WMG / My Hero Academia History Theories

Future arcs/events theories

EVERYONE in 1-A will have their own sub-plot.

So, this series has many, many characters. And pretty much ALL OF THEM, including the villains, are beloved by the fandom. The author himself admits that he is frustrated to not be able to present them correctly or give them proper attention.Moreover, while Midoriya and Bakugo stay the main characters, BNHA is notable for shifting focus from one character to the others for the secondary ones. Several secondary characters already had more focus put on them. But doing it with all of the staff would be a great way to flesh them out and even give all of them their own sub-plot or at least A Day in the Limelight, especially with how the Provisional Pro-Hero License Arc ended. Including some students from 1-B and the villains.These subplots will be about why they want to be a hero and their trials to overcome the obstacles on this road (X : their origins), personal issues, or just their everyday life before getting into UA (like for Asui) with a bit of romance thrown in the mix.Potential sub-plots for the characters could be:

• All Might: Adjusting to his depowered self and his status as a teacher and Midoriya's mentor.
• Yuuga Aoyama: Overcoming his narcissistic personality/ any lingering insecurities about his weaknesses at least somewhat to befriend other classmates both inside and outside 1-A, and learning other ways to control his Navel Laser and supplement his belt.
  • Partly confirmed: He does get a subplot during the Remedial arc, where he befriends Midoriya through their similar struggles with balancing their powerful Quirks and their weaker body limits.
• Toru Hagakure: Begins doubting herself when she realizes how often her friends have to fight for their lives while she never contributes.
• Mezo Shoji: Revealing the reasons behind his mask (his full face will be shown) and his frugal lifestyle, which seem to point to a troubled past, and coming out better from opening to his classmates.
• Eijiro Kirishima: Developing his relationship with Bakugo, thus helping the latter to take a level in kindness.
• Tsuyu Asui: More froglike techniques?
• Minoru Mineta: Learning to be cool/ a kinder and more respectful character, especially towards female characters?
• Denki Kaminari: Learning efficient ways to use his quirk without hurting his allies (done), learning to keep calm in dire situations and think more before acting, and improve his wattage limit (or finding a way to limit its side effect)?
• Kyoka Jiro: Overcoming her implied confidence issues, improving her sound and finding new sound-based techniques (using electric instruments?), learning more fighting techniques (hand to hand or with a weapon)?
• Momo Yaoyorozu: Fully growing past her Heroic Self-Deprecation to grow into the AWESOME hero she could be.
• Fumikage Tokoyami: Finding a way to control Shadow even at night and developing more techniques with it. Also possibly something to do with Hawks, who is currently spying on the League of Villains for the government and has taken Tokoyami under his wing.
• Hanta Sero:
• Mina Ashido: Reveals that she used to be bullied all the time for her appearance and seemingly villainous Quirk. Her happy-go-lucky nature is just a disguise and she is similar to Izuku when not "in character".
• Mashirao Ojiro: Developing further techniques involving his tail, overcoming his confidence issues rooted in taking issue with being considered "normal".
• Koji Koda: Overcoming his EXTREME shyness.
• Rikido Sato:
• School faculty and staff: Finding out who the traitor in U.A. is, and continue protecting and forming the present and future students.
• Tomura Shigaraki: finding more allies and becoming a true Big Bad worthy of AFO.

Bakugo and Amajiki will fight side by side against a Main Antagonist from some major arc future.

Many consider that Izuku, Bakugo, and Shoto what U.A.'s next Big Three. and since Izuku and Shoto have already interacted and fought side by side along with a member of The Big Three against some antagonist in a long and important arc (Izuku along with Mirio against Chisaki during the Shie Hassaikai Arc and Shoto along with Nejire against Shigaraki in Paranormal Liberation War Arc), it is suspected that Bakugo and Amajiki will interact and fight side by side against some major antagonist in a major long arc of the manga.

Class 1-A and Meta Liberation Army match-ups

• Todoroki vs. Dabi AND Geten
  • Requires Todoroki to push his flames to the point that they are hotter than Dabi and his ice is colder than Geten. This will be his ultimate challenge.
• Uravity vs. Toga
  • Toga loves her after all, and may even try and use her quirk against her
• Deku AND Kacchan vs. AfO Shigaraki
  • Until one of them gets killed, and the other has to use OfA to finish Shigaraki

A future arc will feature a character who is an Expy of Captain Underpants.

He'll be a pro hero with a Flying Brick or Lightning Bruiser power set, but does all of his heroics in his underwear and acts as a humorous counterpart to All Might, even trying to become number one hero after the latter's retirement. He'll be a somewhat major character in a lighthearted Breather Arc, and there will be a lot of jokes revolving around him fighting in his underwear (i.e.: what kind of pervert...). Bonus points if he's the principal of a rival hero school.

