New My Hero Academia Villain Draws Major Comparisons to One Marvel Star

My Hero Academia will see the debut of its second major film effort later this Winter in Japan, [...]

By Nick Valdez

My Hero Academia will see the debut of its second major film effort later this Winter in Japan, and all eyes on Heroes Rising as more details are starting to be revealed. Recent updates have begun to flesh out the villain roster Izuku Midoriya and the others will be facing in the upcoming film, and one particular villain is drawing major comparisons to a Marvel superhero favorite. Now that fans have gotten a full look at new villain Slice's design for the film, they can't help but see the connection with the Marvel character Medusa, who fans might have seen as part of The Inhumans.

A great side-by-side comparison shared by @aitaikimochi on Twitter highlights the similarities pretty well with the both of them having longer red hair along with a purple and black color scheme for their costume. Check it out:

The similarities don't stop with the visuals, however, as Slice is described on the film's official website as a villain whose quirk "allows her to use her hair as a knife or weapon." While there's no clue as to how this will visually play out in the film, her longer hair in the character design suggests she will be whipping it around at the heroes in order to take them out. Primarily using her hair as a weapon also plays into Medusa's powerset as well.

In Marvel comics, Medusa is given powers from the Terrigen Mist that allow her to psychokinetically control her hair. With this ability, she can grow her hair to outstanding lengths, sharpen in to the point where she can pick locks, and use it to help her lift heavy objects and tie up foes. Like Slice, she uses her hair primarily in battle so while Horikoshi has taken influence from Western superhero comics before, this is definitely one of the more noticeable ones.

But Slice is a villain, so she might be using her hair in a much deadlier fashion than Medusa ever did. And Slice will have limits placed on her since it's her hair she controls directly rather than Medusa's style of channeling a psychic force through her hair to do these things. We'll see for ourselves soon how these two might differ.

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is currently scheduled to release this December 20th in Japan, but there is currently no word on its release to other territories as of this writing. The film is currently described as such, "A must-see story full of passion!! In this movie, Deku, Bakugo, Ochaco, Todoroki, and all the other members of Class A will make an appearance! Even though All Might was admired by [many] all around the world, it was with a sad heart that he had to give up his hero role as the Symbol of Peace. Because of this, a dark force who was moving behind the scenes, a villain named Nine who can be considered the greatest villain thus far."

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising will be directed by Kenji Nagasaki, who has directed the four seasons of the anime and first movie, with character designs from Yoshihiko Umakoshi, Yosuke Kuroda will be providing the script, Yuki Hayashi will be composing the music for the new film, and like the first film, series creator Kohei Horikoshi will be contributing new character designs and acting as creative supervisor.

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