In a lovely cross-comics cultural exchange program, the same day that Ultraman X Avengers #1 is released by Marvel, Shogakukan will begin serializing a manga titled Ultraman: Along Came a Spider-Man. The news was announced on the “What’s New At Viz” panel at San Diego Comic-Con.
“We’re thrilled to bring together Marvel comics and manga in such an exciting way, uniting our biggest heroes directly with Ultraman against ultimate villains like never before,” said C.B. Cebulski, Editor-in-Chief, Marvel Comics, via a press release provided to Comic Book Club. “This manga will be an epic showdown at a cosmic level, but it’ll have plenty insightful themes and touching moments as well. We’re excited for fans to experience this story around the globe.”
Written by Shigenobu Matsumoto and drawn by Tomo Hirokawa the manga finds Doctor Doom joining forces with Ultraman’s arch-enemy Alien Mefilas. The story will also feature multiple Kaiju, as well as a cameo by the Avengers. In addition to the aforementioned creatives, Marvel Comics Executive Editor Tom Brevoort and Tsuburaya Fields Media & Pictures Entertainment’s Transmedia Producer Jeff Gomez served as creative consultants for the series.
Kei Minamitani, Tsuburaya Productions, added, “The contrast in how our two sets of heroes approach their roles is fascinating to see play out, but they have a lot of similarities as well. In both the Shogakukan and Marvel titles, we watch how our heroes grapple with these differences before ultimately reconciling to find greater solutions. It has been incredibly special to explore the concept of heroism through the perspectives of these two very different sets of heroes and we are excited for fans to join them on these two adventures.”
In the United States, Viz will distribute the new manga with chapters 1 and 2 both debuting on August 13. That times out with August 14 in Japan, which is the date (stay with me here) in the US when Ultraman X Avengers will be released by Marvel. You can read the manga in the VIZ Manga app, with new chapters hitting every Tuesday. In addition, a print version will be published by Viz in the Summer of 2025.
Here’s the official synopsis, and full cover, below:
On Marvel Earth, Spider-Man joins forces with the Avengers to battle Doctor Doom in New York City, but when several civilians are killed in a building collapse as a result, Spider-Man becomes demoralized and finds himself whisked away in a strange spacecraft called the Interdimensional Train. Doctor Doom stows aboard and both find themselves in the Tokyo of the Ultraman universe! Witnessing Ultraman battle a giant Kaiju, Doom craves the Giant of Light’s power and joins forces with Alien Mefilas and his army of Kaiju from the Monster Graveyard to steal it.
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