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Fandom Specific Plot / My Hero Academia

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Fandom-Specific Plot examples for My Hero Academia.

A No Recent Examples rule applies to this trope. Examples shouldn't be added until one month after release, to avoid any knee-jerk reactions and allow time for fanfic to be written.

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Plots about Izuku Midoriya

    Midoriya Having a Quirk 
  • Midoriya having a quirk is quite popular, and has spawned a number of variations to this plot:
    • A popular fanfiction idea is to give Midoriya a seemingly weak or extremely subtle Quirk that could easily be mistaken for Quirklessness, such as the ability to see and interact with ghosts, or the ability to delete ten grams of matter at a time.
    • Other writers give him a monstrous Quirk that he would rather hide or live without, often turning these stories into pseudo-crossovers with popular horror series like Tokyo Ghoul and Ajin.
    • A variant involves the Quirk being useful but not on the battlefield, like some kind of healing Quirk or sensory powers.
    • Other cases have Midoriya simply be a rare “late bloomer” in terms of his quirk activating, and that it simply kicks due to a random event after his canon diagnosis as quirkless, or receiving One For All acts as a catalyst to awaken his initial quirk.
    • Midoriya receiving either his mother’s quirk (but significantly strengthened to the extent of full-on telekinesis) or his currently-unseen father’s fire-breathing ability.
    • Among the "Midoriya with a quirk" stories, Midoriya having Mirko's quirk has become popular recently, due to the Fanon of Midoriya's rabbit motif and Mirko's popularity. This sometimes includes him getting an outfit based on her, which sometimes is a Leotard of Power too.
    • Another subsection of these fics gives him All For One instead of One For All.
    • A rising fan theory includes the possibility that Izuku had a Quirk but had it stolen by All For One before it manifested properly. This is partly due to the below-mentioned oddity of the Quirk medical test, and also the shocking similarity in appearance between the doctor who diagnosed Izuku as Quirkless and All For One's minion Dr. Garaki.
  • One of the most popular fanfic ideas is to give Izuku the superpowers of a popular comic book hero like The Flash or Spider-Man separate from a Quirk, potentially using them in tandem with One For All. Often in these cases, Izuku ends up trying to pass off the power as a quirk for a number of reasons.
  • Several fan fictions (such as Viridian: The Green Guide, Green Tea Rescue and Origin of a Non-Hero) that take Izuku's desire to be a hero at any cost (and the one who replaces All Might as the Hero everyone looks up to) to task, especially because it often goes straight into martyrdom and occasionally even a death wish, and at best he is a Workaholic.

    Midoriya's Family 
  • It has become somewhat popular to write fics where All Might is Midoriya's secret father or even that Midoriya is All Might's publicly known son. It's common to put this in Inko/All Might fan works, which is a ship with a sizable amount of fans. A minor variant of this is "All Might acting like Izuku's Dad," where the difference is that All Might merely acts like a father figure to Izuku, rather than outright being his father. This doesn't exclude stories where All Might becomes Izuku's stepfather, though.
  • A trend in fanfiction is the idea of Hisashi Midoriya, Izuku's father, being a Villain, expanding why he hasn't shown up or taken an active role in being a father figure to Izuku for years. This follows from the theory of Dabi possibly being Izuku's father but instead of using the theory completely, it changes the theory that Dabi is a different person from Hisashi. It has become especially popular to have Hisashi and All For One be the same person. Works that portray Hisashi as a villain who isn’t All For One or Dabi will often give him the villain name Dragon due to being able to breathe fire.
  • Fanfics with All For One being the true identity of Izuku's father, Hisashi Midoriya have become a staple (e.g. Conversations with a Cryptid, From Muddy Waters). This has since earned a tag of its own on Tumblr ("Dad For One") and two on Archive Of Our Own, both of which have over 1500 fanfics, Parent Sensei | All For One and Sensei | All For One is Midoriya Hisashi.
  • In the polar opposite of the above (though combining them is not unheard of), some fics make Inko related to Nana Shimura, most of the times her daughter and Izuku her grandson, making him part of a Heroic Lineage. Many people noted their similarities in appearance, maternal instinct, and Quirks (Nana could float, Inko makes things float). This way her legacy is not totally dessecrated by All for One and she also could have the joy of seeing her successor becoming part of her family.
  • A somewhat common trend is to have Inko Midoriya become Eri's adoptive mother, either due to Izuku saving her from the Shie Hassaikai earlier than canon, or from Inko herself finding Eri somehow, making Eri into Izuku's adopted little sister. Reasonings for this vary but tend to default to either wanting Eri to be more closely tied to Izuku due to his canon importance to her or preferring someone other than Aizawa being her legal guardian. Connected to this, several fanfics that have Inko looking after Eri will have Eri briefly lose control of her Quirk, subjecting Inko to a Fountain of Youth and making her appearance and age match that of when Izuku was a child. Reasons, again, vary across entries, though common reasonings being either an aversion to the Big Beautiful Woman trope, preferring Inko's original design, or symbolically giving Inko My Greatest Second Chance to make up for the years she felt she failed Izuku.

