Fanfic / The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA!

"Spooooooon!"

— The Tick, often and repeatedly.

The Call not only knows where Izuku Midoriya lives, it is willing to send the Tick to Call in a Carry Out Order for a Sandwich Platter of Justice. Now Izuku is on the path to become a hero just like All Might. Except for the minor legal technicality of being a wanted vigilante.

The Tick Vs...My Hero Academia is a The Tick/My Hero Academia Fusion Fic written by Bejammin2000, taking place in an alternate universe where the Tick elects to move to Japan in order to help a young man achieve his dream of becoming a hero...in his own unique way.

Can be read on Spacebattles.com, Fanfiction.net or Archive Of Our Own.

The Tick Vs My Hero Academia provides examples of:

• The Ace: Midoriya does significantly better than in canon, for example coming in first during the Entrance Exam and and the Sports Festival, as well as maintaining his position as Class President.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Hisashi was killed in front of a young Izuku during a villain attack, leaving the boy traumatized. Bakugou's bullying and insults only make things worse.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: Tsunotori Pony is portrayed as being originally from The City, and has been a fan of the Tick since she was young.
• Adaptation Distillation: The setting combines elements of various adaptations of The Tick.
  • Characters that are supposed to be expies of each other (Caped Wonder/Superian, Die Fledermaus/Batmanuel) exist together in the same setting.
  • AEGIS from the Amazon Prime Video streaming series exists in this setting as well.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Black Whip manifests itself during the Overhaul arc.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • To an extent; due to the Tick's influence, Stain doesn't kill his targets and just mutilates them. He is, however, more deranged since he also tries to adopt Tick's nonsensical speech patterns.
  • As a result of becoming Stain's disciples, Dabi and Spinner aren't part of the League of Villains, and go as far as fighting against them during the Forest Training Camp arc.
  • Superian is a more dry-cut superhero, with only a bit of his buffoonery being foisted on Caped Wonder, who was the one who jumped the gun on declaring the Terror deceased after one of their battles.
  • Mineta, thanks to being saved by Izuku (and thus viewing him as a personal hero), and Izuku telling him a short story about Captain Celebrity, is far less perverted in this story. While he still has urges, he's far more restrained in his actions and doesn't sexually harass or peep on people anymore.
• Adaptational Name Change:
  • Midoriya doesn't pick Deku as his hero name, instead going with "Jack Rabbit".
  • In a smaller instance, Tsunotori's hero name in canon is Rocketti; here, her hero name is "Rodeo".
• Adaptational Sexuality:
  • Uraraka is bisexual, having a crush on Izuku (as in canon) before moving on to Tsunotori after the former is revealed to be in a relationship with Mei.
  • Kirishima admits he'd marry Bakugou if he had a chance.
  • Bakugou also is bisexual.
• Adaptational Species Change:
  • Ashido is an alien hiding on earth, who passes off her species' natural abilities as a Quirk.
  • Buttery Pat is a human with a butter-based Quirk, rather than a butter-based Artificial Human.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: Nedzu is implied to be an escaped creation of The Terror, and a carrier of the original virus that bestowed Quirks to humanity.
• Adjacent to This Complete Breakfast: While being held captive, Bakugo's diet consists of Gramma Brownie's Chocolate Chunker Wunker Bunkers, a fictional breakfast cereal whose first three ingredients are various types of sugar.
• Affably Evil: The Terror. He gives Eri candy (licorice-flavored candy), and tells All-Might to enjoy retirement now that he's lost his Quirk—right before pointing a gun at him. Fortunately, he's interrupted before he can pull the trigger.
• Age Lift: Due to the story taking place some time after the events of both The Tick's cartoon/comic, Brainchild is 14 rather than the child he was in the series.
• The Alcoholic: Hisashi's murder drove Inko into being one for a time, though she's since sobered up and now works as a councilor for addicts (including Tenya).
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Pixie-Bob's smitten with Dabi as soon as she sees him.
