My Hero Academia may have paralleled Deku with a pro hero other than All Might

Modified Dec 31, 2024 08:40 GMT

My Hero Academia may have paralleled Deku with a pro hero other than All Might — Deku as seen in My Hero Academia manga (Image via Shueisha)

As fans may have noticed, Deku's story in My Hero Academia paralleled the former No.1 Hero All Might's past. Both heroes did not have an innate Quirk and became heroes by honing the One For All quirk derived from their predecessors. However, unlike fans' beliefs, Deku's story was also inspired by the story of another pro hero, Shota Aizawa.

While both characters have different stories and Quirk types, they went through similar stages in their journey to become heroes. This is especially evident from the epilogue chapter, which depicts Deku as having taken the same career route as his former homeroom teacher. However, whether that is the only similarity between the two heroes remains.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the My Hero Academia manga.

My Hero Academia paralleled Deku with both All Might and Eraserhead

Toshinori Yagi as seen in My Hero Academia (Image via BONES)

As any My Hero Academia fan could tell, Deku's story paralleled with All Might because both heroes were born Quirkless. But they were given the opportunity to become a hero by their predecessor, who transferred them their One For All quirk.

Honing the Quirk came with great responsibility as both Izuku Midoriya and Toshinori Yagi took on the responsibility of becoming a hero all while trying to safeguard the Quirk away from the villain, All For One. While they took similar risks, both characters were innately different in personality.

Deku as seen in My Hero Academia (Image via BONES)

As mentioned, both heroes were initially without Quirk. However, unlike Deku who went after the goal of becoming a hero like All Might because he was a fan, Toshinori Yagi had visions of becoming a symbol of peace even before he derived the One For All quirk from Nana Shimura. This was proof that while the two characters had similar stories, they had different personalities.

This is where Shota Aizawa came in. Deku and Aizawa shared a similar personality. Shota Aizawa initially considered himself weak for his seemingly "useless" quirk. Thus, he doubted his career path a lot at the start of his time at UA High School. Deku went through a similar situation during middle school. While determined to become a hero, he felt hopeless due to his Quirklessness.

Therefore, the sheer fact that both Deku and Aizawa were willing to push their limits despite being considered weak is what draws a parallel between the two characters. They faced adversity and overcame challenges to prove their doubters wrong. Eventually, the two characters were highly regarded by their peers.

This could also be why Shota Aizawa was initially so hard on Deku. He might have seen a part of himself in his student, which is why he must have been hard on him to help him through his hero journey. Even as heroes, they needed to train a lot to hone their Quirks well. Deku needed a strong body to handle the One For All quirk, while Aizawa needed physical strength to fight villains.

Shota Aizawa as seen in My Hero Academia (Image via BONES)

Such similarities might be why Deku eventually became a teacher like Aizawa. While he wanted to become her hero, with that path closed for some time, Deku wanted to help the future generation of heroes by guiding them to the right path. In doing so, Deku must have wanted to do what Aizawa did for him as a high schooler.

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Edited by Gokul Chettiyar