My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is a 1999 American animated superhero film, and the second film based on the comic book My Hero Academia by Mala Miles. The film was directed by Syo Tortellini, produced by Bear Bones, and was released on December 17, 1999, earning positive reviews from critics. The events of the film take place after the Meta Liberation Army arc in the My Hero Academia comic. The film has elements to its story that were once going to be used by Milesas a finale to the series. It was intended to be the last film in the series, until images of a possible third film appeared online. A third film, My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission, was released in Japan in August 2001.

Plot
The League of Villains escapes in a truck while transporting a man in life support. Dabi, Spinner and Mr. Compress try to hold them off, but the truck is eventually destroyed by the No. 1 Hero, Endeavor. But, the League members were revealed to be copies made by Twice. As Endeavor and the No. 2 Hero, Hawks, search the truck to find nothing but an empty life support capsule. The man in the life support, Nine, regroups with his team of super-powered villains, who plans to create a society where Heroes and Villains don't matter and people with the strongest Quirks will rule over the people with weaker Quirks.

U.A. High's Class 1-A has been sent to the remote Nabu Island as part of a safety program, which amounts to minor deeds for the islanders as the island is virtually crime-free. One resident, Mahoro Shimano, requests help when her little brother, Katsuma, is missing; Izuku Midoriya conducts the search. However, it turns out Mahoro was with Katsuma the entire time to show her brother that heroes aren't as useful as they are claimed to be.

Meanwhile, Mahoro and Katsuma's father is attacked by Nine and his party. Nine, whose Quirk is the ability to steal and possess a maximum of nine Quirks, an ability granted to him by All for One, steals his Quirk. He tries to use the stolen Quirk to cure an illness in his body, but realizes it is incompatible with his blood type. Nine learns about the man's children and surmises their genetics would have produced a more useful variant.

Back on Nabu Island, Katsuki Bakugo confronts Midoriya about his Quirk, One For All, an ability of immense strength, passed onto him by the legendary hero, All Might. The conversation is interrupted by Katsuma, who claims a villain is on the island. Bakugo quickly moves to the island's remote peninsula, with Midoriya chasing behind. He discerns that the "villain" is just a harmless illusion brought on by Mahoro's Quirk, who was trying to show her brother how ineffective heroes can be.

The next morning, Midoriya finds Katsuma outside the class' hero agency and realizes that Mahoro is merely trying to discourage her brother from becoming a hero due to how dangerous the line of work can be. Katsuma notes how ineffective his Quirk is in combat but still wants to be a hero that can save people.

Nine and his gang arrive on the island and destroy all the ships and communication towers. Class 1-A learn of the invasion and split up to stop the villains and escort the islander residents to safety. Half of the class is able to defeat Mummy, but the other half is no match for Chimera. Nine eventually finds the children and confirms Katsuma possesses the Quirk he's after, but Midoriya intervenes before he can steal it; however, he is proven to be no match for Nine. Before Nine can kill Midoriya, Bakugo is able to find their location thanks to Mahoro creating a big illusion of an injured Midoriya. He gets into a fight with Nine but is still no match against him. Nine then uses his original weather manipulation Quirk to summon a massive lightning strike on the two of them, before collapsing in pain from over-exertion. Slice comes to his rescue and the villains make a temporary retreat.

Class 1-A regroups and formulates a plan to deal with Nine and his multiple Quirks while taking care of the evacuated islanders. The island's health professionals are unable to treat Midoriya and Bakugo, so Katsuma uses his Quirk Cell Activation to both heal and strengthen them. The class determines the best course of action is to split up the remaining villains and wear down Nine until backup arrives.

With the islanders relocated to an isolated peninsula with an abandoned castle, the class begin their attack on the villains. Slice and Chimera are defeated, but Nine incapacitates the rest of them. Midoriya and Bakugo resume their fight with Nine, who starts to feel the side effects of his disease. When the two of them get the upper hand, Nine breaks through his limits and goes all out with his Weather Quirk, severely wounding Deku and Bakugo. Seeing no other way to defeat their foe, Midoriya transfers the power of One For All into Bakugo, while he himself utilizes the leftover embers of its power, allowing them both to reach 100% of its power. After an intense battle, the two ultimately defeat Nine, but Izuku's One For All disappears after using the last remaining ember.

