Akira is a live-action film adaptation of Japanese manga artist and anime director Katsuhiro Otomo's graphic novel series of the same name. The film will be broken up in two parts with each film covering 3 volumes of the 6-part series. Set in "New Manhattan" three decades after a nuclear attack wiped out New York City, the film follows a teenage biker who gains superpowers after being exposed to a government experiment. The manga and the animated film that preceded the live action version are considered seminal works in the Cyberpunk genre.

Though the manga and films all bear the title Akira after the protagonist Akira Kaneda, the story revolves around Testuo Shima, Akira's friend who goes mad with power when an accident gives him immense psychic abilities, most notably the power of telekinesis. In the animated movie, at one point while battling the Army, Tetsuo's arm is destroyed, but he quickly forms a replacement arm out of scrap metal that he can move using his telekinetic powers. This works well with his name, as Tetsuo is Japanese meaning man of iron.