Before receiving One for All, Izuku Midoriya played the role of a hero without flashy superpowers or such. Or; the one where Izuku is blessed with the most heroic quirk in existence.
The problem is, being a hero's the last thing he wants to be.
the curse of the anime protagonist
is a My Hero Academia fanfic by masterdipster. In this story, Izuku manages to manifest a Quirk before ever meeting All Might, but it is both useful and a liability to him; it inflicts him with Chronic Hero Syndrome, pushing him to intervene in situations ranging from easygoing to dangerous. While he can't help but try to help those in need no matter the danger, his actions catch the eye of a certain hero...
Unfortunately, after posting 11 chapters in 12 1/2 months, the story has not been updated since late May 2019 and thus has likely been abandoned.
the curse of the anime protagonist provides examples of:
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade/Adaptational Backstory Change: In this universe, Izuku's dad Hisashi Midoriya was a Pro Hero going by the name Salamander. He dies during a villain attack after his teammates get scared off and abandon him. Several years later, Izuku's grandfather dies as well, once again during a villain attack with five Pro Heroes present. These events cause Izuku to become much more jaded than his canon counterpart, leading to his negative view of the Hero Industry.
- Adaptational Badass: And how.
- Even before receiving One for All, Izuku's been saving people from falling objects, pulling them out of the paths of speeding vehicles, or driving bullies off for them. As these incidents grow more dangerous, he enrolls in a dojo to learn self-defense - as such, by the time All Might finds him, he's more than proficient in hand-to-hand combat. He also takes to wielding One For All much easier than in canon, being able to utilize up to 80% of it almost right off the bat.
- Class 1-A, during the attack on the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. Izuku's original quirk keeps them from being teleported away by Kurogiri's portals. Because of this, they're all able to assist Aizawa in fighting the villains, at least until Kurogiri warps them away for real.
- Adaptational Context Change: Izuku still receives burns from Katsuki's quirk, only this time he gets them while trying to rescue Katsuki from the Slime Villain, and it was an accident on the latter's part.
- Adaptational Heroism: A subtle example with Katsuki. In canon, Katsuki takes the top spot during the entrance exam solely through villain points, with no rescue points. Here, although he ranks second to Izuku this time around, he has a few rescue points in addition to his (still impressive) villain points, implying that he did some rescuing or assisting during the exam.
- Adaptational Intelligence: While canon Izuku is in no way lacking intelligence, this Izuku is known to be incredibly intelligent, consistently ranking first during his time at a prestigious junior high. This may have been directly brought about by the time he spent reading encyclopedias and journals with his grandfather, who's implied to be a highly intelligent doctor.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed. While Katsuki is still crass and rude to basically everyone, he never bullies Izuku. Their fallout occurs after their one heated argument. Katsuki is even the one to apologize for the incident, and thanks Izuku for saving him from the Slime Villain, albeit none too gladly.
- Adaptation Personality Change:
- Because he's never been bullied by Katsuki, Izuku doesn't grow up to be the meek boy he used to be in canon. He's a lot snarkier and more likely to speak his mind.
- In contrast, Katsuki in this iteration is more mellow than his canon counterpart, noticeably less violent towards his peers but definitely retaining his colorful vocabulary.
- Always Someone Better:
- Katsuki views Izuku as this. Sure he's got his own accomplishments where he beats Izuku, but Izuku still beats him in the areas that truly matter.
- Tenya also feels this way towards Izuku, though to his credit he feels wrong for being envious of him.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Izuku didn't really plan on becoming a hero so he tended to slack off whenever there's a school activity. Aizawa notices, and admonishes Izuku after the Quirk Assessment test after he noticed him not giving his all.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- The first time Izuku meets Hitoshi Shinsou, he saves him from a would-be murderer. Chapters later, that would-be murderer was revealed to be Stain. It's strongly implied that Izuku's actions impressed him so much that he took to stalking him, which eventually led to him putting Izuku on the same pedestal as All Might.
- Yashiro offhandedly mentions one of his classmates, whose father owns a large media company, to Izuku. Said classmate later shows up at the USJ, taking pictures and videos for the League of Villains, which are leaked to the public by his father's company. Whether their cooperation with the villains was willing or not is still unknown.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Izuku's Quirk invokes this: it basically signals to his body that someone nearby needs help, ranging from saving them from disasters and accidents, to defending them from the most dangerous criminals and villains, to saving a cat stuck in a tree.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Izuku's is two-fold. His father was a powerful pro-hero named Salamander who was killed during a villain attack when Izuku was three after his teammates abandoned him when he was captured. Several years later, his paternal grandfather was also killed during another villain attack, despite the presence of several pro-heroes. Understandably, despite basically being born to be a hero, Izuku has a very dim view of the hero industry.
- Deadpan Snarker:
- Izuku, full-stop.
- Katsuki has his moments as well.
- Death Seeker:
Word of God says that the reason Shinsou didn't try to escape his would-be murderer or use his Quirk to defend himself is because he's passively suicidal. - Disappeared Dad: Izuku's father and later grandfather are dead by the first chapter. This unhealthily gives him a more jaded look in life.
- Fixing the Game: For whatever reason, the League of Villains fixes the Sports Festival so that Izuku wins no matter what actually happens. It's not too hard given that the only time it's really needed is when Izuku ends up taking both him and Todoroki out, but given Word of God states Izuku would win no matter what, it kinda makes you wonder what they would do under less desirable circumstances.