• America Saves the Day: Deconstructed. Caped Wonder inspired the One-for-All legacy, but his nemesis, the Terror, inspired All-for-One to escalate his criminal operations in turn. And while some of the Japanese hero community would be fine with asking either Superian or his counterpart to swoop in and start laying down the law with their more obviously potent powers, it would be terrible international optics to have the country so reliant on foreign entities. Also, while Tick's presence is largely a positive one, it also leads to his Rogues Gallery being brought overseas by the League of Villains to deal with him.
• Animal-Themed Superbeing:
  • Midoriya's hero alias is "Jack Rabbit", while his vigilante name is "Aphid".
  • Tsunotori follows his example when she becomes "Tree Leaper".
  • And of course, the Tick.
• Arbitrary Skepticism:
  • Midoriya tends to not believe half of the Tick's more fantastical stories, such as the time he met Santa Claus. To be entirely, perfectly fair to Midoriya, the Tick is legitimately insane.
  • Kamui Woods is more skeptical about Tick being able to hold his breath for an inhuman amount of time, rather than the fact that Tick battled a sentient dolphin with a fish magnet.
• Arc Words: MIGHTY.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Mineta, Tsunotori, and Mei all play larger roles than they do in canon.
  • Shinsou also plays a larger role and is ultimately promoted into the Hero Course.
  • Mirko takes a more prominent role, first as part of the group attacking Chairface's doujinshi operation, then when she joins the Hideout Raid Team, then when she serves as Midoriya's internship mentor, and more recently when she takes part in the fight against Overhaul.
• Ascended Fanboy: Spinner becomes Stain's apprentice.
  • Darkly subverted with All-for-One, who was inspired by The Terror to be a supervillain, only to be enslaved by said inspiration after his defeat at All-Might's hands.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: 1-A does a host club + maid café for the Cultural Festival (Mineta's idea, of course), and because of the gender disparity, some boys are selected to do the maid café instead, Shoto included. When he makes his debut, the rest of 1-A is left slack-jawed at the results. He ends up being the café's star attraction.
  Kirishima: "Homina homina homina..."
  Kaminari: "Oh no...HE'S HOT!"
• Back in the Saddle: With his youth restored and All-for-One in his possession, The Terror is ready to get back into the villainy business.
• Badass Normal:
  • Midoriya, as Aphid, is able to keep up with the Tick thanks to gadgets and training. He becomes an Empowered Badass Normal once he gets One-for-All.
  • As the first supervillain, The Terror predates Quirks and has dealt with many superheroes, including both Superian and Gran Torino.
  • In contrast to Japan, there are a number of Quirkless heroes operating in America, including this fic's version of American Maid.
  • Since his Quirk is functionally useless, Chairface is another example.
• Battle Cry:
  • As per the norm, "SPOON!"
  • Tsunotori copies him with "FORK!"
  • Spinner completes the culinary theming with his battle cry of "KNIFE!"
• Beyond the Impossible: Tick has shrugged off Endeavor's Hellfire, Shigaraki's Touch of Death, and blows from the Noumu meant to kill All-Might. All-for-One makes Tick bleed.
• Big Damn Heroes: Tick arrives to save Midoriya, Ashido and Kirishima from All-for-One. Once Tick is on the ropes, All-Might appears to join the fight.
• Boisterous Bruiser: The Tick, as to be expected.
• Boring, but Practical: Chairface and the Triggermen's operation in support of the League of Villains is to...dominate the market of bootleg hero and villain merchandise, including fan comics both erotic and normal. When Shigaraki mocks them for not committing big, flashy crimes and just being peddlers of smut and garbage, Chairface points out that that's the entire point—it's a line of crime and income that heroes don't especially care about or would look petty for trying to shut down. Shigaraki starts agreeing to the point when he hears that it rakes in ten million yen a month.
• Brought Down to Normal: Bakugo gets forcibly treated with medical-grade antiperspirant after being kidnapped by Chairface. If he can't sweat, he can't sweat nitro, and therefore cannot cause any explosions.
• Butt-Monkey: Shigaraki gets no respect from anyone.
• The Cameo:
  • Tick almost gets into a fight with Knuckleduster.
