Shonen protagonists like Deku in My Hero Academia have a habit of defying even the longest odds in their battles. The hero needs to survive to save the day, after all, and it's a real bummer if the protagonist always loses. This mandate leads to some mixed results when heroes like Deku fight enemies much stronger than themselves. Sometimes, My Hero Academia is written so Deku's victories make sense, such as when he pacified Gentle Criminal, or when he overcame Wolfram and Nine in the movies.
In other fights, it was pretty obvious Deku's real Quirk was plot armor, and that doesn't come as a surprise. Being written as a total underdog with a lot of growing to do, Deku is bound to fight foes much stronger than him when he can't afford to lose. By all rights, certain opponents should have won in terms of Quirk matchups or even brainpower or feats of athletics. But in each case, Deku had a special something to bail him out, when anyone else in his position certainly would have lost.
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Hitoshi Shinso Only Lost Because One For All is a Living Quirk
Deku Couldn't Have Escaped Brainwashing's Effect on His Own
My Hero Academia's biggest and best tournament arc featured some truly incredible battles for all of UA's students. In most of those fights, the student with the stronger Quirk won, such as Bakugo overwhelming Dark Shadow with the light of his explosions. The UA sports festival tournament had relatively few upsets, but it did have a near-upset in the very first match. That was when Hitoshi Shinso, who wasn't even training to become a pro hero, went up against Deku himself.
Deku blundered right into Hitoshi's Brainwashing Quirk, which has an effect that precious few characters could resist. Deku nearly lost the match due to Hitoshi's commands, and by all rights, Deku really should have lost. One For All's physical power is no defense against mental effects, but for plot reasons, One For All had more than that. One For All was imprinted with the minds of previous wielders, such as Nana Shimura and Banjo, who helped Deku snap out of Brainwashing. No other Quirk could do that, making Deku that much more special with his plot armor.
Muscular Could Only Be Overcome By a Nonsensical Power-Up
1,000,000% Smash is Just Wishful Thinking on Deku's Part
Even in matches where Deku is in his element, namely power vs power, he needs some support from the narrative itself to emerge victorious. A major example was when Deku shielded Kota Izumi from the wrath of Muscular, a powerhouse villain who fought with the Pump Up Quirk. At the time, Deku's mastery of One For All was quite limited, and he was still getting used to fighting safely without breaking his own arms. By contrast, Muscular was in total command of his own Quirk.
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It makes sense how Deku could hold out against Muscular's base form and trade blows with him, but once Muscular went all out, things got weird. Deku was already tired and hurt, but since he's the protagonist, of course he had infinite stamina and endurance. In particular, Deku seemingly cheated with the single usage of 1,000,000% Smash, an attack that shouldn't even exist. It's just bizarre how Deku could make the percentage as ludicrously high as he wanted as an expression of his desire to protect Kota at all costs.
All Might Lost the Training Battle When His Injury Caught Up to Him
Deku and Bakugo Nearly Lost to Their Shared Idol
In the final season of My Hero Academia, Deku earned the right to call himself the true successor of All Might the hero and One For All. By that point, Deku had awakened every other Quirk inside One For All and had mastered each one, so he was stronger than All Might at the time. Rewinding the anime a few seasons leads fans to a point where All Might was many times stronger than Deku, so Deku needed more plot armor. In terms of both power and tactics, Deku should have lost this brutal training match, and so should have his teammate, Katsuki Bakugo.
It was all Deku and Bakugo could do to survive this fierce showdown, whether or not they cooperated. Alone, they stood no chance whatsoever, and they were lucky All Might wasn't truly the villain he was pretending to be. Even if the stakes were just passing vs failing the test, Deku should have lost, yet he didn't. Deku caught a lucky break when All Might's power suddenly crashed, with All Might struggling to maintain his muscle form while his old injury caught up to him. If that had happened a minute later, Deku's defeat would have been certain.
Flect Turn Had a Foolproof Defense Against One For All
Deku's Endurance Strains the Suspension of Disbelief
Most of Deku's victories in the My Hero Academia movies felt earned, especially since he had allies from class 1-A to back him up. He and All Might clobbered Wolfram fair and square, and all of class 1-A united to take down the likes of Nine and the fake All Might. It was the third movie that tested the limits of Deku's power when he clashed with Flect Turn, whose defensive Quirk was an effective counter to One For All. True to his name, Flect Turn could reflect any incoming attack and turn it back against its user, as he did many times against Deku's Smash attacks.
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Deku won in the most straightforward way possible: enduring all of his redirected attacks and overwhelming Flect Turn's Quirk to finally land a blow. It did feel gratifying to see Deku's stubborn willpower triumph over Flect Turn's own, but it also felt excessive. Deku is more about offense than defense, with Deku only having so much toughness. It's hard to believe Deku managed to have even more endurance than the defensive supervillain Flect Turn. Halfway through the fight, Deku absolutely should have succumbed to his own Quirk power, with "punch harder" being too simple a tactic to turn the tables.
Overhaul Would Have Won if It Weren't For Eri's Risky Gambit
Deku Owes His Life to the Rewind Quirk
It's normal for pro heroes and student heroes to need some help, such as calling upon skilled sidekicks to keep the villain busy. Even then, it was a miracle Deku ever won against the powerful villain Overhaul, who was too strong for either Mirio Togata or Sir Nighteye to defeat. Overhaul could reshape any matter, himself included, and eventually became a self-healing giant creature whose power was unmatched. Deku stood no chance alone, even with One For All being stronger than ever, so he needed Eri's aid.
Deku knew the risks with Eri's Rewind Quirk, but he took that route anyway, and the plot made sure that the stated risks were just performative. Of course Deku wouldn't get rewound out of existence partway through such a climactic fight, so the stated risks were just a way to show how high the stakes were. Or, if Eri's Quirk really were so dangerous and Deku had no plot armor, then he should have fought Overhaul solo -- and lose.
Deku's Victory Over Stain Was a Minor Miracle
Class 1-A's Students Weren't Strong Enough to Fight Real Villains Yet
Right after the UA sports festival, a few class 1-A students clashed with the insidious hero killer, Stain. The fight started when Tenya Iida rushed in to avenge his brother Tensei's defeat at Stain's hands, and strictly speaking, Tenya should have died. It was only thanks to plot convenience that Deku and Shoto Todoroki managed to bail Tenya out. Then, those students bailed themselves out, and it was a miracle that they pulled it off.
Given Stain's superior skill and Quirks, he should have won and should have killed both Tenya and Shoto. He might have defeated Deku but let him live as the true successor to All Might, but that's not what happened. It was a sheer contrivance how Stain's Bloodcurdle Quirk lasted longer on certain blood types than others, giving the students a generous chance to shift the tide of battle back in their favor.
My Hero Academia
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2016 - 2025-00-00
- Network
- TBS, MBS, Nippon TV
Cast
-
Daiki YamashitaIzuku Midoriya (voice) -
Kaito IshikawaManga Fukidashi (voice)
