My Hero Academia Cliffhanger Teases the Real Greatest Heroes

My Hero Academia’s entire story is based on a premise that is introduced by series protagonist Izuku Midoriya’s voiceover during the show’s opening credits. According to Midoriya, the entire My Hero Academia series is really the “story of how I became the greatest hero,” a line that a lot of fans have longed believed to be a red herring. Fan theory has long stated that Deku’s narration at the start of My Hero Academia is intentionally misleading fans by teasing some kind of big arc for Midoriya – which will actually turn out to be a story of collective heroism, between Izuku Midoriya and his classmates at U.A. High School

Well, after the latest My Hero Academia manga chapter, it’s looking more and more like fans might’ve been right in their theories about Izuku’s opening narration, all along!

Warning: My Hero Academia Manga SPOILERS Follow!

The current arc of My Hero Academia has seen Izuku Midoriya strike out on his own using the full power of One For All, in order to finally defeat the threat of All For One and the League of Villains. Izuku’s one-man-war left him mentally and spiritually depleted to the point that he started to look even more ragged and frightening than the villains he was apprehending around the clock. Deku’s friends from U.A. rallied together to stand by his side in the final battle and finally coaxed the young hero to come back to U.A.

However, U.A. has become a stronghold for innocent civilians trying to escape All For One’s wrath – and those people don’t want Izuku painting a target on their backs. It ends up being Uraraka Ochacho who has to overcome her own personality limits (shyness) and stand in front of the mob to declare that Izku Midoriya not only deserves the rest and shelter of U.A. – he’s destined to be the greatest hero ever – even bigger than All Might!

In My Hero Academia manga chapter 324 Izuku turns the tables on the crowd, by humbling collapsing to his knees and bowing before them, as the mental and spiritual toll finally catches up. During that solemn moment, those Izuku has saved in the past (Kota, and a woman he saved rush to his side, to help him and carry him, since he is no longer strong enough to carry himself.

It’s there that Izuku’s voiceover from the opening of My Hero Academia goes a step further than ever before to make a big, revealing proclomation:

“This is the story of how I became the greatest hero. And also… The story of how we all became the greatest heroes.”

Looks like those fan theories were right all along: Izuku Midoriya was always too much of a true hero for this story to be his alone.

My Hero Academia releases new chapters free online. The anime streams new episodes on Funimation and Hulu.