  • Later, the Hauler pops up as one of Tick's friends.
• Card-Carrying Villain: The Terror just wants to cause destruction and chaos wherever he goes.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Toga is one as usual, but her attention is turned to Brainchild instead.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Tick as per usual. His first assumption when Mei puts on the Aphid costume is that someone has swapped her brain with Midoriya's.
• Closet Key: Apparently neither Uraraka or Tsunotori had experienced any attraction to their own gender before they met each other.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Midoriya finds himself acting as this for the Tick, with varying degrees of success.
• Comically Missing the Point: Bakugo, every time someone tries to teach him a lesson about his attitude.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Tick references his battle against the black hole when he faces Kurogiri.
  • When complaining about Japan's lack of ninjas, Tick mentions the events of The Night of A Million Zillion Ninja.
  • The Aliens sent to kidnap Ashido are the Heys.
  • Tick mentions his battle with The Fin in "The Tick Vs Reno, Nevada".
  • When Arthur and Carmelita arrive to visit the Tick, Midoriya mistakes them for Heys.
  • Tick still has Speak and is still convinced that Speak is a dog.
• The Consigliere: Chairface Chippendale has taken on this role for Shigaraki, particularly after the fall of All-For-One and Shigaraki taking over leadership of the League of Villains. The story regularly uses the term to describe his role.
• Cooking Duel: Lunch Rush and Todoroki vs The Breadmaster and Buttery Pat. Lunch Rush and Todoroki win.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Aizawa stands no chance against Tick, once he realizes Tick's strength and power isn't from a Quirk.
  • Once Endeavor injures Midoriya, Tick stops messing around.
  • Bakugou easily defeats Todoroki during the first matches of the U.A. Sports Festival's tournament round.
  • Dabi annihilates a horde of Nomu during the Forest Training Camp Arc.
  • Tsunotori one-shots Mustard, not even allowing him to use his Quirk.
  • Chairface curbstomps Bakugou while he's unable to use his Quirk.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Hisashi's death leaves the Midoriya Household a broken mess: Izuku ends up suffering from PTSD, while Inko is Driven To Drink, though she's currently sober. Later, when Izuku meets up with Bakugou again in middle school, Midoriya is subjected to being bullied due to his Quirklessness.
• Death by Adaptation: Hisashi was killed during a villain attack, back when Izuku was a young boy.
• Demoted to Extra: To a degree. Iida is kicked out of the Hero program and forced into the General Studies department due to the Stain incident and his Trigger usage. He later gets back into the program.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Tick accidentally breaks Eraserhead's nose and bruises a few of his ribs during their first meeting, because he insists when two superheroes first meet, they must fight, and Eraserhead was trying to arrest him for vigilantism.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • Uraraka and Tsunotori's discussion about Uraraka joining Tsunotori as a vigilante.
  • Midoriya outing himself as a vigilante to All-Might.
• The Dreaded: The Terror has been active as a villain for so long, and committed so many horrible deeds, that fear of him is a cultural norm. Everyone is afraid of him, because even if they haven't seen one of his plots happen, they've heard a story or a dozen (including his murder of Tenya's great-grandfather). Naturally, he abuses this reputation as much as possible.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: DESTINY, as the Tick understands, is depicted in this story as a hodgepodge of visions from the past and future that aim the Wild Blue Yonder where he will (eventually) be needed most.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Mount Lady, Kamui Woods, Endeavor, Aizawa, Death Arms, and Mei Hatsume pop up earlier than in canon, due to the Tick and Aphid's adventuring.
  • The Wild Wild Pussycats pop up earlier since Mineta selects them for his Work Study Week assignment.
  • Wash pops up earlier after Spinner and Dabi accidentally get into a fight with him.
  • Mirko appears as part of Mount Lady's team of heroes that are going after Chairface's doujinshi operation.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Even most villains are scared of the Terror.
• Evil Is Petty: During the meeting between Overhaul and The Terror, The Terror gives Eri some candy. It's licorice flavored.
• Evil Old Folks: The Terror, as per usual, who is 130 years old, and unlike All-For-One, doesn't have a longevity Quirk to keep him young.
