Image: My Hero Academia 2019 Popularity Poll
The idea of superpowered humans has been with us for ages. Godly figures such as the Roman and the Greek gods and goddesses have portrayed such immense powers throughout tales as old as time. These powers soon became even more popularized with the concept of comic books and films, namely Marvel and DC. People with these powers became either heroes (Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Spiderman) or villains (General Zod, Thanos, Poison Ivy, Magneto). These heroes and villains are now part of the mainstream media and have become immense entertainment for both readers and viewers alike. If I can be a little real here for a second, let’s be honest, we all wish we had these superpowers that these heroes and villains have. At one point or another, we wished we had the power to fly, to lift heavy objects with our strength, to move things with our minds, etc. As simple as those powers are, they have more depth to them than any of us think. I’ve never really thought about this before until I read mangaka, Kohei Horikoshi’s, My Hero Academia.
Image: My Hero Academia Volume 1
For a little background, My Hero Academia, is a Japanese Shonen manga about a boy named Izuku Midoryia who live in a world where 80% of the population have a superpower of some kind called a Quirk. These Quirks range from the simple ones like telepathy to more complex and crazy ones like having Engines on your calves to move quicker or being able to deconstruct and rearrange matter just by touching something or someone. Anyone who doesn’t have a Quirk is called Quirkless and is automatically discriminated against society (basically the reverse of X-Men if that makes sense). Izuku is one of those Quirkless people, but still strives to become a Pro Hero even without his power (a role that almost everyone wants to achieve in one way or another). One day, he is given a power by the world’s greatest Hero, All Might, after fortunate circumstance and enrolls in Japan’s top Hero School, U.A. to run towards his goal to become the next greatest Hero. That’s the plot of the story and it sounds simple enough at first. Thankfully, this story is given a lot more emotion, character, heart, and depth thanks to its incredible plot, amazing action and comedy, absolutely insane art, and one of the best ensemble casts I’ve seen in any piece of media. Seriously, there are over 20 main and side characters in this manga and I can name every one of them without missing much of a beat because they’re all likeable and unique in their own way.
Image: Ochako Uraraka
But enough about the story, I’m here to talk about Quirks. The Quirks in this story are used in ways that I’ve honestly never thought before. Some of them I’ve never even considered as a power within themselves; not even in comics. For example, one of the main protagonists, Ochako Uraraka, has a Quirk called Zero Gravity. Initially you would probably think “Oh, so she can make things float. Basically telekinesis”, when actually it functions completely different than that. To use Zero Gravity, Ochako has to touch a person or object with all five of her pads on her fingertips to neutralize their gravitational pull, essentially making them float in the air until she touches her fingers together to give their weight back. This can be useful for lifting debris to save someone trapped, completely immobilize an enemy, or make someone else or herself float to gain mobility. By making someone or something else lose their gravity, she could also cause massive damage by making them crash to the ground. The only true limitations to this are that Ochako needs to physically touch something to make it work and she could accidentally make something float if she touches it with all five fingers since it automatically activates once that happens, and that she can only float up to 3 Tons before she starts to get ill. This makes me wonder if Ochako could one day be able to float something as heavy as a skyscraper or if she can make herself float far enough to the point where she’s basically flying. It's possible that her Quirk could evolve one day to the point where it might become something similar to telekinesis where she can move the things she touches remotely with the biggest benefit being that she has no weight limit with what she moves since they have no gravitational pull. The more I think about it, the more possibilities come to mind as to how this Quirk, as well as many other, can be used.
Image: Katsuki Bakugo
Zero Gravity is one of the first Quirks that come to my head in terms of “Powers I could never even think of”. There are, however a lot more. I won’t list them all here, but I do want to dive into a few of them. Another main character of the series, Katsuki Bakugo’s, Quirk is called Explosion. Basically, he secretes nitroglycerin-like sweat from his palms and uses that to create explosions. This would originally be thought as a power to mainly cause damage, and though that is true, Bakugo has demonstrated that it can be utilized in so many more ways. He uses it to propel himself in the air (essentially allowing him to fly like a rocket), create Stun Grenades to paralyze his opponents, literally has a move called AP Shot (Amor Piercing Shot) which is an explosion-based beam of energy, make himself into a flame wheel, and basically create a blast so large that he could blow up a stadium field if he wanted with a Howitzer blast. The biggest limitation to this is if Bakugo uses too much firepower, he could accidentally detonate his arm(s) from the inside. Even with that, enough training could allow Bakugo to create explosions that could make a crater or even figure out how to make a defensive move out of his explosions. It's possible that his Quirk could one day gain the ability to create explosions from more body parts other than his legs such as his feet which would give him more speed and mobility as well as possible offensive attacks to surprise foes. Another noticeable Quirk is Creation, used by Momo Yaoyorozu. Creation allows Momo to create any non-organic thing using the lipids in her body. The more skin she uses and the more she eats, the bigger the object. So, things like steel shields, dolls, clothes, and even canons can be created. This sounds extremely overpowered at first, but what makes this Quirk so interesting is its limitations. Momo can only create something if she knows the molecular structure of the object she’s creating. She needs to know what it’s made of, its function, its design, and even its coloration. In the hands of an average person, this Quirk would only be so useful, but since Momo is practically a genius, she’s memorized a multitude of things to the point where her Quirk is very much in the right hand and can be used for almost any situation. Unfortunately, if she uses her Quirk too much, she’ll become exhausted until she can eat more to gain her lipids back. The possibilities for Creation are nearly endless. She can create any weapon, equipment, clothing, and support gear she wants. So long as it's not organic, Momo's creations are limitless. If she can get the molecular structure right, she can be neigh unstoppable.
I can only begin to describe the versatility of these powers because the story isn’t even finished yet. I don’t know if it’s even halfway through yet. By the time I’m writing this, the manga is only 280 chapters in with no signs of stopping. Honestly, we haven’t even seen the extent of how amazing and versatile these Quirks can truly be. Heck, I can only imagine what kinds of insane, but extremely cool and useful Quirks Horikoshi can come up with. He seems to come up with one nearly every chapter. There are so many other cool Quirks that I would love to talk about and explore (there are ones like Tape, Dark Shadow, Hardening, Frog, Earphone Jack, Half-Cold Half-Hot, Lizard Tail Splitter, Size, Decay, I can go on) but can’t because either I don't have the time or they’re later in the story and I don’t want to spoil anyone who reads this and decides to pick the series up. That would be a downright disgrace to anyone who’s ambitious for more My Hero Academia. This essay is basically me analyzing and geeking out over a manga, but it’s one that’s had me thinking for a while and I do legitimately want other people to discover this series too. This isn’t an ad or a sponsorship, but something I love and want to share with other people because this story is so much more than a typical superhero story; it’s an experience.
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