Spoilers for all preceding Kamen Rider series entries up to Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Drive & Gaim: Movie War Full Throttle will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
History has been changed.
Super Hero Taisen GP: Kamen Rider #3 is the fourth installment of the Super Hero Taisen movie franchise after Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen, Kamen Rider × Super Sentai × Space Sheriff: Super Hero Taisen Z and Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen feat. Super Sentai. As with other Super Hero Taisen installments, it will also focus on the active series at the time of showing; in this case, it is be Kamen Rider Drive and Shuriken Sentai Ninninger.
Shocker's new Rider, Kamen Rider #3, is sent back in time to 1973 to kill off the Double Riders, creating an Alternate Timeline where Shocker rules the world and has brainwashed nearly every Kamen Rider into their elite agents. It comes down to the few Riders who have evaded Shocker's grasp to form La Résistance and restore the correct timeline.
Takes place in-between two pieces of tie-in media. It follows the prequel TV special Shuriken Sentai Ninninger vs. Kamen Rider Drive, which aired in place of Super Hero Time a week following the premiere and sets up the events of the movie. It is then followed by D-Video Special: Kamen Rider 4, consisting of three special episodes tying up the loose end of the movie, the death of Kamen Rider Mach.
Tropes featured in Super Hero Taisen GP: Kamen Rider #3
- Accidental Truth: Yuuto is lured in to Shocker's base with a story involving Riders #1 and #2 having saved their minds in a computer, when in fact it was the Great Leader of Shocker saved there instead. However, it eventually turns out that #1 and #2 actually did save their minds in the same computer. It is unknown how they got there and why no one notices that Shocker's leader literally share a space together with their greatest adversaries.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the altered timeline, Otta is a loyal Shocker officer, and even has a monster form! And unlike the rest of Shinnosuke's friends, he remains a villain until he's killed near the end of the movie.
- All There in the Manual: The movie's promotional pamphlet reveals some off-screen details. For instance, it explains that Den-O was indeed, like Zeronos, immune to the change in the timeline only to be turned into a Shocker Rider after he investigated ahead and fell into the Rider Town trap.
- Alternate Timeline: Most of the film takes place in one, where Shocker rules supreme, thanks to Kamen Rider #3 killing the Double Riders in the past.
- Artifact Title: Despite this being called Super Hero Taisen, the Sentai featured have pretty much the same role they played in last year's movie, if not with less screen time.
- Aspect Ratio Switch: The prologue of Kamen Rider #3 killing the Double Riders in the past is presented in 4:3.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The giant Kamen Rider J first appears as a Shocker Rider menacing the rebel Riders. Later, the Great Leader steps in, piloting the Rider Robo. J, whose brainwashing has been reverted by this point, challenges the Rider Robo.
- Badass in Distress: Blade is in Shocker custody in the alternate timeline. He turns out to be a decoy to lure our heroes.
- Batman Cold Open: We see Drive terminating a mook Roidmude, namely 102, just before the timeline is changed.
- Batman Gambit: Shinnosuke plays on both the Great Leader's ego and Kyoichiro's refusal to admit he's won until he's beaten his opponent completely to get them to agree to the Kamen Rider Grand Prix. In addition, the entire race is one of these to get the Great Leader to reveal his true plan.
- Behemoth Battle: Kamen Rider J against the Rider Robo piloted by the Great Leader. After J gets Ret-Gone, the Ninningers step up in Shurikenjin, which combines with Tridoron to take down the Rider Robo.
- Big Bad: Shocker, again. Of course, seeing as we're dealing with a third Hopper, it makes sense. Their leader? The Great Leader of course.
- Big Damn Heroes: The Ninningers show up to fight the Rider Robo.
- Bittersweet Ending: The timeline is fixed, thus Shocker no longer rules the world and Kyoichiro is back to his normal life as a racer, now never having fought for justice as a Kamen Rider but also being spared the pain of being modified into a cyborg. Gou also remains dead after being killed as Mach in the battle against Shocker, a plot point which will be resolved in D-Video Special: Kamen Rider 4, only to add more bitterness to the ending.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The majority of Riders from V3 onwards have been made to serve as Shocker Riders. Exceptions include rebel Riders such as Black, Faiz, Zeronos, and Mach, and Riders such as Rider 3, Drive and the Blade quartet who served Shocker willingly before doing a Heel–Face Turn. The brainwashing is ultimately unwashed by the power of Riders 1 and 2. Curiously, Blade and Garren are shown to turn against Shocker willingly.
