Bruce Wayne was one of the greatest heroes in the world. While All Might was like a Hero of Light, Bruce was the Hero of Darkness known as The Batman.
However as years passed, Bruce could no longer be able to keep up and was forced to retire. It seems the world has lost a hero until one day, Bruce stumbled upon a young boy by the name of Izuku Midoriya.
My Hero Academia: The Dark Knight Returns is a crossover fanfiction between My Hero Academia and Batman. It is created by PowerCore Productions
. My Hero Academia The Dark Knight Returns is part of PowerCore Productions's Anime x DC Comics series.
It can be watched here.
This fic contains the following tropes:
- Action Girl: A lot of them like Carrie Kelly who goes by Sparrow, Barbara Gordon the Police Commissioner, Jinx, and Melissa Shield the Ninth Wielder of One For All.
- Adaptational Backstory Change:
- This version of Carrie Kelly was a graduate of U.A. High School before being recruited by Batman.
- Instead of being a quirkless boy that got roped into becoming The Mole by All For One, Aoyama was groomed to become the Court of Owl's enforcer.
- Adaptational Badass:
- Izuku had been training under the Bat Family for a few years that by the time of the U.A. Entrance Exam, he was more than ready to handle the challenges.
- Melissa was quirkless in canon. Here, she gained One For All from All Might.
- Adaptational Heroism: Red X was a far more heroic individual here than his Teen Titans counterpart who was at best a Noble Demon.
- Adaptational Location Change: My Hero Academia: The Dark Knight Returns has Gotham City being a prefecture in Tokyo, Japan.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Bakugou is significantly friendlier to Izuku at the start of the My Hero Academia canon after Izuku being able to outsmart him multiple times.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In contrast to Batman Beyond where Bruce and the rest of the Bat Family were on bitter terms for a while, the group remained together in this version.
- Adaptational Villainy:
- Damian Wayne may be ruthless and an asshole but he's ultimately a true hero. Here, he became the new Deathstroke.
- Aoyama serves the Court of Owls as Talon.
- Adaptational Wimp: Izuku does not obtain One From All and instead he became a Badass Normal.
- Ascended Extra: Stain would join Deathstroke's League of Villains.
- Badass Normal:
- Batman and every member of his family were merely normal Quirkless individuals but took up becoming superheroes. Izuku would be the latest addition to the family.
- Deathstroke and Joker are one of the few villains that don't possess quirks yet they are feared criminals throughout the world.
- Big Good: Both All Might and Batman are the world's greatest heroes and strive to bring peace and justice to the world.
- Composite Character:
- Dark Knight Returns Izuku is a cross between his canon counterpart and Terry McGinnis from Batman Beyond.
- Being the Superman Substitute, All Might is the one that became close friends with Batman.
- Hitoshi Shinso gets recruited by Tim and dons the Red X persona.
- Death by Adaptation: Aoyama dies protecting Izuku from Ovarhaul's attack.
- The Dreaded: Batman is nightmare incarnate to the criminals of Gotham and Japan.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Jinx abhors the League of Villain's insane pursuits, especially Toga. She later helps Eri get away from Overhaul.
- Foreshadowing:
- Red X's appearance is hinted when Izuku's current Batsuit is revealed to be powered by Zynothium, the same element that powered the Red X suit from Teen Titans.
- His familiarity with the Bat Family and his ease in countering their moves all tells that Deathstroke is Damian Wayne.
- Generation Xerox:
- Both Izuku and Melissa, having followed in Bruce and Toshinori's footsteps.
- Season 2 would have Bakugou, Kaminari, and Jirou becoming the new Red Hood, Green Arrow, and Black Canary.
- Heroic Fire Rescue: Izuku ran into a burning building to save a child. This is what convinces Bruce to choose Izuku as the new Batman.
- Honest Corporate Executive:
- Like in comics, Bruce Wayne runs Wayne Enterprises.
- Tim Drake is in charge of Wayne Enterprises's subsidiary Wayne Tech which develops top-of-the-line Hero support gear.
- Hope Spot: Just as Izuku's group is able to escape Kamino, Izuku is caught by Deathstroke.
- I Have Your Wife: The League of Villains threaten Jinx and Melissa by going after their families. Thankfully, the latter didn't suffer this thanks to Talia sending out Lady Shiva to take out the assassins.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Red X uses his powers to manipulate League of Villains to fight each other.
- Mêlée à Trois: The U.A. Sports Festivals ends with a three-way fight between Izuku, Bakugou, and Kirishima.
- Morph Weapon: Izuku possesses a sphere-like device made out of nanites, given to him by Batman. With just a thought, Izuku can form any kind of weapon like bo staff, katana, nunchucks, and so on.
- My Greatest Failure: The War on Gotham is this to Batman as not only he had to fight his own son, Damian but also losing Jason Todd following the war. This resulted in Bruce to retire as Batman, only taking on the cowl one more time to help All Might against All For One.
- Mythology Gag:
- Carrie would take on a new superhero identity named Sparrow.
- Izuku justifies Would Hit a Girl as gender equality. Batman made the remark that the "Hammer of Justice is Unisex" from Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
- Passing the Torch: After seeing Izuku's heroism, Bruce passes the mantle of Batman to him.
- Point of Divergence:
- The first interaction between Izuku and All Might has changed dramatically compared to the canon event. Having worked alongside Batman, All Might encouraged Izuku to become a hero rather than harshly rejecting his dream.
- Because Izuku was taking up the mantle of Batman, All Might would not pass One For All to him and instead, gave it to Melissa Shield.
- Mineta does not join Class 1-A but instead is attending General Studies.
- Surprisingly enough, Izuku won the U.A. Sports Festival after beating Bakugou at the finals.
- Aoyama being found out as a traitor happened earlier in the Kamino Raid arc though he went missing following that event. Because of this, Shinso takes Aoyama's place in Class 1-A.
- After performing a Heel–Face Turn, Gentle Criminal and La Brava work for Bruce Wayne.
- Powered Armor: Bruce uses the highly armored Hellbat suit to assist All Might in battling All For One.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Batman called out Stain as nothing more than a delusional fool who never followed the ideals of All Might and Batman and instead imposed his own. Stain was not happy to hear this.
- Secret-Keeper:
- Anyone who finds out the truth that Izuku is training under the original Batman. That includes the rest of the Bat Family, All Might, Melissa Shield, and Shota Aizawa. Season 2 would add in Bakugou and Aoyama.
- Then there's the fact that knowing the above secret would realize Bruce Wayne's identity as Batman.
- Shout-Out: Melissa's hero costume is based on the character, Jetstream from Sky High.
- Team Member in the Adaptation: Melissa and later, Shinso would be a student in Class 1-A.
- Underestimating Badassery:
- It's easy to lose count of how many times people underestimate the quirkless only to immediately have their super posteriors kicked.
- This also applies to those with seemingly worthless quirks. Bruce explains to Izuku that if he had Mineta's powers, he would still have over 50 different ways to possibly bring down an entire country.
