Izuku has a backstory of an amazing underdog protagonist.
Then he’s handed the strongest power in the world.
Also, half a dozen additional quirks, because why not.
Izuku should’ve had a seemingly underpowered, complex quirk instead. Or no quirk.
Stories about underdog protagonists are understandably popular. It’s great watching someone pave their own way to the top despite starting out with a severe disadvantage — as long as the story doesn’t make a sudden 180 soon after it starts, giving our underdog main character all the power they could ask for before they could reasonably earn it. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken) did so in its very first episode. My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia) did the same by the end of its first arc.
What happened
Izuku Midoriya is set up as an undisputed underdog protagonist. He’s a wimpy, severely bullied nerd who wants to be a superhero despite being one of few people in the country without superpowers. The odds can’t be more stacked against him without giving the poor kid a physical disability on top of the fantastical one.
Though thanks to him demonstrating his heroic spirit by attempting to save his bully’s life, he gets recognized by a superhero looking for an heir of a rare transferable quirk. And Izuku doesn’t just get said quirk just handed out to him either, he has to work for it! He works out like crazy to reach the physical condition of a professional athlete before he’s deemed good enough for the quirk — and only then does he get this superpower.
Aaaaaaaand it’s literally the most powerful quirk in the world.
Strongest in the world
Straight out of the gate, Izuku is capable of using his quirk’s 100% output. Sure, that breaks his bones like twigs in a blender, but for that brief moment, he’s the most powerful person in the room. Then, he learns how to lower the output to stop the bone breaking altogether. And THEN, he is just given six more quirks on a silver platter, because why not?
In MHA, quirks could be literally anything. From shooting fire out of your armpits, to elongating fingers, to being able to fold the upper half of your body into your lower half. There is an infinite amount of possible flavors — and Horikoshi just went with plain vanilla of “Super Strength” (nothing against vanilla), dumped all vanilla extract he had on it for “the strongest in the world”, and then added raisins, pickles, black olives, anchovies and candied licorice on top since one quirk was apparently not enough.
Why did Izuku have to become “the strongest in the world” through the power of nepotism? Why couldn’t he just be granted a simple, seemingly underpowered quirk that he could make work through creativity and/or willpower? Hell, why couldn’t he become the world's first quirkless hero, using gadgets where physical conditioning was not enough?
Because Horikoshi is a coward, that’s why. Given how out of the entire 1-A, he mostly pays attention to Deku, Bakugo and Todoroki, he’s not exactly interested in exploring superpowers beyond surface level, and firmly believes in “the showier, the better”. He even had the gall to present Mirio’s “overpowered, but hard to control” quirk as a “terrible power made good by the user”. Because THAT makes sense, somehow.
Horikoshi is a woefully wasteful storyteller.
Summary:
Izuku has a backstory of an amazing underdog protagonist.
Then he’s handed the strongest power in the world.
Also, half a dozen additional quirks, because why not.
Izuku should’ve had a seemingly underpowered, complex quirk instead. Or no quirk.
Stories about underdog protagonists are understandably popular. It’s great watching someone pave their own way to the top despite starting out with a severe disadvantage — as long as the story doesn’t make a sudden 180 soon after it starts, giving our underdog main character all the power they could ask for before they could reasonably earn it. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken) did so in its very first episode. My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia) did the same by the end of its first arc.
What happened
Izuku Midoriya is set up as an undisputed underdog protagonist. He’s a wimpy, severely bullied nerd who wants to be a superhero despite being one of few people in the country without superpowers. The odds can’t be more stacked against him without giving the poor kid a physical disability on top of the fantastical one.
Though thanks to him demonstrating his heroic spirit by attempting to save his bully’s life, he gets recognized by a superhero looking for an heir of a rare transferable quirk. And Izuku doesn’t just get said quirk just handed out to him either, he has to work for it! He works out like crazy to reach the physical condition of a professional athlete before he’s deemed good enough for the quirk — and only then does he get this superpower.
Aaaaaaaand it’s literally the most powerful quirk in the world.
Strongest in the world
Straight out of the gate, Izuku is capable of using his quirk’s 100% output. Sure, that breaks his bones like twigs in a blender, but for that brief moment, he’s the most powerful person in the room. Then, he learns how to lower the output to stop the bone breaking altogether. And THEN, he is just given six more quirks on a silver platter, because why not?
In MHA, quirks could be literally anything. From shooting fire out of your armpits, to elongating fingers, to being able to fold the upper half of your body into your lower half. There is an infinite amount of possible flavors — and Horikoshi just went with plain vanilla of “Super Strength” (nothing against vanilla), dumped all vanilla extract he had on it for “the strongest in the world”, and then added raisins, pickles, black olives, anchovies and candied licorice on top since one quirk was apparently not enough.
Why did Izuku have to become “the strongest in the world” through the power of nepotism? Why couldn’t he just be granted a simple, seemingly underpowered quirk that he could make work through creativity and/or willpower? Hell, why couldn’t he become the world's first quirkless hero, using gadgets where physical conditioning was not enough?
Because Horikoshi is a coward, that’s why. Given how out of the entire 1-A, he mostly pays attention to Deku, Bakugo and Todoroki, he’s not exactly interested in exploring superpowers beyond surface level, and firmly believes in “the showier, the better”. He even had the gall to present Mirio’s “overpowered, but hard to control” quirk as a “terrible power made good by the user”. Because THAT makes sense, somehow.