- Came Back Strong: Kotaro is killed in a Heroic Sacrifice earlier on, but, as in his original series, resurrects as Black RX in time for the final battle.
- Canon Immigrant: The titular Kamen Rider #3 only appeared once, in a story written by Shotaro Ishinomori way back in 1972. For the record, he's not Kamen Rider V3.
- Close-Enough Timeline The film ends with one as the familiar timeline is restored, only now Gou is dead, a loose end which is resolved in Kamen Rider 4.
- Combining Mecha: Drive's Tridoron, transformed into a humanoid mecha, combines with the Ninningers' Shurikenjin to form Shurikenjin Tridoron.
- Continuity Nod: It was established as far back as episode 41 of the ORIGINAL series in 1972 that Rider 1 and Rider 2 can break Shocker's brainwashing with their telepathic bond. They are able to instantly free all the brainwashed characters when they show up in the movie's finale.
- Cool Car: Kamen Rider 3 drives the TriCyclone, a car sporting the colors and logo of the Tachibana Racing Team. Taken up to three when the Rider Grand Prix involves all three Rider Cool Cars, with TriCyclone being bested by Booster Tridoron with some assistance from Black RX's Ridoron.
- David Versus Goliath: The rebel Riders vs. Kamen Rider J.
- Day of the Jackboot: The Shocker controlled timeline, of course.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Exaggerated as this fate befalls all the villains, including the Rider Robo.
- Defector from Decadence: As ever, Shocker's conditioning is imperfect. Kotaro explains that he went rogue after he "woke up".
- Demoted to Extra: As a Kamen Rider crossover movie, this applies to most heroes and villains beyond the stars. Also the Ninningers.
- Deus ex Machina : The Ninningers. Sure, they are featured heavily in the trailers and promo materials. But in the film
they appear out nowhere, fight The Great Leader, and presumably vanish as the timeline restores to normal.- Worse yet, neither Drive nor the Ninningers remembers their previous teamup. Although this could be chalked up to their memories being changed because of the History Modifying Machine.
- Downer Beginning: The movie starts with the death of the original Double Riders at the hands of Kamen Rider #3.
- The Dragon: Kamen Rider Leangle is a high-ranking member of Shocker in the altered timeline
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Chief Honganji gets thrown THROUGH a window in the second floor into pavement below.
- Face–Heel Turn: Almost every Shocker Rider is merely a Kamen Rider that got defeated and brainwashed. There are exceptions, though. See More Than Mind Control below.
- The Faceless: All Fake Shemp Riders and villains of course. A notable example is Kamen Rider Blade (Kazuma Kenzaki), who does not appear out of his Rider form despite being voiced by his original actor (Takayuki Tsubaki).
- Fake Shemp:
- Tobei Tachibana is portrayed by Rakkyo Ide in the place of Akiji Kobayashi, who passed away in 1996. Subverted since he's not really Tobei Tachibana at all, but rather General Black.
- Tomokazu Seki voices the Great Leader of Shocker. This is the second time he has filled in as the Great Leader following Gorō Naya's death in 2013, as he first voiced his Badan incarnation in Kamen Rider Taisen.
- Evil Costume Switch: In the alternate timeline the entire Special Unit gets hit with this.
- Evil Laugh: For the now Shocker Rider V3's (with Riderman) confrontation against #3 and Drive, Tomokazu Seki turns Hiroshi Miyauchi's iconic laugh into this.
- Fake Defector: Kuroi pretends to be a rebel Rider, all the while remaining loyal to Shocker. This doesn't stop him from doing a Heel–Face Turn for real.
- Final Battle: The Kamen Riders (with help from the Ninningers) face the Great Leader and his Shocker army.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In a trailer showing the start of the race, the person who waves the flag is actually a Shocker Girl.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: You think the "GP" in the title was just something fancy? Nope! There's gonna be a race, too!
