The Mysterious Spider Man

The Mysterious Spider Man (怪奇蜘蛛男), is the first episode of Kamen Rider, and the first episode of the Kamen Rider franchise overall.

Synopsis
Spider Man follows Ruriko Midorikawa so that he could find out where his father is and destroy the cyborg who helped him escape.

Plot
Takeshi Hongo was practicing for an important race with his mentor, Tobei Tachibana. Spider Man is watching from the sidelines looking for a chance to catch his assigned target. Hongo went for a final spin to see if he can improve his current time, but was ambushed by Shocker grunts on bikes. Lured off-course, he was captured and taken into one of Shocker's secret base and was turned into a cyborg for Shocker to weild. Before his brain modification can begin, he was rescued by Prof. Midorikawa.

Meanwhile, Ruriko Midorikawa was feeling uneasy as she feels like there is someone following her. After her friend meet her, they go straight to Cafe Amigo. Before they could do so, their boss surprised them and gave them a ride, giving Ruriko a message that her father was found. Because of her feeling that they were being followed, Ruriko asked her friend to switch clothes with her, before borrowing Tobei's car to go to her father's whereabouts.

Not knowing that there was a tracking receiver attached to the car, Ruriko excitedly mentioned her father's hiding place, allowing Spider Man to go ahead to kill Prof. Midorikawa.

At the warehouse, the professor was nervously awaiting for his daughter's arrival, Hongo tried to calm him down, but was soon having his own indecisiveness as he is still not used to his new body. Ruriko heard their conversation and mistook it as an argument. Spider Man assassinated the professor when Hongo wasn't looking, and before Hongo could save him, Ruriko saw them and mistook his actions. Spider Man then tried to attack Hongo with his poison dart but was evaded by Hongo, the dart instead went to the dying professor, dissolving him right in front of his daughter's eyes.

As his cover was blown, Spider Man attacked them head on and abducted Ruriko, rendering her unconscious. Spider Man used her as a lure to make Hongo follow him to his territory. Hongo transformed and defeated Spider Man and his minions. He later contacted Tachibana so that he could take Ruriko home, as Hongo can't face her because of his guilt that he can't save his savior and mentor, and Ruriko's belief that he was the killer.

Cast

 * Takeshi Hongo (本郷 猛): Hiroshi Fujioka (藤岡 弘)
 * Tōbei Tachibana (立花 藤兵衛): Akiji Kobayashi (小林 昭二)
 * Ruriko Midorikawa (緑川 ルリ子): Chieko Morigawa (森川 千恵子) (Played as Chieko Maki (真樹 千恵子))
 * Hiromi Nohara (野原 ひろみ): Yōko Shimada (島田 陽子)
 * Professor Midorikawa (緑川博士): Kiyoshi Nonomura (野々村潔)
 * Narrator (ナレーター): Shinji Nakae (中江 真司)

Trivia

 * This is the very first Kamen Rider episode; the 1000th episode will be exactly 40 years after its airing, unintentinonally due to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.
 * In this episode, Hongo was said to have an IQ of above 600, and is physically athletic.
 * Spider Man's grunts' unique facial mark is that of a red diagonal pattern on their faces, usually covering only half of their faces, or on a stripes fashion.