[TokuKnight89]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

Yes, the character first appeared in the fall of 1930 in kamishibai (Japanese paper theater). So he's at least eight years older than Superman.
Regarding the name, the situation is as follows. Golden Bat is his name, derived from a brand of cigarettes for advertising purposes. But since there is nothing from the bat in him, it was often renamed in translated versions. Ninja was taken up because of the popularity of shinobi, who became famous outside of Japan quite early. As far as I know, in the European box office he was called Phantomen and Fant?mas.
By the way, this film is not even the first about the Golden Bat. Before it there was a film from 1950, which has not survived. But there is a poster and a couple of stills:

Why did the '50s film not survive? The War ended in the '40s.

I know that there was a Japanese King Kong film from before the War which didn't survive, but a copy of a post-war movie should be stashed away somewhere.