• Evil Uncle: Mina's uncle.
• Evil Versus Evil: Spinner and Dabi vs. The Vanguard Action Squad.
• Expy: Jack Knife, the villain responsible for Hisashi's death, is one for Freddy Krueger.
• Fantastic Racism: Chairface, due to having a mutation Quirk that gives him a chair for a head, is all but stated to have suffered this as a child.
• Follow the Leader: In-Universe example. Aphid's popularity leads to several of Midoriya's classmates taking up vigilante identities, including Tsunotori, Uraraka, Todoroki, Mineta, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Ashido.
• Fountain of Youth: The Terror uses Eri to de-age him to the "youthful" age of 90.
• Fusion Fic: The story merges the setting of The Tick (all versions), and My Hero Academia, with the main focus being on the world of MHA, but with the events of The Tick's comic, cartoon and live-action series having happened as well. Among the changes include Quirks being part of The Tick's history as well, such as Chairface Chippendale and his henchmen being the result of Mutation Quirks rather than completely unexplained, The Terror being feared worldwide but largely thought to be dead by the start of the story, and Clark Oppenheimer (aka The Caped Wonder) being mentioned as the world's first superhero.
• Golden Snitch: The Aphid Hunt. Any first year student who can figure out the identity of Aphid and support their argument gets a major bonus:
  • Any Hero Course student gets an automatic passing grade.
  • Any Business or Support Course student gets a letter of recommendation from all their teachers.
  • Any General Course student gets automatically bumped up to the Hero Course.
  • Aphid also gets a passing grade if they can successfully protect their identity for the entire semester.
  • On the other hand, accusing the wrong person of being Aphid (or even guessing the right person without adequate proof) is a one-grade penalty. Aphid gets the same punishment if they give themselves up.
  • Team Midoriya ultimately wins, with Midoriya, Uraraka, Mineta, Kendou, and Kaminari getting a passing grade for the semester, Mei getting her letter of recommendation, and Shinsou being moved into the Hero Course, although he was already in the process of doing so.
• Groin Attack:
  • Mineta takes one to the grapes when he meets Kota.
  • As per canon, so does Midoriya.
• Heroic RRoD: Midoriya overextends himself in the fight against Muscular, resulting in a seizure.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: According to Mina, a lot of aliens like to vacation on Earth because they can just say that their unusual appearances and/or powers are the result of a Quirk.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Eraserhead binds Tick with his scarf, only to find that this just means that he's tied himself to an indestructible opponent with super strength.
  • Overhaul ends up getting shot with one of his quirk-destroying bullets.
• Hope Spot:
  • Due to the interference of the Dabi and Spinner, the Vanguard Action Squad is unsuccessful in kidnapping anyone at the training camp. Then Chairface kidnaps Bakugou from his house.
  • All-Might finally defeats All-For-One...and then the Terror comes and kidnaps the defeated All-For-One, planning to use him for his own schemes.
• Hour of Power: The Terror eventually manages to use All-For-One to produce artificial Quirk serums, but they currently only last for 24 hours at a time.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: When Inko decides she wants to talk to the Tick about his relationship with Izuku, he initially decides to act ignorant...which unfortunately fails.
  The Tick: I don't think I know what you're talking about, Mrs. Midoriya!
  Inko: I never introduced myself, either.
• Inexplicably Awesome: As usual, the Tick's powers and background are deliberately mysterious, even more so that his Flying Brick abilities are explicitly not Quirks. He does have a Quirk, though—it makes him not grow facial hair.
• In Spite of a Nail: Most events still happen, although they end differently.
  • The U.S.J. attack still occurs.
  • Midoriya still goes to Gran Torino for his week-long work-study assignment.
  • Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki still fight Stain.
  • Summer camp and the Vanguard Action Squad's attack still happens.
  • Bakugou still gets kidnapped by the villains.
  • All-Might still burns out the last remnants of One-for-All in his battle against All-For-One.
