Popverse's top stories

• Marvel TV, DC K.O. an Agents of SHIELD reunion, and a new Game of Thrones show head up New York Comic Con 2025's loaded panel schedule
• Despite blistered feet and a 12-inch wig, a young girl reminded me why I only cosplay heroes like All Might and Captain America
• DC’s Tom King, Spider-Man’s Dan Slott, Transformers’ Daniel Warren Johnson and so many, many more are tabling at NYCC ‘25’s Artist Alley: Get a look at the full list right here

This is, in many ways, the year of My Hero Academia. Not only are we getting the final season of the hit anime but Bones is bringing us the anime adaptation of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. The spinoff manga shows the world of unlicensed heroes trying to keep the streets safe from villains. The first full trailer for My Hero Academia: Vigilantes has dropped and brought the visceral feel that made the manga stand out from Deku’s story.

Not only is the first full trailer out, but we’ve also got a release date for My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. The first episode airs on April 7, 2025. The series follows Koichi Haimawari as he uses his underwhelming quirk to fight crime as an unlicensed hero. He’s joined by Pop Step, an idol-themed hero, and Knuckleduster, a fighter with hero-level attack power but none of the restraint. Together, they take on villains while trying to avoid the licensed heroes who see them as acting outside of the law.

The trailer drops a few familiar faces for fans, including All Might and Eraserhead, but the focus is very clearly on Koichi as he settles into his role as a vigilante hero with Knuckleduster as his mentor. The parallels between All Might’s relationship with Deku are clear from the start, but there is a decidedly more violent feel to the action in My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. Where All Might is out to protect people as a hero, Knuckleduster is in it to punish villains and his actions feel more brutal as a result.

The first episode of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is out on April 7, 2025 with new episodes following weekly.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

• Aggretsuko vs Chainsaw Man: Two Wildly different anine with the same anti-capitalist message
• The Summer Anime season return of Kaiju No. 8, Sakamoto Days, & Dan Da Dan are forcing me to break my vow of watching less anime
• From Tomo-Chan to Oshi No Ko: How some of your favorite manga creators got their start in hentai
• Piracy is baked into anime's past, but, like Crunchyroll, we should move on from it
• Flying whales, mechs, and Miyazaki vibes: Inside Netflix's Leviathan anime with the people who made it
• How AI translations of manga continues the 'enshitification' of the medium, and why Japanese publishers are "less precious" about it
• I never wanted a Cyberpunk Edgerunners sequel, but God help me I'm going to watch it
• The Summer Hikaru Died delivers its cosmic horror at an agonizingly slow pace
• The one thing that Dan Da Dan does better than Demon Slayer ever did
• Studio Ghibli movies have never been as cozy as you think they are and that's what makes them magic