My Hero Academia

My Hero Academia is an American comic book series by Mala Miles from 1984 to unknown. The comic was written in conjunction with Agent DX, also by Miles.

Setting
The story of My Hero Academia is set in a world where currently most of the human population has gained the ability to develop superpowers called "Quirks", which occur in children within the age of four: it is estimated that around 80% of the world population has a Quirk. There are an endless number of Quirks, and it is extremely unlikely to find two people who have the exact same power, unless they are closely related. Among the Quirk-enhanced individuals, a few of them earn the title of Heroes, who cooperate with the authorities in rescue operations and apprehending criminals who abuse their powers, commonly known as Villains. In addition, Heroes who excel on their duties gain celebrity status and are recognized as "Pro Heroes". Most heroes are popular based on their rankings, with higher ranking heroes receiving more popularity and public appeal, although it isn't uncommon for rookie heroes to gain such popularity as well.

In the early existence of Heroes, the people who volunteered to do their heroic duties without a permission, are recognized as "Vigilantes". Those students who have acted as vigilantes, are not allowed to perform as heroes due to the regulations and Quirk restriction laws managed by the Hero Public Safety Commission. While the act of vigilantism is inherently illegal, the vigilantes themselves represent a gray line in the eyes of the law. The Hero Public Safety Commission originally enlisted vigilantes to do their dirty work until they became too organized for the vigilantes to properly deal with, so they abandoned the idea and instead focused on recruiting Pro Heroes to handle the job. There are people who considered wearing costumes, since they don't have access to support companies like heroes do, they made out of regular clothes or anything they can get ahold of.

There are two types of internships that offer the opportunity to become a Pro Hero. The first type is the Hero Agency Internships in which sometimes, the Pro Heroes can send a request to the students whom wish to work under them, such as in the aftermath of the Sports Festival. It involves a student merely shadowing a Pro Hero, listening to their advice and watching them in action for an entire week. Since the students are unlicensed, they cannot legally work as heroes. And the second type is the Hero Work-Study where a student acquires a Hero License after passing the Provisional Hero License Exam. They are treated as real sidekicks, which allows them to participate in relief efforts during emergency situations. This also allows them to gain real experience and can help them get noticed by other Pro Heroes who might hire them as full-time sidekicks once they graduate.

Plot
Izuku Midoriya is a young man who dreams of becoming a Hero despite being bullied by his violent childhood friend Katsuki Bakugo for lacking a Quirk. After having a few encounters with his idol, All Might, who is Japan's greatest hero, Izuku is chosen by All Might to inherit his Quirk "One For All" (which gives him the ability to endlessly stockpile his raw power) and become his successor, as All Might was severely injured by his arch-nemesis All For One (whose Quirk allows him to steal other Quirks for his use and pass them over to others at his will) and does not have much time left to live. Izuku begins attending the U.A. High School for heroes in training alongside Bakugo and his friends from Class 1-A while keeping his connection with All Might a secret. During the course of the school year, Izuku and his friends work hard to improve themselves and have a few encounters with the League of Villains led by All For One's apprentice Tomura Shigaraki, who desires to kill All Might as part of their plan to take over the world. During one of these encounters, All Might and All For One have one last fight, which ends with All For One defeated and imprisoned, and All Might, having exhausted the last of One For All's power in himself, forced to retire.

After passing the exam to obtain a Provisional Hero License, Izuku begins working as an intern with All Might's former sidekick, Sir Nighteye. Sir Nighteye believes that Izuku is not worthy of inheriting One For All, but his opinion changes after Izuku helps take down the Shie Hassaikai, a gang of Quirk-enhanced yakuza and their leader Overhaul while rescuing a girl named Eri whose Quirk was being used to create a weapon that erases people's Quirks, despite Sir Nighteye (whose Quirk gives him the power to predict the future) was foretold that Izuku would die in the occasion. However, Sir Nighteye is mortally wounded instead but passes away certain that Izuku can live up to All Might's legacy. Izuku then continues his internship under the hero Endeavor, who assumed All Might's position as Japan's top hero following his retirement, along with Bakugo and Endeavor's son, Shoto Todoroki and awakens in himself a Quirk that belonged to one of All Might's predecessors, discovering that he can eventually obtain all the Quirks of the previous users of One For All as well.