• Insistent Terminology: Nedzu isn't telling the Bakugou Rescue Squad to be vigilantes, it's an "officially sanctioned undercover field experience extra-credit assignment".
• Knight of Cerebus: After All-For-One thrashes the Tick on live television, to the point that he makes him bleed and noticeably bruise, things take a more dramatic turn for the Wild Blue Yonder and his would-be sidekick.
• Lethal Chef: Momo Yaoyorozu's mother. Todoroki kept one of the cookies she made and it is vital in taking down the Breadmaster for good.
• Legion of Doom: In order to deal with the Tick, the League of Villains opts to recruit some of the Tick's enemies from The City (those being Chairface Chippendale, the Breadmaster, Brainchild, and Barry Hubris).
• Let's You and Him Fight:
  • Tick believes in this during his first encounter with Eraserhead. He's right.
  • As Aphid, one of Izuku's ongoing struggles is to prevent the Wild Blue Yonder from doing this, especially since Izuku doesn't want the Tick to become wanted for trying to fight good guys. He's already in trouble for vigilantism, but real heat could be very problematic.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Kaminari was the only remaining member of Team Midoriya who didn't figure out that Midoriya was Aphid on his own.
  • Likewise, Iida never figured it out on his own.
  • All-Might initially kept Midoriya out of the loop about All-For-One being captured by The Terror.
• Loony Fan:
  • Stain becomes one for the Tick, in addition to his canon obsession with All-Might.
  • As a fan/disciple of Stain, Spinner also becomes one for the Tick.
• Memetic Mutation: In-Universe, the Tick saying "He's not even smiling! What's a hero that can't smile?" during his fight with Endeavor has apparently become this. Shoto even has a bootleg t-shirt with this printed on it.
• Mistaken Confession:
  • All-Might tells Midoriya they need to talk about his relationships. All-Might is talking about Midoriya's relationship with Mei, but Midoriya misunderstands and accidentally outs himself as a vigilante.
  • Bakugou misunderstands Ashido and Kirishima's feelings towards him, assuming that they're in love with each other.
• Mundane Utility: Todoroki uses his quirk to cook.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Izuku's new backstory is lifted wholesale from Arthur's Amazon Prime Video backstory.
  • The Rejuvenated Terror wears the same costume as his Amazon Prime Video counterpart.
  • Chapter 9 has Tick call Izuku on his cell phone, with the ringtone being the theme song for the 1994 animated series.
• The Nicknamer: Tick rarely calls anyone he encounters in Japan by their actual hero/villain names, with one encounter with Mirko where she tries to force him to say her name right implying that he literally can't say their actual aliases. So far he has:
  • Eraserhead: Pencil Cap
  • Endeavor: Captain Flamebeard
  • All Might: Mighty Man
  • Tomura Shigaraki: Handyman
  • The U.S.J. Nomu: Mr. Lipz
  • Bakugou: Premature Detonation Lad
  • Mount Lady: Gigantigal
  • Kamui Woods: Tree Man
  • Mirko: Royal Rabbit
  • All-For-One: Potato Head
  • Sir Nighteye: Commander Specs
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The villain that killed Hisashi took part in the U.S.J. attack. Once Midoriya runs into him, he beats him to a pulp and nearly kills him.
• No-Sell: Being the Trope Namer of Nigh-Invulnerability means that the Tick is very problematic to fight.
  • Endeavor's fire doesn't affect the Tick.
  • Shigaraki's Touch of Death doesn't affect Tick. It still causes pain and makes his face numb, but it fails to disintegrate Tick or even cause visible damage.
  • Since the Tick's powers aren't derived from a Quirk, Aizawa's Quirk-erasing ability has no effect on him.
• Official Couple:
  • Midoriya and Mei Hatsume.
  • Uraraka and Tsunotori.
  • Bakugou, Ashido, and Kirishima.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Ashido, Midoriya and Kirishima come face-to-face with All-For-One.
  • All-For-One makes Tick bleed.
  • The Terror kidnaps the defeated All-For-One, right in front of All-Might's eyes.
  • Dabi and Spinner free Stain and prepare to go after a new target: Endeavor.
