They had evolved into their current state of being following the activation of the Plasma Spark, which replaced their dead sun. Ultraman Nexus Junis statue outside Bandai HQ in Tokyo.Īs revealed in Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy, the Ultraman are a technologically advanced civilization who were originally identical to humans. References to Ultraman are abundant in Japanese pop culture, much like references to Superman in U.S. Ultraman was the world's third top-selling licensed character in the 1980s, largely due to his popularity in Asia. The Ultraman brand generated US$7.4 billion in merchandising revenue from 1966 to 1987, equivalent to more than $17 billion adjusted for inflation.

However, the Ultra Series also falls into the kyodai hīro ( 巨大ヒーロー, 'giant hero') subgenre of tokusatsu TV shows. The Ultra Series is also one of the most well-known examples of the daikaiju ( 大怪獣, 'giant monster') genre, along with Toho's Godzilla series and Daiei Film's Gamera series. Debuting with Ultra Q and then Ultraman in 1966, the Ultra Series is one of the most prominent tokusatsu superhero genre productions from Japan, along with the Toei-produced series Kamen Rider, Super Sentai and the Metal Heroes. Ultraman, also known as the Ultra Series ( Japanese: ウルトラシリーズ, Hepburn: Urutora Shirīzu), is the collective name for all media produced by Tsuburaya Productions featuring Ultraman, his many brethren, and the myriad Ultra Monsters.

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