🕷️ Marvel's next Spider-Man manga is set in Shibuya, and KADOKAWA revealed its artists and story on September 30, 2026. That same day, Shueisha's own Marvel manga vanished from e-book stores. Marvel and Japan have crossed paths before, too: back in 1978, Japan's Spider-Man was calling in a giant robot.

What KADOKAWA announced

The project is called MARVEL | KADOKAWA. It was first unveiled on July 25, 2026 (US time) during San Diego Comic-Con's "Marvel Fanfare" panel, and on September 30, 2026 KADOKAWA released concept art and story outlines in Japan.

The first wave will have five titles, to be announced one after another. Two have been revealed so far, and neither has a final title yet.

The Spider-Man series is drawn by tokitokoro, who has already worked on Marvel's own Jeff the Land Shark. The hero is Haruto Hachidori, a high school boy living in Shibuya who suddenly gains spider powers. According to KAI-YOU, the concept art also shows Daredevil and the Punisher.

The Spider-Gwen series is by Ryusei Yamada, who drew Captain Marvel for Marvel's Swimsuit Special. Here, Gwen Stacy is the drummer in a band called the Mary Janes. A radioactive spider bite turns her into Spider-Woman.

Both are original stories, not translations of American comics. KADOKAWA says it wants them to work for Marvel fans and for readers raised on Japanese manga. As of September 30, 2026, both are planned to start on Kadocomi, KADOKAWA's free manga site, within 2026, followed by collected volumes. The other three titles have not been announced yet.

On the Marvel side, the project's framework was presented at the panel by C.B. Cebulski, the former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief. He now heads Marvel's Asia editorial work and has said he will be based in Tokyo, working on Marvel Comics' expansion in Asia.

In 1978, Spider-Man had a giant robot

The "Japanese Spider-Man" clips that circulate online come from a real TV show. From May 17, 1978 to March 14, 1979, Toei aired a live-action Spider-Man on Tokyo Channel 12 (now TV Tokyo), 41 episodes in all. It was not a knockoff. Toei made it under an official agreement with Marvel, then wrote its own stories.

And what stories. The hero is Takuya Yamashiro, a motorcycle racer. An alien from Planet Spider gives him his powers, and he fights an invading force called the Iron Cross Army. When a monster grows to giant size, Takuya summons the spaceship Marveller, which transforms into a giant robot named Leopardon.

That robot turned out to matter. Toei's earlier team-hero shows, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger (1975) and J.A.K.Q., had no giant robots. The first humanoid giant robot in this line of shows arrived in Battle Fever J (1979), right after Spider-Man, and Battle Fever J came out of the same Marvel licensing deal. All of these belong to the Super Sentai franchise, which Americans later met as Power Rangers, an adaptation of Super Sentai. Super Sentai itself paused on February 8, 2026 after 50 years, as we covered earlier.

Marvel has embraced Toei's version rather than hiding it. In 2009 it posted English-subtitled episodes on its own website. Leopardon later appeared in the Spider-Verse comics, and in 2018 Marvel released a video introducing the robot. It even made a cameo in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023).

Not the first crossover, and not the first ending

The overlap goes back further. From January 1970 to September 1971, Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Magazine ran a Spider-Man manga drawn by Ryoichi Ikegami. Marvel later brought it to English readers: 31 issues, published between December 1997 and April 1999.

The most recent partner was Shueisha, publisher of Shonen Jump. It announced a Marvel collaboration on March 3, 2019, and its Shonen Jump+ titles included Deadpool: Samurai and Secret Reverse, drawn by Yu-Gi-Oh! creator Kazuki Takahashi. VIZ Media published Deadpool: Samurai in English in 2022.

On July 1, 2026, Shueisha announced that its Marvel manga contract with Walt Disney Japan would end on September 30, 2026. Five series, 14 volumes in all, are affected: Deadpool: Samurai, Spider-Man: Octopus Girl, Spider-Man: Kizuna, the Marvel × Shonen Jump+ Super Collaboration anthology, and Secret Reverse. E-books began disappearing from stores on September 28 and were gone from all stores at 11:59 p.m. on September 30, Japan time. Readers who already bought them can still read them. Print copies are sold only until stock runs out.

Separately, ShoPro, which had published Japanese translations of Marvel comics, ended its exclusive contract with Marvel on March 31, 2026.

So within a single year, both of those channels closed and a new one opened. KADOKAWA's announcement does not mention Shueisha, and neither company has explained any connection. What the timing does show is that licensed manga can leave the shelves when a contract runs out.

What it means for KADOKAWA

Until now, KADOKAWA's Marvel work was mostly translated art books for Marvel films, series and games. This project moves it into original manga.

It arrives amid other changes at the company. On September 8, 2026, KADOKAWA announced it would merge five of its anime studios into a single company, Studio One Base, launching in November 2026 (details here). Neither KADOKAWA nor Marvel has said what Marvel hopes to gain from the deal.

Can you read it in English?

Not yet. KADOKAWA's September 30 announcement covers only serialization on Kadocomi and Japanese volumes. No English edition has been announced as of September 30, 2026.

The routes do exist. KADOKAWA has owned 51% of Yen Press, a major English-language manga publisher, since 2016. And Marvel has already sent manga abroad through VIZ. Neither is a plan for these titles.

A Spider-Man who grows up in Shibuya is the latest Japanese version of a character Japan has been reworking since 1970. If a Japanese artist rebuilt a hero from your country around your own city, which neighborhood would you want them to swing through?

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