Title/issues: Warriors of Three Sovereigns (三皇斗战士)#1-12 (May 2018-August 2019)

Where: China

Featuring: Sword Master

616?: Yes - Sword Master has continued to appear in American comics.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: Yes, under the title Sword Master.

Comments: In 2018 Marvel struck a deal with Chinese online game provider NetEase to bring video games, comics and TV series to the Chinese market. As well as making available digitally translated versions of existing Marvel titles for their Chinese audience, NetEase jointly produced new titles with brand new Asian heroes in locally produced stories. While most overseas titles tend to fall into one of two categories - overlooked by Marvel U.S. and possibly unauthorized, or initially overlooked by Marvel U.S. but later recognized and integrated into the wider Marvel milieu, the new titles NetEase co-produced fell into the rarer third category previously only occupied (to the best of my knowledge) by Marvel UK's late 1980s/early 1990s U.S. formatted titles, to whit being intended from the outset to be fully integrated with Marvel U.S. and released there too. Thus around a year after their Chinese debut, the NetEase titles were translated into English and reprinted under modified titles in the U.S. In the case of Warriors of Three Sovereigns, its U.S. reprint was titled Sword Master.

Title/issues: Aero (气旋   - literal translation "Cyclone")#1-7 (May 2018-August 2019)

Where: China

Featuring: Aero

616?: Yes - Aero has continued to appear in American comics

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: Yes, as Aero.

Comments: The second of NetEase's series was Aero. Seven issues in China, the U.S. reprint of the same name ran to 12 issues because the only reprinted roughly half a Chinese issue per American one, filling out the rest of the pages with a second, new Aero story.

  I've not found any mentions of further NetEase produced comics, nor of the TV series mentioned (and I'm not into gaming enough to know if any of the recent Marvel games were NetEase's); given that it's been a couple of years now with no new titles that I know if, the deal may have ended, though the characters that were introduced continue to appear prominently in Marvel U.S. titles, with Sword Master having changed codenames to take up the mantle of Iron Fist while Aero joined the new Agents of Atlas title and latterly has been appearing in The Marvels, so perhaps there's hope for new Chinese material to come.

Title/issues: Spider-Man India#1-4 (November 2004-February 2005)

Where: India

Featuring: Spider-Man (Pavitr Prabhakar)

616?: No. Deliberately set in an alternate reality (Earth-50101); however, this version of Spider-Man has visited 616 and met the other Spider-Men.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: Yes

Comments: While Marvel characters have turned up in Indian comics previously, as far as I know all such appearances were unauthorized cameos in native characters' own titles, such as the time Spider-Man teamed up with Batman, Superman and local hero Nagraj in Nagraj#19. However in 2004 Gotham Entertainment Group, who held the rights to republish Marvel titles for the Indian market, arranged for a new four part Spider-Man India series, introducing a world where Mumbai resident Pavitr Prabhakar became Spidey. The series was subsequently reprinted in the U.S. by Marvel a few months later, and with the advent of the Spiderverse, Pavitr has continued to appear many times over subsequent years, but not in any further Indian produced titles.

The Indonesian cover text says "Between Galaxies", but this is the cover of Incredible Hulk II#245, whose story has nothing to do with space. The story within at first glance isn't from any American Hulk story, but on closer inspection it becomes clear that it's a redrawn version of the story that originally appeared in Incredible Hulk II#142.

   Similarly, given that the title of the comic to the left, Bidaari Penyihir, matches the interior story title above, that suggests the comic to the left is probably just the above with a different cover; why go to the effort of producing a whole new comic when you can just slap a new cover on an old one?

   Additionally, Indonesian comics of the 70s and 80s (and likely decades either side of those) were full of unauthorized cameos from American comic characters. For example, the covers of the Bentrok Djago2 Dunia series show an eclectic mix of characters including local superhero Gundala, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Hawkman, Thor, Supergirl and Sun Goku (the Monkey King) all fighting one another. However, since these fall under unauthorized cameos rather than new tales where Marvel characters are the leads, or Marvel character guest appearances/cameos with some authorization to them, I'm not going to try to cover them on these pages. I will however give a mention to one of the funniest unauthorized crossovers I've found in Indonesian titles, that of Thor with what appears to be some sort of bizarrely mutated dog-leopard hybrid version of Scooby-Doo - see right.

   So as yet I've not located any actual new Marvel stories produced in Indonesia, and I'm only including this section here to make it clear I've not overlooked any of the titles depicted - as stated above, there are at least a few Indonesian comics that appear at first glance to be new tales, but which really aren't. If, however, anyone reading this knows of actual new tales, please do get in touch.

Title/issues: Monthly Bessatsu Shonen Magazine (月刊別冊少年マガジン): January 1970 through September 1971

Where: Japan

Featuring: Spider-Man (Yu Komori)

616?: No. Deliberately set in an alternate reality (Earth-70019); however, this version of Spider-Man has encountered the 616 one during Spiderverse

Summary: (MBSM: Jan-Feb 1970) - "The Birth of Spider-Man"

(MSBM Mar 1970) - "The Transformation of Doctor Inumaru"

(MSBM Apr 1970) - "Too Strong a Hero"

(MSBM May-Jun 1970) - "The False Spider-Man"

(MSBM Jul 1970) - "Yu, Lost in the Weeds"- Yu prevents a young girl from being raped.

(MSBM Aug 1970) - "Summer of Madness"

(MSBM Sep-Oct 1970) - "What is My Destination?"

(MSBM Nov 1970) - "Woman of Winter"

(MSBM Dec 1970-Jan or Feb 1971) - "Strangers"

(MSBM Feb or Mar-Apr 1971) - "The Mania Demon"

(MSBM May-Jul 1971) - "Shadow of Spider-Man"

(MSBM Aug 1971) - "Witch of the Golden Eye"

(MSBM Sep 1971) - "The Woman Who Raises the Tiger"

Reprinted in English?: Partially

Comments: One of the better known Japanese takes on Spider-Man, thanks to being partially translated and reprinted in the U.S.A. in Spider-Man: The Manga, well written up on Wikipedia, and having this version of Spider-Man, Yu Komori, turn up in the Spiderverse event. Written by Kōsei Ono (first six issues) and Kazumasa Hirai (remaining issues) and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami (later to become famous as the artist on series such as Crying Freeman), this take transplanted Spider-Man from America to another country, Japan, much as later Japanese retellings and Spider-Man India would all subsequently do. Published by Kodansha, Spider-Man's tales appeared in Monthly Bessatsu Shonen Magazine (Gekkan bessatsu shonen magajin/Monthly Special Issue Shonen Magazine, or sometimes just simplified to Monthly Shonen Magazine) - Shonen literally translating as "First Year", but being the manga terminology indicating comics aimed at adolescent boys. His first appearance in the January 1970 issue was a mere thirteen pages, serving to introduce the character to his new audience, but after this he shifted up to 109 pages per issue.