The League of Villains will face civil war.

Considering how other members joined due to believing in Stain's teachings and Shigaraki has his own ideals, it is very possible that as Shigaraki moves forward the followers of Stain's sense of justice will cause internal dissident. Case in point, Spinner is already questioning things.

• Seemingly jossed as of the Meta Liberation Army arc, as the events have greatly strengthened the group for the time being. If anything, Spinner looks to have decided to pledge his loyalty to Shigaraki.

Either the League of Villains or All For One will come after Eri.

Eri's power is too absurdly broken for the bad guys not to want keep messing with it, particularly since, if her rewind ability can be controlled, it could potentially be used to do things like return All For One to his prime or restore quirks to people he has already taken quirks from, allowing him to stack powerful quirks almost infinitely. Worse still, the League of Villains has already stolen the quirk-erasing bullets manufactured from Eri's blood...and might find themselves wanting to get their hands on her if they're keen on making more of them.

Hisashi Midoriya, Izuku’s father, will show up and become important to the story.

If you really think about it, Hisashi is one of the most mysterious characters in the show; he has only a little blurb in Inko Midoriya’s character profile, and a single mention by his wife in Chapter 1. We don’t even know what he looks like! Given the track record of the Disappeared Dad being important in many different shounens, this troper thinks Hisashi could be important as well. What exactly his role would be is anyone’s guess, but I think he’ll make his appearance in the future.

• Possibly confirmed—Word of God has stated that Hisashi will make an appearance in the future, but hasn't stated whether or not he'll play a major role.

There will be an arc that'll explore the origins of Quirks.

The Internship Arc gave one theory that Quirks come from viruses, which was part of the Arc Villain's motive, so it wouldn't be much of a surprise future arcs further explored their origin.

• With the obvious inspirations from Marvel and DC, I wouldn't be surprised if aliens were conducting experiments that resulted in Quirks.
  • Isn't that the world setting of the Wild Cards series?

When Toya Todoroki is introduced, much of what we know about Endeavor will be further complicated.

The recent revelation that the oldest Todoroki child was originally meant to be Endeavor's successor seems to further show that not all was what it seemed. While it initially seemed that Endeavor kept having kids until he had Shoto, the phrasing and wording implies that Endeavor only made Shoto his successor around the time Shoto discovered his Quirk, but also when Touya was likely entering U.A. or some other hero school, given the talks of a "promising career." Indeed, given how Fuyumi is 22, it could be possible that Touya is 25 (thus making him 15 when Shoto was 5 and fitting the time frame.) While Touya's personality remains in the dark, it is unlikely it will be like any of his siblings and perhaps he may even be (or at least once was) like Endeavor. It would fit given how he had a stronger fire quirk along with the only one to have the full red hair. It'd also further set up how he seemingly would first appear to be Endeavor's Superior Successor only to fail because he could not handle his fire the whole force (much like Endeavor.) However, after the accident, perhaps he fell into the same bitter state Endeavor did or alternately, he cut himself off from his family because he blamed himself as a failure (perhaps holding a similar inferiority complex or superiority complex like Endeavor.)

• Another potential shocker could be that while his siblings would expect him to blame Endeavor, he has no ill will toward their father and may indeed actually have found peace with himself. After all, if he would be like his father, then he would view his injuries as his own fault and any attempts at blaming Endeavor would be shut down by pointing out that the possibility always would've been there and he still accepted going into this. He would also probably try and help Todoroki in overcoming his own issues.

Near the end of the series, the boarding house will be destroyed

A big offensive of the villains will escalate into a massive attack against U.A. and, while they'll be ultimately driven away, the campus will be severely damaged, especially the Heights Alliance which will be razed as an act of spite by the villains, and some deaths will happen. After somberly recovering what little of their effects has remained within the rubble (like Deku's All Might memorabilia), the students will have no choice than going back to their respective homes, marking their Darkest Hour as they cannot even stay all together like they had been used for quite some time at that point. They will however recover their fighting spirit thanks to their families, leading to the preparations for the Final Battle.

• With the huge power-up Shigaraki has obtained, the probability of it happening is much higher...

Izuku's father will come home when All Might dies.

All Might is on borrowed time. Sir Nighteye foresaw his death, and those foresights are guaranteed to happen. Because of this, Izuku is going to lose his father figure. And seeing his real father again will cause even greater emotional turmoil.

While we don't know exactly how Izuku feels about Hisashi Midoriya, his dad seems to play little to no part in his life. Izuku is a spitting image of his mother in both appearance and personality. Inko has been shown to be the only parent around while Izuku was growing up and experiencing struggles, from not having a quirk to being bullied by his peers. When he was accepted into UA Academy, the first two people he wanted to tell were All Might and Inko. He has never once brought up his dad in a conversation.

