Did You Catch This Spider-Man Nod In 'My Hero Academia'?

While season 3 fo the My Hero Academia anime series has been keeping fans thrilled week-to-week, there's still the equally exciting Boku No Hero Academia manga series also dropping exciting new chapters, as well. In the case of the latter: one fan recently noticed that Vol. 9 of the manga had a cover with a very specific Marvel Comics reference:

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This homage to Spider-Man and Venom is no surprise: My Hero Academia creator Kōhei Horikoshi has famously admitted that Spider-Man was one of his main inspirations for the series. Here's what he said in an interview almost two years ago, now:

"Spider-man.(laughs) To me, when mentioning the title hero, he is the only hero that I think of, that defines the title. The concept of BnHA is built around that hero in mind, a hero to me is somebody that helps and brings reassurance to others. In Spider-Man's case the first experience I had with this character was the movie, in which there were a lot of scenes with him rescuing people, which I felt that was really cool."

If we had to guess, there's probably more Easter egg references to the Wall-Crawler hidden all throughout Boku No Hero Academia - and probably some peppered throughout the anime, as well.

MANGA SPOILERS FOLLOW - As for the homage itself: this cover is from Volume 9 of the manga (released last August), which syncs up with the current season 3 storyline of the anime. The storyline is titled the "School Trip Arc", which sees the Class 1-A students head to a mountain region for summer training - only to be ambushed by the League of Villains' newest recruits, the Vanguard Action Squad.

That ambush results in a serious showdown between Izuku, young Kota, and the villain depicted on the cover, Muscular. Because of the connection between Kota's tragic past and Musuclar, the fight gets even more intense and emotional. Needless to say, it's a major highlight of the entire "School Trip Arc."

Fans have pointed out that Horikoshi's homage in the artwork runs even deeper, with some comparing Muscular to not only Venom, but Venom's spawn Carnage:

from discussion Just to show how much Boku No Hero academia was inspired by Spider-man.

The other big takeaway from the cover is that Tokoyami has teeth, which instantly inspired references to the terrifying "Hans Wermhat" from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a bird who has teeth.

My Hero Academia is simulcasting season 3 Sub episodes every Saturday on Hulu and Funimation streaming services.