Fanfic / Apotheosis (MHA)

Apotheosis by Lord Wolfe is a My Hero Academia fanfic. It's a pseudo-Crossover between My Hero Academia and the Marvel Universe, where Izuku gets the idea to recreate The Infinity Gauntlet using Quirks from a pile of old Marvel comic books. With this power, he plans to recreate hero society in his image.

Official Summary: Apotheosis, the highest point in the development of something or if you prefer, the elevation of someone to divine status. "Fun isn't something one considers when trying to create a better world", Izuku smirked as he held up his gauntlet covered fist. "But this does put a smile on my face". Villain Izuku, eventually OP as hell. Infinity Gauntlet AU.

Not to be confused with the book series or the roleplaying game.

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Tropes:

• Adaptational Badass: Even if it's an Adaptational Wimp compared to the comics' Infinity Gauntlet, the story's Infinity Gauntlet is still a powerful weapon that outstrips practically every other Quirk on the planet. Once Izuku completes it, he's unarguably the strongest person on the planet.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Izuku was far from stupid in canon, but here he's a certified genius. When the police were profiling him, one of the possible Quirks they listed were those that boosted intelligence. To say nothing of semi-replicating the Infinity Gauntlet using Quirks.
• Adaptational Villainy: Numerous characters are a lot more morally grey or black than in canon.
  • The biggest example is Izuku Midoriya. In canon, All Might's speech to him only depressed him immensely and it's implied his dream would just be broken. Here? All Might crushing his dreams caused him to snap, and with inspiration from Marvel Comics, he fashions his own Infinity Gauntlet and becomes a Knight Templar, intent on exposing the current Hero Society for its corruption and attempting to rebuild it from the ground up, in the process becoming a bigger threat than All for One. He's also much crueler and dogmatic, willing to abandon the Hero Native just to avoid fighting Stain, and subjecting numerous heroes to Cruel Mercy by stripping them of their quirks for even the slightest bit of egotism. The narrative even goes as far as to say he is more dogmatic than Stain.
  • Ochako and Shoto. In canon, both are Hero Course students intent on becoming legitimate heroes, and while they have their own personal hangups, they remain on the straight and narrow the entire time. Here? After she's made into The Scapegoat, Ochako fully subscribes to Izuku's ideals and becomes one of his leading agents, whereas Shoto is convinced to join him after Izuku brings Endeavor down. The two both believe Izuku can legitimately change the world and are willing to entertain his less than savory methods if need be.
  • Played with in regards to Endeavor. In canon, Endeavor had a Heel Realization after the events of Kamino Ward and All Might's retirement, coming to regret what he put his family through after it became All for Nothing, and while his attempts at redemption are understandably rejected, he's still legitimately trying to be both a better hero, father, and husband, even sending Rei her favorite flowers, something she notes she only told him once when they were first dating. Here, Endeavor never had that Heel Realization, and as such his personality is that of before Kamino Ward, where he was a legitimate Hate Sink with no remorse for the numerous things he did. This may be justified by the fact that he never met and got called out by Izuku at the Sports Festival like in canon, which was implied to have implanted the seed that led to said Heel Realization.
  • Mt. Lady and Uwabami. In canon, while one was a Glory Seeker and the other an Attention Whore, both ultimately still cared about the good they did, and were genuine heroes. Even the former had legitimate reasons for her Glory Seeker tendencies — thanks to all the collateral damage she causes in her villain fights, her agency is constantly in the red. Here, they're decried as celebrities pretending to be heroes by Izuku and are two of his first victims in his attempts to rebuild Hero Society. Izuku's assertion of them is then validated when he offers the two the chance to get back their Quirks provided they act more altruistically like he desires, only for the two instead try to start a smear campaign against him after he depowered them.
• Adaptational Wimp: The Infinity Stones, and thus, by extension, the Infinity Gauntlet. While the Stones Izuku created are powerful as far as My Hero Academia goes, being the crystalized forms of six different amalgamations of Quirks, they're still not the physical manifestations of The Powers That Be that make up the very fabric of existence like they are in the comics and the movies. Hence, using the Gauntlet with all six stones will not allow Izuku do something on an omnipresent scale, like wipe out half of all life in the universe. Although, his finger snap does still pack one heck of a punch, as demonstrated when Izuku first dons the guantlet, with Word of God going as far as to call it one of Izuku's ultimate attacks.
• All Crimes Are Equal: Once Izuku has the power to finally do something about "false heroes" he tends to punish them all the same way: publicly humiliating them and taking their quirks. All Might? Crushed Izuku's dreams with no consideration of how his words could've hurt him. Punishment: De-power. Endeavor? Abused his family for his own ambitions, used his power to cover up the harm to his family and normal citizens. Punishment: De-power. Weather Dominator? Used his powers to run an extortion racket and destroyed the livelihoods of those who refused to pay. Punishment: De-power. Uwabami and Mount Lady? Focused too much on attaining fame and attention than their hero careers. Punishment: De-power.
• Affably Evil/Faux Affably Evil: Zig-zagged; depending on the situation or to whom he is speaking to, Izuku can sound like a genuinely pleasant person to be around or someone who wears a mask of politeness that hides his cold, calculating mind.
• All for Nothing: U.A.'s decides to expel Uraraka rather than Bakugou, the latter being deemed one step closer to becoming a villain. It backfires massively as Uraraka willingly joins Izuku Midoriya as one of his Knights of Balance and Bakugou's continued assault against the villain not only causes him to be branded as a criminal but results in U.A. losing public and government trusts.
• Ambiguous Situation: Whetever or not Mei Hatsume has made a legitimate Face–Heel Turn or not has let to be clarified. She is never shown to state her loyalty towards Izuku and, despite working directly under him, the story frames her recruitment into the HRD as more of her taking a job than becoming a personal soldier. While she does head the development of Nemesis and provides gear for the Knights, both of these are for purely good purposes, as Nemesis and the gear, at least so far, have been exclusively used for public heroism. There is a lot of circumstantial evidence that suggests that she is devout towards Izuku's cause and most heroes are convinced that she made a full Face–Heel Turn, but until it is directly confirmed Hatsume's loyalties remain a mystery.
• Anti-Villain:
  • Izuku is a mixture of The Woobie and Well-Intentioned Extremist variants. The hardest thing about watching Izuku's descent into villainy (both In-Universe and Out-) is that, even during his worst moments, there are still hints that the old Izuku is still in there: the Izuku who wanted to help people, who desperately wanted to be a hero more than anything else. In fact, Izuku's initial plan with the Infinity Gauntlet was to become a hero to spite All Might and Katsuki. It's only after seeing the worst parts of the hero system while building the gauntlet that he changed his goals to destroying the current hero society and building a new one in its place.