On top of all this, they possibly act as each others' foils. Hisashi is related to Izuku by blood, but he seems to have left no impact on his life and spends more time working than with his family. All Might is only connected to Izuku by One For All, but he's been a HUGE influence on his entire life and has completely changed his occupation in order to be there for him. It's easy to see why Izuku might become upset if his dad were to try and waltz back into his life again.

One Arc will feature Class 1A and the League Of Villains In An Enemy Mine

The League has already been shown taking on rival Villains groups like the Eight Precepts and the Meta Liberation Army who get in their way or threaten their interests. Eventually, a villain or villainous group will arise so dangerous, Shigaraki and Deku are left with no other option than to call a truce and work together. It'll even have Shigaraki and Deku working together to finish off the lead villain together. Possibly it'll feature other Hero/Villain teamups like Uravity and Toga, or Dabi and Shoto.

• With the League having taken over the MLA, this scenario appears less likely for now.

Shigaraki will turn on All For One, but remain a Villain

Related to the above WMG, one excellent possibility would be if this villain is a resurgent All For One, whom Shigaraki turns against upon learning he was only All For One's pawn, or possibly the revelation the All For One is really responsible for his family's death (which this Troper is finding increasingly likely to be true). The reveal will shock Tomura to his core, but while he'll turn against his former "Sensei" he'll still ultimately stick to his guns about "destroying everything." Instead, he'll give the heroes a helping hand taking All For One out of the picture... and kill him when they've beaten him, rather than letting them ship him back to Tartarus.

We will witness a fall of Hero society, and possibly of the Japanese government in general

At the end of the Meta Liberation Army arc not only Shigaraki has obtained a power-up that makes him a walking disaster alone, Twice has become a literal One Man Army, Toga may become even more insidious with her new ability to copy not only appearances but also quirks, Re-Destro and the Army have submitted to him (which brings in a lot of agents, money, technology and connections), Gigantomachia has accepted him and the Doctor is brewing more powerful Nomu. So, it's just a matter of when Shigaraki will decide to strike with such formidable force, crushing the Heroes and taking over Japan, plunging the country into chaos and despair as the Symbol of Fear All For One cultivated. Surviving heroes, including the 1-A kids, will be forced into hiding, reorganizing to get stronger and eventually take back Japan piece by piece.

If the above scenario happens, Eri will become sort of a messianic figure

Her quirk, if used correctly, may heal and restore anyone who's been left gravely injured if not crippled during the devastating attack of the villains. Of course, she will be very reluctant on the idea of using it at first, but she will eventually encouraged and manage to get at least enough control of it. Word of a "miracle child" will spread, making her a target of the Villains but also a symbol of hope for everyone else.

Todoroki will have to face Dabi and Geten together

Unless they squabble and try to kill each other, those two would be a lethal team-up against Shoto: he wouldn't be able to use his ice because it'd be just ammunition for Geten, therefore he'd be left with his fire, which is currentyl weaker than Dabi's. The duo may even be capable of taking on both Shoto and Endeavor at the same time, and even more drama would ensue if it was finally revealed whether Dabi is really Touya Todoroki.

• A theory on how Todoroki wins that battle: Endeavor's primary goal in combining his and Rei's Quirks was to create a child who could use his own Hellfire to it's maximum potential without overheating, something he could never manage; thus, with Shoto's ice ruled out as an option, he'll be left with no other choice than to exactly what Endeavor had been training him to do all those years, and turn his fire up to a degree higher than Endeavor or even Dabi could ever manage, while using his mother's ice to regulate the heat, overwhelming both villains.

There's going to be a War Arc

• With Shigaraki now commanding sufficient forces to go toe-to-toe with Hero Society itself, this is practically a given. As for specifics:
  • Dr. "Ujiko" will create more High-End Nomu. Specifically ten of them, one for each of the Top 10 Heroes to fight one on one. Each Hero will get a High-End custom made to take each of them down.
  • UA will be attacked by Shigaraki's Lieutenants and their teams, forcing 1A and 1B to fight them off in a Call-Back to the Training Camp Arc, allowing both sides to show off their growth, but leveling UA in the process.
  • The Vigilantes will make an appearance, as something that big would naturally draw in everyone capable of fighting, legal status be damned.

Kotaro Shimura was fostered in an orphanage which belonged to the Doctor

The second Character Book, published in October 2019, has revealed that Doctor Ujiko (or whatever his name is) owns several orphanages and hospitals throghout Japan as a legitimate front. This leads to the chilling implication that many of his test subjects over the years have been kids and boys fostered in his structures, with no families to ask for them if they disappeared, and whom he may have monitored also later in their lives, as many would fail to integrate in society due to stigmas against orphans, and would be good fodder to create the Nomu.