    Midoriya not being a hero 
  • A popular Alternate Universe is the idea that Midoriya would become a Villain rather than a Hero, inheriting All For One and often becoming a superior, if not someone competing with Shigaraki for dominance over the League of Villains. A common catalyst for this is All Might telling Midoriya that he can never be a Hero. Often, he becomes Bakugo and Todoroki's Nemesis. That AU usually has Midoriya descending into insanity and becoming a very capable murderer of Heroes, though keeping his Hero Otaku qualities, usually he wears barman clothes akin of Kurogiri's and is a friend to Himiko and Dabi. There are enough fanfics with this plot to warrant its own folder on the Fanfic Recs page of this trope.
  • While not as popular as showing him as a Villain, Midoriya as a Vigilante has some traction, specially after the Spin-Off series My Hero Academia: Vigilantes was released to showcase the life of the Vigilantes. In some of these Vigilante fics, Midoriya may team up with Toga and Dabi who were given an Adaptational Heroism treatment. It's also semi-popular for him to form a Power Trio with Shinso and Hatsume, particularly if he still winds up attending U.A.. Ironically, this became canon.
  • Midoriya staying Quirkless and taking All Might's advice about becoming a police officer if he really does want to help people is a common plot that is quite popular in some circles.
  • An alternate take on the above is Midoriya staying Quirkless, but still trying to become a hero. Be it in a vigilante style, a more Tony Stark-inspired fashion, or other ways.
  • One common plot has Midoriya join the support course after giving up his dream. These works often ship Izuku with Mei and have them form a chaotic inventor duo.

    Others 
  • A particular dark and angsty fanfic plot is one where Midoriya takes Bakugo's advice from the first chapter and commits suicide (almost always by jumping off the school's rooftop). How the story goes from there varies, but almost uniformly, they either follow Bakugo becoming guilt-ridden about causing this or Midoriya faking his death and becoming a member of the League of Villains. Sometimes, these two merge to form a story where a guilt-ridden hero-in-training Bakugo meets Midoriya, whom he thought to be dead, as a villain, and tries to either turn him into a hero or is manipulated into becoming a villain.
  • "Dekubowl". There is a plenitude of fics where several characters compete for Midoriya's affection. Todoroki, Uraraka, and Bakugo are almost always participants, but the entirety of Class 1-A are available contestants, as well as Mei, Shinso, Toga, Shigaraki, Mirio, and so on, truth be told, any given character introduced is a possible addition to Midoriya's fanon harem.
  • There are quite a few plots about Midoriya's childhood, in particular, how would his childhood go if someone else was his Childhood Friend instead of Bakugo. This usually but not always has Izuku realizing that Bakugo hasn't been his friend for a long time and stops treating him as such or justifying his abuse. This new friend is one of the few options:
  • Midoriya meeting All Might far earlier than in canon, receiving One For All, and allowing him more time to learn and master it far better than he has been doing, avoiding or lessening the crippling injuries he runs the risk of canonically.
  • A popular villain quirk to make fics about are ones where they turn Midoriya into a girl. More rarely, this sometimes happens to Bakugo.
  • Because of the sheer ridiculousness of the medical test (so apparently an extra joint in your little toe flawlessly determines the chance you'll grow a tail), some stories have this practice either be a sham or an archaic way that isn't supposed to be used anymore. This is also a great way to have Izuku have a Quirk all along. and is also usually used as a plot device to hint that Dr Tsubasa is actually Dr Garaki.
    • Attached to the above, there is a minor fanon named "The Red Shoe Theory", which turns Izuku's signature red shoes into custom footwear that people with the extra toe joint that shows that they are Quirkless must purchase to keep their feet from hurting. As well, the Theory often expands to turn everybody with similar red shoes into also being (sometimes formerly) Quirkless.
  • It's rather popular to have Izuku hide the fact he was being bullied from his mother.
  • In fanfics that have Bakugou's bullying revealed, it's fairly common for Izuku to be one of his defenders to the point that fics have Izuku convincing the likes of Aizawa or Nedzu to not expel Bakugou on the grounds that he was a product of his environment and deserves a chance to change.(Ex: Deku? I think he's some pro..., Blank Canvas)
    • As a consequence of the above, it's rather usual that whoever learns about what happened to Izuku ends up hating Bakugou for it, Uraraka is the popular candidate for this though it's also extended to other characters like Shoto or Iida.
  • Related to the above, it's pretty common to depict Izuku as suffering from depression and/or severe self-worth issues due to a lifetime of bullying (often at the hands of Bakugou), even going so far as to mention that he had thought about jumping off the school's rooftop before changing his mind, whether through Bakugou's actions only or as a product of All Might's words.
  • Midoriya having his past Quirklessness revealed to others. This can be voluntarily told, or discovered by others. It is regularly Aizawa that finds out since it plays towards a Dadzawa scenario. It can also branch into an exploration of discrimination against the Quirkless.
    • If it happens without revealing the secret of One For All, he'll usually tell a half-truth about how his body needed to be stronger before he could use it.
  • Due to the popularity of Hero Class Civil Warfare, it's becoming more common to see "Hero vs. Villain" training exercises pop up to show characters like Izuku or others act like villains without having a true change in morality.