  • Ochako Uraraka and Shoto Todoroki, like Izuku, suffered under the worst parts of the hero system and fell into villainy due to this, both becoming Izuku's direct subordinates after being convinced that his cause is just. They are still becoming public heroes and still hold onto many of their generally heroic personality traits and goals, but their conviction to Izuku's cause firmly keeps them on the side of evil.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Izuku stylizes himself as All Might's, which is partially true. All Might ultimately cannot find it in himself to hate Izuku, as he was responsible for why Izuku is the way he is. Not to mention, Izuku is still only a minor, so even trying to return that visceral hatred feels wrong to All Might on a conceptual level, let alone a personal one.
  • Izuku and Katsuki, and unlike the above it is very mutual. Even when Katsuki is far beneath in him power, Izuku can't help but enjoy beating the crap out of him and humiliating him at every available opportunity.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Several people attempt to do this towards Izuku, most notably Momo asking Izuku what will happen to him when all of the bad people in his perfect world are gone, and Aizawa asking Izuku, who was criticizing U.A. for prioritizing quirks over personalities, if him recruiting Ochako, Tenya, and Shoto is any different than U.A. giving Katsuki a second chance biased on his quirk, as they are powerful quirk users like him. Unfortunately, Izuku shuts them down rather quickly.
  • All Might wishes that he should have lied to Izuku that he can be a hero but Prime Minister Akira inquires if any hero school would have accepted the boy. All Might, in shame, says that they won't.
• Armor-Piercing Response: When All Might tries to apologize to Izuku for when he said that he couldn't be a hero, Izuku angrily responds that he's not sorry about what he said, he's sorry that his actions were the catalyst that led to Izuku becoming a villain, and that he'd probably never think about him again had he not turned into a such a dangerous person.
  All Might: I'm sorry Midoriya! I truly am!
  Izuku: No you're not! You're not sorry for what you said to me! You're sorry about the end result! If I didn't become a villain, would you be here apologizing to me?! Did you even once think about me again after our first meeting?!
  (All Might looks away in shame)
  Izuku: That's what I thought.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Stain. While Stain's actions in canon have had widespread consequences that affect the story up to this day, the man himself was only a primary villain for one arc and, aside from the occasional cameo, he has let to make any other significant appearance in the main story.^note  He has, however, played a large role in the Illegals spinoff and the Final War Saga. Not only does Stain make it past the Hosu Arc here, he eventually becomes Izuku's third-in-command, and, out of the villain's side of the Knights of Balance, he by far has the most focus.
  • Ochako and Tenya. While both are main characters in canon, they have been pushed into the background since the Final Exams arc and, unlike fellow main characters Izuku, Bakugo, and Shoto, they have yet to receive any significant focus since. Here, however, both of them consistently play important roles, with them at first acting as some of the primary hero antagonists against Izuku, and later with them joining Izuku, Ochako taking the position of Izuku's dragon and Implied Love Interest, and Tenya becoming The Mole within the Hero Regulation Department. All of this gives both characters consistent story presence and focus that they haven't received in canon.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Izuku's de-powering of Weather Dominator was entirely necessary. The man was using his Quirk to create weather events to report on and extorting agriculturists by threatening to ruin their businesses if they didn't give him a cut of their profits.
  • Given Endeavor's unrepentant family abusing behavior and constant collateral damages from his cases, depowering the man doesn't exactly come across as a sin, as well as when this is repeated to Overhaul.
• The Atoner: All Might, who views saving Izuku from villainy as his Redemption Quest for driving him to that point in the first place.
• The Bad Guy Wins: By Chapter 22, Izuku has already effectively won. He has a powerful government position presiding over the Hero Industry, his Infinity Gauntlet is fully complete, making him essentially unbeatable, and he's exposes All Might's secret to the world, destroying his ability to spread hope as the Symbol of Peace.
  • Even more so by Chapter 32, when Izuku manages to beat All Might, one of the two people who has a chance to beat Izuku in direct combat and who was running on the last embers of One For All, while also successfully destroying his reputation and labeling him as a villain.
• Became Their Own Antithesis:
  • Izuku went from a hero fanboy who idolized All Might to a supervillain who despises the current hero society, and All Might in particular.
  • Uraraka and Todoroki went from heroes in training to willingly subordinates of a well known supervillain, while also masking as public heroes.
• Beyond the Impossible:
  • Izuku manages to steal One for All and coalesce it into the Power Stone, using All Might's blood and Tomura's blood. When he learns this, All Might is shocked and horrified, as not even All for One had managed that feat in the last two hundred years.
  • Izuku later uses All for One's DNA to do the same with his Quirk and create the Soul Stone.
• Beyond Redemption: Zig-Zagged. Depending on who you are talking to, Izuku is either a Tragic Villain who needs to be put in prison for what he has done but can still be redeemed (All Might and Mirio), or a completely evil villain who is far passed the point of redemption who deserves to rot in Tartarus for his crimes (Gran Torino and Katsuki).
• Big Bad Wannabe: After Izuku's rise to power, it becomes very clear very quickly that the League of Villains have no chance in hell to even come close to matching Izuku's influence, power, and popularity. Chapter 25 makes the League's position as this very clear. Izuku states, in no uncertain terms, that the only reason the League continues to exist is because of how grateful Izuku is towards All For One, and that if he wanted to, the League would be brought down with ease. To further rub salt in the wound, Dabi and Toga end up defecting to Izuku's side, depriving Shigaraki of two important members.
• Break the Haughty: Bakugou in no short order has his ego taken apart:
  • He watches Izuku, the-thought-to-be-worthless "Deku" hold his own, and later win against All Might.
  • He himself is on the receiving end of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Izuku, which leaves him somewhat traumatized and repeatedly hallucinating Izuku mocking him for not just his loss, but his canonical kidnapping likely what hastened All Might's loss of power.
  • He's fed a massive The Reason You Suck speech from Aizawa, in which he's told that he's nothing special, and that his quirk and personality is not suited for being a hero.
  • Once the rest of class 1A hears about his past bullying, they all refuse to associate with him any further, blaming him in part for Izuku's rise, with Kirishima, his only friend, giving him a Disappointed in You speech and breaking off their friendship.
  • Bakugou is forced to attend counseling, anger management, and community service in which he watches over quirkless children (with the warning that if he slips up even once, he'll be expelled at best, or quirk taken away at worse).
  • Said children in his community service also idolize Izuku, which infuriates Bakugou to no end, but as he's now on a tight leash, he cannot contradict them.
  • Bakugou then loses his rematch with Todoroki, and has his "heroes always win" ideology shattered when he sees All Might near completely lose against Izuku.