Some time after Nana Shimura's death the Doctor found out that a new kid in one of his orphanages was indeed her son, whom she had given up after her husband was murdered, and told it to the real owner, for whom he acted as a front man - All For One, who from then on monitored Kotaro closely, waiting for the day to mess up with him and his family just to get back at both the previous and current holder of One For All.

This would make Nana's attempt to protect her son even especially tragic, as it'd have backfired even more spectacularly than we already knew, Kotaro's fate sealed the very day she decided to abandon him for his own sake.

Endeavor's house will be the scenario of a dramatic battle

As of chapter 252 Endeavor has concluded that, both for personal and safety reasons, it's better for his family to go and live to another house. As he will remain the sole occupant of the current house, a powerful villain (or more than one) will show up there and attack him. The incident with Ending, who took his son Natsuo hostage, may have even been engineered specifically to drive Endeavor's family away and not have them involved, especially if the supposedly dead Toya Todoroki (believed by most of the fandom to be Dabi until disproved) was behind.

Eraser Head, Present Mic and Midnight will have a dramatic fight with Kurogiri

If Kurogiri is not just someone with a quirk created from Shirakumo's body but Shirakumo himself, it's going to be even harder on them, and the worst if he didn't suffer amnesia or brainwashing but underwent a voluntary Face–Heel Turn. Either way, their confrontation will be a Tear Jerker with constant parallels to their younger years.

Alternately, Kurogiri will get a role similar to Bucky Barnes, his old friends protecting him

Kurogiri will start recovering memories of his previous life as Oboro Shirakumo, suffering an identity crisis and terrible pains as he'll fight with years of brainwashing and mental conditioning, and the realization of his acts as a villain and generally having lived a lie for a decade and a half. Convinced that he can be redeemed Eraser, with possibly Mic and Midnight along, will go as far as freeing him and risking being branded a villain himself, while also facing the risk of Shirakumo relapsing into the Kurogiri persona.

One arc will focus more on psychological horror

One current theme in the series is that things aren't black and white. There are well intentioned villains, villains who became evil due to trauma, heroes that are not morally good, the ones who are geniuenly nice have their flaws (nobody is perfect after all) and people in between. The manga has already psychological horror elements, but they are relatively few and the scary stuff is mostly physical violence and body horror. Themes like madness, morality and the fear of the unknown might be explored more in the future. For example, a hero might be (partially) at fault for making a villain becoming evil and the psychology of said hero might be explored. Another example might be a character being in denial about a traumatic event.

Bakugo will lose his Quirk to one of the Quirk destroying bullets

Maybe as soon as the current story arc as he is involved with the fight against Shigaraki. When thing go south for Shigaraki he might resort to using the bullets, maybe intending to destroy OFA, but instead hitting Bakugo. Which will result in a role reversal of Midoriya and him, finally teaching him some humility.This could also further Eri's arc as she learns to restore Bakugo's and Mirio's quirk.

• As of Chapter 281, Shigaraki is ready to use two of those bullets...

Bakugo will have to die.

Given that he is The Ace student who has fought Midoriya twice and came out on top both times (although, the first ended with Midoriya technically winning) and how he is often the most talented student of the class, he will probably have to die so that Midoriya becomes the greatest hero as already revealed in the beginning. Heck, he already took Shigaraki's attack to protect Midoriya and is critically injured in chapter 285, meaning it is possible he'll be down for the count.

• As of Chapter 362, he is fatally injured. Whether or not he survives remains to be seen.

Sir Nighteye's prediction regarding All Might will be fulfilled, but All Might won't die

Let me explain this theory. Nighteye misinterpreted his prediction. The prediction wasn't really about All Might dying. Sir Nighteye's powers doesn't limit to just real events, it can also show what people can imagine. What Sir Nighteye saw wasn't really All Might dying, it was All Might imagining/having a hallucination that he himself dies. Alternatively, what Sir Nighteye saw will happen in reality, but it's not what it looks like. However, this doesn't mean All Might is safe. There is still the possibility of him dying or getting physical or mental damage.

The series will deconstruct the typical shonen power-up

The series already deconstructs a lot of common shonen tropes. One trope that people are tired of is the never ending power-up that appears. The consept of power-up is cool and with a lot of potential, however if used to much it gets boring and even ridiculous. For now the characters are getting immense amount of powers and it might seem to some that the series will fall into the same trap, but it won't. It will continue using immense power-ups, but instead of just using them for the conflict between heroes and villains, it will show the flaws of this concept (In-Universe flaws, not the fact that it's boring for the readers/audience). For example a hero who becomes insanely powerful might suffer a Sanity Slippage and end up being destructive and the other heroes will struggle to stop them.