    The initial stories drew heavily on the American version, but once Hirai took over as the series scribe it shifted to a darker tone. The series has been collected several times (literally every decade since the 70s bar the current one...yet) in Japan in bunkoban (paperback) editions, and in 1997 through 1999 the translated Spider-Man: The Manga brought the story to English-speaking audiences, albeit in some cases censored to tone down some of the violence. Cancelled after thirty-one issues, the English translation had yet to get round to September and October 1970, January through April 1971, or August and September 1971, leaving one story ("Strangers") only partially covered, and four ("What is My Destination!", "The Mania Demon", "Witch of the Golden Eye" and "The Woman Who Raises the Tiger") not covered at all. It's also worth mentioning that Spider-Man: The Manga reprinted the story in black and white, as did all the Japanese reprints, but the original edition was at least partially in color. As well as the English reprints, there have been partial released in Portuguese and Italian.

Title/issues: Weekly Bokura Magazine#48 (24th November 1970) - 52 (22nd December 1970); #1 (1st January 1971)-13, 18-23 (1st Jun 1971)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Hulk ("Haraku")

616?: No. Deliberately set in an alternate reality. Which is as yet unconfirmed, but I'd personally bet on it being the same one Yu Komori comes from, given they share a creator and overlapped publication dates.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: Kodansha's next Japanese-take on a Marvel hero, again written by Kosei Ono, the Hulk appeared in Weekly Bokura Magazine; now the alter ego of Dr. Araki, a Japanese scientist who as a child had survived the Hiroshima bombing; however, other aspects of the Hulk's origins remained the same as his American counterpart, with Araki being in Nevada to oversee a Gamma Bomb test under the military oversight of General Ross and Major Talbot, spotting a boy (here Ricky Tenda instead of Rick Jones) wandering across the test site just prior to detonation, risking his own life to save the lad only to be caught in the blast thanks to the interference of a spy, Igor, who had been posing as Araki's assistant. Sadly, the series has never been either collected nor translated.

   In recognition for being the creator of both the Japanese Spider-Man and Hulk, Kosei Ono, was later turned into a character in Shogun Warriors by Herb Trimpe, whose art Ono had used as inspiration for his Hulk manga.

Title/issues: Spider-Man (Toei TV series, 17th May 1978-14th March 1979)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Spider-Man (Takuya Yamashiro)

616?: No. Deliberately set in an alternate reality (Earth-51778), though this version of Spider-Man has met the 616 one during Spiderverse.

Summary: To follow - 41 episodes and 1 movie

Released with dubbing or subtitles in English?: Yes

Comments: Though I've not been able to confirm the veracity of the story, allegedly the Japanese live action Spider-Man came about because Marvel wanted to license the Shogun Warriors toys being released in the States by Mattel, but learned that the robots in the toy range were actually all from different anime and that Mattel had only licensed toy rights. Thus (the story goes) to get the rights to use the robots in a comic, Marvel had to approach the Japanese TV companies that owned them. One of these was Toei, who owned Combatra (a.k.a. Chōdenji Robo Combattler V/Super Electromagnetic Robot Combattler V) and Danguard Ace (a.k.a. Wakusei Robo Dangādo Ēsu/Planetary Robot Danguard Ace); rival studio Soeisha/Sunrise owned the third robot Marvel ended up using, Raydeen (a.k.a. Yūsha Raidīn/Brave Raideen). And supposedly to secure the rights from Toei, Marvel struck a deal whereby they could use the robots in their comic, and in return Toei would develop several live action TV shows based on Marvel characters, notably Spider-Man, Captain America, Moon Knight, Silver Surfer and 3-D Man - more on the latter four below. The first of these to be made was Spider-Man, and (again per the same account) since giant robots had helped them secure the license, they decided to add a giant robot to the show.

   This last was a significant evolution in Japanese tokusatsu. Literally translating as "special effects," tokusatsu was the name given to the genre of live action movies and shows that heavily relied on special effects. This was in turn split up into a number of subgenres, including kaiju ("strange beast" - strictly speaking monsters of any size, with the prefix dai ("large") needing to be added for them to be giants like Godzilla or Gamera); superhero (c.f. Kamen Rider); kyodai ("giant hero" - a superhero who is already giant or can grow to become giant to fight giant monsters - c.f. Ultraman or Godzilla's foe Jet Jaguar), mecha (heroes piloting giant robots, c.f. Giant Robo), and sentai ("task force", a team of heroes - in the States these are the various Power Ranger series). Spider-Man would combine all of these bar the last, which it instead would permanently change, because his show was the first tokusatsu series where the hero would fight a monster, only for the creature to grow to enormous size, forcing the hero to summon a giant robot they would then pilot to battle their enlarged foe. Two Toei sentai series (with no mecha) had already been produced prior to Spider-Man airing, but the toy sales for Spider-Man's Leopardon robot were so good that the next, Battle Fever J (see below) and all subsequent sentai series would include them too; as a result of this addition, Battle Fever J became the first "super sentai" series, though that appellation was retroactively applied to the earlier two shows.

    In this incarnation, Spider-Man is a motocross rider named Takuya Yamashiro who gains his powers after voluntarily accepting an injection of blood from dying alien Garia, a warrior from planet Spider.

    Despite the show's success in Japan, there was no prospect of a dubbed version being released in the U.S.A. at the time because of Marvel's commitment to Columbia Pictures, who had recently made the Amazing Spider-Man TV series with Nicholas Hammond.

    Much like many U.S.-made Marvel cartoons, the Spider-Man TV show was accompanied by a number of comic adaptations, discussed below.

Title/issues: Terebi rando#6 (テレビランド, June 1978)-12 (December 1978); #1 (January 1979)-3 (March 1979)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Spider-Man (Takuya Yamashiro)

616?: No - see TV show's entry.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: A ten part story of the Toei Spider-Man created by Saito Eiichi for publication in Terebi Rando (TV Land), a manga anthology that generally featured adaptations of Toei-owned superhero characters.

Title/issues: Bōken-ō#6 (June 1978); Bōken-ō komikku bunko 7-12 (July-December 1978), #1-4 (January-April 1979)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Spider-Man (Tetsuya Yamashiro)

616?: No - see TV show's entry.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: Produced by artist Sugayashi Mitsuru, a manga version of the Toei Spider-Man TV show began an eleven part story in Bōken-ō ("Adventure King")#6, with subsequent episodes transferred to an insert within the magazine called Bōken-ō komikku bunko ("Adventure King Comic Bunko"). It modified the lead's backstory slightly, so that Spider-Man is now Tetsuya rather than Takuya, and gained his powers after a having the human-faced spider Gaul forcibly inject spider extract into his neck.

Title/issues: Terebi Magajin#7-12 (July-December 1978); #1-3 (January-March 1979)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Spider-Man (Takuya Yamashiro)

616?: No - see TV show's entry.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: A third manga version of Toei's Spider-Man created by Tsuhara Yoshiaki was published in Terebi Magajin (TV Magazine) between July 1978 to March 1979. One interesting aspect of this story is the introduction of a black-costumed version of Spider-Man, albeit one that turns out to be a villainous robot created to fight the real hero.

