#84 – Cyborg 009

Cyborg 009 – Three Movies (66,67,80) , Three TV Series (68.79. 01) and Live action movie due in 2008.

It has the quite the longevity.

A creation of the late Shotaro Ishinomori (Kamen Rider, Kikaider), Cyborg 009 is the tale of 9 humans turned into super powered cyborgs by the evil Black Ghost group and their battles with their nefarious creators. Ishinomori essentially created the modern superhero genre in Japan with the Cyborg 009 manga in 1963, and continued to dominate it through his lifetime.

The 2001 version seems dogged with release problems, Sony having constantly rescheduled it's UK release in a similarly crummy way as they did with Astro Boy and Jackie Chan Adventures. Which is annoying as it is pretty damn faithful to the original material (007 isn't turned into a kid as he was in the 1968 version).

1968 Version:

1979 Version:

2001 Version (US Opening):