- Heroic Neutral: Izuku would rather mind his own business, but the universe just keeps pushing him to be a hero. His Chronic Hero Syndrome doesn't help matters as he has a tendency to save animals and people.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Izuku has a negative view of his Quirk, thinking it's essentially allowing him to cheat by forcing him to be a hero. He completely fails to recognize that, while his quirk does alert him to nearby danger, it's Izuku himself who's acting on it.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners:
- Izuku and Yashiro, to the point of attending the same high school together (albeit, in different courses). Yashiro even joins Izuku's team during the Calvary Battle.
- Izuku and Katsuki. Katsuki is arguably even closer to Izuku than Kimi and Yashiro, despite two years of estrangement; while the latter two know Izuku's biggest secrets, Katsuki knows all of Izuku's fears and insecurities, perhaps even more than Izuku himself does. After finally talking about their issues during their match during the Sports Festival, their relationship is even stronger than before.
- I Let You Win: The League of Villains pull this during the USJ incident. Katsuki notes that while they were trying to stall him, that was pretty much all they were trying to accomplish. In fact, as Kurogiri demonstrates, he could've easily teleported them wherever he wanted and Izuku lampshades that Kurogiri deliberately left him alone.
- Ice Magic Is Water: Yashiro's Quirk is manipulating the forms of water and even moisture, either solidifying them into ice or evaporating it. As time goes on, he's able to skip a few steps to get the results quicker.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Izuku ever since he was young. His father and grandfather's deaths have left him jaded and cynical but he still goes out of his way to help people.
- Original Character: Kimi and Yashiro, Izuku's best friends ever since he saved them from accidents when they were kids.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Izuku and Yashiro are both this with Kimi. This is especially notable with the latter, who has a modest interest in many pretty girls, yet shows no interest in Kimi, who is perhaps the prettiest girl he knows.
- Pun: Izuku's Quirk makes itself known by a twisting feeling in his stomach to alert him to danger. It's a gut feeling.
- Refusal of the Call: Initially, Izuku refuses One for All because he only wants to live a normal life without the spotlight of heroism but after Katsuki declares that he's not running from his role to save people, Izuku realizes that he can't run away because his Quirk can't turn off, and he doesn't want to ignore the people who desperately need saving either.
- Scars Are Forever:
- Both of Izuku's palms take the brunt of Katsuki's explosions when trying to free his hands in order to attack the slime villain. It becomes a topic of concern to Uraraka and Iida, though he avoids telling the truth behind them. Izuku later shows them to Todoroki, telling him that not all scars are considered bad.
- Due to his first Quirk warning him of One For All's recoil damage, Izuku manages to avert disfiguring and scarring his right arm during the Sports Festival.
- Serial Killings, Specific Target: Zig-zagged. While "Hero Killer" Stain is still primarily mission-based, he's taken a shine to one particular hero and thus has shifted his agenda to target a specific subset of pro-heroes as a result. Specifically, he's taken a shining to Izuku, and the heroes he's targeting are the retired teammates of Izuku's father — the same teammates who abandoned Hisashi during his time of need and essentially allowed him to die.
- Sheathe Your Sword: In the Sports Festival, Uraraka gets too fatigued from Quirk overuse and wounded from floor debris, but tries to stand up on her own.
Izuku gently carries her to the out-of-bounds zone in order to end the match without further injuries, so technically she isn't actually losing. - Slow Clap: The reaction from the public during the Sheathe Your Sword moment.
- Spider-Sense: Izuku's Quirk in a nutshell, as it tends to lead him to danger that is happening or will happen soon, along with the people he has to save. Aizawa even states it's one of the most useful Quirks for any hero to have.
- Took a Level in Cynic: Let's just say that the deaths of Izuku's two close family members haven't done well to his mentality, as he blames the heroes for not being able to save them. This view of reality contrasts with his canon counterpart.
- Unwitting Pawn: Izuku to the League of Villains. For some reason, their plan hinges on him succeeding to the point where they fix the Sports Festival to ensure he wins.
- Wham Line:
- In chapter 7, from Kurogiri: "Please listen to Midoriya, Thirteen, for your own sake and theirs", for the sole reason that the League knows Izuku's name without even meeting him.
- In Chapter 10, from Hero Killer Stain: "There are only two heroes in this world who I'd allow to kill me. All Might and Midoriya Izuku."
- Xanatos Gambit: The League of Villains pull this during The USJ incident. If they kill the students, great. However, if the students defeat them, they have media coverage of that defeat to leak to some big media company for... some unknown reason that's integral to their plan.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: While Izuku’s friends and family all believe this, Aizawa is the first person to successfully put into words that, while Izuku’s Quirk alerts him to danger, it would be meaningless if Izuku himself didn’t act on it.Izuku: I think you see why I didn’t exactly want to advertise that I have a quirk that essentially let me cheat the system.
Aizawa: That’s dumb. Everyone’s quirks were letting them cheat the system. You do realize that the entire point of the practical exam was to see the potential of the students’ quirks, right? You think that your quirk gave you an unfair advantage- well, in terms of the exam, do you think that someone with an explosion quirk doesn’t have an unfair advantage over someone with a perfect pitch quirk?
Izuku: No, I... well, yes, they’d have an advantage over them, I guess.
Aizawa: So in that case, what should the one with the explosion quirk do? Not use their quirk so that it’s an even playing field between them? And then what? Let the other people who use their quirks get more points than them? Whatever your quirk is, you have it for a reason. And you have to find a reason of your own, a good reason, to use it. Think about it - what would you have accomplished by not using your quirk during the exam? Would you rather that those people you saved got injured instead?
Izuku: (appalled) No!
Aizawa: There we go. I understand your reason for keeping it a secret, but I don’t want you thinking of that quirk as a bad thing. As far as quirks for Pro Heroes go, it’s the most ideal one to have. As far as quirks go, period, it’s an incredibly useful and amazing one to have. Got it?