• Brought Down to Normal: Thanks to the Soul Stone, Midoriya can do this to any hero he deems to be "fake", any villain that is directly threatening him, or any civilian that asks for it. The Sludge Villain, Endeavor, Mt.Lady, Uwabami, Hojo, Overhaul, Weather Dominator, and Drill Bit have all been brought down so far.
• Broken Pedestal: All Might. First just to Izuku, then to a significant portion of the public after Izuku exposes his true form and the truth about One for All during their second fight.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: The day All Might crushes his dreams dramatically altered the course of Izuku's life to drive him to villainy to take the power to change society. To All Might, Izuku was just a kid that's working to destroy everything All Might has worked for as a result of well-meaning but poor advice. All for One calls All Might out for crushing Izuku's dream without any consideration, and Izuku point blank asks if All Might would have ever apologized to him had Izuku not become a dangerous villain and if All Might thought about him even once after their first meeting. All Might only reacts by looking away in shame, knowing that Izuku is right
• Card-Carrying Villain: Played With. Izuku scoffs at the idea of him becoming a hero, citing that he's a villain and that there's no hope of him becoming a hero... and then four chapters later he refuses to consider himself a hero or villain.
• Celebrity Cameo: Stan Lee makes an appearance in Chapter 24 running a clothes store.
• The Chessmaster: Izuku manages to manipulate the League, All For One, the police and All Might all at the same time. He's either intelligent enough to know that a plan isn't going to work out and quits while he's ahead or manipulates the events so that everything works out for him.
• Condescending Compassion: While All Might is a good hero, he believes that people with no quirks or impractical quirks should leave the dangerous heroing to people who won the Superpower Lottery. Which sounds practical on paper...had All Might not completely forgotten the institutional discrimination and social ostracization people with no quirks or impractical quirks face. Combined that All Might is publicly famous for saying that anybody could be a hero, it makes him a huge hypocrite.
• Corrupt Bureaucrat: The Hero Public Safety Commission, who seemed to be more concerned with protecting heroes and their image than the public they're supposed to be serving. After Izuku establishes the Hero Regulation Department, a lot of their abuses of power come to light. Among which include:
  • Endeavor. Just Endeavor in general.
  • Izuku's attempts to ban hero merchandise are constantly rejected by politicians. It's enough for him to suspect that many of them are in bed with some of the merchandising companies.
  • Tensei Iida was offered an exoskeleton that would help him regain the ability to walk. However, the technology is expensive even for his family, and the Commission rejected his request for financial aid — because it wasn't advanced enough to allow him be a hero again. They would then later use that money to pay off business owners after the aforementioned Endeavor caused massive amounts of collateral damage during a villain fight. That one is enough for Tenya to throw in his lot with Izuku, albeit as a mole for U.A..
• Create Your Own Hero: Izuku's stated goal. Heroes are always born from villains and his goal is to create the ideal hero for society.
• Create Your Own Villain: All Might blames himself for Izuku's descent into villainy, which is why he intends to defeat Izuku before allowing Mirio to take up his mantle. Notably, nobody tries to dissuade him from his belief; everyone from Aizawa to Nezu fully acknowledge that All Might is partially responsible for what happened.
• Cruel Mercy: Izuku inflicts this on All Might and Endeavor:
  • For All Might, Izuku exposes his true form and the truth regarding One for All to the public.
  • For Endeavor, Izuku exposes all of his dark secrets for being an Abusive Parent who tears apart his family for his own ambitions, takes away his quirk and leaves him to the mercy of the news journalists.
• Cruel to Be Kind: All Might crushes Izuku's dreams of being a hero to protect a Muggle from a futile and dangerous path. It ended up massively backfiring on him as his well-meaning Brutal Honesty caused Izuku to despise him and everything All Might stands for. After a lifetime of discrimination and disappointment, All Might ends being the last straw that puts Izuku on a dark path.
• Death by Adaptation: Christopher Skyline (a.k.a. Captain Celebrity) suffers this fate when Izuku and Stain lure him into a trap in Chapter 9.
  • Kai "Overhaul" Chisaki is killed by Izuku after the battle against the Shie Hassaikai, and is in fact the first person Izuku kills over the course of the story.
• Demoted to Extra: This appears to be the fate of the minor members of Class 1-A (a.k.a., whoever didn't participate in the Raxas Junkyard Battle) and the minor members of the League of Villains (a.k.a., anyone not named Dabi, Toga, Kurogiri, or Muscular). In canon, both groups are consistent background characters who occasionally receive focus, especially the League. Here, both groups are downgraded to only making passing cameos, and they at most receive the occasional line and appearance. Mina, Twice, and Mr. Compress are the only members of these groups that have received any focus, and it's ultimately minor for all three.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the official manga, Native ends up being one of the many casualties of the Paranormal Liberation War. Here, he gets killed by Stain during the attack on Hosu, Izuku not caring about him enough to save him due to Native being a low-level hero.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: A good way to slam Izuku's Berserk Button and get a beatdown from him is to either look down on or show him what he sees as misplaced pity.
• Doomed Moral Victor: All Might clearly regrets his well-meaning but ill-timed advice to Midoriya, and sympathizes with him upon hearing his Motive Rant. The guilt he feels, however, costs him and society greatly, as it prevents him from fully going all out against the boy, seeing him as a boy who desperately needs help and not a true villain, in their battles they’ve had currently. Midoriya even lampshades that had All Might done so, he and the other heroes could have stopped him easily even before his power became exponentially greater.
• Double Standard: A Discussed Trope that comes up in regards to Ochako's expulsion from U.A. when Izuku meets up with Ochako following his being revealed as a villain. He points out how unfair it is that Ochako (who has a provisional license that allowed her to go on patrol and was investigating a possible lead about a dangerous villain) was punished so severely while Bakugou (who lacks a license giving him permission to take action and knowingly charged off to get involved a battle with a villain) winds up a Karma Houdini for his stunt. Izuku believes it's because of how powerful Bakugou's Quirk is while Ochako's comparatively less potent Quirk left her as an ideal scapegoat for U.A. to expel. The truth is actually a little more palatable: they expelled Ochako instead of Katsuki because they figured the injuries he received for his decision were punishment enough, and only went through with expelling Ochako because of government pressure. They (or at least Aizawa) even came to regret not punishing Katsuki further because he failed to learn from the experience and his attitude remained unchanged.
• The Dreaded: By the time Chapter 24 rolls in, Izuku has already established this status among the Staff at U.A. and by extension, all the heroes.
