Ultraman Cosmos is a Japanese tokusatsu TV show being the 17th show in the Ultra Series. Produced by Tsuburaya Productions, Ultraman Cosmos aired from July 7, 2001 to September 28, 2002, with a total of 65 episodes, which currently makes it the longest running Ultra Show to date. Ultraman Cosmos was also the 35th anniversary for the Ultraman series In June 2002, Cosmos was taken off of television for several weeks when lead actor Taiyou Sugiura was questioned in an assault and extortion case. When the case against Sugiura was dropped for lack of evidence, Cosmos was put back on the air. TBS and Tsuburaya ultimately pulled five episodes from broadcast to make up for time lost, and these episodes were later released on DVD.

Ultraman Max was an Ultraman TV series which started airing on 7 July 2005, and produced by Tsuburaya Productions and Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting Co., Ltd.. The show tried to return to the true formula of new monsters every week and being a fast paced show like previous series with the exception of Ultraman Nexus. The show is full of homages to past series by having three of the original cast members from the first Ultraman series being featured in an episode, updated versions of classic monsters like Red King, Eleking and Pigmon among others. One unusual episode revolves around the filming of the 1964 program Ultra Q which was the predecessor to the first Ultraman show in 1966. Two actors from that show appear as themselves.

As humanity begins migrating beyond Earth, a new Ultraman named Dyna arrives and bonds with defense organization GUTS' newest recruit, Shin Asuka, to protect a colony on Mars.