The author doesn't mind inserting Shout-Outs to other works too.
Beware of unmarked spoilers.
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Chapter 3 - Izuku Midoriya: Birthright Part 3
- Izuku says that he "didn't fall into a vat of toxic waste", referencing the origin story of numerous comic book characters, such as The Joker, Harley Quinn, The Flash, Plastic Man, and Daredevil.
S.T.A.R. Labs Interlude - And We Just Fixed the Security
- H.R. wants to make a Godzilla movie.
Chapter 4 - The Übermenschen Part 1
- All Might and Izuku listen to The Beatles, Savage Garden, and Music Meister while driving to Mt. Fuji.
- In addition to that, the Music Meister in this world actually is Neil Patrick Harris rather than just sounding like him.
- The car scene also mentions Hoyt S. Martin, who composed many of the soundtracks for the Hanna-Barbera cartoons and more importantly, the theme song for Super Friends.
- The Villain who had set up shop in Mt. Fuji is playing the score from the opera, "The Cunning Little Vixen"
by Leoš Janáček, a celebrated Czech composer, in his lair. He is also pleasantly surprised when Izuku recognizes it.
Chapter 5 - The Übermenschen Part 2
- The Ultra-Humanite says "Curiouser and curiouser..." while observing Izuku's abilities.
- Firestorm threatens to turn all of Mt. Fuji into a pillar of salt after the Ultra-Humanite pisses him off, referencing the fate of Lot's wife during the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
- The scene where Izuku discovers his ability to fly is reminiscent of a similar scene from Sky High.
Hope Carried 1,000 Years
- Brainiac 5’s clothing choice is clearly inspired by the Eleventh Doctor’s outfit.
Chapter 6 - The Übermenschen Part 3
- When Izuku is watching Krypton's destruction, the rocket carrying him is described as carrying "precious cargo", which is reminiscent of the lyrics of "Deliver Us" from The Prince of Egypt, wherein Moses' mother asks the river to be gentle to the "precious cargo" it bears as it carries an infant Moses downstream. This is even more fitting when one remembers that Superman as a character was envisioned by two Jews as "Space Moses".
- Just as Hisashi arrives home, he takes a deep breath and says "Showtime." before opening the door, referencing the same line spoken by Mr. Incredible before walking into his wedding as Bob Parr in The Incredibles. The scene is doubly fitting because Mr. Incredible had just gotten out of costume, while Hisashi had just separated from Professor Stein as the primary body of Firestorm.
Super Magical Fun Time Interlude Go! Go! Go!
Chapter 7 - For All Seasons
- The island Izuku visits is called Korusan Island, which continues in Horikoshi's long list of references to Star Wars. Korusan is specifically an allusion to the planet Coruscant, where the Jedi Temple and the Galactic Senate are located.
- The Kaiju spawn on Korusan Island are called Mi-Gos, which is a reference to the similarly named creatures from the Cthulhu Mythos.
- The restaurant that Momo brings Izuku to is called "Jet Star", which is a hole-in-the-wall that serves cheap beer and food, much like the Chalmun's Cantina from Star Wars, complete with a reptilian bartender/cook.
Chapter 9 - Deku's Pal, Katsuki Bakugou (1)
- Lexi's butler, Woodhouse, is a reference to both his original robot counterpart from Legion of Super-Heroes and Archer's heroin addicted butler in Archer.
- Tenya notices Izuku's distress and says he looks like he'd been punched in the gut. Remembering Izuku's Nigh-Invulnerability, he revises his statement to say he looks like he'd been hit with a steamroller.
- Nedzu ends his monologue with a quote from Edwin Starr's song "War".
- While internally breathing a sigh of relief at his impromptu speech's success, Izuku thinks "I love it too, random citizen!", referencing a similar line spoken by Metro Man, a Superman Substitute, in Megamind.
- When talking to the rest of the class, Dark Shadow quotes The Genie.
- U.A.'s Janitor turns out to be Hana Aoi from Oumagadoki Doubutsuen. This is somewhat odd, as Aoi has an Expy in the form of Zookeeper from the arcade game.
- Tooru - whose Quirk is Invisibility - mentions her mom started as Quirkless but became a great Hero after being mutated by weird space radiations. Susan Storm, anyone?
- The Adaptational Superpower Change of Tsuyu's family is a reference to the fable, "The Scorpion and the Frog".
- Lexi, who is s Genre Savvy anime afficionado, acknowledges that Bakugou wants to be The Rival to Izuku, comparing him to Kaiba, Tetsuo, Kurei, Glomgold, and Sasuke. She then proceeds to scratch the last one, since Bakugou clearly isn't in Izuku's league in terms of power (and Bakugou canonically even flat-out defied following Sasuke's "Rival Turned Evil for the sake of getting more power" path when the League of Villains abducted him and tried to pitch an alliance with them).
