My Hero Academiais the king of shonen anime these days,and for plenty of valid reasons, but looking back on the beginning of the series, one considers what might have been. For instance, what if Deku never inherited a superpower and stayed quirkless?
In the world ofMy Hero, 80% of the world population has some kind of superpower, big or small, and Izuku Midoriya is part of the minority that doesn’t, which really sucks. However, after displaying his heroism, his idol All Might,who slowly is losing his power, decides to pass it on to young Midoriya. Anyone getting into the series now after five seasons, three feature films, and a swath of promotional material and viral clips probably knows this. However, for those who got in at the very beginning, back whenMy Herowas a fairly unknown franchise among anime fans, the initial hook was that Deku had no powers. It’s funny to think how quickly that changed.
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The Thematic Reasons
My Hero Academiais a series all about passing on the torch, something typical of stories involving youth being trained to succeed their elders,but Deku’s case is special. For most of the first three seasons, he is harboring the secret about All Might’s condition and that the world’s greatest hero is on his last legs.
Deku doesn’t awaken to power or stumble into it, but rather is chosen to inherit it based on the strength of his character. The rise of one coincides with the fall of another, and it serves a story about responsibility and heroism well. It even coincides with the antagonist.
Tomura Shigaraki, unlike Deku, was born with a quirk, but it was a dangerous one that left him alone and isolated from others, until the intervention of a villain.The hero and the villain of the storyare both connected by how their bonds with their idols have made them stronger.
The Arguable Flaws
Even when Deku acquired his powers, he wasn’t able to harness them effectively for risk of hurting himself, which he did all the way up to the season 3. This was nice because it added some extra tension to his ascension to hero, with him having to use his intelligence more.
However, by the end of season five, not only has Deku harnessed One For All in several versatile ways,but he’s unlocked a new powerfrom the lineage of heroes before him who have inherited the power. While there is nothing wrong with shonen heroes that have lots of powers, the added suite of powers can feel like it detracts from real progress made to Deku as a character.
What If…?
If Deku was to have become a hero without inheriting a quirk, it certainly would facilitate quite the rewrite, but could it be done effectively? Absolutely! And frankly, the show already supports that Deku could be a great hero even without the absurd super strength of One For All.
For one thing,Deku’s intelligence already gives them an edgein considering countermeasures against other’s quirks. Plus, if he still goes through the same physical training in this alternate timeline, he’ll have the sufficient physical capability with room to grow. Granted, just natural strength alone won’t be enough.
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Or at least, not completely, given that characters like Bakugo and Todoroki can take quite a beating without technically having super strength. Arguably, people with quirks are just naturally capable of taking the punishment or maybe humans in the world have evolved to be stronger. Then again, it is an anime, so perhaps it’s just standard operating procedure.
Even if Deku is physically trained,with the potential for further growthover the five seasons, they’ll need something more. Thankfully, one character already exists who perfectly demonstrates how Deku could become the world’s greatest hero without a quirk.
Mei Hatsume, The Prototype
Mei is an infectiously excitable student from Class 1-H who is a savant at engineering and who by season five’s end has created several useful gadgets that have aided heroes. She’s the one who constructs Deku’s Air Force Gloves and the soles in his shoes that aided with his more acrobatic applications of One For All.
On her own, she isn’t shown as much of a fighter, but her expertise helps Deku and other charactersuse their own quirks that much more efficiently. It stands to reason that her gifts could be used to create tech that benefits those without quirks rather than just enhancing those who already have them.
While perhaps not at the same power level, all of Deku’s individual abilities could have been supplemented by technology. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to imagine a variant of his Air Force Gloves that have the air burst properties built in rather than just channeling his existing power.
Not only that, imagine how effective the practical training from heroes like Eraser Head and Gran Torino could have beeneven without One For All. Even quirkless, Deku could have developed spacial awareness and close-combat capability at a near superhuman level, using technology and his mind to overcome obstacles.
What Could Have Been
In the end,My Hero Academiais already awesome for how Deku uses his intelligence and technology to utilize his gifts better for the sake of saving lives. Deku has always been an inspiring lead for their humble beginnings and what they taught him, similar to a hero like Captain America.
Deku not being quirkless doesn’t break the series, but consider how oftenshonen protagonists possess some awesome powerthat sets them higher in the hierarchy. Now imagine if Deku had none of that and how game-changing that would be.
To be fair, the use of advanced technology might be seen as no different from being gifted a superpower. It might be more impressive if Deku made the tech himself, but then the difference is just intelligence. And when you get right down to it, intelligence is a superpower in itself.
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