Minor hero from Kinnikuman wants to save the world from coronavirus with non-contact hook

Kinnikuman

Maybe you're a fan of classic Japanese manga and anime and you got into Kinnikuman that way. Maybe you live in Japan and have seen images of the muscle-bound hero with the 肉 kanji (short for the Japanese word for muscle 筋肉) on his forehead in popular culture. Or maybe you remember watching the American adaptation of the new generation Ultimate Muscle on the now-defunct 4Kids network in the early 2000s.

If you don't fall into any of those categories, you can be forgiven for not being familiar with Kinnikuman. The classic comedy wrestling action manga by Yudetamago about Suguru Kinniku, aka Kinnikuman, a superhero who must win wrestling tournaments to retain the title of prince of Planet Kinniku, has a huge following in Japan but is rather underrepresented abroad.

Copper Bellman to the rescue

The novel coronavirus pandemic is a terrible menace which threatens the world. If you're going to choose a hero from the Kinnikuman franchise to inspire a product designed to fight such a formidable opponent, it would be natural to think of the central hero Kinnikuman. But as it turns out, he's not the most suited for the task. That honor goes to Copper Bellman, since he's made of copper, a material known to be unfriendly to the virus. In studies, it has been shown that the novel coronavirus can only survive for 4 hours on copper whereas it can survive for up to 2 to 3 days on plastic or stainless steel.

If you don't know Copper Bellman, he was one of the competitors during the 20th Chōjin Olympics. In Japanese, his name 銅ベルマン is a play on word on Doberman, writen with the kanji for copper 銅, pronounced dō, then bell ベル and man マン.

According to Chōjin Encyclopedia by Gakken, Copper Bellman stands 189 cm (6'2") tall, weighs 450 kg (992 lbs) and has a Chōjin Strength of 550,000. Hailing from the ancient Inca civilization in Peru, he is a Chōjin made head to toe in copper. Estimated to be around 600 years old, he holds a bell-shaped shield with his right arm, and wears a sharp claw attachment on his left arm.

In this scene, you can see him behind Robin Mask in the crowd of competitors:

And here he is again on the right:

No-contact copper utility hook

Copper Bellman's utility hook, made of 100% copper, can be used to open doors, push elevator buttons, hold on to straps in public transportation, as well as open packages, among other things, thereby avoiding direct contact with potentially contaminated surfaces.

The Copper Bellman utility hook comes courtesy of Iron Factory. Specializing in high-quality cast metal items, they have previously collaborated with the Kinnikuman franchise on items inspired by Buffaloman, Robin Mask, and General Devil.