My Hero Academia Newest Hero Draws Hilarious X-Men Comparison

It is no secret; The creator of My Hero Academia is a bonafide comic book nerd. Kohei Horikoshi knows more about Marvel Comics than some staffers at the publisher, but he is not one to brag about it. As an avid reader, Horikoshi has shown his love for Marvel through several of his Pro Heroes, and it seems an all-new anime entry has fans eyeing a certain X-Men character.

This weekend, fans were treated to a brand-new episode of My Hero Academia, and season four introduced a newcomers. The episode saw Kirishima focus on his work study, and it involves a hero known as Fatgum. The so-called BMI Hero is a large man who is able to use his fat as a means of shock absorption. It also gives him power to land huge hits on a bad guys, but he is not the first hero to have such powers.

Back in X-Force #117, fans met a character known as Phat. The character became a recurring one in X-Men who used his body mass index to fight. Growing up as a gangster, Phat gained weight when his powers first manifested, and the allowed him to manipulate fat deposits in his body. Phat could use his mutation to make himself bigger by expansion or shrink down.

Looking above, you can see a clear connection between Fatgum and Phat by their looks alone. ComicBook.com writer Jamie Lovett first noticed the comparison thanks to the characters’ similar headgear. Their size is also very similar and the fact they both use fat to fight. However, Fatgum has some different powers.

As manga readers will know, Fatgum is constantly eating to keep his weight up to absorb hits and deal them back. However, when needed, Fatgum can use all of his fat’s stored-up energy for some serious attacks. This ultimate technique leaves the hero skinny and weak to hits, but it gives Fatgum a point of differentiation from other Pro Heroes and X-Men favs like Phat.

Did you ever piece together this My Hero Academia comparison? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

My Hero Academia was created by Kohei Horikoshi and has been running in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump since July 2014. The story follows Izuku Midoriya, who lives in a world where everyone has powers, even though he was born without them. Dreaming to become a superhero anyway, he’s eventually scouted by the world’s best hero All Might and enrolls in a school for professional heroes. The series has been licensed by Viz Media for an English language release since 2015. My Hero Academia will also be launching its second big movie, Heroes Rising, in Japan this December.