Shared universes are all the rage these days. From the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Freddy Krueger throwing down with Jason Voorhees to whatever Reagan-era nightmare Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue was, everyone loves a good crossover. That goes double when these crossovers are unofficial in nature. Now, two more iconic TV shows are joining the ranks of these shared universe superstars: My Hero Academia and One-Punch Man. The superhero high school saga My Hero Academia and the satirical superhero series One-Punch Man aren’t just two of the biggest anime on the planet, they might also be directly connected in a way that could explain an awful lot. And we’re going to dive into it headfirst on today’s episode of The Dan Cave.[brightcove video_id=”5969100972001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=“rJs2ZD8xâ€]Perhaps the wait for season 4 of My Hero Academia has addled our brains, but this new fan theory from redditor Yetiinatux has some real promise. Let’s look at the evidence, shall we? My Hero Academia is set in a world where approximately 80% of the population possesses superhuman abilities known as Quirks. Some of them are incredibly useful like superspeed or super strength, while others are less desirable like the power to rip off your own spherical hair and throw it like weird sticky balls.
In One-Punch Man, which takes place in a seemingly near-apocalyptic world on a strange supercontinent, people have also developed superhuman powers. The sudden uptick in monsters and villains murdering everyone in sight has led to the formation of the Hero Association and the rise of a new class of superheroes, including Saitama, the titular One-Punch Man, who as his name suggests can fell enemies with only a single punch.According to the theory, One-Punch Man and My Hero Academia share the same world, but One-Punch Man is much further in the future. It argues that years and years of people having Quirks and wreaking havoc on the world has left the planet twisted and scarred, setting the stage for the dysfunctional planet of One-Punch Man. The global government body of One-Punch Man is the result of the world’s nations banding together in an effort to combat the superpowered threat of destruction constantly looming over their heads. Cities being renamed after simple letters and numbers because getting too attached to your hometown is going to leave you sad and homeless given the alarming frequency with which they are destroyed.The theory continues by invoking one of My Hero Academia’s most powerful quirks, One For All, which can be passed from one user to another, allowing the bearer to access power that has been stockpiled from user to user. In the show, All Might, the show’s smiling, barrel-chested Superman analogue passes it along to the protagonist, Izuku Midoriya, a young man with heroic instincts but no quirk of his own. This theory posits that Midoriya wasn’t the last person to possess the One For All quirk, and it kept moving down the line until whomever held it last, perhaps in a moment of desperation, passed it to Saitama after witnessing him saving a child with an unfortunate chin from the nightmarish, underwear-clad crustacean villain Crablante.![](https://legendary-digital-network-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/13181254/One-Punch-Man-Saitama-Crablante.jpeg)
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via KnowYourMeme
But what do you think of this theory? Do you buy it? What’s your favorite One-Punch Man or My Hero Academia fan theory? Let me know in the comments below.
The science of One-Punch Man’s ridiculous strength
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Images: Viz Media, Funimation