10 MHA Characters Who Are the Most Like Their Comic Book Inspirations

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My Hero Academia‘s story and aesthetic drew inspiration from classic shonen manga, Star Wars, and Western comic books. While the anime has plenty of its own original ideas to give it a unique voice, author Kohei Horikoshi couldn’t help but show his comic book side with more than a few character designs in My Hero Academia. Some of them were obvious while others were subtle, but they were all loving homages to the works of Marvel, DC, and the like.

These My Hero Academia characters emulate their comic inspirations in a few ways, including the design of their costumes, the nature of their Quirks, and in some cases, even their personalities. These characters are fun pop culture references for any comic fan who is getting into anime, and it helps make My Hero Academia feel more familiar. In particular, many of these characters are modeled after X-Men characters, while a few others imitate the likes of Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, and Batman to add some variety.

10

Jurota Is My Hero Academia’s Hank McCoy

Debut Episode: “In Their Own Quirky Ways”

It wasn’t obvious at first, but a variety of students in U.A.’s Class 1-B closely mimicked American comic characters or shonen manga characters, including Jurota Shishida. He is a large, hairy student who can use his Beast Quirk to become a rampaging monster in battle, and his Quirk’s name is no coincidence. Jurota is just like Hank McCoy aka Beast of X-Men fame, with just a few revisions.

Jurota has natural brown fur rather than blue fur, and he lacks Beast’s distinctly feline facial features, but the basic idea is the same for these characters. While Jurota isn’t a brilliant scientist like Beast is, he is still a smart kid whose intellect contrasts sharply with his Beast Quirk. To reinforce that contrast even more, Jurota acts like a proper gentleman outside of battle, including formal wear, according to his character sketches.

9

My Hero Academia’s Mirio Is a Beefed-Up Kitty Pryde

Debut Episode: “A Season for Encounters”

Mirio Togata owes his success to what was once a total burden of a Quirk: Permeation. When Mirio started at U.A., his ability to phase through things was difficult to control, but then he mastered his Quirk and became an untouchable warrior. Mirio combines his formidable martial arts with sharpened intuition and the ability to pop out of the ground after sinking into it via Permeation.

Mirio is a delightful re-imagining of Kitty Pryde of X-Men fame. Kitty is famed for passing right through walls, and comic fans may recall the time she extended her powers to a giant bullet, making it phase through the entire Earth in one epic scene. Mirio can’t pull off a feat like that, but he still shares Kitty’s advantages via his Quirk, combined with some of the best punching power a U.A. student could ask for.

8

MHA’s Star and Stripe Shone as the Anime Version of Captain Marvel

Debut Episode: “No Man Is an Island”

The top American pro hero Star and Stripe shook things up in a huge way when she arrived in My Hero Academia‘s 7th anime season to save the day in All Might’s name. Star and Stripe stole the show not just with her showy costume and personality, but also the incredible power of her New Order Quirk. With it, Star could boost her immense physical strength to astonishing levels, among many other effects.

Star and Stripe’s overall personality, aesthetic, and overwhelming melee power make her a clear parallel to Captain Marvel aka Carol Danvers from Marvel Comics. She, too, is a mighty blonde superhero with a red, blue, and gold costume, always ready to take on the strongest villains without hesitation. The masses got a taste of Captain Marvel’s feats of strength in The Avengers: Endgame, and anime fans got a similar vibe when Star and Stripe took on Tomura Shigaraki.

Debut Episode: “The Test”

Eraser Head was mostly defined as a Quirk-erasing pro hero with a tsundere attitude early in My Hero Academia, only for later seasons to show him in a whole new light. Eraser Head met up with his fellow hero/teacher Ms. Joke, who taught at the Ketsubutsu hero school. Together, the two of them were clearly Batman and the Joker, with Ms. Joke’s comic reference being the stronger of the two.

Ms. Joke was like a redeemed Joker, being a cheerful and friendly crime fighter rather than a cruel villain. Personality aside, Ms. Joke borrowed most of the Joker’s notes, from her name and her ability to make villains laugh uncontrollably all the way to her colorful costume, including green hair. My Hero Academia fans might also say the Batman and Joker visual motif between Eraser Head and Ms. Joke was sorely underused in the story.

6

Knuckleduster From the MHA: Vigilantes Spinoff Anime Is the Caped Crusader of Naruhata

Debut Episode: “I’m Here”

Even more so than Eraser Head, the rough vigilante Knuckleduster is a serious homage to Batman of DC fame, including the fact they both fight superpowered villains while having no powers of their own. However, Knuckleduster and the Caped Crusader both make up for it with their expert martial arts, reliance on stealth, and their many tools and tactics for the job. Both of them are the cowl-wearing terror of criminals every night.

Knuckleduster has plenty of overlap with Batman, though there are a few key differences as well, allowing Knuckleduster to be his own character. Knuckleduster doesn’t come from high society and didn’t lose his parents as a child, but he did lose his original Quirk, Overclock. Now, Knuckleduster has a humbler and more pragmatic perspective with his Quirk gone, and he made the most of it. Fans might say Koichi Haimawari is Knuckleduster’s own Robin, a cheerful young man in a colorful costume who also fights crime every night.

5

MHA’s Stain Took After Spawn & the TMNT

Debut Episode: “Fight On, Ida”

Thematically, Stain doesn’t have a lot of common ground with the American comic book characters who helped inspire him. Stain mostly emulates those comic characters on a superficial level, with some fans noting how Stain has some Spawn vibes to reinforce his antihero image. Stain also has costume elements of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, primarily his headband with two eye holes in it.

As for Stain’s ability and personal convictions, those are all Horikoshi’s invention. Not only does Stain protest the shallow nature of the pro hero industry, but he has an alternative idea in mind. Stain truly does believe in heroes, but only with his stripped-down original definition. Stain says heroes are anyone who is brave enough to save another person out of the goodness of their heart, nothing more or less.

4

Yuga Aoyama Became the Tearful Traitor Cyclops in My Hero Academia

Debut Episode: “Start Line”

Viewers of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes might point to Ichimoku Samazu as an even more blatant homage to Scott Summers aka Cyclops of X-Men fame, but Ichimoku’s character is just a visual gag for the most part. He and his rival Jube tend to butt heads as Cyclops/Wolverine stand-ins just for fun, while Yuga Aoyama of Class 1-A is the more substantial X-Men tribute in the anime. Yuga shifts Cyclops’ laser beams to his navel and switches the color to a bright, sparkly blue.

Yuga’s Navel Laser works in a similar way as Cyclops’ mutation, firing powerful kinetic beams at a distance to knock out his enemies. Yuga even makes use of a device to focus and strengthen his abilities, though it still stresses his stomach. The main way Yuga differs from Cyclops is how Yuga was the reluctant U.A. traitor, manipulated into sabotaging the school on behalf of All For One.

3

Hanta Is the Best Spider-Man Reference in My Hero Academia

Debut Episode: “What I Can Do for Now”

Not one, but several characters in My Hero Academia emulate Marvel’s Spider-Man in some fashion, such as Deku using Blackwhip to hang from items like Spider-Man, or Hitoshi Shinso doing the same with his costume’s ribbons. Then there’s Hanta Sero, an oft-overlooked Class 1-A student whose Tape Quirk is entirely a Spider-Man tribute. Hanta is a handy support hero because, like the New York City wallcrawler before him, he can bind villains or items together with sticky powers.

Hanta has used his Tape Quirk in creative ways, from forming webs to binding his enemies or holding rubble together, though it’s not as effective up close. While Spider-Man is adequate in close-range combat with his fists, Hanta has few options in a fistfight. His training didn’t include martial arts, so Hanta would rather stay back and let his allies to the brawling while the Tape Quirk can provide support.

2

MHA’s Toru Is Just Like the Fantastic Four’s Sue Storm

Debut Episode: “What I Can Do for Now”

Although My Hero Academia‘s narrative tends to use Toru Hagakure’s invisibility as a mere gag, the character really does pay homage to a comic character in stellar fashion. Rather than emulating the X-Men team or the Justice League, Toru’s inspiration draws from the Fantastic Four, one of the very first Marvel publications from the 1960s. More specifically, Toru is the new Sue Storm, who was once known as the Invisible Girl.

Now Toru wears that mantle, and she makes the most of it. Toru’s melee skills are limited, but she can still take any foe by surprise with an unseen attack, giving her an advantage. Toru is also an excellent scout in most situations, aside from dealing with enemies with heat vision Quirks or strong noses, for example. The main difference between Toru and Sue is that the latter has other powers as well, such as creating barriers and even flight.

1

My Hero Academia’s Tetsutetsu Should Remind X-Men Fans of Colossus

Debut Episode: “Roaring Sports Festival”

Even if Tetsutetsu and Eijiro Kirishima have remarkably similar Quirks and fighting styles, it’s Tetsutetsu who is the obvious comic book reference. In this case, My Hero Academia is delving into the X-Men comics once again, taking cues from Colossus to give Class 1-B one of its toughest fighters. Like Colossus, Tetsutetsu can harden his entire body into a shiny steel, making him all but unbreakable in close-quarters combat.

For an X-Men tribute, Tetsutetsu actually rather underperformed in My Hero Academia, but comic fans will still appreciate what the character represents. While Colossus often throws Wolverine at their enemies in the comics, Tetsutetsu is the one who gets flung at his foes, forming a hard, steely projectile. Fans may also compare Tetsutetsu to Citizen Steel from DC Comics, who can turn his skin, bones, and muscles alike into organic steel for combat.

“}]] My Hero Academia drew heavily from Marvel comic book character designs and superpowers, namely the X-Men.  Read More