Warning: The below article contains light spoilers for My Hero Academia Season 7.
My Hero Academia is a shonen anime that boldly displays its affection for American comic book icons with the antics and bravado of its own spandex-clad heroes. To that end, the arrival of the series' seventh season also comes its first real spotlight on an American hero, who fans are already in love with.
Star and Stripe, born on July 4 (naturally) as Cathleen Bate, is as American as apple pie and golden retrievers. As her name would suggest, Star and Stripe's superhero costume is akin to the Golden Age comic book-inspired get-up All Might wears while also looking like something WWE Undisputed champion Cody Rhodes sports before entering the ring. Star and Stripe’s outfit consists of metal stars on her high collar, wrists, and boots; a bald eagle embossed on her golden corset, and the American flag as a cape. What’s more, she travels the skies atop a fighter jet like Sonic on Tails’ Tornado, affectionately refers to her squadron as her “bros,” and is pound-for-pound the buffest woman in the entire show.
Star and Stripe isn’t known as America’s number one superhero by merit of her patriotic costume alone. She’s also got a pretty overpowered hero quirk to boot. Star and Stripe’s quirk, New Order, allows her to add new rules to anything she touches so long as she speaks its name aloud. For instance, she can make it so the air 100 meters in front of her no longer exists — leaving her opponent without oxygen.
The only limitation to her admittedly broken quirk is that she can only decree upwards of two New Order rules at a time. This manifests in her scuffle with big bad Shigaraki when she molly-whops him and makes a new rule that his heart will stop beating if he tries to run from her. She also comes equipped with signature moves like her Fist Bump to the Earth, which transforms the air into a gigantic version of herself that pummels and thunderclaps her adversaries into a million pieces. Another move of hers is called Keraunos, which allows her gigantic form to convert laser beams shot from air fleet into a lightning rod.
It almost goes without saying that Star and Stripe’s debut has My Hero Academia fans outwardly pledging their loyalty to the big-time maverick from the West. Aside from fans admitting their jealousy over Shigaraki getting his behind whooped by the 6'4" heroine, other diehards have taken to social media to share patriotic fan cams and appreciation posts of Star and Stripe. Here are some of our favorite reactions:
BREAKING NEWS?
— ever (@DabisPoleDance) May 6, 2024
Star and Stripe has arrived at the 2024 Met Gala! pic.twitter.com/XUCkT8Z8AQ
These chibi star & stripe images have a chokehold on me? pic.twitter.com/6ahdPjDEi2
— ??????? (@___SHiM0___) May 5, 2024
all might & star and stripe pic.twitter.com/onbdPd4Y4H
— ݁₊ ⋆ corvus ⊹ . ˖ (@corvushaze) May 4, 2024
Needless to say, Star and Stripe’s intervention in My Hero Academia Season 7's End Game-esque goings-on even has All for One, the show's big bad, quaking in his boots. This comes as no surprise considering the only reason Star and Stripe is a superhero is thanks to the influence of his eternal rival, All Might.
Much like Izuku Midoriya, Star and Stripe’s hero journey is a direct result of her own admiration of All Might. In fact, if it weren’t for All Might's rescuing of Cathleen as a child during his superhero excursion in America, Star and Stripe wouldn't have become the mightiest woman, neigh, the strongest hero in “the birthplace of heroes.” To honor her mentor, Star and Stripe went so far as to emulate All Might’s two protruding bangs of hair by having eight “antenna” bangs of her own and dying her hair blonde. Not even Midoriya has taken his hero worship of All Might that far. America definitely sent its brightest in Star and Stripe, and hopefully she'll change the tide of war between good and evil in the heroes favor this season.
My Hero Academia Season 7 is streaming on Crunchyroll.
Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh.