• Oh, Crap, There Are Fanfics of Us!:
  • Mount Lady's reaction to learning about the H-doujinshis starring her. Kamui Woods is a bit more indifferent, while Death Arms tells them to get used to it.
  • Midoriya's initial reaction to discovering an Aphid/Jack Rabbit H-doujinshi.
• Older and Wiser: While still fairly loony, the Tick is noticeably more perceptive than he usually is, having grown a bit wiser from his various American-based adventures with Arthur. Most notably, he understands that Midoriya is just a smart kid and when he's invited to live in his house, he pointedly doesn't start wrecking his furniture in search of his "secret lair".
• Older Than They Look: The Terror is about three hundred years old, yet doesn't look a day over ninety thanks to Eri.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After Midoriya accidentally gets hurt during the Tick's "Villain Invitational" (he had put an ad in a newspaper challenging any bad guy to come and face him), Tick immediately drops his usual Large Ham tendencies, becoming quiet and serious as he takes Midoriya to get treatment. Serves as a Continuity Nod to the original comic series, where a similar scene unfolded after Oedipus (an Elektra expy) got hurt while she and Tick were fighting ninjas, though at least this time, Tick didn't have a nervous breakdown afterwards and go on a rampage as he did in the comic.
• Origins Episode: "Issue #0" details why the Tick moved out of the City and how he learned Japanese.
• Outside-Context Problem: The Tick proves to be a rather...disruptive influence on the setting.
• Palette Swap: Iida's vigilante costume is just a red version of his hero costume.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Tick's "Nick Placeholder" disguise fools no one at the U.A. Sports Festival. They still pretend otherwise, since Tick isn't causing trouble, and most of them wouldn't stand a chance against Tick in a one-on-one fight anyway. Further, as long as he's pretending to be "Nick", he's not causing actual problems.
• Pay Evil unto Evil:
  • The Terror uses All-For-One as the test subject for his Quirk extractor.
  • By the end of the Overhaul arc, Overhaul ends up losing everything and becomes the guinea pig for The Terror's Nomu serum.
• Point of Divergence: Tick's involving himself in the plot has altered some recurring plot elements of MHA:
  • Because of the extra training Izuku got from Tick, his body was in better condition when All-Might picked him as a protégé, resulting in him passing All-Might's test and receiving One-for-All earlier, as well as having more time to work out the basics before the UA entrance exam, making him more able to use his power without destroying his own body. His knowing Mei before enrolling at U.A. means that he is able to request an upgraded costume that can help him handle the strain of One-for-All earlier, reducing the damage he does to himself in (non-emergency) situations.
  • Tick hitting it off with All-Might and helping with the Nomu fight at U.S.J. means that All-Might didn't push himself past his limit then, so the rate at which his powers are fading is decreased. He still burns out the last of his reserves of One-for-All while fighting against All-For-One, but this makes his final Smash much more impressive.
  • Due to Stain's influence, Spinner and Dabi do not join the League of Villains, instead going off on their own vigilante careers. As a result, they end up fighting against the Vanguard Action Squad; their interference results in the attack being a complete failure, and no one is kidnapped at the camp.
  • Due to Izuku's status as a vigilante, the Bakugou Rescue Squad includes Mineta, Kaminari, Uraraka, and Ashido, as well as being done in their vigilante personas. Nedzu is also aware of this, and has unofficially backed it.
  • The presence of the Terror in Japan gives him a chance to kidnap the defeated All-For-One, right in front of All-Might. As such, the public believes All-For-One is finally dead, while the heroes know things are going to get worse.
  • Without All-For-One in Tartarus, security is lax enough for Dabi and Spinner to break Stain out.
  • Todoroki passes the provisional license exam.
  • The Overhaul arc goes off the rails as Tick ends up forcing Sir Nighteye to change his plans for the attack on the Shie Hassaikai. As a result, the organization is dismantled, with virtually no losses or collateral damage.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Chairface's evil plans in Japan involve cornering the H-doujinshi market, the unlicensed hero merchandising market, and other profitable but low-profile ventures. This gives him low expenses, a decent amount of profit, and the only heroes who can be bothered to act against him are those who have been embarrassed by their starring roles in some of his doujins (most notably Mount Lady and Kamui Woods).