  • A particular take on Fanfics centered on the UA Traitor is to have Midoriya be wrongly suspected of being the traitor. This is commonly caused by people discovering his analysis notebooks detailing the weaknesses of his classmates. Alternatively, someone who isn't in on All Might's secret could learn that Midoriya used to be Quirkless and come to suspect that All For One gave Midoriya a Quirk. Sometimes both of those ideas are used at the same time to make Midoriya all the more suspicious to the accuser.
  • A highly specific form of Adaptational Early Appearance is Hatsume Mei meeting Izuku when he cleans Dagobah beach, either because she's upset he's taking the scrap she's using to make her "babies" which appears in a lot of different fics such as Total Command or because she just happens to be there collecting the scrap while Izuku is training, like Blank Canvas.
  • A common element in 'for want of a nail' fics is for All Might to try to find Izuku after the Sludge Villain incident to make him his successor, but be unable to find him, such as Unlimited and Build Yourself Up (Don't Let Them Break You Down), the latter of which points out the difficulty in tracking someone down when you have to be very discrete about it.
  • A common aspect of fanfics that have Midoriya interacting with the UA staff is for Nedzu to discover Midoriya's notebooks and become impressed enough to take the kid on as a protégé.
  • In fanfics where Midoriya gets One for All around the same time as in canon, he will develop Full Cowl much earlier (usually between the Entrance Exam and the first day of school if he gets it the morning of the exam like in canon, or before the exam if he gets it earlier) in order let him properly fight without breaking half his bones. The only time he will ever break his bones using OFA is when he destroys the Zero Pointer during the Entrance Exam since most fans consider that moment way too iconic to change.
  • Several fanfic trends started to appear after Izuku met the previous OFA holders and unlocked their Quriks:
    • Izuku meeting said holders and/or unlocking their Quirks much earlier than in canon is an idea that's quickly gaining a lot of traction.
    • Alternatively, Izuku unlocking one of those Quirks first instead of the Super-Strength upon receiving One for All, such as Danger First or Float With Me. Though he tends to unlock the Super-Strength not long after that, or at least a portion of it.
  • Some fics like to have a character stop Izuku from being chastised by the heroes for trying to save Bakugo from the Sludge Villain, typically having them also deliver "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the heroes present for being willing to let Bakugo drown since there wasn't a hero with a "compatible quirk" there.
  • As the series ending approaches, Time Travel fics have become quite popular. Midoriya and/or somebody else is sent back in time for some reason, either because the war against the villains got so bad that going back in time is the only way to fix it, or by complete accident. This often leads to authors fixing many disliked plot points, like having Eri saved earlier, Bakugo's Character Development kicked in sooner, or saving characters like Toga before they become villains. Some authors also use it to use to show that characters like Bakugo and/or Endeavor are still irredeemable bastards who don't deserve the redemption they got.
  • In an attempt to avert the idea that Aldera is solely a Sucky School, some fanfics tend to give Izuku some genuine friendships at the school, either using original characters or by making some of his classmates into an O.C. Stand-in. In particular is the female student with wavy blue hair, due to being the only classmate not laughing at Izuku when his teacher dope slaps him for muttering, but instead gives him a gentle smile, typically being depicted as a genuinely friendly Nice Girl in the vein of Ochako, but too afraid of being bullied herself to approach Izuku, only to inevitably speak up in his defense and become his friend, such as in the Announcer Au and New Game Plus (2022).
    • On the flip side, the school can just as often receive a heaping dose of Adaptational Villainy in the form of quirkless discrimination, ranging from intentionally enabling them to be bullied, to rigging test scores, sometimes even going as far as making them a cell of the Meta Liberation Army. This usually ends with Nezu or another powerful figure getting the school taken down (sometimes literally) and the faculty and occasionally the offending students being arrested.
  • Plenty of writers that don't like the idea of Izuku turning the once derogatory name "Deku" into an Appropriated Appelation tend to keep "Deku" as an insult, and instead have him take on a different name, common choices including "Dekiru" and "Viridian". Similarly, many writers either flat out omit Ochako mistakingly believing his name is "Deku", or have her learn its origin as an insult, so as to avert her calling him that, opting instead for either a shortened version of his name, or another name derived from "Dekiru", since that was what she thought it stood for. Darker fics will go the opposite route and have her calling him "Deku" causing Izuku to dislike her, thinking she's deriding him too, and lead to Adaptation Relationship Overhaul.
  • Some authors compensate for Izuku's quirklessness by taking his natural intelligence and boosting it to Gadgeteer Genius levels, thus allowing him to overcome this limitation by virtue of being a Science Hero.
  • A related idea takes Izuku's tendency towards note-taking and analytical thinking, and elevating it to full-on Quirk Analysis, allowing him to analyze a person's quirk better than the person themselves knows it.

Other

    Future Plot 
  • Plots related to the characters' future as Pro Heroes are a common subject in fanfiction, whether or not it includes shipping.
  • It has become popular to write about Eri's future after the Internship Arc, particularly, her relationship with Deku, Mirio, and even Nighteye. Some believe she'll be adopted by either Inko, making her Midoriya's little sister, or Aizawa due to their similar Quirks.
