The superheroes of Marvel Entertainment have been turned into toys, cartoons and, perhaps most profitably, live action films like 'Iron Man' and the Spider-Man series. Now they are being adapted again this time specifically for the Japanese market.

Marvel is teaming up with Madhouse, a renowned Japanese animation studio, to develop new versions of its characters for four anime series that will premiere in spring 2010 in Japan.

Rather than simply importing American characters and concepts, said Simon Philips, president of Marvel International, the goal is to create 'something that is part of the fabric of society.' This means reimagining the back stories and redesigning the look of Marvels stable of characters to reflect Japanese culture. 'It will create an entire parallel universe for Marvel,' he said.

'Marvel today is so open-minded,' said Jungo Maruta, the president and chief executive of Madhouse, through his interpreter, Alex Yeh, the chief operating officer of the studio, during a recent meeting in New York. 'Marvel gives creators freedom to fly.'

Madhouse was founded in 1972 and its talent pool includes Yoshiaki Kawajiri, the director of 'Vampire Hunter D'; Santa Inoue, who created the 'Tokyo Tribes manga series; and Satoshi Kon, the director of 'Paprika,' a critically acclaimed animated film about a therapeutic device that allows patients dreams to be experienced.

'We are very excited to be involved,' Mr. Yeh said as he showed a handful of manga-influenced drawings of Iron Man. Mr. Yeh said working on the Marvel characters is different from his past experiences. 'Although they say, I want Japanese anime, its not what they actually want. They want a hybrid between Japanese and Western animation.'