1-A will form their own Hero Agency.

They have been put through the fire time and again together, and formed a real and powerful True Companions bond. Not only does their wide range of Quirks grant a great deal of flexibility, but no less a personage than All Might has pointed out that two of the most powerful members, Midoriya and Bakugo, complement and improve each other (not to mention Midoriya's Warrior Therapist shtick pulling Todoroki out of his issues more than once). The revelation that they should stick together in the changed hero society will all fall together when Midoriya and the class graduates.

Future Arc Villain theories

There will be a villain who felt that he/she had no other choice due to the nature of his/her quirk

• This is an alternative to the "quirk-less villain" WMG based on the events of chapter 34 which showed that Shinsou was often compared to being a villain due to the nature of his quirk. It would not be surprising if there is at least one actual villain who became so because he/she felt that there was no other choice, not unlike Jinx. The quirk does not even have to be of a villainous nature as it is perfectly possible that people with weak or silly quirks get mistreated, hence driving them towards a path of villainy (even quirks that only seem useless, as in the case of Royal Pain's ability, could end up being mocked).
  • This might actually be the reason Tomura Shigaraki became a Villain in the first place. Someone with hands all over their face who has petrification powers doesn't exactly scream "good guy".
    • Actually, Tomura doesn't act like a victim of circumstance of the Then Let Me Be Evil variety, as he's noted as being an incredibly sadistic person who just wants to destroy things regardless of the reason for it, and it's all stated by his mentor that he was an Enfant Terrible.
    • Tomura's flashback shows that he Used to Be a Sweet Kid, but was driven to villainy by a combination of his abusive father and his destructive quirk manifesting. All for One then took him in and encouraged his destructive tendencies for his own ends.
  • However, Himiko Toga seems to have elements of this. Her transformation quirk comes with the side effect of being absolutely obsessed with blood, which led her to be socially excluded, especially after she gave in and drank someone's blood for the first time. It's even pointed out in her flashback that 'fascination' and 'blood' just isn't a good combo for a normal life.

The Rock villain from Chapter 57 will be the next Arc Villain

Out of all the villains seen in the montage of Chapter 57, the hulking, rocky-looking villain was the only one absent from the Vanguard Action Squad. That's because he's an independent villain. Like Stain, he's a Hero Killer. However, unlike Stain, who believed what he was doing was for the greater good, this villain will misinterpret Stain's goals and kill heroes For the Evulz, judging by his rather nightmarish Slasher Smile.

• That was an Early-Bird Cameo of Gigantomachia. It took almost 100 chapters to see something about him again, and over 150 to finally have him revealed in full.

One of the upcoming major Arc Villains will be an Affably Evil, Father To All His Men.

Based on previous examples of Stain and Overhaul, I suspect that each major upcoming arc villain will follow a similar pattern:

1) Said Arc Villain will be a Knight of Cerebus who will challenge the existing status quo in one form of another.

2) Shigaraki will learn something from the Arc Villain that will allow him to develop as a villain.

3) What Shigiraki learns from the Arc Villain will be the key to said villain's success.

Based on the above, I postulate that one future Arc Villain will be an Affably Evil, Father To All His Men who has managed to convert both heroes and villains to his/her cause.

I further speculate that this Arc Villain may have a well thought out, legitimate reason for opposing the hero society as it stands and possibly manage to convert a member of Class 1A to his/her cause (perhaps a fan-favourite like Asui or Ochaco to further twist the knife).

From his encounter with this Arc Villain (possibly through an alliance), Shigaraki will learn how to become a much more persuasive, charismatic leader (in stark contrast to his abysmal failure to convince Bakugo to join him).

• Well, on a small scale Gentle Criminal is definitely this, as he doesn't want to hurt anyone and is very caring towards La Brava. However, he and Shigaraki never meet.

One of the upcoming Arc Villains will be in a secret relationship with one of the pro-heroes.

Seeing as Dating Catwoman is one the classic time-honored tropes of western comic books, it stands to reason that it may be explored in a future arc.

Monoma, and possibly some of his classmates, will become villains.

His primary character trait is his jealousy and bitterness towards Class 1-A, which is not very conducive to heroism, and Tetsutetsu believes that the rest of the class would've become as bad as him if not for Kendo. And as the Joint Training Arc shows, they could definitely make for a credible threat.

• Not likely as while he has that attitude and likes to compete against them, has no villainous intentions. If anything he has hopes of actually becoming an Ensemble Dark Horse.

There will be a villain who was a former U.A. student who got expelled by Aizawa.

Considering how many students that he expelled (including an entire class, which obviously would include recommended students), it would be only a matter of time until one of them return to seek vengeance against Aizawa.

• Jossed, apparently he doesn't actually expel them.

Overhaul will return.

