WARNING: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN SPOILERS The references My Hero Academia makes to American comic books are copious and hard to miss.
All Might is almost the complete embodiment of what it means to be a superhero in the
west.
But, the real question here, is a superhero from what age?
You see, despite the resurgence of superheroes in media, comic books have been around for
much longer than that.
I’m sure we’ve all seen the funny light-hearted covers of days past, the ones where Superman
says something ridiculous or is doing something like eating twice his weight in hamburgers.
These are examples of comics from the Silver Age, where due to backlash against comic books
as well as a questionable claim that they led to juvenile delinquency, stories had to
follow the so-called “Comic Code.”
This code included great rules like “In every instance good shall triumph over evil,
and the criminal punished for his misdeeds,” and, “... in no case shall evil be presented
alluringly, nor so as to injure the sensibilities of the reader.”
This resulted in every Silver Age comic sharing the same campy style—bad guy has wacky idea,
gets close to succeeding, until Superman shows up and defeats him with one of his million
random powers.
It was something more akin to Scooby Doo rather than what we’re used to today.
...and All Might is kind of emblematic of the Silver Age.
I know, having to compare him to such a lame era is hard, but I think it’s easy to see.
He’s kind of lame himself, in a goofy disarming way.
No matter what, you could bet on All Might to save you with a smile, and his reign as
the number one hero was so absolute that it seemed like he could do no wrong.
The way he composes himself as well as the absolute ease in which he dealt with villains
bears little resemblance to the grimdark superheroes of the modern age.
Obviously something changed between the ‘50s and the comics we have today.
The exact moment where comic books transitioned from the Silver Age to the Bronze Age is disputed,
but more often than not, people point to issue 121 of The Amazing Spider-man.
The story starts off rather typical of Spider-man—Norman Osbourne snaps into being the Green Goblin
and kidnaps Peter’s then girlfriend, Gwen Stacy.
He leaves her on top of the George Washington Bridge as he battles Spidey, and over the
course of the fight she comes careening off of the edge.
Peter throws out a quick web and manages to catch her by her legs just in time, stopping
her fall immediately.
He swings through with a trademark quip about how good he is… before noticing her lifeless
body.
It seems as though the sudden stop snapped her neck, killing her instantly.
The Death of Gwen Stacy heralded in an age where superheroes were no longer quasi-demigods
that could do no wrong.
Spider-man’s mistake is just that, a mistake, made by someone who could not afford them.
It was the first time a main character had failed in such a disastrous way, as well as
the first time someone so prominent had died.
From here on, comic book stories would feature almost the antithesis of what the Comic Code
20 years prior was all about—stories with moral ambiguity, tragedies, and real-world
issues.
They were no longer a comforting place to turn to where good always triumphs over evil.
For me, the most captivating part of the All Might versus All-for-One fight was never the
fight itself.
It was being able to witness My Hero Academia’s very own Death of Gwen Stacy.
With All Might’s Symbol of Peace being snuffed out, and nobody capable of taking up the mantle,
we are at a very interesting precipice in HeroAca’s story.
I’m not a source reader, so I could be completely wrong, but I’m looking forward to how HeroAca
handles this change—anime-only watchers got a sneak peak by the way of Bakugou.
Horikoshi hasn’t hidden his love of Spider-man.
In addition to direct references, including this manga cover, Deku and Peter share a lot
of similarities.
Stan Lee wrote Spider-man at a time where most superheroes were entirely unrelatable
demigods, whether that be due to being a literal alien, or a wealthy American playboy by day,
and vigilante powerhouse by night.
In contrast, Spider-man was a mousy teenager, roped into his situation by mere chance.
Deku’s overwhelming urge to chase after Kacchan despite being quirkless captures the
spirit of the comic well, and an underlying theme of Spider-man is guilt—which I can’t
wait to see HeroAca explore.
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Special thanks to The Amazing Taluun, Supirvom, Anime stickemup, Make or Break Gamer 632,
Chrispyman294, Professor Eklundh, and Torollimor for their support.
And of course if anything I said was wrong, I’m sorry.
I must’ve stuttered.