  • Alternate Universe fics where Mirio and Deku are a couple sometimes end with them adopting Eri.
  • As Midoriya keeps befriending children who look up to him, Kouta, Eri, and Katsuma, stories about them going to U.A. and trying to become heroes to follow their idol also become more popular. Sometimes this also has them interning under a Pro Hero Midoriya.
  • Despite the in-universe derision, making "quirk marriages" among ships is popular. That is, writing ships specifically for the purposes of making children who have a combination of their parent's quirks, either like Todoroki's "perfect split of both" or like Eri's "mutation" where two quirks combine to create a new, third quirk.
  • Crossover Fanfics where Midoriya meets and fanboys over other known heroes also exist. Things like meeting Superman, The Incredibles, Spider-Man, etc are common plotlines. An entire block of most crossovers with the latter often entails Spidey being dropped into the world of My Hero Academia to become a student in U.A. Others depict these more experienced heroes as members of American agencies who often are depicted as being some of the most experienced pros in the world. In the event most characters like the aforementioned Spidey do not get an Age Lift to match the ages of the U.A. students, their younger Legacy Character counterparts (Miles Morales, Robbie Reyes, Kamala Khan) take the spotlight instead.

    Plots Focused on Side Character 
  • Due to Mineta's large hatedom due to his perverted antics and lack of depth and Shinso being a far more popular tragic boy who wants to be in the Hero Course, several people who write fics prefer to simply write as if Shinso is part of 1-A instead of Mineta and just forget he exists altogether. Sometimes, when he is acknowledged, he is described as being widely disliked by his classmates who are glad he left and receive Shinso with open arms. When Mineta is even acknowledged, the typical way of replacing him with Shinso is to have Mineta finish last instead of 2nd to last in Aizawa's quirk apprehension test on opening day and thus get kicked out of the hero course since the only reason Midoriya didn't suffer this fate in canon is that he impressed Aizawa with his combination of resolve and cleverness. Alternatively, Aizawa learns of Mineta's sexual harassment and creeping on the girls of 1-A and swiftly moves to expel him. Notably, this is so common that variants of it (including "Mineta Minoru Doesn't Exist", "Shinsou Hitoshi Replaces Mineta Minoru", and "Mineta Minoru is Expelled from U.A. High School") are all dedicated tags on Archive of Our Own.
    • Rarely, some fans will throw him a bone and give him some dignity by having him drop out voluntarily after the USJ Incident, noting that women and fame are not enough of an incentive for the psychological demands of being a Pro Hero.
  • The above point is so incredibly widespread, that it began to generate some pushback, with a growing number of fics contesting the idea that Shinso deserves to be in the hero course, usually citing how he relies exclusively on his Quirk to fight while neglecting physical training or developing other combat skills, and his mind-controlling several schoolmates into being part of his team during the cavalry battle being seen as very unheroic. It should be noted that this only applies to Shinso; Mineta being kicked out of the hero course is very much the rule rather than the exception in fanfiction, only in these cases he's replaced by another character from another course (such as Mei Hatsume), a New Transfer Student from another school (Camie and Inasa are popular choices here), an Original Character, or they simply leave his spot permanently vacant.
  • Speaking of Shinso, it’s very common to see fics and art that feature both him and Eri being adopted by Aizawa (and, usually, Present Mic).
  • Also for Shinso, a common plot idea around the time of the sports festival was to have him and Ojiro start as enemies (thanks to the former brainwashing the latter during the cavalry batter), then become close friends.
  • Muzzles on either Shinso or less commonly a child Present Mic are not uncommon. The Shinso stories are also frequently the “adopted by Aizawa” ones or can connect to Bakugo being muzzled at the Sports Festival awards.
  • Speaking of Eri, Izuku stumbling into her much earlier than in canon is a pretty popular plot as well. However, unlike the above point, it's usually Izuku and whoever's his Love Interest the ones taking care of her. This also has the side effect of allowing the writer to bypass the extremely divisive Internship Arc, since it can't happen if Eri is out of Chisaki's control.
  • Fanfics where Toga receives Adaptational Heroism have gained popularity as well. She is either found by Midoriya at young age, before her Start of Darkness (attacking her classmate Saito) or after that, but before she becomes a serial killer, being adopted into the Midoriya family (What it Means to Be a Hero, Back to the Beginning), or becoming his girlfriend (A Hero Rises). In some fics, she is also mentored by Stain, due to both having blood Quirks, and inspired by him to become a hero (Incident Zero). No matter the premise, however, the universal choice for her hero name is always Carmilla. Eventually gets a Fandom Nod when in a flashback, one of her suggested villain names is Carmilla.
  • In Alternate Universes where Deku doesn't inherit One For All, the most common person to inherit it in his place is Mirio, as All Might was going to meet him to see if he was worthy before his chance encounter with Deku.
    • Melissa Shield inheriting One For All is also gaining popularity since she is quirkless like All Might and Deku were before they inherited the power.
    • Another trend is Kirishima being chosen due to his quirk meshing well with it and his personality being seen as heroic.
