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 he 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 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, Takuya 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 gave a young orphaned boy named Ichiro Murakami superpowers after a blood transfusion.[1]

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 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 his Spider Bracelet to shoot webs and nets, with the device also being able to magnetically unlock doors, identify aliens in disguise, and deflect lasers. The Spider 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.[1]

• Spider-Man in television
• Spider-Man in film

• Takuya Yamashiro (Earth-51778) on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki