Wait, Did 'One Punch Man' Reveal A Connection To 'My Hero Academia'?

These days, superheroes are all the rage, and anime is not about to snub the trend. Series like Tiger & Bunny showed fans how superheroes can be done right, leaving anime like One Punch Man to become so successful. And, as one fan noticed, there may be a little connection between One Punch Man and My Hero Academia.

Over on Reddit, conversation started in the anime fandom when someone noticed a odd coincidence in One Punch Man. As you can see below, a fan pointed out that there is a character in the anime who looks very similar to Snipe, and the Internet is dying to know if the cameo is intentional or not.

Well, the answer is no — but that doesn't mean you have to blow away your crossover theories!

I'm sure this has noticed before, but while rewatching One Punch Man, I noticed Snipe from BNHA sitting in this truck bed of heroes. from r/BokuNoHeroAcademia

If you know about One Punch Man, then you will have met this hero before. The Snipe lookalike is called Gasmask Cowboy, and he actually pre-dates the My Hero Academia character by two years; He debuted in 2010 while Snipe went live in 2012 so long as you don't factor in My Hero Academia's prototype one-shot. As a C-Class hero, Gasmask Cowboy has been seen in the One Punch Man anime, but he hasn't been able to fight any baddies on-screen for himself. So, the characters seem separate despite their similarities.

Looking at the comparison above, it is easy to see why fans wondered if Snipe had slipped into One Punch Man. Their shared hats, masks, capes, and outfits are very similar to one another. But, in the end, the characters are very separate. It's very possible Kohei Horikoshi was inspired to create Snipe after seeing Gasmask Cowboy, but any gun-toting hero could look like this. So, if you want to live out a crossover theory, then you can explore that kind of mash-up on your own thanks to this coincidence.

For those unfamiliar with One Punch Man, the series follows Saitama, a regular working Joe who one day puts a stop to a violent villain attack. After this fight Saitama is inspired to become a hero. Training his body hard everyday, he's eventually granted with extreme strength. Looking for a worthy opponent, Saitama joins the Hero Association in the hopes of fighting them. But every fight he gets into ends after a single punch! Forced to wander through life increasingly bored of his supreme power, Saitama has become hilariously disconnected with the world of action around him.

One Punch Man started life as a webcomic by series creator ONE in 2009. After going viral, surpassing seven million hits in June 2012, illustrator Yusuke Murata approached ONE about redrawing the series for a release in Shuiesha's Weekly Young Jump spin-off webcomics. Thirteen volumes of the series have been released as of this date.

Did you ever notice how similar these heroes are? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!