    • Itsuka Kendo from Class 1-B has also become a popular successor candidate, due to her Quirk and fighting style being similar to All Might and similarities to Nana Shimura (My Hero Academia: Entropy, Ignited Spark.)
  • For whatever reason, many authors like to pretend all the adults are in the same age range and went to school together. While this is canon for Midnight, Eraser Head, and Mic, putting All Might and Endeavor with them is quite a stretch note .
  • Similar to the above, one very popular idea among fanfic authors is that Momo is Midnight's daughter. The fact that Midnight should still have been in high school when Momo was born (Midnight is 31, Momo is 15) never seems to deter them.
  • Fanfics redeeming Bakugo have a couple trends to choose from. One is to give him a Heel Realization about what he did and try to make amends, whether by himself or after a lecture from an adult. The other appears in fics where Izuku openly has a quirk, so the bullying never happens or happens to a much lesser extent. In some, Bakugo even ends up defending Izuku from other bullies.
  • It's very common to see authors changing the hero codenames chosen by the 1-A students, or even hero students from other classes. Some of them, like Kirishima's "Red Riot", Kaminari's "Chargebolt" or Asui's "Froppy", remain unchanged since they're generally seen as cool, cute, original, or fitting the character. Others, not so much:
    • The biggest example is probably Ashido, whose initial but rejected name "Alien Queen" is immensely more popular than her "Pinky" hero name. Even those who don't use "Alien Queen" tend to give her another hero name.
    • Other hero name changes involve names that simply use the person's Quirk as a hero name (Kyoka's "Earphone Jack"), seen as horribly bland (Ojiro's "Tailman" or Hagakure's "Invisible Girl"), or downright ridiculous (such as Aoyama's "Can't Stop Twinkling").
    • Many fans also prefer Todoroki to pick something other than his first name for his hero name. Popular choices are Coldflame, Freezerburn, or a different read in kanji of his name, which can be read as "burning" ("sho") and "freezing" ("to").
    • In many fics where Toga receives an Adaptational Heroism, she picks the name "Carmilla", a reference to the 1827 gothic novella featuring a Lesbian Vampire protagonist, since Toga looks a lot like a vampire and is confirmed to be bisexual. Funnily enough, chapter 393 would make this into Ascended Fanon (of sorts), as Spinner suggests that Toga should take "Carmilla" as her codename.
  • Nezu being a metaphorical god, with supergenius intellect, many, MANY connections, and funding that can only be described as "yes", that he can make anything happen at any point and time he wants to. It is also not uncommon to play up his animalistic-based Blue-and-Orange Morality and odd desires for vengeance against humans for comedy on top of said metaphorical god status.
  • Since Class 1-B as a whole counts as a major Ensemble Dark Horse cast, many fics have 1-B students (such as Kendo, Tokage, and Kodai) moved to 1-A (One for All and Eight for the Ninth, Ignited Spark) or having both classes interacting earlier than in canon, in an effort to build a friendly rivalry between the both (Breathe In, Breathe Out).
  • Fanfics with no romance will usually make UA have a very strict policy against relationships between students, similar to the policies of Shiketsu High School that have been confirmed in canon
  • Going to the opposite extreme, many fanfics will have UA enforcing absolutely zero control over boys going to the girls' dorm rooms and vice-versa, usually under the excuse that as heroes in training, they should already be aware of the risks of premarital sex without the adults having to enforce any rule.
  • Deafness fics with Present Mic or sometimes Bakugo, presumably the idea being they lack the Required Secondary Powers to avoid it.

    Common Premise 
  • Something that is even used by Horikoshi himself in the side materials is to make Villains with weird Quirks that can kick-start a plot by affecting one of the main characters, the author used it in the "Smash!" comics to make a story about Bakugo acting as classic Bishōnen Large Ham due to a Villain's Quirk. In fanfiction, this is often used in PWP with a Villain having a lust-inducing Quirk. This was even the plot of an OVA, as there was a person with a zombie-making Quirk.
  • Group chat fics, which are Script Fics where the framing device is that they're a transcription of internet chatroom logs or text group logs of the main characters. Like real-life group chats, they often tend to be heavy on meme humor and light on plot.
  • Despite how little the manga touches the Quirkless population (mostly due to their lack of relevancy to the main plot), many fans love to write about them:
    • It's very common in fanfics, especially those where Izuku tries to become a Quirkless Hero, to write them as if they were a marginalized group (like the LGBT collective), where discriminating against them is seen as commonplace, and have high unemployment and high suicide rates.
    • Despite the manga stating many times both implicitly and explicitly that most Quirkless people are in All Might's generation, Quirkless people in Izuku's age group are almost nonexistent, and Quirklessness in general it's on its way to disappearing, it is very common for fanfics to give Izuku's classmates one or more Quirkless relatives, usually a little sibling or a cousin, as a way to give them personal stakes in a conflict involving Quirkless people.
    • Ironically, with very exceptions (such as the point below), fanfics that focus on the plight of the Quirkless population very rarely feature Original Characters who are Quirkless; Izuku will be their only face and mouthpiece, as they only exist as anonymous relatives of the main cast at best or a faceless mass at worst. If there's an OC in these fics, not only they will have Quirks, but more often than not said Quirks will be very powerful.
