Marvel Gets the Perfect ‘My Hero Academia’ Makeover

My Hero Academia is known and loved for its fun and novel spin on the traditional superhero lore of DC and Marvel Comics, and one fan is taking that premise even further, by giving Marvel Comics superheroes a full-on My Hero Academia makeover!

This image by Image by DuckLordEthan@DeviantART takes some of the most popular current Marvel Comics Heroes and mashups them up with the members of U.A.’s Class 1-A in My Hero Academia. As you can see, the result is pretty spot-on awesome.

The individual character pics a perfect echo of how MHA likes to present its heroes in key credits or commercial breaks during the show, and offer Marvel fans some pretty awesome anime renditions of the heroes, in the style of My Hero Academia creator, Kōhei Horikoshi. It’s also cool how some of the images (Luke Cage, Nova) also serve as callbacks to character designs from Marvel animated series like Ultimate Spider-Man.

The true genius of this piece, however, is how the artist manages to capture not only the look of each Marvel Comics hero, but also mashup that likeness with the spirit of a different Class 1-A character. The most obvious pair are the Peter Parker / Spider-Man as Izuku Midoriya mashup, and the Flash Thompson / Venom as Katsuki Bakugo image. Other highlights are certainly the Robbie Reyes / Ghostrider as Todoroki, and Wanda Maximoff / Scarlett Witch as Ochaco Uraraka.

It’s no secret that Kōhei Horikoshi borrowed a lot of Marvel Comics inspiration to create MHA, as the manga and anime are littered with Marvel references and Easter eggs. In fact, certain covers of the books or scenes of the anime are actually created to be visual odes to classic Marvel imagery, so check all that out if you haven’t!

At the moment, My Hero Academia doesn’t need any Marvel crutch to lean on, as the series is doing quite for itself. After reaching a new level of hype and acclaim with the recent “Hideout Raid Arc,” season 3 of the anime has jumped right into the exciting “Hero License Exam Arc.” Meanwhile, the manga is beginning to shed light on some big secrets, thanks to its current “Pro Hero Arc.”

If you haven’t been checking out My Hero Academia, time to reverse that trend. It’s quickly becoming one of anime’s biggest crossover hits – hence the increased frequency of some truly awesome fan art.

My Hero Academia streams new episodes Saturdays on Funimation and Hulu. My Hero Academia will release its first movie, Two Heroes on August 3rd.