The Hall of the American Ninjas
Beyond the alternate Earth where Joe Armstrong and Sean Davidson exist, there are parallel dimensions where other American Ninjas raised and fought their battle against the forces of Evil.
1980 - Scott James
Classification: martial artist.
Base of operations: America.
Appearance: the American Cinema Releasing film "The Octagon" (1980).
Note: played by Chuck Norris. It's the only hero listed here to not wear the proper ninja garb with hood. The movie also features Lee Van Cleef, Tadashi Yamashita and Mike Stone.
1981 - White Ninja (real identity: Cole)
Classification: occasional fighter.
Base of operations: Philippines.
Appearance: the Cannon film "Enter the Ninja" (1981).
Note: played by Franco Nero (main actor) and Mike Stone (stunt double). The unrelated sequel, "Revenge of the Ninja" (1983), features an evil western ninja named Braden (actor: Arthur Roberts).
1982 - Snake Eyes (real identity: classified)
Classification: special soldier; superhero.
Base of operations: the world.
First appearance: as comic book character in the Marvel title "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero" (June 1982); as cartoon character in the Sunbow series "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero" (1983); as movie character in the films "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" (2009) and "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" (2013).
Note: played by Ray Park.
1983 - Last Ninja (real identity: Kenjiro Sakura)
Classification: occasional fighter.
Base of operations: America.
Appearance: the TV film "The Last Ninja" (1983).
Note: played by Michael Beck.
1984 - The Master (real identity: John Peter McAllister)
Classification: vigilante.
Base of operations: U.S.A.
Appearance: the TV series "The Master" (1984, 13 episodes).
Note: played by Lee Van Cleef (main actor) and Sho Kosugi (stunt double). There's another western ninja appearing in the series, Allison Grant (actor: Kelly Harmon), on the episode titled "Kunoichi".
2009 - Shadow Ninja (real identity: Casey Bowman)
Classification: occasional fighter.
Base of operations: Japan, New York, Bangkok.
Appearances: the films "Ninja" (2009) and "Ninja: Shadow of a Tear" (2013).
Note: played by Scott Adkins.
1980-2014 - Nicholas Linnear
The absolute
precursor is the literary hero Nicholas Linnear, lead character of the famous Eric Van Lustbader's Ninja saga:
- The Ninja (1980)
- The Miko (1984)
- White Ninja (1990)
- The Kaisho (1993)
- Floating City (1994)
- Second Skin (1995)
- The Death and Life of Nicholas Linnear (2014, e-book)
The 1984 Western Movies
The Ninja Mission was filmed well before American Ninja and the producers actually offered Cannon the distribution rights to the film. They passed and went on to produce American Ninja. Mason, the lead ninja leading the mission, is a C.I.A. agent. However, he comes from an unspecified country (not America).
Mason is played by Polish actor Krzysztof Kolberger.
Mason is played by Polish actor Krzysztof Kolberger.
Ninja's Force was released on September 7, 1984 (almost a full year to the day before American Ninja was released). The story and screenplay for Ninja's Force was co-written by Ken Watanabe (a Philippines-based Japanese martial artist), who played Sho Kosugi's master in 9 Deaths of the Ninja filmed earlier that year from May to June. It's likely that this is what inspired Silver Star Pictures (Kinevesa) a Philippines based movie company to start doing their own ninja movies, but it could also be that Watanabe got the job on 9 Deaths because he submitted Ninja's Force as something he'd done, meaning it was shot even earlier than that. Kenzo, the "hero" ninja and son of an American man and Japanese woman, grew up in Japan and dresses in the traditional ninja garb.
Kenzo is played by Spanish actor Romano Kristoff.