    • This ultimately backfires with Midnight: Chairface's H-doujinshis make enough of an impact on the sales of Midnight's official H-manga series that she joins Tick and the others in taking down Chairface's operation.
  • Chairface uses this to point out the difference between criminals (who want to accumulate wealth and infamy) and villains (who are devoted to an ideal or goal).
  • Chairface also mentions that in a battle between the Terror and Caped Wonder, the Triggermen supported Caped Wonder, solely because if the Terror got his way, it would completely ruin society, along with their plans to get rich.
• Prescience by Analysis: Arthur possesses a Quirk called "Numbers" that allows him to assess risks and partially estimate their consequences.
• Public Service Announcement: After All-Might's retirement, Japan revises its hero policies, and with it U.A.'s curriculum. Aizawa shows Class 1-A an educational film to introduce the "AEGIS Five Focuses of the Civic Minded Hero" to them, and it's so old that Recovery Girl watched it when she was a freshman at U.A. (it even cites that 20% of humanity has a Quirk).
• Pungeon Master:
  • Wash's dialogue is mostly cleaning-based puns.
  • Likewise, Buttery Pat engages in butter-based puns.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Chairface freely gives these to heroes and villains that he doesn't respect.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: While Tick is now in Japan on his own accord, America functionally treats his situation as this, since their official stance on him to Endeavor is a paper with "NO GIVE BACKSIES" printed on it, meaning that deporting him is not an option. Arthur and Carmelita visit to check up on Tick and let him know that his "reassignment" will be undone against his wishes, by force if necessary.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: After the Heys fail to kidnap her, Ashido's Uncle arrives on Earth to do it himself.
• Second Super-Identity:
  • Midoriya has Jack Rabbit as his Official Hero name and Aphid as a vigilante.
  • Tsunotori has Rodeo as her Official Hero name and Tree Leaper as a vigilante.
  • Uraraka has Uravity as her Official Hero name and Dive Bomber as a vigilante.
  • Kaminari has Chargebolt as his Official Hero Name and Railgun as a vigilante.
  • Mineta has Grape Juice as his Official Hero Name and Dark Wine as a vigilante.
  • Ashido has Pinky as her Official Hero name and Alien Queen as a vigilante.
  • Kirishima has Red Riot as his Official Hero name and Black Diamond as a vigilante.
• Secret-Keeper: Aizawa, Nedzu, Mei, Shinso, Inko, Kirishima, and Ashido all know Midoriya is Aphid.
  • Mineta, Kendou, and Uraraka also figure it out. As part of the winning team, Kaminari also learns the truth.
  • After Bakugou's kidnapping, Todoroki and Iida are brought into the know.
  • Inko reveals she'd known since pretty much the beginning since the Tick came into their house to give Izuku The Call and he's about as subtle as you'd expect a loud, massive Boisterous Bruiser in bright blue spandex to be. Also, he broke into her house to deliver said call.
  • Some of the U.A. upperclassmen (including Mirio and the other members of the Big Three) also figure it out, but never say anything openly, as they aren't eligible to compete in the Great Aphid Hunt.
• Secret Test of Character: Many of the AEGIS provisional hero license tests are these. Solving the problem may get you a good grade in one of the five focuses, but how you solve the problem can affect your grade in one or more of the others. And sometimes the primary focus of a given test isn't what it appears to be at first glance.
• Shout-Out
  • Mei offhandedly mentions she's part of the Council of Mei Hatsumes, either referencing The Council of Reed Richards or The Council of Ricks.
  • While trying to teach Shigaraki swordfighting, Chairface quotes Zangetsu.
  • Muscular makes his entrance with Mr. Hollywood's signature quote.
    Muscular: "Well isn't that cute. BUT IT'S WRONG!"
  • While in captivity, Bakugou is fed Gramma Brownie's Chocolate Chunker Wunker Bunkers.