Title/issues: Tanoshī yōchien#11 (November 1978)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Spider-Man (Takuya Yamashiro)

616?: No - see TV show's entry

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: The final manga for the Toei Spider-Man was a single issue appearance by Yoshihiro Morito in the appeared in the November 1978 issue of Fun Kindergarten (Tanoshī yōchien)

Title/issues: Terebi Magajin#12 (December 1978); Tanoshī yōchien#1 (January 1979); Disneyland (January 1979) (see comments)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Spider-Man, Kamen Rider V3

616?: No - see TV show's entry.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: Toei's Spider-Man also featured in a photo story where he teamed up with another Toei tokusatsu superhero, Kamen Rider V3. For those not aware of that latter character, he was the star of the second series in the Kamen Rider ("Masked Rider") franchise. Anyone with a passing knowledge of Power Rangers knows they reboot the show with new heroes and villains regularly, which is something they inherited from their Japanese forebears, the Super Sentai series. That same template was used with Kamen Rider (and indeed many other tokusatsu such as Ultraman), so there have to date been over 30 Kamen Riders, both series and individual heroes.

   When I first saw images from this, I thought it was purely some promotional shots that had been taken, but it turns out to be a proper story, complete with word balloons. According to what little I could find out, it appeared in three unconnected magazines, but I'm not sure if each carried the complete tale, or if it was split into three parts across them. The few scans I've seen show page and panel numbering that repeats, which supports the latter option.

   This crossover story is interesting on a number of fronts:
   Firstly, it ties Toei's Spider-Man into the same shared universe as one of the Kamen Riders, and since the Kamen Riders all share the same universe too (they've had several crossover stories) then Spider-Man is also part of that world too. And since there have been crossover stories between the Kamen Riders and Super Sentai, and since the Super Sentai have also had crossovers with each other, he's part of that whole massive shared universe.
   Secondly, Kamen Rider V3 was a curious choice for this crossover. His series ended in 1974, and by the time of this photo story there had already been three further Kamen Riders.

Title/issues: Spider-Man / Ultraman live show

Where: Japan

Featuring: Spider-Man, Ultraman

616?: No - see TV show's entry.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: There were outdoor live shows starring Spider-Man and Ultraman held in the Futako Tamagawa area between 17th March and 5th June 1979, twice daily at 12 noon and 2pm. Sadly I have no additional details about these, as I only know of them because Stephen Rizzo kindly provided a scan of a ticket for the event.

Title/issues: Televi-Kun#8-12 (August-December 1979); 1-7 (January-July 1980)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Moon Knight (Shingo Tōma)

616?: Almost certainly not. While it's theoretically not impossible that a Japanese man in 616 might have coincidentally adopted the name and mantle also used by Khonshu's avatar, and there has been more than one Moon Knight in 616 history, it's fairly unlikely. Purely speculation, but he may exist on Earth-51778, the same reality as the Spider-Man TV show, since they were intended to be TV shows from the same company, and Toei tended to have their series share a universe, based on the numerous crossovers.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: As mentioned above, Toei's deal with Marvel also saw them working to develop shows based on characters other than Spider-Man. Their plan for Captain Japan, their version of Captain America, would evolve into the Super Sentai series Battle Fever J (see below); Silver Surfer allegedly eventually morphed into the non-Marvel series Space Ranger Gavan (see below), while plans for 3-D Man were completed abandoned, but Moon Knight made it a little further. Though no TV series emerged, the development got far enough for a manga strip, presumably intended to be a preview/tie-in had the TV version come to fruition, and character design drawings for the show done by Ryu Noguchi (see right).

   The strip by Gosaku Ota was published in late 1979/early 1980 in Televi-Kun (or Teribikun) magazine - terebi/televi being the Japanese word for television, and kun being the honorific used for small children, usually boys - thus Televi-Kun featured tales based on TV shows popular with boys aged roughly between 5 and 11.

    In this version of Moon Knight character, he was apparently Shingo Tōma, a high school student and secret member of the Silver Wolf ninja clan, who gained the powers of his clan's Sacred Wolf after his family is murdered by the villainous rival Black Wolf clan. Thanks to the Sacred Wolf he cannot be killed during moonlit nights, even surviving when his body is sliced into pieces.

Title/issues: Battle Fever J (バトルフィーバーJジェー Batoru Fībā Jē): (3rd February 3 1979-26th January 26 1980)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Battle Fever J

616?: No. Based on crossover stories, they are from Earth-51778, the same reality as the Toei Spider-Man TV series.

Summary: To follow

Released with dubbing or subtitles in English?: No

Comments: As mentioned above, Toei also began development on a Japanese version of Captain America, named, unsurprisingly, Captain Japan. This new series, a co-production with Marvel Comics in the U.S.A., was originally meant to star Captain Japan with other heroes only guesting to team up with him, but somewhere along the line it morphed into the third of Toei's Sentai shows. Per an interview in Comics Interview with Gene Pelc, then Marvel's representative in Asia, this was inspired by the Avengers. I've also read that though Spider-Man had been popular, American comic book heroes were still largely unknown in Japan, so Toei began to feel there was little value in directly adapting Marvel characters rather than making their own characters that they'd retain ownership of after the Marvel deal ended. Thus the team members were revised to be skilled specialists from around the world, and "Captain" was changed to "Battle," as recognized by their alter egos' codenames: Battle Japan, Battle Cossack, Battle France, Battle Kenya and Miss America.

   That explains the Battle part of the series name, and J for Japan is fairly obvious, but Fever? It turns out that Saturday Night Fever was a recent huge hit in Japan, so Fever was added to the title and each team member had their own distinctive dance they would perform during team roll calls - Japan's utilized martial arts, Cossack did a half-hearted attempt at the hopak (the arms-folded, knees-bent kicking dance), France did a flamenco (yes, that's actually a Spanish dance - I guess Toei didn't realize), Kenya did an African tribal dance (or at least what the creators probably thought was one), and America did some disco moves. And yes, it did look as ridiculous as it sounds.

   In story they initially weren't referred to as Battle Fever J, but rather Team Battle Fever; however, when later shows referred back to them, they were referred to by the show's name. Thanks to the popularity of Spider-Man's Leopardon robot, Battle Fever J also got a mech, Battle Fever Robo, the first Sentai team to have one, and such giant robots became a mainstay of every subsequent Sentai show. From Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan, two shows later, this addition led to the teams being referred to as Super Sentai rather than just Sentai; when the twelfth Sentai series was publicized as the tenth Super Sentai, Battle Fever J was retroactively confirmed as the first Super Sentai show, a title it held for many years until the first two robotless Sentai series were finally officially included in the "Super" fold.

   As well as the TV series, the characters appeared in picture books (which may or may not have had stories within) and five manga series, in Primary Student Magazine (by Morihiko Ishikawa - allegedly - I've been unable to confirm this manga's existence), Terebi rando/TV Land (by Yuji Hosoi), Terebi-kun (by Morihiko Ishikawa), Terebi Magajin (by Yoshiaki Tsuhara) and Bōken-ō (Takeshi Kojo). However I don't have specific issues for those appearances, and given that the show already strays somewhat from the "Marvel stories" remit, I'm probably not going to rush to hunt them down and add them.