- Heel–Face Turn: Despite having been formed to hunt Kamen Riders in the new timeline, everyone from the Special Investigation Unit defects with the exception of Otta. Honganji, who supports the Riders at the cost of his life, Rinna and Kyu then defect after his death, while Shinnosuke is inspired to defect by both Kiriko and Kotaro. After playing Fake Defector, Kyoichiro is convinced to defect for real by Shinnosuke. Additionally, both Kazuma Kenzaki and Sakuya Tachibana choose to defect before the Double Riders return and wipe the brainwashing from the rest of the Shocker Riders. There's also Faiz who while seemingly a willing Shocker Rider gives up his pursuit once none of the other Shocker Rider's are watching and then without any prompting backs Drive up during the GP. It's implied he simply decided to cooperate willingly to avoid getting brainwashed but was looking for the first chance he got to defect.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Kotaro sacrifices himself to help Kiriko and Shinnosuke escape Shocker. Thankfully, he Came Back Strong as Black RX.
- Human Shield: Inverted when General Black has Schwarian target the Shocker boys, forcing Black to take the hit and thus get incapacitated.
- Humongous Mecha: Shocker finally gets in on the giant robot business with the Shocker Rider Robo, something the Ninningers and Kamen Rider J must fight.
- In Spite of a Nail: Like Let's Go Kamen Rider before it, future evil organizations and monster races still emerge in the new timeline. Unlike Let's Go Kamen Rider, even the future Kamen Riders still come into being, though most of them end up Brainwashed and Crazy.
- Large Ham: Kotaro Minami, as always.
- Legion of Doom: Like in Let's Go Kamen Rider, Shocker's army incorporates villains from across Kamen Rider history.
- Let's You and Him Fight: The preview that showed up in Movie Wars Full Throttle already question if Drive and #3 will fight or be allies.
- Make My Monster Grow: An heroic example in Kamen Rider J, who doesn't even appear in his natural, man-sized state in this movie.
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: More or less the entire reason Shocker created their History Modification Machine in the first place. They send Kamen Rider 3 back in time to kill the original 2 Kamen Riders to alter history.
- Might Makes Right: Judging from this quote, "Win and you are justice, lose and you are evil", Kamen Rider Sangou just might be a Social Darwinist.
- Mood Whiplash: During the final battle, Shinnosuke has the time of his life as he teams-up with the Ninningers against the Rider Robo. All the while Gou is dealt a tragic and painful death at the hands of several Shocker monsters.
- Mooks: In addition to the Shocker Combatmen, Destron Combatmen, Combat-Roids, and Chaps are also seen fighting for Shocker.
- More than Mind Control: Blade and Garren GENUINELY WISH to join Shocker alongside Chalice and Leangle. Takumi/Faiz is also a Shocker Rider that's not brainwashed, although he doesn't seem interested in doing Shocker's dirty works
- Mythology Gag:
- The appearance of Kamen Rider 3 himself is one big one. Indeed, before the conception of Kamen Rider V3, a third Kamen Rider was planned for the original series. Kazuya Taki transformed into the original incarnation of Rider 3, which appearance not too different from the Double Riders, in the manga story Rider 3 vs. The Demon of General Black (September 1972). Then there's the TriCyclone; contemporary to the original series was an advertisement featuring a small dune buggy-like vehicle being driven by Kamen Rider 1. Like many toylines for children's shows, this ad marketed an item that was not in the actual show.
- In his initial appearance as Kamen Rider BLACK, Kotaro Minami is defeated by Schwarian, a Crisis Empire machine monster who was originally exclusive to Kamen Rider Decade. For context, the Crisis Empire were the bad guys who forced Black to evolve into Kamen Rider BLACK RX.
- A trio of Shocker Youths who end up helping to free Kiriko and Yuto from Shocker captivity are named Naoki, Mitsuru and Shigeru, after the two main Rider Scouts from the original series and the one main Rider Scout from V3. This gag was previously used in Let's Go Kamen Rider.
