Cyborg 009 (サイボーグ009, Saibōgu Zero-Zero-Nain) is a science-ficition adventure manga created by Shotaro Ishinomori. The Showa-era anime adaptations by Toei Animation were produced first in monochrome from April to September 1968 and in color from March 1979 to March 1980. Nine people from around the world are kidnapped by the evil Black Ghost organization, led by the tyrant Skull, to undergo experiments that would allow him to use them as human weapons to promote the production of cyborg warfare. While he succeeds in converting the group of nine into cyborgs with superhuman powers, his most reputable scientist, Dr. Isaac Gilmore, helps the cyborgs escape to rebel against Skull and Black Ghost. The nine cyborgs – from which the name of the series is derived – band together in order to stop Black Ghost from achieving its goal of starting the next world war by supplying rich buyers with countless weapons of mass destruction. After the destruction of Black Ghost, the nine cyborgs go on to fight a variety of threats, such as mad scientists, supernatural beings, and ancient civilizations.