Abe-ngers

It was a veritable who’s who of Marvel superheroes: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor… but some fans from a country with its own rich history of superhero characters have been asking, couldn’t there have been a Captain Japan in The Avengers?

Join us as we delve into a parallel universe, asking, “If The Avengers had a Japanese superhero, which one would it be?”

In a thread on online message board 2channel earlier this week, Japanese netizens put forward their suggestions for a superhero to represent their country in The Avengers. Here’s our pick of the bunch!

10. Anpanman

Beloved children’s character and bread-headed hero for the masses, Anpanman would be a great addition to the Avengers team. And in a pinch, they could use him for emergency rations.

wikia

And if regular Anpanman is a bit too cute, Japan could always send him in hulked-up form:

chomanga (MANJI)

9. Goku

Dragon Ball protagonist and all-round mighty warrior Goku could do martial arts alongside Black Widow.

Gokuwikia

8. Miyamoto Musashi

Because who says superheroes need to be fictional? Seventeenth-century swordsman, rōnin and general badass. Here he is immortalised in manga form:

MMameblo

7. Pretty Cure

Magical girl anime series Pretty Cure (プリキュア Purikyua) seems like a solid female superhero choice. We’re not sure which particular heroine the commenter means, though. Maybe all of them?

Precurenewstage3wikia

6. Koji Murofushi

World champion hammer thrower. Although, the Avengers team already has Thor, so there might be some in-fighting over hammers going on.

Koji_Murofushi_Daegu_2011Wikimedia Commons (Erik van Leeuwen)

 5. Ryu

Because his striking, simple appearance in Street Fighter (white karate gi, with red and black details) would make a good addition to any superhero movie lineup.

Ryuwikia

And because what The Avengers needed, really, was more HADOUKEN:

4. Astro Boy

Hero of Japan’s first popular TV anime and brainchild of ‘father of manga’ Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy could help the Avengers fight for peace, as well as justice.

astroboycaamfest

3. Ultraman

At 40m tall, Utraman would make the Hulk look like his little green man-child.

ウルトラマンkobeconcerto

2. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Because then it could have been called The Abe-ngers.

Abe-ngers croplivedoor/Wikipedia

1. Japanese Spider-Man

Top of the list though has to be the Toei Spider-Man. Concerned about the character’s marketability in Japan, Toei gave their 1978 Spider-Man an extraterrestrial back-story and a spaceship that could transform into a giant robot. We think he’d be ideally placed to represent the country as a Marvel Japanese Avenger.

Japanese Spiderman

And hey, 1.6 million YouTubers can’t be wrong:

What did you think of these suggestions? Who should represent your country on the global superhero stage? Let us know in the comments!

Source: chomanga, 2channel
Featured image: livedoor/Wikipedia