Astro Boy, known in Japan as Mighty Atom (Japanese: 鉄腕アトム, Hepburn: Tetsuwan Atomu, lit.

Eventually, Astro is sold to a robot circus run by Hamegg, but is saved from his servitude by Professor Ochanomizu.

The series was also among the first to embrace mass merchandise including action figures, collectible figurines, food products, clothing, stamps and trading cards.

Astro Boy is a science fiction series set in a futuristic world where robots co-exist with humans.

Dr. Tenma created Astro to replace his son Tobio ('Astor' in the 1960s English dub; 'Toby' in the 1980s English dub and the 2009 film), who was killed in a car accident (in the 2003 anime, Tobio is shown as having run away from home before the accident, while in the 2009 film, Toby's death was caused by an incident with the Peacekeeper, a weaponized robot).

In the original 1960 edition, Tenma rejected Astro and sold him to a cruel circus owner, Hamegg (the Great Cacciatore in the 1960s English dub).

Astro then is shown fighting crime, evil, and injustice using his seven powers: 100K horsepower strength, jet flight, high intensity lights in his eyes, adjustable hearing, instant language translation, a retractable machine gun in his hips, and a high IQ capable of determining if a person is good or evil.

[13] According to Schodt, Tezuka created Astro to be a "21st-century reverse-Pinocchio, a nearly perfect robot who strove to become more human and emotive and to serve as an interface between man and machine.

[14] Tezuka also had a habit of introducing nonsensical characters at random moments in order to lighten a scene which was becoming too serious; he sometimes felt trapped by the need to satisfy his young male audience's desire to see battling robots.

[15] The English-language version of Astro Boy is an adaptation of the Akita Shoten published works by Osamu Tezuka.

[16] Frederik L. Schodt translated the English-language version of Astro Boy and for most of the characters, he used the original Japanese names.

The original Mighty Atom manga stories were later published in English-language versions by Dark Horse Comics in a translation by Frederik L. Schodt.

Astro Boy (along with some of his supporting characters) appear in a series of "edu-manga" that tell biographies of famous personalities such as Helen Keller, Albert Einstein and Mother Teresa.

Astro Boy and his "sister" appear in prologues and epilogues for each story and learn about the famous person from Dr. Ochanomizu, who acts as narrator for each installment.

It adapts Astro Boy's "The Greatest Robot on Earth" (地上最大のロボット, Chijō Saidai no Robotto) arc (which story Urasawa says "has been enshrined as a centerpiece in the literature of our generation"[18]) into a murder mystery.

[19] In a 2004 manga of Tetsuwan Atom written by Akira Himekawa, the plot, as well as the character designs, loosely followed that of the 2003 anime series.

In 1965, Gold Key published a one-shot comic book, licensed by NBC Enterprises, based on the U.S. version of the Astro Boy TV show.

This was done without any input from Osamu Tezuka, who considered the book an unauthorized or "pirate" edition and denounced the publication as "horribly drawn".

[21] Astro Boy also appears in the premium giveaway series, "March of Comics" (# 285) also published by Gold Key in 1966.

Editorial Mo.Pa.Sa., an Argentine company, published the comic book Las Fantásticas Aventuras de Astroboy in the 1970s.

A third series of fifty episodes was produced by Tezuka Productions, Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, Dentsu, and Fuji Television network.

[25] In 2022, it was announced that Thomas Astruc, creator of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, would be developing the series along with Method Animation.

[29] A Japanese IMAX featurette was made in 2005, based on the 2003–2004 anime, titled "Astro Boy vs IGZA", but has only been shown in Japan.

[30][31][32] The English version features the voices of Freddie Highmore as Astro Boy and Nicolas Cage as Dr. Tenma.

[34] Home Data developed and Konami published their Mighty Atom video game for the Nintendo Famicom in 1988.

[41] While the campaign failed to reach its $50,000 goal, it was eventually released as a free-to-play title in Japan on DMM.com and on Steam internationally in April and June 2017.

[44] Astro Boy also appears as a playable character in the crossover puzzle game Crystal Crisis, released by Nicalis in 2019 for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.

[45][46] Eshigami no Kizuna, a Compile Heart video game that re-imagines Tezuka characters as bishōjo, is scheduled to be released on mobile platforms in 2019.

[citation needed] On April 7, 2003 (one day after the premiere of the 2003 anime in Japan), the city of Niiza, Saitama registered the Astro Boy character as a resident to coincide with his birthdate in the manga.

[58] Also, many lamp posts in the area carry pictures from the TV series, and two large murals depicting Tezuka's works are across the street of JR Takadanobaba station.