Great Teacher Yagi
- The title of the sidestory is a blatant reference to Great Teacher Onizuka.
- Mirio enters the room by phasing through the wall and screaming "POWER!" while completely naked. When he's told that he's late, he simply says, "Oh no!" This is an obvious reference to Terry Crews, who is known for his Large Ham performance in numerous bizarre ads for Old Spice, which involved screaming POWER while describing the deodorant and "OH NO!" when things went wrong for him.
The Daily Struggles of U.A. High School Janitor Hana Aoi, Age 32, Blood Type O, Three Sizes Moderately Satisfying, Part 1
- The Latin inscription written on Mei's hair is taken directly from the message written in Phi's brooch.
- Mei has "Roger roger" as a Catchphrase.
The Mysterious Mister Mxyzptlk!
- Mister Mxyzptlk says "it's time to shut HAL down" before turning Izuku's phone into a head of cabbage, referencing the AI from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- Izuku says ""Machupikachu?" while trying to pronounce Mxyzptlk's name.
- While explaining how to pronounce his name, Mxyzptlk has a few chords from "Roundabout" play in the background before having a giant floating tongue lick Izuku, referencing the song's usage in Jojos Bizarre Adventure.
- Mxyzptlk always addresses Izuku as "my friends", referencing the speech patterns of the commentadore in Killing Commendatore.
- Itsuka mentions that Mineta joined the Body Improvement Club after taking Aizawa's advice to heart.
Tales from the Crypt
- Kouichi's vampiric powers are based on the abilities showcased in the original Dracula and the fate of Musutafu reflects 'Salem's Lot.
Chapter 10 - Deku's Pal, Katsuki Bakugou (2)
- Itsuka asks if the "S" on Izuku's chest stands for Sensational or Spectacular.
- Dark Shadow's goofy costume is a direct reference to Rubberduck.
- During the battle trial, Iida's constant use of the word "Inconceivable!" has Uraraka wondering if it means what he thinks it means.
- At one point, Tokoyami has Dark Shadow transform into a giant sword that he calls "Ig-Alima".
- Black Spider is mentioned in-universe to have a game similar to Spider-Man (PS4) by characters like Mineta.
Chapter 11 - Deku's Pal, Katsuki Bakugou (3): Katsuki Bakugou: Secret Origin
- When Death of the Endless is looking up Bakugou's future, she eventually gets to the part about his future wife, but instead of saying her name, she just goes, "Her?"
Chapter 12 - Deku's Pal, Katsuki Bakugou (4)
- At one point, Bakugou uses his Die Die Discuses to try and hurt Izuku, but all he does is mess up his hearing and make him say "Mawp," repeatedly.
- The name of Japan's Bedlam House is "Misukatonikku," a romanization of the Japanese pronunciation of "Miskatonic", which is in reference to the fictional university of Miskatonic University; said university is also located in the fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts, which is where Arkham Asylum gets its name from.
Chapter 13 - This is Not How a Bill Becomes a Law
- The chapter's title is a play on "How a Bill Becomes a Law", a song that describes the process of how proposals become laws in the U.S. by Schoolhouse Rock!. It's designed to be ironic, given the messy class elections in 1-A and 1-B.
- The chapter starts with a debate over what form of Time Travel was used for a scene in a movie. That scene is heavily implied to be the last scene of Avengers: Endgame.
- The traitorous knight Mordred is described as being a girl who wields the sword Clarent as Shining Knight and is friends with Franny Stein.
- Pony, in her closing speech as to why she should be Class President, sings Charlie Kelly's "Rock, Flag and Eagle."
World of Smiles
- The story introduces the larger interconnected multiverse as a whole rather than in individual short stories. It also connects the story to two other fanfics the author enjoys, Thieves Can Be Heroes! and Amazing Fantasy, which are designated as Earth 2014.21 and 2014.25 by Inanna.
- Earth 2014.24 is a world where the various characters and entities of the Nasuverse thrive.
- Earth 2014.48 is a world where Izuku befriended and is a Hero alongside Haruhi Suzumiya, which is the premise of the author’s other fic The Superheroics of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Chapter 16 - The Assault of the Superhuman Devils (2)
- Izuku remembers a time when he struggled to swat a single mosquito that was flying around his family's apartment even when he started using his Kryptonian speed and strength, referencing Saitama's similar struggles with a mosquito.
Wayne’s World
- The title is a reference to a series of SNL sketches and its film adaptation.
