My Hero Academia Creator Shares How Comics Inspired His Top Characters

My Hero Academia is preparing to release its final chapter on August 3rd and understandably, creator Kohei Horikoshi has some thoughts on the matter. Considering that the shonen series is able to make good on any number of superhero tropes, it should come as no surprise that the manga artist is a big fan of Marvel, DC, and various superhero comics forged in North America. In a recent interview with Viz Media, Horikoshi took the opportunity to discuss how many of his characters’ names were inspired by comic book heroes from across the spectrum and how the anime characters were meant to fit right into the Western aesthetic.

The superhero universe of My Hero Academia has created its fair share of heroes and villains that rival those of the Marvel and DC universes. In the past, Horikoshi approved of one of his creations having a team-up with Marvel’s Merc With a Mouth, Deadpool. In the original manga series, Deadpool: Samurai, Wade Wilson gets a team-up with none other than All Might to face down the Mad Titan himself, Thanos. While Class 1-A has yet to come face-to-face with the Avengers or the X-Men, there’s always a chance that the universes will collide. 

My Hero Academia x Marvel & DC

In a recent interview with Viz Media, Kohei Horikoshi stated that North American comic books did have an influence on his creations, “Yes, though it’s really just surface-level inspiration. I consciously tried to give the heroes names that feel like they belong in American comics.” 

Horikoshi also broke down the level of thought he put into the creation of hero and villain names in general, ” I don’t recall putting that much thought into it. I think I chose names based on how they sounded. I wanted the names to be catchy and memorable and to intuitively connect with the character’s appearance. However, we haven’t had many new characters recently—the last one might have been Star and Stripe. Honestly, I don’t remember much about naming them.”

Want to see how My Hero Academia ends? Want to see if UA Academy has future crossovers with heroes from Marvel or DC? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook for all the latest updates on Class 1-A and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime. 

Via Viz Media