    • The existence of often antagonistic teams made up entirely of Quirkless individuals, frequently shown to be gangs of Badass Normals who use advanced technology or a lot of training to fight equally with those with Quirks. Only a few of these teams tend to be even vaguely canon compliant, where the Quirkless are in decline and there are very few that are young, with the majority implied to be All Might's age and older. Even Humarise, the only canonical example of these "death to Quirks" groups, is seemingly composed of nothing but self-loathing Quirked individuals.
  • Making the USJ more traumatizing to the students is a fairly common premise, often resulting in Adaptational Angst Upgrade. Typically this is done by either exploring the more immediate aftermath of the characters' emotional psyches in a form of Adaptation Expansion, injuring some of the students themselves in non-crippling ways to add more trauma from seeing classmates hurt, or by, less commonly, giving a Career-Ending Injury or outright killing one of the teachers or even students there, Thirteen in particular getting hit by this due to both her cute and dorky behavior being a suitable gut punch, and for the sake of traumatizing Ochako and Mina due to the two being the most emotionally affected by Thirteen's injuries in canon. Reasoning, as always, varies from fic to fic, though common motives stem from either feeling canon didn't go far enough in exploring the trauma an incident like this would have on teenagers, giving the students a reason to bond with each other earlier than in canon via surviving a harrowing experience together or believing Misery Builds Character and that the students would more likely grow into better heroes by facing some form of trauma and not wanting others to suffer what they did.
  • Fanfics will often age up the cast and turn U.A. into a university. This is usually meant to just have the characters be older so the fanfics, which often involve relationships, involve legal adults. This will occasionally add other college-based plotlines, but ultimately there will be no changes to the series in general beyond that despite how several more years of pre-series developments for the various characters should have happened with that extra time before the series begins.
  • A common critique of the world that fanfics bring up is technical stagnation, with characters raising the point that the world has focused so much on Quirks that everything else has stagnated. While this is acknowledged in the manga, with Izuku himself pointing out that without Quirks they'd probably be taking interstellar vacations by this point, these fics rarely acknowledge, beyond the fact that society suddenly developing superpowers would naturally become a focus on sciences as people find ways to both live and adapt to these powers safely, and try to figure out how they work and where they came from, but that the series itself has plenty of advanced technologies. The characters who make this point will either ignore the fact that the setting of My Hero Academia has robots with advanced artificial intelligences, holographic projections, support technologies that work in tandem with Quirks to achieve things that cannot be achieved in modern times, biological technologies developed by Dr. Garaki, and 8K TV being affordable and common, or find a way to dismiss these by saying humans 'ought' to be better or that they've wasted their time focusing on superpowers. The decades of anarchy and instability that the origin of Quirks caused, that would also logically limit technological advancements, are also ignored. Very few characters will point out the issues that ignoring the spontaneous superpowers in favor of advanced science at the time would have caused, and those that do will rarely, if ever, avoiding being strawman.
  • While the issues with hero society do come up fairly frequently in canon, fan stories will shine a lot more, and a lot harsher, spotlight on them than canon does, often taking a far more western-aligned view of these problems being something that needs to be loudly spotlighted and focused on until it is fixed versus the native Japanese viewpoint of societal harmony. Aspects that come up in canon that relate to this, like governmental corruption and corrupt corporate behavior, will also get immensely more focus in such stories.
  • A common premise in a story where either Izuku gains a power from a non-quirk source, or someone without a Quirk but some form of superpower is around, is that the laws about regulating Quirks will not apply to them because they aren't actually using a Quirk. Therefore these character are shown being able to use their powers without restraint. This tends to ignore that Quirks cover such a broad category of abilities in canon from shape shifting to sentient shadows to reality warping that it would be actually hard to legally prove that you don't just have a 'very weird' Quirk instead of something else entirely, or the fact that legal systems are not static things and that even if you could prove that you technically weren't using a Quirk, the law would certainly adjust to not let a few random people ignore the laws that millions of people have to follow on a technicality.

    Deconstruction Fic 
  • Bakugo:
    • Authors that don't like Bakugo's hardcore Jerkass tendencies and especially never apologizing for bullying Midoriya tend to give him a truly inescapable serving of humble pie, anything from a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, being punished with mandatory anger management sessions, being expelled from school due to going too far in his hatred of Izuku, going through Izuku's mother going Mama Bear, up to having his Quirk taken from him, and sometimes escalating to... well... more bloody stuff. Like with Mineta, this is often motivated by a dislike of the character and/or a desire for him to face realistic consequences (despite that the attitude towards bullying in Japan is different than in the West) for actions that weren't officially punished in canon.
    • Bakugo having a Hair-Trigger Temper is canon, of course, but many stories have him erupting and doing something terribly awful because "stupid Deku" committed the grievous crime of existing one time too many. What happens afterwards tends to be dramatic more often than not. Some even boost said temper into an outright Irrational Hatred that begins with Deku but quickly expands to anybody else in the cast the author wishes to directly oppose Bakugou.