  • Izuku's status as this ends up being one of the main reasons, aside from his focus on Revenge, as to why the heroes still oppose him in spite of the good that he is doing. The fact that Izuku has all the power in the world to do whatever he wants and could bring the hammer down on anyone he wants at any moment leaves the heroes unable to really speak out against him, forcing them to be kept in line and fear him. While characters such as Ochako claim that this is simply because the heroes refuse to accept and understand Izuku, the fact that the boy has done almost nothing to clear up this notion speaks otherwise.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The Meta Liberation Army, under their civilian identity of Detnerat, is mentioned by Ochako in Chapter 34 as, unsurprisingly, one of Izuku's biggest critics, mocking the boy for being quirkless.
• Enemy Mine: With Izuku and the heroes after chapter 22. Justified, as Izuku gaining a position in the government and heading his own branch of heroes requires him to work with the same people who are trying to bring him down.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Despite indirectly playing a part in his descent into villainy, Izuku still loves his mother deeply. After he's exposed as a supervillain, he protects her from the media when they start harassing her.
• Even Evil Can Be Loved:
  • Despite all his crimes, Izuku is still deeply loved by his mother; when they meet again in Chapter 23, Inko still decides to support him despite disapproving the nature of his actions.
  • Even after being exposed as a villain, Ochako clearly still cared about (if not loved) Izuku and wished to redeem him. Ultimately, these lingering feelings are part of what drives her to his side after her expulsion from U.A.
• Evil Is Easy: A major criticism that Aizawa has with Izuku's methods is that the boy took the easy way by becoming a villain, and that everything he set out to do could have been done by becoming a hero and changing the system within. It would have been more difficult, but all of the endless destruction and cruelty could have been avoided. Tellingly, while Izuku disagree with the idea that his path was easy, this statement is never said to be wrong.
• Exact Words: How this story interprets Sir Nighteye's prediction of All Might's death, which, in a way, comes true. All Might dies when Izuku defeats him a second time, his legacy and career dying alongside him. Toshinori Yagi, on the other hand, is still alive and ready to save his home.
• Face–Heel Turn:
  • Izuku makes his after he begins to use illegal methods to fund his Infinity Gauntlet.
  • Ochako joins Izuku after she was expelled from U.A..
  • Shoto decides to take Izuku up on his offer after Endeavor's fall from grace.
  • Downplayed somewhat by it being a tad more ambiguous than Ochako and Shoto, but Mei Hatsume takes up Izuku's offer to work for him in chapter 26.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: Izuku accuses All Might of being one, and makes very compelling arguments. Ultimately, however, it's zig-zagged; while All Might is the greatest hero in the world, the Showy Invincible Hero image he projects is something not even he can live up to, and that makes his faults and failures all the more noticeable.
• Failure Is the Only Option: During the battle at Coruscant Stadium, All Might is ultimately faced with an undesirable outcome no matter who wins. Izuku wins? All Might is labeled a villain, detained for attacking a government official, and no one is left to stop Izuku. All Might wins? Izuku is detained and everything he has done is reversed, but the majority of the population now despises both All Might and heroes. No matter what, All Might will go down as the villain, and society will be irreversibly changed.
• Fallen Hero: Ochako Uraraka and Shoto Todoroki are both persuaded into joining Izuku after witnessing, or experiencing in the former's case, society's corruption and being convinced that Izuku's cause is a just one. While it is Downplayed in that they are technically becoming public heroes under the HRD, they are completely loyal to Izuku first and foremost and will fight to the bitter end for him to come out on top.
• False Utopia: The hero and government system within Apotheosis appears to be perfect and fair on a surface level. Underneath the surface, however, is a system that is horrifically corrupt. Civilians worship heroes as infallible gods that are always right, Heroes that actively abuse their powers and commit crimes get them covered up by the Hero Commission so the public doesn't lose faith in them, Black-and-White Morality plagues the minds of many, and people who don't have useful, non-villainous quirks suffer in silence and are actively discriminated against. While not quite a Crapsack World, it's far from the perfect system one would be led to believe it is.
  • This is no less true once Midoriya takes over. While he does solve many of these issues, this doesn't change the fact that the system is now being run by a villain who actively, and secretly, breaks the law in order to maintain an iron grip over society, while also have the legal authority to bring the hammer down on anyone he so chooses.
• Famed In-Story: Izuku becomes world-famous overnight after he's exposed as a supervillain and manages to escape All Might — twice.
• Fantastic Ableism: Part of Izuku's Freudian Excuse. His goal to restructure hero society (as seen in Well-Intentioned Extremist below) is partially motivated by a desire to eliminate ableism against the Quirkless like himself and those who have weak Quirks.
  • Izuku then reveals that it's most likely ableism that deters the Quirkless from joining hero schools despite there being a law that allegedly now allows Quirkless to join.
• Foil: Izuku is one to Stain. Both hate how the current hero society focuses less on the safety and protection of innocents and more on the fame and glory heroics provide. The difference is that Stain believes there is still one true hero left in the world, All Might, and holds him up on a nigh-unbreakable pedestal. Izuku used to idolize All Might as much as, if not more, than Stain, but their first meeting completely shattered his perfect image of his former hero, and now he considers All Might to be the personification of everything that's wrong with hero society.
• Foreshadowing:
  • See Hope Spot. Earlier that same chapter, Izuku revealed to Ochako that he will never take off the Infinity Gauntlet, going as far as installing a hydration and cleaning mechanism inside so his arm won't suffer some debilitating medical infection due to poor hygiene. Knowing all that, why would he create a device specifically to counter the gauntlet?
  • As of Chapter 36, Izuku is shown to be having problems with insomnia, specifically blaming it on a repetitive dream of people he doesn't recognize. Anyone aware of One For All and canon should know that these "dreams" are the spirits of the past One For All users attempting to communicate with Izuku.
• Friendly Enemy: Despite having every reason to hate him, Mirio Togata is extremely kind towards Izuku, both making a genuine attempt to befriend the boy and believing that he can redeem him. Izuku, in turn, eventually warms up to Mirio and seems to somewhat return the friendship, albeit in a more professional manner.
  • A common way to gain Izuku's respect and kindness, even if you are on the opposite side of him, is to show values of a true hero. As a result, Izuku is shown to have nothing but respect for the likes of Ochako, Todoroki (when they were on different sides, at least.), Iida, Kirishima, Momo, Tsuyu, Mirio, and Best Jeanist.
  • In a way that somewhat mirrors Izuku and Mirio's friendship, Ochako is shown to have a decently good relationship with Nejire Hado. The Culture Festival also confirmed that Ochako is still friends with her former classmates in spite of her loyalty to Izuku.
