My Hero Academia pairing Aoyama with Deku for final stand against AFO is perfection

Modified Apr 30, 2024 18:32 GMT

My Hero Academia pairing Aoyama with Deku for final stand against AFO is perfection — Aoyama and Deku as seen in the My Hero Academia anime (Image via BONES)

With the release of My Hero Academia chapter 421, the manga saw Deku's Class 1A friends arriving to help him fight against All For One. Most of them were injured and tired but upon seeing their friend give his all against the villain, none of them were able to hold back.

However, amongst all the heroes, there was one hero that stood out the most. It was none other than Yuga Aoyama. He reached out his arm to Deku to help him make a final stand against All For One. Rightfully so, it makes sense that manga creator Kohei Horikoshi paired Deku with Aoyama in the final stand against the series' big bad villain.

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

My Hero Academia: Why Aoyama and Deku's pairing was perfect for the final stand against AFO

Deku and Aoyama as seen in the manga (Image via Shueisha)

As fans must remember, Deku and Aoyama have similar origin stories. Both of them were seemingly born quirkless. Nevertheless, they wished to become heroes and attained quirks from different sources. While Deku received the One For All quirk from All Might, Aoyama's parents got their son a quirk bestowed by All For One.

Unfortunately, this was a huge mistake by the Aoyama family as AFO used this connection to blackmail the family for years and extract information about the heroes through Yuga. With such developments, despite Yuga's dream of becoming a hero, he ended up as a villain due to his betrayal.

Yuga Aoyama as seen in the manga (Image via Shueisha)

However, Yuga did not want to betray Deku, his classmates, or the heroes. He only followed All For One's orders to keep his family safe. While the heroes and the police did not take Aoyama's betrayal lightly, Deku realized that Yuga only betrayed them because he had no other choice.

Deku knew that Yuga Aoyama was a hero because if he was a villain he would not need to try and save Katsuki Bakugo and Fumikage Tokoyami during the Training Camp. Additionally, he would not have left the cheese message. It was only after Aoyama's betrayal revelation that Deku realized that the cheese message was a cry for help all along.

Aoyama and Deku as seen in the manga (Image via Shueisha)

However, it was not so late for Aoyama. Even Lady Nagant was once manipulated by All For One but only her soul was crushed, not her spirit. Hence, Deku believed that Yuga Aoyama was not a villain for life because he did something wrong. In fact, he could still become a hero. With that, Deku extended his arm toward Aoyama, asking him to help them.

The same moment was recalled in My Hero Academia chapter 421 as Aoyama offered his arm to Deku to make the final stand against All For One.

Evidently, the originally quirkless duo was bestowed their quirks. Unfortunately, Aoyama's quirk was bestowed by All For One, which completely changed his circumstances. But with Deku helping him become a hero again, Aoyama finally felt redeemed. Hence, Aoyama teaming up with Deku to make the final stand against AFO makes sense.