Meanwhile, the League of Villains grows stronger after Shigaraki gathers more followers and defeats another villain group, the Meta Liberation Army led by Re-Destro, leading to both organizations merge into the Paranormal Liberation Front under his leadership. To counter this new threat, the Pro and Training Heroes join together in a massive operation to arrest them, but despite having several wounded and casualties, they fail to capture most of the League, including Shigaraki, who inherits All For One's Quirk and is possessed by him. In the following months, Shigaraki's group gain momentum by releasing thousands of imprisoned Villains which makes Japan descend into chaos and anarchy. Izuku, knowing that he is Shigaraki and All For One's primary target, decides that it's too dangerous for his friends and family to have him around and flees from U.A., leaving behind some letters to the others revealing all the truth.

Six months later, Izuku reappears, having unlocked most of his predecessors' Quirks and reunites with his classmates, who convince him to return to U.A., which was turned into a refugee camp for the students' families and other civilians who fled from the Villains. With Shigaraki's assimilation by All For One nearly complete, America's No. 1 Pro Hero, Star and Stripe, arrives to fight him by All Might's request. However, Shigaraki manages to kill her and steal her Quirk instead but before dying, she manages to use her power to delay the assimilation process, giving the Heroes some time to devise a plan. A few days later, the heroes begin their final battle against the League of Villains, managing to separate Shigaraki from his subordinates to give Izuku (who fully awakened the power of One For All and his predecessors) the chance to fight him in a duel.

Development
In the April 1984 issue of Agent DX, the titular character reads a comic involving heroes and villains and powers. Initially intended as a one-off gag, Miles began to conceive the series in November of that year. During development, Miles created several characters that were intended to be possible recurring characters of DX, and moved them into Hero, thus creating the cast of "quirky" characters, as described by Miles.

Themes and analysis
Miles has stated that the main theme he focuses on is "what makes a hero." Miles has also stated that he likes stories with bad endings, as well as horror stories. However, he finds these difficult to draw since his mood when he draws is the same in the story. In order to combat this, he puts in more silly-looking characters like Fat Gum, in order to keep the mood up.

Television series
On October 29, 1994, The New York Times announced that the series would receive an animated adaptation produced by Sunbow Entertainment and Dark Castle Entertainment. The animated series is directed by Syo Tortellini, and featured character designs by Craig Kellman and music composed by Shuki Levy, Haim Saban and Noam Kaniel. The series stars Cree Summer as Momo Yaoyorozu, Jim Cummings as Fumikage Tokoyami, Cam Clarke as Izuku Midoriya, Dan Castellaneta as All Might, Tom Kenny as Katsuki Bakugo, E.G. Daily as Ochako Uraraka, Tino Insana as Tenya Iida, Cheryl Chase as Tsuyu Asui, and June Foray as Minoru Mineta. The animated series premiered on Fox Kids in 1995.

Direct-to-video specials
At San Diego Comic-Con International 1995, it was announced that the series would get a direct-to-video special bundled with the limited edition of the thirteenth volume of the comic. Another special was bundled with a limited edition of the fourteenth volume of the comic. Another special was bundled with the first film's VHS release, and adapted its prequel comic. It was two minutes long.

An original short produced for BearBones.com was announced and released on August 12, 2000, with the returning staff and cast from the previous season.

Theatrical films
In December 1995, a theatrical film was announced and features an original story set after the comic's "Final Exam" arc. Titled My Hero Academia: The Two Heroes, the film had its world premiere at Bear Bones Con in June 1998, and the theatrical release began screening on August 13, 1998 with the staff and cast from the animated series returning to reprise their roles.

On March 23, 1999, it was announced that a second animated film for My Hero Academia was in production. On July 7, 1999, Bear Bones revealed the title as My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, and scheduled the film for release on December 17, 1999 by Paramount Pictures.

On November 29, 2000, it was announced that a third My Hero Academia film was in production. The staff from the previous two movies returned to reprise their roles. In the first episode of the fifth season of the series, the film was revealed to be titled My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission. The film was released on August 4, 2001.

Video games
A video game based on the series, My Hero Academia: Battle for All, was announced in November 1995. The game was developed by Probe Entertainment and published by Acclaim Entertainment for the Nintendo Game Boy handheld game console, where it released on May 19, 1996. A second game, titled My Hero: One's Justice, was released for PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and PC on September 25, 1999. A third installment of the video game series, My Hero: One's Justice 2, was announced for release on Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2, and PC and was released on September 22, 2002.