   To the bottom right: a snippet of an interview with Gene Pelc that appeared in Comics Interview; in the article he mostly talks about Marvel's involvement with Toei, and in this section specifically about Battle Fever J.

Title/issues: "A Great Gathering of Superheroes!" Superhero Dai Shūgo at Korakuen Yuenchi (Korakuen Amusement Park) (1980)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Spider-Man, Battle Fever J

616?: No. See entry for Toei Spider-Man TV series.

Summary: To follow

Released with dubbing or subtitles in English?: No

Comments: Each year from 1979 to 1995 the outdoor theater at Korakuen Yuenchi held an event called Superhero Dai Shūgo ("Superhero Gathering") which featured a number of different popular characters from recent TV shows, both live action and animated, teaming up to fight a common foe. The line-up changed from year to year, updating to reflect new shows and to replace characters who had dropped from the public consciousness, with one Sentai team as the focus and the other guests as heroes coming to assist them. In 1980 the Toei Spider-Man was one of the characters, featured alongside the stars, Battle Fever J's five members, as well as Ultraman Joneus, Kamen Rider V3 (Spidey's old ally, as seen above), Kamen Rider Stronger, Denizman (appearing in shows around New Years to promote the forthcoming new Sentai series - see below) and Doraemon (the last, being a character from an anime aimed at very young children, and wearing a costume not conducive to performing acrobatics, appeared on stage with the others when the show was announced, but didn't join in the live show on another stage).

    The photo to the right appeared in some sort of promotional material for the show, and had Japanese text below it which read "Spider-Man, which aired last year, also appeared. Doraemon has performed shows elsewhere and has not appeared in the amphitheater." In 1994 to commemorate the show's long run a guide was released with photos and information about all the different versions - Korakuen Yuenchi Outdoor Theater Official Guide Super Hero Show Complete Collection Complete Edition - I've only seen a few random pages scanned online, and it's possible there are more featuring Spidey.

   Though 1980 was Spider-Man's only appearance, members of the three Super Sentai teams with ties to Marvel continued to show up for several subsequent years:

• 1981 - the Electronic Sentai Denjiman starred, while Battle Fever J's Battle Japan and Kenya assisted; the incoming Super Sentai team Sun Sentai Sun Vulcan were introduced on New Years Day.
• 1982 - the Sun Sentai Sun Vulcan starred, while Battle Japan and Miss America from Battle Fever J and Denzi-Red and Denzi-Green from Denjiman assisted.
• 1983 - Balpanther from Sun Vulcan, and Denzi-Red and Denzi-Green from Denjiman all assisted
• 1984 - Balpanther assisted.
• 1985 - Balpanther again assisted, and Denzi-Green returned to help too.
• 1986 - Sun Vulcan's Balshark replaced Balpanther, becoming the last Marvel-related character to attend the show.

Title/issues: Denshi Sentai Denjiman (電子戦隊デンジマン, Electro-Squad Denjiman): (2nd February 2 1980 to 31st January 1981)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Denshi Sentai Denjiman

616?: No. Based on crossovers they are from Earth-51778, the same reality as the Toei Spider-Man TV series.

Summary: To follow

Released with dubbing or subtitles in English?: No

Comments: The second Toei series co-produced by Marvel. Despite this, and unlike its immediate predecessor, there's no Marvel DNA visible in the show's characters, except for the villainous Queen Hedrian (seen right), who seems to be cosplaying as the Hela you get when you order her from Wish. However, it was definitely a show that Marvel had input to, per Marvel's Asia rep Gene Polc's comments in Comics Interview:

    Like Battle Fever J, Denjiman also had manga series, appearing in Terebi rando/TV Land (by Yuji Hosoi), Sugar Sato (creator unknown), Terebi Magajin (by Yoshiaki Tsuhara) and Bōken-ō (Masanobu Asai). Again, I don't have specific issues for those appearances, and don't currently intend to track down the details to add it here.

Title/issues: Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned (闇の帝王 吸血鬼ドラキュラ, Yami no Teiō: Kyūketsuki Dorakyura, lit. The Emperor of Darkness: The Vampire Dracula): (18th August 1980)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Dracula

616?: Potentially, given it was a loose adaptation of an American storyline.

Summary: To follow

Released with dubbing or subtitles in English?: Yes

Comments: As well as live action TV shows, Toei's deal with Marvel also extended to doing animated features. The first of these was a Dracula tale based somewhat loosely around Tomb of Dracula#7-50. Naturally, trying to condense such a lengthy storyline into 94 minutes led to both the jettisoning of a huge percentage of the comics' plot, and also left the movie feeling badly paced and disjointed. Initially aired in Japan on TV Asahi in 1980, it wasn't shown in the U.S. until 1983; it didn't do well with audiences in either country, because frankly it's a mess.

   Again, Gene Polc had a few words to say on this in Comics Interview:

Title/issues: Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan (太陽戦隊サンバルカン Taiyō Sentai San Barukan, translated into English as Solar Squadron Sun Vulcan): (7th February 1981-30th January 1982)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Solar Squadron Sun Vulcan

616?: No. Based on crossovers it is set on Earth-51778, the same as the Toei Spider-Man TV series.

Summary: To follow

Released with dubbing or subtitles in English?: No

Comments: The last Sentai series with a Marvel copyright and co-producer credit, though it had even less evidence of Marvel influence than its predecessor. However, it was a direct sequel to Denjiman, with the villain Queen Hedrian carrying over to this show. More importantly for the Marvel connection, this was the series that Stan Lee tried to sell to America, either dubbed or with the scenes involving the Japanese actors out of costume cut out and reshot with American actors instead. If that sounds familiar, it's because that's exactly what Saban Entertainment did to create Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers about a decade later. Stan showed Margaret Loesch, then CEO of Marvel Entertainment, some clips from the show, thus winning her over, but despite their best attempts they failed to convince network executives to run with the idea. A few years later Haim Saban had the same idea after seeing Super Sentai on TV while visiting Japan; he created his own pilot by cutting in footage with U.S. actors into clips from Choudenshi Bioman, the eighth Super Sentai show, but like Stan and Margaret before him he was constantly rejected by the networks he showed it to, usually because they found the whole concept behind Sentai shows hard to grasp. Then in 1992 he pitched his pilot to Fox Kids, only to find that networks' president didn't even need to see it to be sold on the idea. Why? Because from Fox Kids' launch in 1990, its president had been Margaret Loesch. Thus Stan Lee helped bring Power Rangers to America, not only by helping turn Sentai into Super Sentai, but by laying the groundwork for a sympathetic network executive to finally take up Haim Saban on the whole concept.

    Again, Gene Polc discussed Stan's plans for selling Sun Vulcan to American networks in Comics Interview (and if you have Netflix you can see Margaret Loesch discuss Stan selling her on the idea in their documentary series The Toys That Made Us, in the Power Rangers episode - highly recommended even for those not into Power Rangers).

