My Hero Academia creator Kohei Horikoshi reveals a Spider-Man 2 scene was one of the inspirations behind his hit manga

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Because let's face it, Raimi rules

Cover art from My Hero Academia Chapter 429.
(Image credit: Viz Media/Shueisha)

Manga sensation My Hero Academia recently wrapped up with the publication of its final chapters at the start of August. Now, in a new interview with ComicBook, creator Kōhei Horikoshi has revealed that part of his inspiration when creating the manga came from a scene in Sam Raimi's classic superhero movie Spider-Man 2.

When asked about the real world heroes who have inspired him, he instead responded, "This may be slightly different from the purpose of your question, but there is a scene in Spider-Man 2 starring Tobey Maguire, in which Spider-Man stops a runaway train. There, ordinary passengers see Spider-Man's true face. But then a child hands him the mask he found and says, 'I won't tell anyone.'"

Spider-Man 2

(Image credit: Sony Pictures)

The scene in question is indeed a standout moment from the 2004 film, as New York City bystanders step in to help their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. According to Kōhei Horikoshi, this scene "depicts the answer to the question, 'What is a hero?' A hero is a person who helps ordinary people, and ordinary people who help them in turn. I think this is the answer to the question, and there is nothing more to it than that."

He also went on to say that he drew My Hero Academia with the thought that if the series hadn't succeeded, he would have stopped drawing manga entirely. "That is why I have drawn My Hero Academia with the intention of making it a story, which will encourage people who had mistakes in the past or had their hearts broken will want to try again."

My Hero Academia can be read in full online now at the VIZ Media website.

Keen to start reading manga? Here are 10 incredible ongoing series you should be reading right now.

Will Salmon
Will Salmon
Streaming Editor

Will Salmon is the Streaming Editor for GamesRadar+. He has been writing about film, TV, comics, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he launched the scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for well over a decade. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places too.