  • Kirishima's vigilante identity might be a reference to the KISS song of the same name.
  • During the AEGIS Hero Licensing exams, Bakugou has to return a wallet to a man with a starfish Mutation Quirk named Pat Hoshi.
  • A nearly-incomprehensible mumbling man pops up as part of the AEGIS Licensing Program's exams.
  • The cooking duel of Lunch Rush and Todoroki vs The Breadmaster is one to Iron Chef.
• Sitcom Archnemesis: Shigaraki and Brainchild.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • Tensei isn't crippled by Stain, but merely disfigured.
  • The Vanguard Action Squad's mission is a complete disaster, thus Ragdoll is not kidnapped.
  • Sir Nighteye isn't killed during the Overhaul arc, and Mirio is never shot with the quirk-destroying bullet.
• Spotting the Thread: Aizawa figures out who Aphid is because Midoriya wears the shoes from his Aphid costume to the U.A. entrance exam.
• Stable Time Loop: A Trigger-enhanced Iida being saved in the alley by Todoroki from the future.
• Superman Substitute: As well as All-Might and Captain Celebrity, both the Superian and Clark Oppenheimer exist in this setting (the former being a Quirk user and the latter being an alien), despite the former being an Expy of the latter.
• Supreme Chef: Lunch Rush and Breadmaster. In their cooking duel at Kitchen Stadium, they score 55 and 54 points on a 55-point scale, respectively, with Breadmaster being deducted one point not due to anything being wrong with his cooking, but because his taste in presentation was not in line with the current plating trends.
• Troll: The Brainchild/Charlie, who likes riling up Tomura on purpose, and after Tomura stops reacting, he moves on to mocking Mei online.
• Unfazed Everyman: Izuku meets up with the time-travelling inventors kidnapped by the Mother of Invention, who invented their own time machine to keep in touch and act as time-travelling heroes alongside an older Mei from the future. Izuku barely rates this as one of the ten weirdest things he has seen since meeting the Tick.
• Wham Line: "This is Principal Nedzu, and I would like to start off this fine school year with a special announcement. It appears that one of our freshman-year students is a bit of a celebrity. You'll know them as the vigilante called Aphid. Now, as we do respect his or her privacy, we will not be announcing who they are, but we would like them to know that we are well aware that they are attending UA this year. That is all."
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?:
  • The Tick's Quirk is...the ability to not grow facial hair.
  • One of Chairface's Henchmen has a Quirk that gives him the appearance of Peter Lorre.
  • Chairface and his gang in general are now just people with really bizarre Mutation-type Quirks. The only two members who have Quirks that are actually useful for combat are The Deadly Nose (his nose is a pair of functional gun barrels) and Dean (a massive juggernaut with Super Strength who for some reason has a butterfly screw for a head). The rest of them have quirks that don't really do much. For starters, The Man Who Looks Like Peter Lorre has a quirk that, well, is Exactly What It Says on the Tin, and Chairface himself has a wooden chair for a head.
  • When the Meta Liberation Army tries to sway Chairface and the League of Villains to their cause, he quite bluntly points out that the "Ability to use his superpower anywhere at any time," isn't quite the grand-slam argument when talking to a person whose power is simply "My head is a chair".
• Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: Todoroki, Jirou, and Yaoyorozu believed that whoever was actually Aphid wouldn't be so stupid as to be enrolled in the Hero Course.
• Wicked Cultured: Kurogiri really appreciates the Breadmaster's craft, to the point of turning the Villains' bar hideout into a gastropub.
• World of Weirdness: America (or at least The City) is a very bizarre place, compared to Japan.
• Wrong Context Magic: As Aizawa finds out, the Tick's Super-Strength and Nigh-Invulnerability are not the product of a Quirk, meaning he's completely immune to abilities and chemicals meant to nullify Quirks.
• Vigilante Man: The Tick is an unlicensed foreign hero who becomes a controversial figure in Japan, though is mostly tolerated by official heroes, due to being well-meaning and functionally unstoppable.
• Villain Team-Up: Overhaul and The Terror. It ends badly for Overhaul.

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