     Like its two predecessors, Sun Vulcan had manga series, appearing in Terebi rando/TV Land (by Yuji Hosoi), Sugar Sato (creator unknown), Terebi Magajin (by Yoshiaki Tsuhara) and Bōken-ō (Akira Otani). Again, I don't have specific issues for those appearances, and don't currently intend to track down the details to add it here.

Title/issues: Monster of Frankenstein (Kyōfu Densetsu Kaiki! Frankenstein / 恐怖伝説 怪奇！フランケンシュタイン) (27th July 1981)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Frankenstein's Monster

616?: Potentially, since it was loosely based on the 616 comics.

Summary: To follow

Released with dubbing or subtitles in English?: Yes

Comments: Literally translating into English as The Bizarre Legend of Horror! Frankenstein, this was the second and last of Toei's animated movies based on a Marvel property. It was nominally based on Marvel's Monster of Frankenstein comic, though honestly it owed as much to both Mary Shelley's original novel and the Universal movies based on that book as it did to the comics, liberally lifting elements from those that were not in Marvel's version. Airing on TV Asahi in Japan in 1981 and in the U.S.A. in 1984, it was a failure like Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned before it. It is pretty bad, though to be fair not as much of a disaster as Dracula, if only because by sticking to retelling the Monster's origin they didn't set themselves up for failure by trying to squeeze in too much story in their 93 minute run time.

So what about 3-D Man? It seems plans got far enough for a design sketch (left) by Ryo Noguchi, who provided many character designs used in Toei's other tokusatsu series, and Toei included 3-D Man in at least one piece of merchandising they released for their Spider-Man show, specifically a line of erasers shaped like Marvel characters. However, that seems to be as far as things progressed.

And what about Silver Surfer? Development on that got somewhat further. A "New Program Proposal" was put together, detailing characters and including some concept art for them.

   The title on the right hand page reads "New program proposal". The smaller text below it says "Toei Co., Ltd." The title on the yellow page states "Silver Surfer."

   The show was intended to be a thirty minutes long, with a minimum of 26 episodes, and Saburo Yate had developed the story based on the Marvel version, but with some significant changes. The premise was that the Space Emperor Galactus and his armies, the Galactus Legion, were conquering their way across the universe, and the Surfer, once an unwilling recruit into that army, had fled to the next target, Earth, to protect it. There he recruits two allies, Ms. Marvel and the Thing, with all three working for the Japanese branch of the Independent Strategy Office. Through the run of the show Marvel characters, as well as original Japanese ones, were to be gradually introduced.

Shibuki Koshi was a human-alien hybrid from Zen-La. Captured when Galactus' forces invaded and destroyed his homeworld he was converted by the Psychic Strategy Development Section into a space combat soldier, but then escaped to his late mother's home planet, Earth, riding his surfboard, which was named Skyboard.

Masumi Suzuka was a college student working part time at a coffee shop frequented by Shibuki. A member of the wealthy Suzuja family, she had from birth been physically superior to most other humans, possessing precognitive and clairvoyant abilities.

Gen Ishihara was a truck diver who frequented Masumi's coffee shop. While investigating an incident involving some of Galactus' forces he had been caught in an explosion that bathed him in strange energies, as well as a "monster ray," transforming him into a superhuman creature of immense strength.

Ultimately the proposal didn't go ahead, but it is frequently cited to have morphed into Uchuu Keiji Gavan (Space Ranger Gavan), which was released in March 1982 and features a silver space roving hero shooting lasers out his arms while surfing along, albeit on a motorcycle sidecar. If true, this makes Stan Lee not only indirectly semi-responsible for the Super Sentai and Power Rangers, but also the Metal Hero tokusatsu subgenre (typified by a hero who appears metallic, either due to being a robot or armored suit), since Gavan was the first such hero.

While this marked the end of Marvel co-producing with Toei, they would continue to work with Toei using their production facilities to make cartoons for Marvel Productions.

Title/issues: ESP Battle Group Psychonauts (1993)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Psychonauts

616?: No. Deliberately set in its own reality.

Summary: To follow

Released with dubbing or subtitles in English?: Yes

Comments: Billed as the first Japanese-American creatively co-produced comic, Psychonauts was the brainchild of Gene Pelc, Marvel's Asian representative, who had previously been instrumental in helping set up their deal with Toei. Hoping to produce a cross-cultural hit, and impressed with the art of Japan's Motofumi Kobayashi, he struck a deal between Marvel and manga publisher Nihon Shuppan-Sha, whereby Kobayashi would illustrate a tale penned by British writers Alan Grant and Tony Luke, which NSS would publish first in Japan as a single black and white volume, and Epic Comics would release as a four part color version. Since the Japanese art was intended to be in black and white, Kobayashi needed to add gray washes to shade the art, but because this would "muddy" the color versions Kobayashi had to initially render the inked art without the tones, and photostats of this raw art was then sent to Marvel, after which Kobayashi was allowed to shade his art for the Japanese edition. Unfortunately this also resulted in art in the Epic version looking a lot less refined than Kobayashi's other work.

Title/issues: X-Men#1-13 (May-December 1994)

Where: Japan

Featuring: X-Men

616?: Probably not, given it was inspired by the Fox Kids cartoon.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: Partially

Comments: The popularity of the Fox Kids X-Men cartoon prompted the Japanese publisher Takeshobo to license a manga adaptation of the show. Illustrated by Kenichi Watanabe and Atsuji Yamamoto, the series was published not in magazines but straight into tankōbon (literally "independent/standalone book") format under Takeshobo's Bamboo Comics imprint. A total of 13 tankobon volumes were published, each with two stories covering one cartoon episode apiece, adapting the first two seasons of the cartoon. Almost every story had a different artist.

   Four years later Marvel translated and reprinted some of the series as X-Men: The Manga; despite running for twice as many issues, the American edition comics had fewer pages, and thus only reprinted the manga that adapted the cartoon's first season.

Title/issues: X-Men Light Novels: Black Roses (December 1994); Neo-Heaven (January 1995); White Zone (June 1995)

Where: Japan

Featuring: X-Men

616?: Probably not, given they were inspired by the Fox Kids cartoon.

Summary: While in the United States the X-Men seek to promote peaceful co-existence between mankind and the mutants living among them, in Shinjuku, Japan a terrorist group emerges. With rumors that the "Black Roses" are mutants, the X-Men head to Japan to investigate, soon coming into conflict with not only the Black Roses, but also Apocalypse, the Japanese super mutant Amaterasu, and mutant annihilation units dispatched by the Japanese government.

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: Light novels are short prose books that are heavily illustrated. To tie in with the X-Men: The Animated Series cartoon three X-Men light novels were released by Dengeki Bunko at the end of 1994 and the start of 1995, all written by Shinobu Kuwahara and illustrated by Hiroyuki Nishimura and Yuji Nakazato. The books formed a trilogy, telling a new story where the X-Men visited Japan to investigate reports of new mutants there, and encountering the Japanese mutant group Black Roses.