At the end of the Internship Arc, he's still alive, if armless and thus unable to use his Quirk. Law of Conservation of Detail means that you don't have a villain survive when they could reasonably die unless you have future plans. They haven't said what the state of prosthetic in the setting is, but he would presumably have something. Some permutations:

• Demoted to Dragon: Or possibly a lower underling. Overhaul was a pretty capable scientist, and other villains may want to capitalize on that. He might voluntarily work with somebody gunning for the heroes for revenge, or might be forced to work with someone he doesn't like.
• Weak, but Ambitious: Overhaul goes after the heroes by himself, or with more people he's manipulated into being his minions. Either out for revenge, or hoping to get Eri back so he can force her to rewind him to back when he still had his arms. Possibly ends with Eri standing up to him herself.
• Enemy Mine: Probably the least likely. The heroes end up working with Overhaul, most likely against a mutual enemy, like the League of Villains or the Quirk liberation army. Might involve restoring his arms, if Eri ever learns to control her powers and the heroes having some kind of contingency plan for if (when) he betrays them. A sign that the Godzilla Threshold has been crossed.
• As one of All For One's new henchmen, convinced into it by the offer of getting a new, better, second quirk that doesn't require touch to activate, in exchange for helping AFO escape Tartarus in a prisonbreak arc. Additionally, All For One might end up backstabbing Overhaul and convert him into a semi-sentient second version of High-End with less quirks than the regular ones, in order to prevent a Quirk Overload from breaking Overhaul too badly for use. Either the new Overhaul Nomu is used as a distraction in order to ensure AFO escapes the heroes, or he (together with his loyal disposables) gets reassigned into joining the league of villains, with his still sane followers (Chronos and Nemoto foremost) accepting the offer to join the LOV in hope that they can get Eri back and undo the nomu-transformation AFO forced upon Overhaul in order to make an obedient pawn of him. From there, main focus will be on the characterization of the disposables, while Overhaul himself remain as their motivation and additional muscle to the league.

Tomura Shigaraki will not become the big bad of the series.

Shigaraki, being a Psychopathic Manchild will at some point screw it up so badly that he will die or get crippled so badly that he wouldn't be able to fight before he would succeed to become the ruler of the Underworld. Or he will make such a huge mistake that All For One will no longer want him as a successor.

• Alternatively, one of his past mistakes will bite him in the ass. Alternatively alternatively, he would succeed in becoming the ruler of the Underworld, but will fail due to his own actions.

Deku will become a villain.

The story is told from his perspective, so it's possible it's not true, or he did genuinely become a hero after pulling a Heel–Face Turn. Or at least Deku will appear Ambiguously Evil or become an Anti-Hero.

Future saga theories

The saga after 'Rise of the Villains' will focus heavily with espionage and intel-gathering.

Considering that there seems to be a pattern in which whatever trips both the heroes and villains up in the climax of one saga will become the focus of the following saga, it makes sense that due to how much espionage and intel-gathering has played a part in the current arc as of writing this (The Paranormal Liberation War Arc) the following saga will deal with the topic in much the same way that 'Rise of the Villains' dealt with strategy, foresight, leadership and teamwork after those things played key roles in shaping the events of the 'School Trip' and 'Hideout Raid' arcs.

There will be a Time Skip after the battle with Shigaraki, during which time Midoriya's injuries are treated

It's possible that Midoriya will injure himself enough that he doesn't completely lose the use of his arms, but would have to go through rehabilitation to do superhero work again. This would lead to a period of time in which Midoriya is away from the others, and likely in the dark about various goings-on, and he would reunite with his friends and learn what's going on after the Time Skip.

Post-story theories

Midoriya is telling his story to his successor

The narration clearly takes place in the future, so Midoriya has to be telling it to someone. If One For All is still a secret by the time the series ends, it could be revealed that he has chosen his successor and is telling them his story.

• Given the reveal from Chapter 304, it is unlikely that Izuku will manage to pass his Quirk to someone else.
  • Alternatively, the series ends with a Distant Finale in which an older Midoriya passes One For All down to another Quirkless youth, possibly one of the last Quirkless people in the world, doing for them what All Might did for him.

1-A Hero Office

All or some of the students in class 1 A will stay together as a team and open a hero office together. They will create the next most successful hero office. Maybe even the best hero office even seen due to the high level of its heroes and their versatility. They will name it 1-A Hero Office in honor of their high school life and how they met.

The series will conclude in the formation of a Super Team.

It's noted that Super Teams tend to not last long in the setting. But now that All Might's retired, the world realizes just how screwed it is by putting so much stock in the #1 Hero — now that they've lost him, they're scrambling to fill the gap. The solution? The formation of a super team (like the JLA or the Avengers) and making this the new norm (instead of several heroes working independently) in order to better combat things like the League of Villains. This may or may not be composed of UA's freshman class, tying in with the above WMG.

