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-culturephenomenon. 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 KyodaiHero subgenre. The Ultraman series is centered on a fictional alien race of superheroes who often combat kaiju or other aliens.