Title/issues: Bessatsu Corocoro Comics Special #6 (Jun 1994), 8, 10, 12, Bessatsu Corocoro Comics Special #2 (Feb 1995), 4 (Apr 1995)

Where: Japan

Featuring: X-Men

616?: Probably not, given it was inspired by the Fox Kids cartoon.

Summary: Responding to a reported attack on the Space Observation Center, the X-Men leave the mansion manned only by Professor X and the inexperienced 13-year old Jubilee. Seeking to take advantage of this vulnerability, Magneto and his minions attack the mansion, with the master of magnetism hoping to steal Cerebro and use it to magnify his powers.

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: In 1995 Bessatsu Corocoro Special began running a manga version of the X-Men inspired by the Fox Kids cartoon, written by Eugene Ishikawa and drawn by Tetsuro Ueyama in the first episode and Billy Tachibana thereafter. The story ran from the June 1994 issue to either the April or June 1995 one.

   This is not the same X-Men manga as the one published by Bamboo Comics, but an original story, and has never had a collection nor a translated reprint.

Title/issues: Comic Bom Bom #9-12 (September-December 2004); #1-11 (January-November 2005)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Spider-Man J (Shou Amano)

616?: No. Deliberately set in an alternate reality (Earth-7041), though Spider-Man J has met 616 Spider-Man during Spiderverse.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: Partially

Comments: Published in Kodansha's shonen magazine Comic Bom Bom, Spider-Man J was written and drawn by Yamanaka Akira. It lasted for 15 issues. Nine of those were later reprinted in English in Spider-Man Family and two trade paperbacks: Spider-Man J: Japanese Knights and Spider-Man J: Japanese Daze. Breaking down the reprint details, the stories in Comic Bom Bom#9-12 (2004) and #5 and 11 (2005) have not been translated. Comic Bom Bom#1-4 were reprinted in Spider-Man Family#1-4, while Comic Bom Bom#6-10 were reprinted in Spider-Man Family#5-9.

Title/issues: Blade Manga Dojinshi (2005)

Where: U.S.A.

Featuring: Blade

616?: No. If it is set in a previously established reality, it would be that of the Blade movies (Earth-26320)

Summary: To follow"Day Walker Vs. Vampire Hunter" features Blade versus RZA, until the two realize that they should fight together against the vampires after them. It was published untranslated and only in the soundtrack booklet making this comic more of a manga then dojinshi, though it is labeled as both strangely.

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: Strictly speaking this one shouldn't be on this list, since like Wolverine: Snikt and Marvel Mangaverse, it was released in the U.S. rather than Japan. However, the creator was Takashi Okazaki and it's only available in Japanese, plus it's obscure and largely forgotten, so I feel it warrants mentioning. The eight page Blade Manga Dojinshi was included as booklet extra only in the Blade Trinity Deluxe Limited Edition soundtrack, and featured Blade fighting, then teaming up with, Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA.

Title/issues: Marvel Anime: Iron Man (October-December 2010);
Wolverine (January-March 2011);
X-Men (April-June 2011);
Blade (July-September 2011)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Iron Man, Wolverine, the X-Men, Blade

616?: No. All set in the same shared reality of Earth-101001

Summary: To follow

Released with dubbing or subtitles in English?: Yes.

Comments: Produced in collaboration between Marvel, Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan and Japanese animation studio Madhouse, Marvel Anime was the umbrella title for four anime series based round (in order) Iron Man, Wolverine, the X-Men and Blade. Each series ran for 12 episodes, and while written by Japanese writers, were overseen by Warren Ellis, a British writer with a strong pedigree at Marvel U.S. Ellis also co-wrote the X-Men series. The Iron Man, Wolverine and Blade shows shared a universe, with Wolverine appearing in all three, and new villain Kikyo Mikage appearing in both the Wolverine and Blade series. Ironically, though it was probably also intended to be the same reality, it is Wolverine's presence in the X-Men show that casts some doubt on that, since his appearance is visibly different from how the other three shows depicted him, and a few comments he makes do not fit well with the other show's continuities.

  All four shows were released with English dubs in 2011 to 2012; ironically, these add further fuel to the possibility that the X-Men show stands separate, since it is the only show where Wolverine is not dubbed by Milo Ventimiglia, but instead by Steve Blum.

Title/issues: Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore (24th April 2013)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Iron Man, Punisher, Hawkeye, Black Widow, War Machine

616?: No, set on Earth-101001, the same reality as the anime series above.

Summary: To follow

Released with dubbing or subtitles in English?: Yes

Comments: An anime movie produced in collaboration between Marvel, Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan and Japanese animation studio Madhouse, Rise of the Technovore is set in the same universe as the Marvel Anime series, using the same voice actors for Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, and including some passing references to the Iron Man series.

Title/issues: Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher (25th March 2014)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Black Widow, Punisher

616?: No, set on Earth-101001, the same reality as the anime series above.

Summary: To follow

Released with dubbing or subtitles in English?: No

Comments: Produced in collaboration between Marvel, Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan and Japanese animation studio Madhouse, the anime movie Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher is again set in the Marvel Anime shared universe, as evidenced by having the same Japanese voice actors for Iron Man, Black Widow, Punisher, Hawkeye and Nick Fury as prior installments. Unlike the earlier productions, it was released in North America ahead of Japan.

Title/issues: Monthly Corocoro Comic#433 (May 2014)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Avengers

616?: No.

Summary: The Avengers visit Japan, but discover no one knows who they are; Thor has his armor and hammer confiscated at customs, while Hulk wastes away when he refuses to eat after discovering he doesn't like Japanese food.

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: In 2014 Monthly Corocoro Comics#433 included a 12 page "chibi" (characters appear "super-deformed"/shrunken down) manga written by Fujiminosuke Yorozuya and entitled Avengers:Disc Wars, and a pullout section that was intended to introduce the Avengers to younger readers.

Title/issues: Brutus (November 2014)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man

616?: Potentially. The unexplained appearance of the Titans out of nowhere may mean they came to 616 from another reality, the same way Invincible did for his crossover with Spider-Man in Marvel Team-Up.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: Yes

Comments: In November 2014 Kodansha's Brutus magazine included a crossover story, Attack on Avengers, between the Avengers and several of the monstrous Titans from the hit manga/anime Attack on Titan. Though published first in Japan, it strictly speaking doesn't quite fit this pages remit of "Marvel stories produced in Japan" since apart from Attack on Titan's creator Hajime Isayama providing the story scenario, every other aspect of the story production - writing, pencils, inks, colors, lettering and editing - was handled by Marvel creatives in America. The story got an English-language reprint in Secret Wars#0 in June 2015. 

Title/issues: Shonen Monthly Magazine#36-37 (6th August 2014) - n.b. this is a single issue with a double number

Where: Japan

Featuring: Big Hero 6

616?: No. Presumably set on Earth-12143, the same as the Big Hero 6 movie and cartoon series.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: In response to the release of the Big Hero 6 movie in Japan, an anime adaptation was produced under the title Baymax. The first episode, which was a prequel telling a story not shown in the film, appeared in Weekly Shonen Magazine#36/37.