    • Bakugo assaulting Midoriya at the beginning of the Final Exam battle against All Might is a moment that gets focused on in Fan Fics that target Bakugo being a Jerkass, Aizawa's Sink or Swim Mentor methods, and the School Bullying Is Harmless idea. It gets portrayed as the moment where Midoriya snaps from the abuse and abandons Bakugo to win the exam by escaping alone. The consequences of the actions vary, but what usually follows is All Might being disappointed, Bakugo being angry, and Aizawa's response to the events. As noted in Aizawa's entry, his response depends on how sympathetic the author makes him.
    • Among other aspects used to deconstruct Bakugo is the idea that his entrance exam results, where he only got Villain Points and no Rescue Points, are scrutinized and used as a reason to put him under greater watch or as a mark against his character (up to and including him not being accepted into U.A. at all, ex. Failure to Explode). While this was noted in canon, it was not seen as anything negative and was just contrasted to Izuku's Rescue Point only total with the two being treated as equally odd.
    • Some fanfics such as Think Before You Speak (MHA) bring to task his attempt at hurting Izuku in the heroism test by using his explosive gauntlets at full power (in direct defiance of All Might's orders and with his defense being "it won't kill Deku if he dodges it!"), leading to someone getting hurt badly (sometimes Midoriya, sometimes someone else) and the subsequent investigation wrecking his career.
      • An occasional point of Fanon in stories such as the one mentioned above is the deconstruction of the fact Bakugo's gauntlets can carry enough nitroglycerine to fuel an explosion capable of bursting through tank armor by themselves, the idea being that this is not the kind of firepower that is normally allowed for first-year students to have and if there is a reason Bakugo has it is that UA (often reading as "Aizawa") was too lazy (or even sadistic) to veto the equipment or someone in the Support department pulled the "wanted to see if they could and didn't stopped to think if they should make the gauntlets that destructive" straw.
  • Aizawa:
    • Aizawa's canonical actions as a deconstruction of the Sink or Swim Mentor are pretty often taken to task. While the canon makes note of various details that paint his methods as probably a bit too extreme even In-Universe, they are often also given a "but dammit, they work!" counterpoint note . Not so much in fan fiction, when stories in which he's sympathetic give him a "dude, are you freaking CRAZY!?!" speech from others or have Aizawa himself mention that these are methods that were stupid to begin with and cannot be applied in this instance (whatever happens in the fic) anyway, and in stories where he is unsympathetic he is painted as an inefficient jerk at best and a monstrous asshole at worst. Some people in the latter camp, such as the author of Breathe In, Breathe Out have Aizawa being replaced by Lady Nagant as 1-A's homeroom teacher (because his Scare 'Em Straight shenanigans almost got U.A. closed due to a lawsuit and many students straight up dropped out), and having her act as a far more efficient and concerned teacher than Aizawa is shown to be, such as helping Kaminari not succumb to the overuse of his quirk and preventing Iida from interning at the same city that Stain was last seen because she knows the kid will go out on a revenge quest. Fanfics also tend to give their own counterpoints to Aizawa's own "but dammit, they work!" counterpoints note , while bringing up other flaws of Aizawa that are just ignored in Canon, such as his tendency to sleep rather than teach or supervise his own students, his lack of hygiene and presentability in a classroom and his tendency to withdraw information from his students.
    • Izuku Midoriya becoming the Teacher's Unfavorite Student to Aizawa is not uncommon, reasons running a wide gamut from seeing Izuku is a Martyr Without a Cause waiting to happen, to his lack of Quirk control, to thinking Izuku is getting too big for his britches and needs A Lesson in Defeat ASAP, to a Snape-style displacement of his dislike of All Might towards his cherished apprentic, to exasperation at just how much of the crap Class 1-A faces off against wants Deku dead. These stories also tend to turn Aizawa calling Izuku "the problem child [of the class]" from a phrase said a few times into a full-blown Catchphrase Insult.
    • One kind of plot related to the above point that's becoming increasingly popular is Aizawa expelling Izuku anyway during the Quirk Apprehension Test, using the fact that Izuku still broke his finger as evidence that Izuku can't control his Quirk and thus he lacks potential to be a hero. While not always, this is often for the sake of making room for Shinso. The ramifications of this almost always are All Might Resign in Protest from UA in order to personally train Izuku to be his successor, the rest of the 1-A students now walking on eggshells around Aizawa over fear of being the next one expellednote , this atmosphere of fear and tension, combined with Izuku not being there to play The Heart resulting in the classmates' relationship among each other being worse, and the USJ attack being much worse than in canon due Izuku and All Might's absence, often resulting in at least one classmate dying (usually Tsuyu and/or Mineta, since they were the ones with Izuku at the Flood Zone, through the Butterfly Effect may cause other people to die instead) and sometimes others dropping from the hero course entirely because of the trauma. This always results in Aizawa being fired by Nezu before the Sports Festival even arrives, often accompanied by a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
    • Aizawa's laissez-afire approach at dealing with Bakugou unleashing his gauntlets' full power on Izuku, against explicit orders from All Might and fully expecting that it would kill or maim Midoriya, is often exaggerated into Selective Enforcement benefiting Bakugou (or the class powerhouses in general), hatred for Midoriya/All Might clouding his judgment or even a complete "I don't care if the whole class dies as long as I don't get fired" degree of apathy.