Both Midoriya and Bakugo will 'win' their rivalry, just in different ways.

Both of them will become fully fleshed out heroes (for example Bakugo working through most of his selfishness and anger issues, as is already beginning to be seen in the manga, and Midoriya truly making OFA his own) but will more specifically become the kind of hero they admire in All Might by the end of the story. Bakugo will become the hero who is always victorious, and by pure ranking he will become the Number 1 Hero. However Midoriya will, as the Number 2 Hero, become the new Symbol of Peace who saves people with a smile, the paragon that helps society help itself, thereby becoming the "greatest hero" he introduces himself as at the start of the story.

By the epilogue, Deku, Bakugo and Todoroki will all be the No. 1 Hero

Kind of anyway. The series will close on a time skip to the cast grown up and pro heroes. The three men banter about how they're in a neck and neck race to be No. 1, and the title has been passed back and forth between them for a while now.

Pre-story Theories

All Might tried to be a Badass Normal

All Might as Toshinori was Quirkless. So, in order to compete with everyone, he started training and began developing his body, possibly becoming a body builder. Down the line he become friends with the One For All holder at that time, leading him to receive One for All from her.

• Partially Confirmed. The previous holder of One for All was All Might's friend and mentor figure.

Shigaraki was born Quirkless, and given his Quirk by All For One

One day, he ran into a strange man who gave him a Quirk. Later, he tried to hug his father, and accidentally killed him. When his grandmother figured out what happened, she went after All For One and was killed.

• It's more likely that Shigaraki had a quirk, but All for One took it away and replaced it. It's certainly an interesting coincidence that the grandson of All Might's mentor just happened to be batshit crazy... until you remember that one of the side effects of All for One's Quirk transfer is that it damages the brain of the transfer victim. The Nomu have multiple quirks and are basically brain dead. Shigaraki has one, is a massive man-child, and utterly devoted to "Sensei"...
  • Currently Jossed as it's not merely power transfer that fries brains but rather transfering a certain number/quality/mix of them. That and Shigaraki was able to recover to a rather composed, if warped, mindset.
  • At the beginning of chapter 235's flashback, we see little Tenko Shimura (aka Shigaraki) accompanied home by a man, apparently just a gentle passersby, who Tenko's mother thanks. We then learn Tenko was 5 and his quirk hadn't manifested yet - it did shortly after. Now what if that man was All For One and he had just given Decay to the kid, the latter not even realizing?

Some of Aizawa's old students became villains

Think about it: You worked your ass off. You passed the written exam. You've passed the physical exam. You persevered and got into the best hero program in the country.And what do you get for your efforts? Expulsion on your first day. Not even being moved to the Gen-Ed department. Flat out expulsion.You'll probably hold one hell of a grudge. Maybe you'll decide to become a hero on your own merits. Maybe you'll give up entirely. But maybe, just maybe, you'll want to get revenge for having your dreams crushed and become what you wanted to take down in the first place.

• Or alternatively, Aizawa became this strict because he saw too many students (and old classmates) die shortly after their graduation because they weren't up to the job.
• Jossed after the reveal that he expelled... and re-enrolled them immediately.

Kurogiri was involved with Yuuei's security breach three years ago.

Chapter 12, a background character mentions that the last time Yuuei's security was breached was three years ago. Kurogiri's Warp Gate seems like an ideal ability for infiltration.

Venomous Chainsaw was made into a Nomu

The Nomu that was used during the School Trip arc had a Chainsaw Quirk. Since Venomous Chainsaw was never mentioned among the League of Villains, it's possible that he was an independent villain, or did used to be part of the team but betrayed them at some point.

• I personally think that VC is in prison, and that if and when the Villain Alliance is finally captured, what follows is a prison break arc that results in both VC and Stain being freed.

AFO created quirks

AFO is very ancient, and is heavily implied to be around for the origin of quirks. AFO is also very intelligent. Him figuring out a way to give humans superpowers is not out of the question. In order to not seem suspicious, he made it a world wide phenomena. AFO gave himself, well, AFO, as being able to pick and choose whatever quirk he wanted from the population of Japan was an exciting prospect. Also, creating your very own custom minions to do your bidding. However, those who are related often ended up manifesting the same quirk due to it being tied to genetics. Thus, why AFO's brother has the ability to pass on quirks.

AFO is evil because of his brother

At first All For One wasn't evil, he was crazy and convinced that he was doing the right thing. He also wanted to solve the problem with his brother peacefully, but the latter refused to. AFO called his brother weak and pathetic, because he lost his patience with him and former locked the latter in a vault due to paranoia. His smile wasn't an evil one, but a forced one. When he told his brother about everything being like in the comics he actually compared himself with the hero or referred to both heroes and villains or no character at all. The fact that his brother kept on calling him a villain and fought and sent others to fight against him for generations made his mental state worse. Some of the other OFA users might've pushed AFO too much themselves as well. They are going to be called out by Deku and it might even result into a fight.