Title/issues: Magazine Special#9-12 (20th August 2014-November 2014); #1-4 (December 2014-May 2015)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Big Hero 6

616?: No. Presumably set on Earth-14123, the same as the Big Hero 6 movie and TV series.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: The adaptation proper of the Big Hero 6 movie as a manga was serialized in nine parts in Magazine Special. As with the prequel, despite being based on the movie it was titled Baymax, and there were some deviations from the movie's storyline, most notably with Hiro's brother Tadashi; while in the movie he is killed in an explosion, in the manga he is sucked through a portal after saving Hiro from that fate, and thus in theory might still be alive.

   The series was collected and published in English by Yen Press in March 2015, under the movie's name of Big Hero 6.

Title/issues: Marvel Disk Wars: Avengers (2nd April 2014-25th March 2015)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Avengers, Spider-Man

616?: No. Set on Earth-14042.

Summary: To follow

Released with dubbing or subtitles in English?: Yes

Comments: An anime series co-production between Toei and Walt Disney Japan, the 51 episode series' premise has the Avengers trapped in digitized form on high tech DISKs (Digital Identity Securement Kit), only able to be released for a few minutes at a time by a group of teens who are the DISKs' specific bio-coded users, who are now working with the trapped Avengers to go round the world and collect all the other scattered DISKs. So basically the Avengers are Pokemon in this scenario.

   A video game based on the concept, Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers - Ultimate Heroes, was released in November 2014. Since most such games have story elements these days, I may well get round to summarizing it to add to this list at some point.

Title/issues: Weekly Shonen Magazine #31 (15th July 2015)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Avengers

616?: No. Intended to fit with the MCU, Earth-199999

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: Yes

Comments: To tie in with the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Kodansha published a one-shot prequel manga in Weekly Shonen Magazine, drawn by Yūsaku Komiyama. Avengers: Age of Ultron Episode 0 delved into Tony Stark's fears about the world being attacked, and was publicized as "the only place in the world where fans can learn about the reason behind the birth of the Ultron Project."

   Though it was not actually part of the subsequent Avengers: Zombies Assemble series, since it had the same creator it was reprinted in English as Zombies Assemble#0.

Title/issues: Avengers: Zombies Assemble (アベンジャーズ／ゾンビ・アセンブル) (July 2015-July 2016)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Avengers

616?: No.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: Yes

Comments: Posted online to the Japanese version of the MangaBox app rather than being first published in a comic, Avengers: Zombies Assemble was a 24 chapter tale by Yūsaku Komiyama. It was later published in a pair of collected print editions by Kodansha. It was reprinted in English in 2017 under the title Zombies Assemble and Zombies Assemble 2.

Title/issues: Frau (November 2016)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Iron Man

616?: Potentially, but unlikely given the presence of non-Marvel characters.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: The manga Space Brothers by Chūya Koyama debuted in Kodansha's magazine Morning in December 2007, and is still running. A seinen series, meaning its target demographic is young adult men, it follows the lives of two brothers, Mutto and Hibito Nanba, who, after witnessing as children what they believed to be a UFO, were inspired to become astronauts. In November 2016 Kondansha published a 17 page crossover story by Koyama in which Mutta encounters Iron Man during a lunar expedition. Somewhat bizarrely, Kodansha chose the magazine Frau, a monthly women's fashion and culture magazine, to be the publication that would host this tale.

Title/issues: Weekly Shonen Magazine#52 (22nd November 2016)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Doctor Strange

616?: No. Intended to be set in the MCU, on Earth-199999

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: To promote the then-forthcoming release of the Doctor Strange movie in Japan, Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine#52 included a one-shot prequel manga titled Doctor Strange: Episode 0, illustrated by Haruichi. It was later collected in a takobon with the Doctor Strange movie adaptation manga below.

Title/issues: Dr. Strange#1-18 (30th November 2016-29th March 2017)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Doctor Strange

616?: No, given it is an adaptation of the MCU movie, placing it presumably on Earth-199999.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: A little over a week after the release of the Doctor Strange: Episode 0 prequel manga, Haruichi's manga adaptation of the Doctor Strange movie began a serialized release on DeNA's online MangaBox app. The adaptation ran to 18 episodes. It was later collected in a takobon with Doctor Strange Zero, above.

At the end of 2016 Kodansha and Marvel teamed up to create the Magazine "Marvel" Manga Award, a competition open to both new and established manga artists to come up with new stories using Marvel superheroes from one of four properties: Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man or Guardians of the Galaxy. The judges were manga artist and Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima, Marvel Senior Vice President of Creative & Creator Development C.B. Cebulski, Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada, and Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso. The contest closed on 28th February 2017, with the winners announced in mid-May 2017 in an issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine. The grand prize winner was to win 3 million yen (approximately $28,700.00 US) and have their manga published, with runner-up prizes of 500,000 yen and 100,000 yen.

Per the text in the advert right:

These are the 4 themes you can play with!
As long as it fits the theme, the genre and content are free!
"Iron Man"
"Captain America"
"Spider-Man"
"Guardians of the Galaxy"
For example, what if a Japanese boy inspired by Iron Man made his own suit?
For example, if the "Captain America" ​​Super Soldier Serum was made in Japan.
For example, the story of the birth of "Spider-Man".
For example, the space adventure comedy of "Guardians of the Galaxy."
In addition, heroes will visit Tokyo, which was attacked by an army of monsters, etc. Anything goes!
It doesn't matter if you're a pro or an amateur.

Title/issues: Guardians of the Galaxy Galaxy Rush#1-14 (September-December 2017)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Guardians of the Galaxy

616?: No. Intended to be set in Reality-199999.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: The winner of the above competition was Kōhei Uchida, and his manga, Guardians of the Galaxy: Galaxy Rush by was initially released on DeNA's MangaBox app. Set in the MCU continuity, it ran for fourteen weeks based on the number of chapters in subsequent collected volume. 

Title/issues: Bessatsu CoroCoro Comics Special#4 (April 2017), 6, 8, 10, 12; #2 (February 2018)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Avengers

616?: No.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: A manga version of the Marvel: Future Avengers anime debuted ahead of the cartoon in the April issue of Shogakukan's Bessatsu CororCoro Comics Special. Illustrated by Teruaki Mizuno, it ran for six issues of the bi-monthly title.

   N.B. Note that like many Western comics, the manga was dated ahead, and was actually released at the end of February.

Title/issues: Marvel Future Avengers anime (22nd July 2017-22nd October 2018)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Avengers

616?: No.

Summary: To follow

Released with dubbing or subtitles in English?: Yes

Comments: Produced by Madhouse and Walt Disney Japan, the two season, 39 episode anime Marvel Future Avengers followed three Hydra-empowered teens who become trainee "Future" Avengers. Initially released in Japan in 2017, in 2020 an English dubbed version was made available in the United States on Disney+.