    • Aizawa only used "logical ruse" once or twice in the canon manga. Fanfic writers love to apply Flanderization to it and practically turn it into a Character Catch Phrase (or at least imply that is one In-Universe) and then have other characters toss it in his face once it's made clear that whatever the hell is in his head that makes him do those ruses is anything but logical (or inhumanly logical).
    • Adding even more fuel to the "Aizawa is a jerk" fire, a number of fanfics (such as "Whispered Tribulation") include a plot in which Aizawa, out of unjustified suspicion, places Midoriya as the primary suspect in the "traitor within UA" plotline and does absolutely everything in his power to break Deku's will and make him "confess". For additional Jerkass points, he often becomes so driven about this that when provided iron-clad proof that Deku is innocent he digs his own grave by insisting he's right.
      • Other stories have different characters doing this accusation (ex. "From Muddy Waters", which even includes the irony of Izuku being AFO's runaway son), and for the most part, they all fall under the same message: going on a full Joseph McCarthy-style Witch Hunt only benefits the Villains.
  • Endeavor:
    • For fanfic writers who dislike Endeavor and his redemption arc, a common plotline is to have him lose his hero license and/or get arrested after his abusive behavior is revealed to the public.
    • Fans who were disappointed in how Hawks chose to still stand with Endeavor following Dabi's exposé often rewrite him into having a Broken Pedestal upon finding out and giving the flame hero a thorough "The Reason You Suck" Speech, often citing his own abusive father as a reason he can no longer stand by him. This can sometimes even lead to Hawks becoming disillusioned with the hero system as a whole and teaming up with Dabi, especially if the fic author ships Dabi/Hawks.
      • More rarely, some fics will reconstruct this by having Endeavor earn back Hawks' trust after showing he is truly seeking to atone for his past misdeeds, resulting in the wing hero having a Rebuilt Pedestal.
    • Another way to deconstruct Endeavor's Redemption Quest is to have all his children, not just Natsuo, give him a scathing Calling the Old Man Out speech and declare none of them want him in their lives anymore. When it comes to Fuyumi, it is a matter of Depending on the Writer whether she'll have her feelings on her father rewritten from the ground up or if she'll realize (usually after a confrontation with her brothers or Endeavor slipping into old habits) it isn't worth forgiving Endeavor for all the crap he has done to the family and/or admit she hasn't really forgiven him so much as just desiring a normal family relationship.
  • In the series, Recovery Girl gave Izuku an ultimatum that she will no longer heal his self-inflicted injuries. In canon, this is important to forcing Izuku to figure out how to use One For All less recklessly, and it is clear that she will still heal his injuries that originate entirely from others or where any recklessness is warranted (she helped heal Izuku after his battle with Muscular, for example). Many fics go out of their way to make her words more severe, cutting Izuku off from any healing entirely. This in turn leads to ramifications for Recovery Girl as she is promptly torn a new one by the story from thereon out.
  • Shoto Todoroki:
    • Many fanfic writers will have various characters, usually starting from Aizawa and going down to his classmates, calling out his lack of use of the fire half of his Quirk, taking him to task for risking all of their lives at the U.S.J by not doing so or not putting in all of his possible effort into his training. The fact that in canon Shoto took out an entire unit of the U.S.J villains with just his ice, single-handedly won his heroes versus villain trial with one use of his ice quirk, and does in fact use his fire half prior to the Sports Festival as a means of removing his ice is conveniently ignored to make this argument valid. These stories also consider his trauma over Endeavor and his mother to not be a valid excuse.
    • The scene where he assumes that Izuku Midoriya is All Might's actual biological child and says it aloud is often deconstructed as slander (accidental or deliberate) with much worse resulting damage and occasionally blamed as a case of Evil Cannot Comprehend Good — or rather, "familiar spite cannot understand mentors being kind without an undisclosed reason". Sometimes it even evolves from a random misunderstanding gag to Shoto becoming a full-blown Conspiracy Theorist.
  • The heroes who were involved in the Sludge Villain fight, such as Death Arms, Mt. Lady, and Kamui Woods, being given crap by the characters in-story, or narrative, for their handling of the Sludge Villain fight, treatment of Bakugo afterwards, or berating Midoriya for rushing in without powers or a plan. When these critiques come on to have long-lasting consequences for the reputations of most of the heroesnote , the heroes will in turn gain a grudge against Izuku and whoever called them out. These fics will ignore canon making it clear that all of the heroes involved were dealing with either a very incompatible situation (such as Mt. Lady being limited by the physics of her Quirk and Death Arms outright stating his Quirk was not suited for the scenario at hand), and that rushing in regardless, like what Izuku did, would not be a reckless but heartfelt display of heroic resolve as it was for Izuku in the plot, but them being reckless and endanger not only themselves needlessly, but all the nearby civilians. At best, anyone in the narrative who points this out is only validated out of universe for having a valid point rather than in-universe.

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