Ultraman

Ultraman, also known as the Ultra Series (Japanese: ウルトラシリーズ, Hepburn: Urutora Shirīzu), is a Japanese science fiction media franchise created by Eiji Tsuburaya, which began with Ultra Q and the eponymous television series in 1966 and became an international pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into many television shows, films, comic books, and other media publications, becoming one of the most prominent productions in the Japanese tokusatsu and kaiju genres and pioneering the Kyodai Hero subgenre. The Ultraman series is centered on a fictional alien race of superheroes who often combat kaiju or other aliens.

In Japan, the Ultraman brand generated US$7.4 billion in merchandising revenue from 1966 to 1987. Ultraman was the world's third top-selling licensed character in the 1980s, largely due to his popularity in Asia. References to Ultraman are abundant in Japanese pop culture, much like references to Superman in U.S. culture.