List of real-world people in Yu-Gi-Oh!

This is a list of real-world people whose existence is acknowledged in-universe in Yu-Gi-Oh! fiction.

The list shows the person's name, followed by what they are known for in real-life, followed by their in-series appearances or mentions.

Manga

Tokyo Shock Boys: Comedians, stunt performers; Katsuya Jonouchi said that he, Hiroto Honda, and Yugi Mutou are not the Tokyo Shock Boys when propositioned by the Junky Scorpion owner to put his foot in an Air Muscle shoe with a scorpion in it.^[2]

Tutankhamen: 18th Dynasty Pharaoh; Tutankhamen's tomb was opened in 1923. Professor Yoshimori explained that because of a law passed in 1921, the person who discovered his tomb could not keep any of its treasures.^[3] When questioned about the possibility of curses being real, Sugoroku Mutou mentioned that some of the discoverers of Tutankhamen's tomb died mysterious deaths, but that the notion of the curse came to be considered a sensation stirred by the media and nobody knew the truth.^[4]

Bruce Lee: Martial artist, film star; The Virtual VS character, Bruce Ryu, was based on him and Katsuya Jonouchi noticed their similarity. Yugi and Street Fighter were both fans of Bruce Lee. Street Fighter wore Bruce Lee's jumpsuit from the film, Game of Death, and faced Jonouchi in a game based on the film.^[5]

Jesus: Preacher, central figure in Christianity; Maximillion Pegasus exclaims his name in excitement towards the climax of his championship Duel with Yami Yugi. (His name is replaced with the word "yes" in the English version.)^[6]

Aleister Crowley: Magician, founder of Thelema; Ishizu Ishtar likened Maximillion J. Pegasus creating Duel Monsters based on carvings he saw on ancient Egyptian tablets to Aleister Crowley creating his Thoth tarot using icons from the Book of Thoth.^[7]

Marie Antoinette: Queen of France; Tetsuo Sasaki stole a necklace believed to have belonged to Marie Antoinette, but learned afterwards that it was an imitation.^[8]

Friedrich Nietzsche: Philosopher; Nietzsche authored the book Also Sprach Zarathustra, which was read by Seto Kaiba. (His name and the title of the book were erased in the English dub.)^[9]

Bruce Lee: Martial artist, film star; A generic Duelist wore Bruce Lee's jumpsuit from the film Game of Death.^[10] A bottle of wine had "Bruce Lee is God" printed on its label. (The text is erased in the English dub).^[11]

Jesus: Preacher, central figure in Christianity; Maximillion Pegasus exclaims his name in excitement upon seeing the tablet depicting the Egyptian Gods. (This exclamation is not included in the English dub.)^[12]

Fukuzawa Yukichi: Educator, writer; Appears on ¥10,000 banknotes (In the English dub, the money is said to be dollars and text is erased from the banknotes, but Fukuzawa's face is still on them.)^[13]

Tutankhamen: 18th Dynasty Pharaoh; Tutankhamen, misspelled as "Tsutankamen", was mentioned at the end of a newspaper article Solomon Muto read about the discovery of Anubis' tomb. The rest of the sentence containing his name is not shown to the viewers. (In the English dub, the contents of the article are completely changed and Tutankhamen is not mentioned in the portion shown to the viewers.)^[14]

Alexander the Great: Conquerer; Alexander conquered many parts of the world and came upon the Millennium Ring, while he ruled Egypt. He became trapped in the World of Capsule Monsters.

Erwin Schrödinger: Physicist; Bastion Misawa had math written on his walls relating to Schrödinger's thought experiment, Schrödinger's cat. The card "Schrödinger's Cat" is also based on this notion. He is not mentioned in the English dub, where Bastion instead says the equations are for Trap Cards.^[15]

Amedeo Avogadro: Scientist; Bastion Misawa had math written on his walls relating to Avogadro's molecular theory. He is not mentioned in the English dub, where Bastion instead says the equations are for Spell Cards.^[15]

Michelangelo: Artist; In the English dub, Jaden Yuki joked that he was Michelangelo, while painting the ceiling of Bastion Misawa's room.^[15]

Julius Caesar: Roman general, dictator; Caesar gathered seven gemstones from different parts of the world and tried to make stone tablets of them. However on his return journey to Rome, a storm caused the gems to fall overboard and sink to the bottom of the sea. Pegasus later found the stones and based the "Crystal Beast" cards on them.^[16]

Akina Minami, Tetsuya Yanagihara, Yoshiyuki Hirai: TV personalities (all three), model (Minami), comedians (Yanagihara and Hirai); The trio were presenters at an event hosted by Maximillion Pegasus.^[17]

Tutankhamun: 18th Dynasty Pharaoh; Tutankhamun is a monster in Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule: Breed and Battle, where he is represented as a stylized mummy.