• From Bad to Worse: Once Izuku starts forming the Infinity Gauntlet, the luck of the heroes' goes down the crapper. Izuku's plans start to come to fruition, and he, in quick succession:
  • Exposes both All Might's true form and the secret about One for All, publicly shaming him and causing an uprising amongst the Quirkless and those with impractical Quirks.
  • Steals One for All (something thought to be impossible).
  • Forms his version of the Soul Stone using All for One, which will allow him to steal every other Quirk in existence.
  • Beats the hell out of several U.A. students to get the Soul Stone, hospitalizing one and causing another to be expelled.
  • Recruits the expelled student to his cause, giving him a spy with insight into U.A.
  • Blackmails the Japanese Government into making him the head official of what is basically, the Hero Commission's ethics committee, not only making him untouchable to the heroes but also their boss.
  • And finally, publicly shames the Number Two hero Endeavor, first by having his new and improved Titan robots subdue him, then, after he's captured, firing him on live television and taking his Quirk from him.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Izuku goes from a bullied Quirkless kid to the most dangerous supervillain in Japan, and in only little over a year.
• A God Am I: Once Izuku completes the Infinity Gauntlet, its power goes to his head. He decides that he is more than a hero. He is a being that shapes the world by will and design, and such a being is properly called a "god". Despite the gauntlet's power, he is still a quirkless human, and pride later becomes his Fatal Flaw.
• Godzilla Threshold: The aptly named "Deus Ex Machina protocol" is one for the heroes. Essentially, it lifts all of the combat restrictions placed on Midoriya, allowing the boy the power to do and fight whoever he needs to grant the heroes victory. It's only to be used if either a situation has escalated out of control, or if the threat a particular villain poses is too great.
• Heel Realization: It's slow in coming, but Bakugo is beginning to realize that his actions are partially responsible for Izuku turning out the way he did.
• Hero Antagonist: Up to Chapter 32, the main heroes who directly opposed Izuku were All Might and Katsuki Bakugo. From chapter 33 onwards, this role has shifted to Sir Nighteye and Mirio Togata, due to the former two being Put on a Bus.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard:
  • The Titan robots that the government wanted to use is hijacked by Apotheosis, the creator of the Titans.
  • All Might and Nezu attempted to use the same tactics Izuku used to defame the hero system onto him. Too bad Izuku reversed it back onto them.
• Hope Crusher/Hope Bringer: Izuku plans on breaking society's faith in the current hero system and then bringing them hope in the form of his new hero system.
• Hope Spot:
  • Momo uses her Quirk to build a replica of the Infinity Gauntlet with the intent of using the Soul Stone against Izuku. Except... it doesn't work.
  • Nedzu receives info about an anti-Gauntlet weapon Izuku created in case the Infinity Gauntlet was ever taken from him and used against him. The entire staff is elated, and they immediately plot to steal it during a scheduled sit-down interview he has the next day, using Tenya Iida as the thief. The operation goes off without a hitch until Tenya actually lays hands on the device. He's immediately captured, and it turns out the whole thing was a trap from the beginning. The interview was taped the previous day, and the device isn't even real.
  • All Might manages to land an extremely powerful punch on Midoriya with the last of his strength during their second battle, seemingly knocking the boy unconscious and defeating him. Que an extremely pissed off Midoriya bursting out of the rubble and revealing that All Might still held back against him, punching the weakened hero, and escaping.
  • In Chapter 46, just as Mitsuki is relieved that she's somehow able to convince Izuku to give her son a lighter sentence for his crimes rather than facing imprisonment, Izuku reveals he'll just remove Katsuki's quirk as the next best option.
• Hypocrite: Izuku accuses All Might of being one after learning about One for All and that All Might himself is actually Quirkless like him. All Might, unfortunately, can't refute his claim.
• Ignored Epiphany: Bakugou broke the rules and attempted to fight a powerful supervillain thinking he was the same weakling. Bakugou gets his ass handed to him as Izuku savors finally being able to pay Bakugou for the suffering he put him through and gets his classmate who had legitimate means to investigate, expelled. Does Bakugou regret what he's done or reflect on his past actions? Nope. Not in the least.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Despite Izuku's absence from Class 1-A, most of the events of the school year happen more-or-less the same as they did in canon, with a few exceptions.
  • Related to the above, the events leading up to the Shie Hassaikai raid happen very similarly to canon, in spite of the presence of the HRD, the public losing faith in heroes, and Izuku and Ochako being a part of the HRD and not interning under Sir Nighteye and Ryukyu respectively.
  • In the end, Izuku still receives One for All. Though, in this case, it wasn't "receive" so much as steal.
• Invincible Villain: After completing the Infinity Gauntlet, Izuku becomes this. With All Might's power decreasing by the day thanks to Izuku stealing One For All and All For One rotting in prison, there is literally no one in the world who has any hope of stopping him in an outright fight.
• Irony: Deliberately invoked by All For One, who voices his faith in Izuku and his goals to contrast himself with the hero All Might's rejection.
• It's All My Fault: Averted. While All Might does accept the blame for Izuku's Face–Heel Turn, he also knows that he was merely the straw that broke the camel's back, the last in a long line of people who have put Izuku down over the years. That being said, he does feel guilt for what he's done and it foils his attempts to bring Izuku in.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Even after seeing the good that Izuku could do with his ambitions, All Might still opposes him because he can tell that Izuku's stubborn determination and near-endless power will cause him to take a leap off the deep end if things don't go his way. This is ultimately proven completely correct when Izuku horrifically murders Overhaul, seemingly confirming that Izuku is only going to get worse as times goes on and will eventually become a full villain.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Bakugou got away with horrifically bullying Izuku out of racism for years and it doesn't even hinder his chances of getting into U.A. Bakugou illegally attempted to fight Izuku, an at-large supervillain without a license, destroys Ochako's legitimate investigation and gets his ass handed to him. Bakugou doesn't even get punished for it while the innocent Ochako is expelled. Unbeknownst to Bakugou, the incident has U.A. investigate his past and find out about his unpunished bullying and his part in making Izuku a villain. When Bakugou attempts to attack Izuku when the latter is a government official with the power to screw U.A. over, they have enough. Aizawa bluntly tells Bakugou he's not special, he's not cut to be a hero and they should have expelled him instead of Ochako. Aizawa tells Bakugou they will no longer tolerate his attitude, he's to report to mandatory counseling and will be facing punishment with the promise of expulsion if he acts out of line.
• Keeping the Enemy Close:
  • This is the real reason why Katsuki was spared expulsion, at least for Nedzu. His Quirk and bad temperament made him a risk for villainy, which is why they expelled Ochako in his place — which backfired when she made a Face–Heel Turn anyway.
