The latest episode of My Hero Academia ended with a bang as Todoroki faced down a whole group of opponents — one of whom has power familiar to Ant-Man fans.
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A gang of students dressed like ninjas went after Todoroki in the provisional licensing exam this week, hoping to take advantage of his lone-wolf status. At first, the multi-colored fighters seemed to be no match for U.A.’s Best Boy, until their apparent leader revealed the ability to grow and shrink pieces of hardware.
The red ninja threw a hexagonal nut at Todoroki, and it grew to the size of a bus in mid-air. After that, he freed his fellows from Todoroki’s ice with a precisely coordinated storm of nails. When Todoroki tried to melt the metal with his fire, the enemy gloated that it was made from tungsten, meaning it can hold up to the heat his attacks.
It’s not clear what this power is based on just yet. It could be the red ninja’s quirk, or it could be based on a support object provided to him by his school’s version of Hatsume. It could also be some combination of the two — perhaps he can only shrink and grow specific objects.
Either way, the power premiered at the perfect time, as fans have been flocking to see Ant-Man and The Wasp in theaters. The latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe makes liberal use of Pym Particle Disks. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) all use these disks to grow and shrink everything from cars to buildings to disguises in the movie.
If the red ninja’s power was in some way inspired by Ant-Man, it would come as no surprise to My Hero Academia fans. The series’ creator Kohei Horikoshi has made it clear that he is a huge Marvel comics fan. Last month, he made his first professional appearance in the U.S. at San Diego Comic-Con. There, her identified his favorite superhero as Spider-Man, demonstrating some serious nerd-cred on the web-slinger. He also said without hesitation that he would like Captain America to become a teacher at U.A. High School.
Fans will just have to wait and see how this Pym-like power plays out in Todoroki’s ten-on-one ninja fight. By the looks of it, the angsty young hero is going to pay the price for his hubris in taking on the exam alone. Hopefully he makes it out with a provisional hero license in hand.
New episodes of My Hero Academia air every Sunday at 4 a.m. ET in the U.S. The show is available to stream on Hulu and Crunchyroll.
