While there have been many iterations of Spider-Man over the years, there are some that confound even us – none perhaps more than the Japanese live-action television series from the 70s produced by the guys behind Super Sentai (better known to western audiences as Power Rangers – though, at the time, Super Sentai wasn’t a thing). Of course, we know you’re finding all of this a bit hard to believe, and trust us, we wouldn’t believe it either if we hadn’t spent years perusing clips that have been made available online, thanks to very generous uploaders. Unfortunately for Spidey completists out there, good quality versions of the series have never been available online… until now. And we have Marvel to thank:

You’re looking at the first and seventh episodes of the series that, as one can clearly see, share many similarities to the Super Sentai brand that would air in the following years, including giant mech robots. Yes, in Japan, Spider-Man has giant mech robots and, honestly, we can’t imagine Peter Parker being against or incapable of building such a thing. If you were him and had to fight the likes of Venom and The Green Goblin, wouldn’t you build a giant mech if you could?

What do you think of the Japanese Spider-Man series? Let us know in the comments below.

[HT AV Club]