  • This is also implied to be the reason why the Hero Commission covered for Endeavor so much. On top of his great work rate (more completed cases than All Might), his obsession with being the best could translate to villainy if they ended his hero career. Combined with his destructive Quirk and All Might's declining power and rising age, a Face–Heel Turn would be a recipe for disaster. Izuku only managed to avoid that by taking Endeavor's Quirk.
  • The reason why the Prime Minister is willing to put Izuku in a position of power because he is far too dangerous to be on the villains' side and the only person who can keep the villains in line.
• Kick the Dog: Izuku allowing low-ranking hero Native to be murdered by Stain is one of the first major signs of Izuku walking a darker path.
  • Izuku's firing and de-powering of Uwabami and Mt. Lady comes off as this. While the two women are Attention Whores, there's nothing inherently wrong about that and at least they still did their jobs without outright abusing their positions. While some punishment and retraining/counseling was certainly warranted, taking their Quirks and kicking them out of the hero system was going too far.
• Kick Them While They're Down: Outright defied by U.A., though with later reluctance. As Aizawa explains to Katsuki, the real reason they didn't expel him after the fight at the junkyard is that they figured the severe beating he received was punishment enough. Aizawa then tells him that he now regrets the decision, because Katsuki completely failed to learn from it, and lays down an ultimatum to force him to shape up.
• Knight Templar: Once Izuku is given the legal ability to do something about "false heroes" it quickly becomes clear that they have to meet very stringent criteria to not wind up in his sights. He veers into All Crimes Are Equal territory and once he does decide someone's on his list there's not much chance of him rethinking anything.
• Loophole Abuse: The Infinity Gauntlet can No-Sell Aizawa's Anti-Magic ability, as it technically isn't a quirk.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Far too many to count. Let's just say that Izuku doing anything to show off his power, influence, or intelligence will inspire this kind of reaction.
• Mecha-Mooks: Izuku's Titan robots fill this role, coming in many variants for specified roles.
• Misplaced Retribution: Ochako's expulsion has shades of this. She's the only one to be hit with such a punishment even though other students were involved, the actual plan that led to it was Kirishima's idea, and Bakugou's involvement was outright illegal as he lacked a provisional license. It's implied that the government's efforts at damage control are responsible for this and that the U.A. staff would have been more even-handed if it weren't for external interference. Aizawa later admits that this was pretty much the case, noting that Bakugou should have been punished properly for his actions and that Ochako would have been left alone if it was just the school that had decided her discipline. This ultimately bites U.A. in the ass when Ochako becomes Izuku's second-in-command.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: U.A. wrongfully expels Ochako for getting herself and her classmates involved in a battle against the newly empowered and dangerous Apotheosis despite her classmates' involvement being their own fault and Ochako having the legal right and license to investigate potential leads. This pushes Ochako to Izuku's arms as with a bit of nudging Ochako realizes how badly she was wronged while they let Bakugou who did far worse off.
• The Mole: Tenya joins Izuku's Knights of Balance with the intention of spying on him for U.A. It's yet to be seen if he'll be caught and/or make a Face–Heel Turn.
• Morton's Fork: All Might's fight with Izuku at Coruscant stadium is filled with this.
  • Izuku wins, and All Might is depowered, possibly killed or arrested, and imprisoned for assaulting a government official, leaving the boy completely unopposed.
  • All Might wins, but it will cost him the remainder of his strength, leaving Japan without its greatest hero and easy prey for villains, never mind Izuku ending up a martyr for the quirkless and impractical quirk users. Additionally (although unsaid), it's implied that if All Might removes Izuku's Infinity Gauntlet, the device's continual existence will be the ultimate tantalizing prize for an uprising public and villains to either steal or attempt to replicate.
• My Greatest Failure: Izuku is certainly this for All Might. A lack of tact caused him to crush the dreams of his biggest fan and led to the rise of Japan's worst supervillain since All for One.
• Never Hurt an Innocent: Thus far in the story, Izuku has yet to kill a single innocent person (the most he can be charged with in regards to that is being an accessory to murder) and actively avoids civilian casualties. During his second fight with All Might, he only starts going all out when he realizes the heroes have evacuated all the civilians in the immediate area. However, this is somewhat subverted when Izuku kills Overhaul, but to be fair, given all the horrible things he's done to Eri, one would be EXTREMELY hard-pressed to call him an innocent.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • It's constantly pointed out that if All Might had treated Izuku with a little more tact, Izuku would've never become a supervillain.
  • The government puts pressure on U.A. to be harsher on their students to counteract the bad publicity they're getting from Izuku's antics. This leads to Ochako's expulsion — which makes her susceptible to Izuku's manipulations.
  • Gee, Uwabami, Mt. Lady, Izuku has taken your Quirks and kicked you out of the hero system, but he's offered you a chance to earn your way back in. You don't want to take it, that's fine, completely understandable — but trying to slander him instead? You idiots! All you've done destroyed any sympathy the public had for you and made him look justified in his actions!
  • Several of Class 1-A manage to entrap Midoriya and hold him down while trying to remove the Infinity Gauntlet. And then Midoriya needles Bakugou, causing the explosive user to completely ruin the plan, allowing Midoriya to escape, beat them all down, and claim the Soul Stone.
  • Endeavor's ruthless ambition to surpass All Might and to raise a child who would become the number one hero directly leads to him getting depowered, kicked out of the hero system, and publicly ostracized, all while driving two of his children, both of whom had the potential to become powerful heroes, to villainy.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Compared to the other students of Class 1-A, Bakugou is brutalized extensively (i.e. beaten down, having an entire factory dropped on him, breaking his arms, and nearly disintegrated) by Izuku. Following the incident at the Raxus Junkyard, Bakugou has been left hospitalised and suffering PTSD.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: The series changes from a tale of an Invincible Villain to a Villain with Good Publicity and how said villain, even if defeated, will permanently change the landscape of both Japan and heroism forever.
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • Aizawa makes a mocking statement that All Might is similar to All For One; both deciding whose weak and strong to pass on their quirks to. All Might is not pleased to hear this.
  • All Might tries to convince Midoriya that he understands his actions, having been quirkless himself. He's immediately shut up by Midoriya who counters that if that were true, then All Might would not have denied him, a quirkless boy, to take up being a hero.
• Pet the Dog: Izuku has several, which is why All Might is convinced that he can still be redeemed.
  • He saves Tenya from Stain. Mitigated by how he allowed Stain to kill Native afterwards.
  • When encountering Ochako, he originally planned on knocking her out with gas to steal a sample of her blood. After learning about her reasons for becoming a hero, however, he backs out of it at the last second and instead sends Himiko to get a sample during the attack at the Training Camp.
  • In chapter 10, he gives Mei Hatsume a front-row seat to his expo after hearing she couldn't get a seat. He also gave her constructive criticism on how to do better and a motivational speech when she was feeling down.