Title/issues: Meishō Manga Realization (2018)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Captain America, Deadpool, Iron Man, Spider-Man

616?: No.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: Yes

Comments: To promote their line of Samurai-themed Marvel action figures toymaker Tamashii Nations released an exclusive comic by writer Jim Zub and artist Takeshia Miyazawa featuring the Avengers reimagined as feudal Japanese heroes. It was initially released at the company's own Tamashii Comic-Con event in Shibuya over the weekend of 25th-27th May 2018, where it was only given out to Club Tamashii members, but was subsequently also available in limited numbers at San Diego Comic Con 2018.

Title/issues: Marvel x Shonen Jump+ Super Collaboration (3rd September-27th November 2019)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Avengers, Deadpool, Spider-Man, Ant-Man

616?: Potentially

Summary: To follow.

Reprinted in English?: Some

Comments: In 2019 Marvel partnered with digital distribution platform Shōnen Jump+ to produce six new manga stories, as well as an interview with Marvel editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski presented in manga form. The six tales were:

• Secret Reverse - told in two parts (Sep 4th and Nov 27th), starring Iron Man and Spider-Man, and later released in a print collection - I'm not sure if that later edition was also expanded or not.
• Avengers: Gag Reel (Sep 18th) - a series of humorous vignettes showing the Avengers in everyday situations
• Avengers: Interview with Heroes (Oct 2nd) - the Avengers are interviewed by a journalist
• Deadpool: Samurai (Oct 16th) - Deadpool goes back in time to feudal Japan
• Halloween Avengers (Oct 30th) - trying to catch an opponent who only appears at Halloween, the Avengers don Halloween costume disguises
• Ant-Man+ (Nov 3rd) - concerned for Cassie, Scott Lang follows her to Japan while she is there on a student exchange program

Minus Secret Reverse, which had an individual release, the rest of the stories were released in a print anthology. The Deadpool: Samurai story was well enough received to inspire a follow up series of stories, albeit set in modern day Japan - see below.

Title/issues: Secret Reverse (4th February 2020)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Iron Man, Spider-Man

616?: Potentially

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: Yes

Comments: A collection of the Secret Reverse manga by Yu-Gi-Oh! creator Kazuki Takahashi, previously only available digitally, recounting Peter Parker and Tony Stark both attending a Japanese video game convention only to be forced to don their costumes to stop a villainous CEO. I'm unsure if the print edition is identical to the digital version, or an expanded tale. Initially released in Japan in February 2020, an English language reprint was released by Viz in 2022.

Title/issues: Spider-Man: Itsuwari no Aka (Spider-Man: Fake Red)#1-14 (26th July 2019-6th March 2020)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Spider-Man (Yu)

616?: Potentially, given the lead character is trying to fill in for a missing Spider-Man.

Summary: To follow High School outcast and Spider-Man fan Yu leads a life of unfulfilled expectations. But after finding the Legendary Webslinger's suit in an alley, his life makes a big change! What could be lying in store for this aspiring young lad.

Reprinted in English?: Not yet, but its coming.

Comments: Created by Yūsuke Ōsawa, Spider-Man: Fake Red was a new story set in the world of the 2018 Spider-Man PS4 video game, and considered an extension of that story. Published in collaboration with Kodansha and Marvel, it was released online on the Manga Pocket app to coincide with the Japanese release of Spider-Man: Far From Home. After the first fourteen issue story arc concluded in March 2020 a collected print edition was released in April of that year. Though initial sales were good, they didn't maintain, killing the possibility of a continuation. Viz Media has announced the release of an English edition in June 2023.

Title/issues: Marvel Meow (2019)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Chewie

616?: Potentially

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: Created by Nao Fuji, the internet strip Marvel Meow featured the misadventures of Captain Marvel's cat Chewie. The strips were collected (and added to) for a print edition by ShoPro (Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions) in 2019, and reprinted in English by Viz Media in 2022. The subsequent Marvel Meow Infinity Comic by Fuji appear to be new stories, not from this collection.

Title/issues: Deadpool Samurai#1-17 (10th December 2020-14th June 2021)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Deadpool

616?: Potentially, even allowing for the non-Marvel guest star from My Hero Academia.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: Yes

Comments: Written by Sanshirō Kasama and drawn by Hikaru Uesugi, Deadpool Samurai was initially released online on Shonen Jump+ in a serialized format, before being collected into two trade editions. English translations of the two collections were released by Viz Media in 2022.

   One of the more notable aspects of this story is the guest appearance of All-Might, one of the main characters from the hit superhero manga/anime My Hero Academia, a fully authorized crossover with that non-Marvel universe.

Title/issues: Saikyō Jump ("Super Strong Jump")#9 (4th August 2002, cover dated September 2022)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Spider-Man

616?: Probably not, given it involves Peter Parker being dead and ghost - but then it's not like that hasn't been the case in 616 from time to time.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: A one-shot written by Setta Kobayashi and illustrated by Hachi Mizuno, Spider-Man Kizuna ("Spider-Man Bonds") tells of Japanese student Yuu, who encounters the ghost of the recently slain Spider-Man and bonds with him to become the new Spider-Man.

Title/issues: Spider-Man: Octopus Girl, Shonen Jump app (20th June 2023)

Where: Japan

Featuring: Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus/Otoha Okutamiya

616?: Probably not.

Summary: After falling into a coma Doctor Octopus wakes to find his spirit now inhabiting the body of a Japanese middle-school girl, Otoha Okutamiya.

Reprinted in English?: No

Comments: Written by Hideyuki Furuhashi and illustrated by Betten Court, Spider-Man: Octopus Girl was published by Shueisha. An English translation is due to be published on 8th October 2024.

Title/issues: Avengers: Electric Rain#1-20 (October 2014-March 2015)

Where: South Korea

Featuring: White Fox, Avengers

616?: Yes. White Fox has continued to appear in American comics.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: Yes

Comments: An original Korean webtoon released by South Korean publisher Daum, and which introduced the new South Korean heroine White Fox, Avengers: Electric Rain was another example of the recent trend to authorize overseas creators to produce new stories and characters for their local markets, and then bring those new characters into Marvel proper. Electric Rain has been partially released by Marvel U.S. as an online Infinity Comic starting in late 2022.

   I'm seeing conflicting accounts as to whether there were a total of 20 or 21 episodes.

Title/issues: Avengers K: Advent of Ultron (May 2015); Avengers K: Assembling the Avengers; Avengers K: Avengers vs. Ultron; Avengers K: Avengers Disassembled; Avengers K: Secret Invasion (Jan 2016)

Where: South Korea

Featuring: Avengers

616?: No, given these are retellings of past stories.

Summary: To follow

Reprinted in English?: Yes

Comments: Starting in 2015 Korean publisher Daewon C.I. had local writers and artists reimagine some Avengers stories previously published in America as manhwa under the Avengers K banner. Five volumes were produced, and later collected in English too, albeit in a different order from the Korean versions. Thus the first story, Advent of Ultron, was U.S. edition Avengers K Book 2; story 2, Assembling the Avengers, was U.S. Book 5; manhwa #3, Avengers vs Ultron, was U.S. Book 1; the fourth, Avengers Disassembled, became Book 3; and the fifth, Secret Invasion, was U.S. Book 4.