- V3 destroying the Weather Dopant is a reference to the parallels between V3 and Weather's arch-enemy Kamen Rider Accel. Both Riders are motivated by the deaths of their parents and little sister, and in Accel's case the Weather Dopant was the one who committed the murders.
- The movie borrows quite a few aspects from Shotaro Ishinomori's manga version of Kamen Rider, including Hongo living in a palatial estate with Tobei Tachibana as his butler and a secret laboratory in the basement (much like Batman). The (false) suggestion that the Double Riders saved their brains is also a nod to the manga, where Hongo's body is destroyed by the Shocker Riders, but his brain is preserved in a computer and serves as Mission Control for Ichimonji.
- During the credits, there are scenes from the movie that are drawn in an art style similar to Shotaro Ishinomori, the creator of Kamen Rider and Super Sentai.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Yoshitaka Igasaki, grandfather of the Ninningers, provides Shinnosuke with a Nin Shuriken which enables Tridoron to become compatible with the Ninningers' Humongous Mecha, allowing them to take down the Rider Robo.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The trailers made it look like there'd finally be a scene of Kamen Rider J fighting alongside a Sentai mecha. In the actual film, he's deleted by the Rider Robo before the Sentai mecha itself even shows up.
- Our Souls Are Different: Kuroi claims that the souls of Kamen Rider is stored inside a neural database in Rider Town. It actually stores the soul of Shocker's Great Leader and the Double Riders.
- Oxymoronic Being: Cheetahkatatsumuri, one of the Shocker's monsters, is a cross between the slow snail and the fast cheetah.
- Plot Archaeology: The penultimate episode of the original Kamen Rider introduced a minor character by the name of Doctor D. While he disappears not long after making his first appearance, he becomes relevant in the leadup to the Super Hero Taisen GP: Kamen Rider #3 film, where his research is used by the villains to enact their Time Travel plan.
- Recycled Premise: Like Let's Go Kamen Rider (2011) before it, this film's premise has Shocker being enabled via Time Travel to defeat the original Kamen Riders and take over the world in the 1970s, bringing future villains into their ranks.
- Ret-Gone: The History Modifying Machine can be weaponized to erase its victims from existence. About half of the assembled Riders fall victim to this power, namely Riderman, X-Rider, Amazon, Skyrider, ZX, Shin, ZO, J, Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, Chalice, Leangle, Hibiki, Kabuto, Den-O, Kiva, Fourze. Fortunately, this power is disabled when Rider 3 breaks out of the Rider Robo, and of course its effects are reversed when the Rider Robo's destruction restores the timeline.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Kiriko is the only one from the Special Investigation Unit to remember the original timeline, a result of the Signal Legend Faiz Bike inserting itself into her Shift Car Holder (it will resurface in Kamen Rider 4). Yuto and Deneb, being time travellers, also notice the change in history. Strangely averted in the case of Den-O, their fellow time traveller, who is just another Shocker Rider. According to some of the pamphlet's from the film Den-O was originally immune but went to investigate and fell into the Rider Town trap.
- Super-Speed: Mach uses his natural ability to match Faiz in his Axel Form. Faix later uses Axel Form to match Shocker Rider Kabuto's Clock Up.
- Transforming Mecha: A special Nin Shuriken transforms Drive's Tridoron into a humanoid OtomoNinnote compatible with Shurikenjin.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: As "Tobei Tachibana" turns out to have been Hiruchameleon all along, it is unclear what become of the real Tachibana in this timeline. Unfortunately, he may have been a victim of Kill and Replace.
- The Worf Effect: In addition to his introduction defeating the first two Riders, Kamen Rider 3 proves himself when he soundly defeats both V3 and Riderman, the latter of whom literally had Drive on the ropes. He then beats X-Rider and later Blade.
- Mach beats both Amazon and Stronger, then Chalice and Leangle.
- Worf Had the Flu: All the Riders under Shocker's thrall are significantly weaker than they were at the conclusions of their respective series and lack access to their more powerful abilities because they were hunted down and enslaved early in their careers.
- Would Hurt a Child: General Black orders Schwarian to aim at the three Shocker kids, knowing that Black will take the hit.
- Zeppelins from Another World: Part of the scenery in Shocker's 2015.
- The Roidmude Count: 68