  • He saves Kota from Muscular, like in canon. This is arguably even more selfless than in canon, as he had never met Kota before and did it anyway.
  • Izuku makes frequent visits and donations to organizations for quirkless and abused children. Overlaps with Papa Wolf, as he threatens Bakugou that should the latter ever harm the children in any fashion, he'll take his quirk away, law be damned.
• Poetic Justice: This is how Izuku describes stealing One for All and coalescing it into the Power Stone for the Infinity Gauntlet.
• Portal Cut: One of the first things he does with the Space Stone is use it to cut Muscular's arm off.
• Power Creep, Power Seep: The author purposefully nerfed the Infinity Gauntlet, because using the actual Infinity Gauntlet would end the story then and there.
• Put on a Bus: All Might, Bakugou, and Gran Torino all exit the story in chapter 33 after being branded as villains by Izuku and escaping to I-Island. Per Word of God, this is the last we will see of them for a while.
• Rage Breaking Point: After Aizawa finds out about One for All in Chapter 23, he gives All Might a scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech accusing him of being not so different from All for One in that he decided Izuku wasn't worthy of being a hero based on his quirklessness. He then admits that although his job as a teacher at U.A. entails the same behaviour he accuses All Might of, he at least gives his students a chance to prove themselves.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Izuku gives several to All Might and Katsuki. He also gives another to Endeavor after revoking his hero license and taking away his Quirk.
  • Aizawa gives one to All Might in Chapter 23. It also doubles as one to himself, as he admits that he isn't so different from All Might.
  • Bakugo gets one himself in Chapter 24 from Aizawa.
• Redemption Rejection:
  • During his rise to power, multiple characters, the most persistent being All Might, offer Izuku the chance to quietly surrender and stop whatever he is doing. Izuku ends up rejecting them every time, both believing that his cause is necessary and viewing their offers as condescending and nothing more than misplaced pity. Not even All Might telling the boy that he could still become a hero (mind you, this is after the boy actively helped the League of Villains, caused a ton of property damage, and injured multiple heroes) made him back down.
  • Proving that he isn't completely ignoring the discrepancy in the severity of their crimes, Izuku offered Uwabami and Mt. Lady a chance to regain their Quirks and rejoin the hero industry. All they had to do was prove that they had learned their lesson by donating to charities and helping out citizens with volunteer work. He even put them in touch with one such organization that cared for troubled Quirkless kids. Do they take him up on his offer? No. Instead, they pay off the media to slander him instead.
• Rejected Apology: All Might makes multiple desperate apologies to Midoriya over the course of the story. Midoriya rejects all of them, viewing them as either shallow, condescending, or missing the point of his actions.
• Revenge: This is perhaps the biggest reason why many of the more morally-inclined heroes do not support Izuku. While he does have genuinely altruistic reasons for his crusade, the illegal, violent, and oftentimes cruel methods he employs to achieve his goals also make it clear that he also wants revenge on the society that rejected and discriminated against him. Tenya exemplifies and lampshades this before joining Izuku as a mole for U.A. — while he agrees with Izuku on many of the problems with the hero industry, he simply can't approve of the methods Izuku is using to correct them, because he knows Izuku is partially motivated by revenge rather than necessity when using them.
• Rule of Symbolism: Izuku's complete dominance over the students of U.A. at the Raxus Junkyard is him throwing away his idealism and childhood worship of heroes.
  • Him defeating Bakugou and later, tossing him away into the trash represents Izuku discarding his childhood attachments with Bakugou and replacing it with how he views him now, a trash hero.
• Save the Villain: Aizawa knocks out Mimic before Midoriya catches him. Although not stated, it's implied that Aizawa did it because he and the other heroes don't want the young director claiming any more power to his Infinity Gauntlet.
• Shout-Out:
  • Just like in canon, some of the locations are named after planets from Star Wars.
  • The name of the Prime Minister is Akira Toriyama.
  • One of Izuku's first creations is a scouter-like device from Dragon Ball Z.
  • There are several from Avengers: Infinity War from battle at the junkyard is a big reference to the Battle of Titan to Izuku quoting Thanos along with the infamous finger snap (albeit nerfed, see Adaptational Wimp above).
  • Chapter 22 sees the appearance of a villain who is quite literally The Mask/Big Head.
  • In Chapter 32, All Might's attempts to stage a coup on Izuku is exactly how the Jedi Order attempts to apprehend Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith. Even Izuku's response to the threat is also how Palpatine reacts in the film.
• Ship Tease: Izuku and Ochako share a lot from the moment they meet. Ochako immediately develops a crush on him upon their first meeting, and when he's exposed, she seeks him out only so she could talk him out of his goals. Izuku, in turn, has a clear soft spot for her and deliberately avoids harming her when they finally face off in battle, privately admitting to himself that the thought of hurting her leaves a bad taste in his mouth. He even goes as far as to heal a head injury she suffered while still fighting her and her friends. Compare this to Himiko, his other potential "love interest", who he barely tolerates, only doing so because of how useful she is.
• Showy Invincible Hero: Invoked, and the invocation is Deconstructed. All Might's putting on the image of someone unbeatable and the perfect hero is an image even he cannot live up to. Subsequently, his entirely human flaws and mistakes seem so much worse because they break the perfect image he has cultivated.
• Smart People Play Chess: Izuku is seen playing chess against Dabi in Chapter 17 and against Nezu in Chapter 24.
• The Social Darwinist: Another accusation Izuku makes of All Might is that he looks down on the weak and "won't even give [them] a chance to be strong", out of the belief that they might "upstage" him. That accusation, unlike others, is wrong; All Might doesn't look down on the Quirkless and those with weak Quirks because he fears possibly being upstaged, but because he recognizes the dangers of the hero industry and fears for their safety. His concern might be a little misguided, but it's genuine and altruistic.
• Strawman News Media: After Izuku takes their Quirks and kicks them out of the hero industry, Mt. Lady and Uwabami pay off several reporters to slander him for his actions. Unfortunately for them, Izuku saw it coming and had Stain take pictures of their actions, one of which he showed during a sit-down interview with a reporter they paid off.
• That Man Is Dead: More subtle than most examples but Izuku practically says as much to Kouta:
  Kouta: What happened to him?
  Izuku: He broke, he completely shattered, until there was nothing left of the old him. Then he rebuilt himself, piece by piece, into something new.
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Izuku tortures Overhaul to death with his own quirk, which had been stolen by Izuku during the Shie Hassaikai raid, by destroying and rebuilding him a hundred times. When they plead for him to stop, Izuku tells them that if Eri can suffer it without even whimpering, then they should be able to put up with it as well.
