The My Hero Academia manga has ended, and while it was 430 chapters too late, it finally made due on its teased premise of making someone lacking superpowers one of the world’s greatest heroes.

Several incredible arcs and a variety of beloved heroes and villains helped tell the tale of author Kōhei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia, which started with a Quirkless boy striving to become a great hero in a world filled with super-powered people. However, readers expecting to see him rise up the ranks without a superpower had their expectations quickly challenged.

Not long into young Deku’s story, he is given arguably the strongest My Hero Academia Quirk by All Might, history’s greatest hero who inspired countless people. Watching the young boy grapple with the responsibility and the many abilities of the One For All power was one of the series’ greatest joys, but it betrayed the hope that the story would center on a character devoid of supernatural abilities excelling in a world ruled by them.

Deku’s One For All Quirk was linked to the series’ ultimate villain’s Quirk, known as All For One. The series’ last arc finally demonstrated what an all-out battle between the two would look like, and while it ended well for the heroes, Deku’s powers had to be sacrificed to defeat the villain. It wasn’t until the last chapter of the series that Deku was given the tools to save people from harm without the use of a Quirk, something certain fans wanted to see since the beginning.

While season 6 of My Hero Academia set a high bar, season 7 could surpass it with these ten best big moments fans are excited to see animated.

The Series Waited Too Long To Provide A Quirkless Pro Hero

Twenty Percent Of The Human Population Are Born Without Quirks In My Hero Academia

The drive to save people, even at the risk of one’s own safety, was a trait Deku showcased at the beginning of the series in an act of heroism that even inspired All Might. One point of MHA‘s plot is that people can be capable of great things and helping others even if they are not naturally gifted, which made it easier to do so.

Even though Deku did save the world with one of the most extraordinary superpowers to exist, the story’s end drives home the point that even the strongest Quirks can fail against humanity’s capacity for kindness.

While it took time to get there, Deku’s One For All Quirk eventually made him the strongest hero in the world, capable of incredible feats of speed and strength. His personality and natural ability to want to help others combined with One For All was a combo that saved the world.

However, at his most powerful, Deku’s character development seemed closer to Spider-Man’s struggle of having great power coming with great responsibility, instead of being a character like Batman who must use his brain and tools in an attempt to make the world a safer place.

“…even people without reality-challenging abilities can help make the world a better place by helping each other in any way they can.”

Part of the appeal of characters like Batman or Rock Lee from Naruto, who don’t wield the otherworldly abilities others in their franchises possess, it’s easier to relate to them as readers who live in a world that can often make them feel powerless.

The first chapters of MHA teased that the Quirkless Deku would become the world’s greatest hero, but giving him one of the franchise’s best powers made it more difficult to relate to the character. Still, in the final chapter, author Kōhei Horikoshi doesn’t fail to make a Quirkless Deku a great hero in a different way.

In The End, Deku Didn’t Need Powers To Be Helpful

My Hero Academia Is Written and Illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi, Anime By Bones

The end of My Hero Academia put Deku in a position where he can help teach students how to be a hero in Japan’s number #1 hero school, proving that even though his One For All Quirk is gone, he can still be very helpful in building a better future. Still, All Might and his friends gave him incredibly advanced support gear, allowing him to actively participate in saving lives from disasters and the declining percentage of villains.

Unfortunately, the true extent of the support gear Deku was gifted in the final pages of the manga has been left up to the reader’s imagination. The last manga panel featured him wearing it but not using any of its abilities as he and his friends joined forces to save people from a natural disaster.

Judging by All Might’s final battle against the de-aging All For One in the final arc, the Quirkless Deku is likely just as capable as he was in the past.

My Hero Academia‘s entire plot focuses on the pros and cons of having a super-powered society. Initially, it groomed the idea that Pro Heroes would take care of everything instead of spreading the idea that even people without reality-challenging abilities can help make the world a better place by helping each other in any way they can.

When My Hero Academia‘s final chapter was published, Horikoshi’s story successfully drove home that someone doesn’t need extraordinary powers to be a good person who helps others, even though Deku did need a Quirk to save the world.