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 an encounter with his idol, All Might, who is the world'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 pass it on to others) 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 has been declining. Izuku begins attending the U.A. High School for heroes in training alongside Bakugo. Over the course of the school year, Izuku and his classmates work hard to improve themselves and encounter the League of Villains led by All For One's apprentice Tomura Shigaraki, who desires to kill All Might and destroy society through the use of monsters with multiple powers known as "Nomu". Due to the information that the League of Villains possesses about the inner workings of U.A., the faculty begin to suspect there may be a traitor at the school.

After participating in a sports festival Izuku and his classmates Shoto Todoroki and Tenya Ida confront the villain Stain and defeat him, but his final message inspires many villains to action, many of which join the League of Villains, including the serial killer Dabi. After the League of Villains kidnaps Bakugo, All Might and other Heroes manage to track down the League of Villains hideout, after which All For One reveals himself. Izuku and his friends manage to rescue Bakugo, and All Might faces off against All For One, 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. The League of Villains escapes but loses significant backing and access to the Nomu.

After passing the exam to obtain a Provisional Hero License, Izuku begins working as an intern with All Might's former sidekick, Sir Nighteye, whose Quirk gives him the power to predict the future. Sir Nighteye believes that Izuku is not worthy of inheriting One For All, and who is attempting to convince him to transfer the power to his protege. Under his direction Izuku, Several of his classmates, and Nighteye's protege manage to defeat the Shie Hassaikai, a yakuza group and their leader Overhaul and rescue a girl named Eri whose Quirk was being used to create a weapon that erases people's Quirks. However, Sir Nighteye is mortally wounded in the occasion and dies afterwards, having been convinced of Izuku's worthiness to succeed All Might. Izuku then continues his internship under the hero Endeavor, who assumed All Might's position as Japan's top hero following his retirement. Izuku later awakens 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 Heroes manage to capture a member of the League of Villains, Kurogiri. Examination reveals him to be a Nomu created from the corpse of a childhood friend of one of the teachers at UA.

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 severe casualties and destruction, they fail to capture most of the League, including Shigaraki, who inherits All For One's Quirk and is possessed by him. Meanwhile Dabi reveals himself as Endeavor's son Toya to the public, as well as the abuse that led him to villainy, shattering the public's trust in the #1 hero. In the following days, the Paranormal Liberation Front gains momentum by releasing thousands of imprisoned Villains, including the original All For One, which alongside Dabi's revelation cause Japan to 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 the truth of his power.

Over the next month, Izuku joins forces with the top 3 Heroes and begins relentlessly hunting for All For One's location, to the detriment of his own health. After almost being defeated by an assassin sent by All For One he is confronted by his classmates, who convince him to return to U.A., which has been turned into a refugee camp for the students' families and other civilians who fled from the Villains. With Shigaraki's body augmentations and assimilation by All for One nearly complete, America's #1 Pro Hero, Star and Stripe, arrives to fight him by All Might's request. However, Shigaraki manages to kill her and attempts to steal her quirk, which backfires and severely damages his body before destroying itself, giving the Heroes some time to devise a plan. One of Izuku's classmates is revealed to be the Traitor, having received a quirk from All For One to hide his quirkless nature at a young age, and being forced to serve All For One with threats to him and his family. The Heroes decide to use his connection to All For One to lure him out and 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. However, Toga manages to separate Izuku from his intended location, causing him to arrive later than usual. Bakugo is fatally wounded fighting Shigaraki, though Edgeshot plans to sacrifice himself in order to save him. Spinner also manages to free and awaken Kurogiri and use his warp Quirk to help the villains gain the upper hand. Later, the original All For One defeats the heroes assigned to fight him and he begins heading towards Shigaraki and Izuku. Dabi starts to self destruct while facing Endeavor, the Todoroki family later arrives and use their Frost Quirks to cool him down and prevent his death.

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 at Bear Bones. 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.