• Thinking Up Portals: Izuku has a lot of fun putting the Space Stone to use in chapter 11. He can use it to cut people's arms off, make them hit each other, teleport across the battlefield, use them to redirect enemy attacks like Bakugou's Explosion and Flash Step enemies.
• Took a Level in Badass: Once Izuku starts forming the Infinity Gauntlet, he instantly becomes the biggest villain threat since All for One, able to threaten even All Might in battle.
• Tragic Villain:
  • How Izuku is viewed as by a significant number of people, such as All Might, Mirio, Ochako, and even himself. When it comes down to it, Izuku is a scared child who loved heroes, only to have his dreams crushed by his idol and was let down by all the important people in his life for something that was completely outside of his control. When Inko begs him to stop and come home, Izuku admits that the offer is extremely tempting, but he's simply gone too far to stop now.
  • Of Izuku's subordinates, Ochako Uraraka and Shoto Todoroki also count. Both of them were aspiring heroes who ended up suffering under the corruption of the hero system in direct ways, Uraraka being unjustly expelled from U.A. and Todoroki living under an abusive pro hero father. These circumstances lead them to believe that Izuku's cause is fully just and the right one, leading to them joining the villain and giving him their undying support in spite of seeing the worst in him. The fact that they are still becoming public heroes shows that, ultimately, they are completely misguided teenagers who suffered due to circumstance.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: Izuku blackmails the Prime Minister and the President of the Hero Commission into creating a new agency in charge of evaluating the ethical behavior of heroes — with him in charge.
• Underestimating Badassery: Despite regarding Izuku as a major threat, the government refuses to send in their more powerful heroes and instead decides to have the U.A. staff handle it (one of whom, admittedly, is All Might). This backfires them, because even with All Might it isn't enough; Izuku ultimately wins and escapes, and after that, he's too powerful for anyone to stop.
• Villain Cred: Upon realizing that Izuku has utterly played him and the League, All For One breaks out into laughter and praises him.
  All For One: If my hands were free I'd applaud you.
• Villain Has a Point:
  • Constantly. What makes it even harder for the heroes and the government to take Izuku down is that they can't refute any of his arguments.
  • In particular is his argument against Fantastic Racism. After his battle against Izuku and subsequent exposure to the world, All Might does a little soul-searching and reluctantly admits in a conversation to Aizawa that Izuku was probably right that it's prejudice that's preventing the Quirkless and those with impractical Quirks from becoming heroes. Aizawa himself can't take a stand, because he has an impractical Quirk but was one of the lucky few to be given the chance to become a hero.
• Villain Protagonist: Izuku, of course. Joined by Ochako in Chapter 21 and Shoto in chapter 25.
• Villain Takes an Interest: Izuku takes an interest in Ochako, Shoto, and Tenya (his canon friends) for their Quirks and attitudes toward heroism. So far, Ochako and Shoto have joined him willingly but for Tenya, he chooses to join as an undercover agent for U.A.
• Villain with Good Publicity: One of the reasons as to why the heroes are fighting an uphill battle against Midoriya is that, once he is able to do something to change the corrupt system, he instantly becomes an icon and savior to the millions of people that suffered as he did. His ability to tear down and point out the perpetuated lies within the system and make changes to improve Japan for the better only adds to this more and more, with those who didn't suffer coming to his side and supporting him. By the time Midoriya has his supposed final battle against All Might, public opinion is near-unanimously on his side, guaranteeing that anyone who attempts to take him down will be ostracized by the public.
  • Just to show how important it is to get rid of Midoriya's positive public opinion in order to defeat him, Nezu's role in the battle at Coruscant Stadium, that being exposing Midoriya's allegiance with Stain, is treated as being just as important as All Might actually beating the boy in a fight.
• Visionary Villain: Izuku again. His entire motive is to reform hero society and excise the corruption and gatekeeping within it as it currently stands. He became a villain in order to force it to happen by giving them an enemy who is working from within the system and thus is acting with legitimate authority while not pretending to be anything other than a villain. Either he accomplishes his goal on his own, or they surprise him and enact the reforms of their own volition.
• Was It Really Worth It?: Nezu, after seeing Izuku destroy All Might's reputation, directly tells Izuku that he hopes he is satisfied. Izuku responds that he is.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Izuku's ultimate goal is to restructure hero society so "True Heroes" (people who seek to save and protect others, no matter how weak they themselves are) are the only ones who get to become heroes. It's remarkably similar to Stain's ideology. Unsurprisingly, the two get on like a house on fire as a result when they meet.
• Wham Shot: Chapter 21 ends with Izuku stealing a Quirk from a criminal associate of his, revealing that he has obtained the powers of All For One via the Soul Stone.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi made consistent appearances during the first arc of the story, working with U.A to bring down the League and even being the one to first come forth with the idea of Izuku being Apotheosis. Despite this, the man completely vanishes from the story after Izuku initially outs himself, and we never see his reaction to both Izuku gaining a position within the government and All Might, one of his close friends, being branded a villain and going on the run. He does finally reappear in the story after the Shie Hassaikai raid, subverting this.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Many people rip into All Might for crushing Izuku's dreams and starting him on the path of villainy.
  • Nezu's in particularly is poignant because he never directly calls All Might out. Instead, he points out that all of Izuku's accomplishments and brilliance, including the creation of the Infinity Gauntlet, outright prove that All Might was wrong and that Izuku would've made a wonderful hero. Considering Nezu's own Quirk only boosts his intelligence, you get the feeling that he was identifying with Izuku on some level.
  • Sir Nighteye gives a minor one. He's offended that All Might would think that their prior disagreements equaled him wanting All Might dead and gone. He also questions why he was left out of the efforts against Midoriya, citing that his Combat Clairvoyance would have been a very useful asset.
• Who's Laughing Now?:
  • Izuku's rise to Japan's greatest supervillain is leaving many people wishing that they had treated him much better when he was younger.
  • Natsuo Todoroki takes no small amount of glee rubbing it in Endeavor's face that he's technically now the "failure" now that he's lost his quirk.
• Wrong Context Magic: If the "magic" refers to quirks. The Infinity Gauntlet and its capabilities are something that absolutely nobody, (but Izuku) ever thought of, nor can really figure out to combat.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: In spite of the efforts of the heroes, Izuku achieves every short-term goal he had created in order to take over and fix society. He completes his Infinity Gauntlet, gains a powerful government position that essentially makes him the boss of the heroes, creates the HRD, and destroys All Might's legacy and position as the Symbol of Peace. Izuku has nearly achieved a full victory, leaving the heroes that oppose him scrambling to find ways to defeat him for good.

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