As the military and professional heroes arrive, having been alerted by Hawks after receiving notice of Yaoyorozu's distress call, All Might finds an unconscious Bakugo and weakened Deku. All Might realizes that, somehow, One For All retained itself within Izuku's body, with the transfer into Bakugo being interrupted. All Might theorizes that the other previous wielders of One For All wanted Izuku to remain as the sole successor of the sacred torch. Elsewhere on the island, Tomura Shigaraki, the leader of the League of Villains, appears and finds a weakened Nine, killing him with his Decay Quirk out of spite.

With the island fully restored, and Nine's gang apprehended, the class spends the rest of their scheduled time to fix up the island before being sent back home. Midoriya and Bakugo, who has no memory of being given One For All, says one last goodbye to Katsuma and Mahoro, as Katsuma is reminded by Midoriya that he too can be a great hero one day, with a promise to see him enter U.A. in the future.

Voice cast

 * Cam Clarke as Izuku Midoriya
 * Tom Kenny as Katsuki Bakugo
 * Neil Ross as Shoto Todoroki
 * Elizabeth Daily as Ochako Uraraka
 * Tino Insana as Tenya Iida
 * Cree Summer as Momo Yaoyorozu
 * Candi Milo as Kyoka Jiro
 * Billy West as Eijiro Kirishima
 * Cheryl Chase as Tsuyu Asui
 * Charlie Adler as Denki Kaminari / Yuga Aoyama
 * Tress MacNeille as Mina Ashido
 * Jim Cummings as Fumikage Tokoyami
 * Peter Cullen as Mezo Shoji
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Ojiro Mashirao
 * Jack Angel as Hanta Sero
 * Pamela Adlon as Toru Hagakure
 * Doug Lawrence as Rikido Sato
 * Frank Welker as Koji Koda
 * Dan Castellaneta as All Might
 * Hank Azaria as Shota Aizawa
 * Danny Cooksey as Hawks
 * Maurice LaMarche as Endeavor / Tomura Shigaraki
 * Mark Hildreth as Dabi
 * Carolyn Lawrence as Himiko Toga
 * William Sanderson as Twice
 * Brian Coukis as Mr. Compress
 * Cal Dodd as Spinner
 * Hynden Walch as Mahoro Shimano
 * Charlie Schlatter as Katsuma Shimano
 * Ellen Gerstell as Slice
 * John Ratzenberger as Nine
 * Gregg Berger as Mummy
 * Wally Wingert as Chimera

Production
On January 23, 1999, a stage event at Sundance Film Festival announced that a second My Hero Academia film was planned for a "winter 1999" release, with Mala Miles responsible for supervision and original character design. On July 7, 2019, the title and release date were revealed at the "Hero Festival" event, with Miles stating the film would be the last film adaptation for the series. The event also revealed that Bear Bones would be producing the film, with Syo Tortellini returning as director, Eric Nagler and Brian Sharp returning as writers, Jeff "Swampy" Marsh returning as character designer, and Thomas Chase and Steve Rucker returning as composers. On October 11, 2019, it was announced that Hynden Walch would be joining the cast as Mahoro, Charlie Schlatter would be voicing Katsuma, and TBA will perform the theme song "Higher Ground". On September 26, 2019, it was announced that Ellen Gerstell had been cast as Slice, and Dave Coulier had been cast as Nine. On November 11, 1999, The New York Times revealed that Gregg Berger and Wally Wingert had been cast as villains Mummy and Chimera respectively, and on December 6, 1999, it was revealed that Danny Cooksey would voice Hawks.

Release
Artisan Entertainment released the film theatrically on December 20, 1999. The first one million audience members to see the film received a bonus booklet written by Miles, titled "Vol. Rising", with the booklet containing an extended interview with Miles, character designs and sketches. The film also received 4D screenings across 81 theaters on January 24, 2000.

On 3 March 2001, PVR Pictures announced that the film is going to be released in India on 12 March 2001.

Home media
The film was released on DVD and VHS by Artisan Entertainment on July 15, 2000, that includes additional scenes not seen during the theatrical release.

Box office
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Critical response
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