• More exactly, the younger brother is a hypocrite/a hero who went too far who either did not see the nuance of the situation or outright lied, which made All For One say that if he's going to be treated like a villain, "Then Let Me Be Evil".
• Some evidence for this theory:

1. We have very little information about AFO, his brother and most of the users. Surely, loss of information is to be expected considering how much time has past, but there are only 9 users in total and we already know the names of 3 of them. How were the names of the other six users and All For One's forgotten? Everything that has vague information is suspicious.
2. It was established again and again that the world isn't black and white and not all heroes are morally good. Just because the younger brother is fighting against a villain this doesn't make him a good person. The fact that we barely saw anything about him makes everything even more suspicious.
3. When the users visited Deku during his dream nobody bothered to introduce themselves or tell him what was going on and this is literally the first thing you have to do when you meet someone for the first time. In Japan people give eachother calling cards when they firstly meet someone new, even in informal situations for crying out loud. Was that added to the story to keep tension, due to not knowing their names? Well, firstly, just knowing their names wouldn't have killed much tension if at all; secondly, Deku was staying there missing parts of his body, due to not mastering all the OFA power, why didn't they do something about it? Surely, he wasn't really in danger, but he couldn't have known that, why not take a few minutes to tell the poor, good boy that everything his fine and maybe even try to get his missing body parts back? There's nothing urgent about him knowing the story about AFO and his brother. Remeber when Kota said that if you want to be a hero you should be a good person first?
4. Notice how vague the information the little brother gives is. Again, he didn't even introduce himself or the others, nor did he made his brother's name known. This is a sign that the names getting lost wasn't just due to time, but he and the other users don't really care about them. Why, telling someone your name isn't an act of arrogance. Not only that, but the first wielder kept on complaining how he'll never forgive his brother, but notice he doesn't actually mention clearly what his brother did. He said AFO manipulated people and some of his subordinates killed a group that didn't join them. What the first wielder didn't say, was what exactly did AFO ask the so called manipulated people to do. He also wasn't specific about that group. Killing is a very serious thing, but if you don't know the clear context of what was going on, you shouldn't judge. It's understandable that he wouldn't mention every piece of information about these things, but someone who cares about justice should give at least one clear example about what AFO did. He also didn't mention if his brother was always like this or not, it's very likely that he used to be good and the younger one was scared of his transformation and chooses to ignore it because of that. If he gives so little information, he very likely is hiding something.
5. Not only is there a lack of evidence if the first wielder is telling the truth and very little information, but even the given information is suspicious. He complained about his brother asking for favours and using people, but there are people like Stain who cause chaos, but geniuenly believe they are doing good. Yes, AFO is evil now, but this doesn't mean he was back then and didn't have good intentions. From what we've seen he kept his promises and wasn't really mean to his subordinates. The younger one mentioned he disposed of his subordinates, but did he really? The first wielder told two guys that wanted to make a pact with AFO that his brother isn't trustworthy, yet they ignored his warnings. So did AFO truly dispose of his subordinates, or was the disposal that bad? At no point were those guys shown as being unhappy, so it probably wasn't so bad. Not to mention that while they were in tough situations, they should've had second thoughts, so they're not blameless. In fact during the flashback AFO didn't mention wanting to be demon king at all. He said everything is like in the superhero comics, but he wasn't specific. Even if he truly was evil, he did try to make a reputation of a good guy, so wouldn't it have made more sense for him to compare himself with the hero? After his younger brother told him the villain always looses, the other said this isn't true. Plenty of people don't believe the villain always looses and are not evil themselves. AFO locked his brother in a vault for crying out loud, it's very likely he was mentally unstable and possibly not evil.
6. AFO mentioned his brother being the only family member he had left. Remember when Kota used to be angry at superheroes due to his parents losing their lives as superheroes? He was treated with compassion, yet AFO isn't shown getting any at all from his brother. Not to mention how revolted the younger one was at his brother for apparently using desperate people, but showed absolutely no sympathy when AFO mentioned him being the only family member left. It's qutie possible AFO did what he did back then due to losing the rest of the family. Of course it doesn't justify it, but you can feel sorry for the tragedy in AFO's life and still be angry at his actions. Not to mention that in many cases people get better if they overcome tragedies.
7. Notice how during the flashback AFO's brother seems to be the one starting to insult the ther one. He most likely started the fight himself, yet AFO kept on trying to find a middle ground, but the other one refused to. What kind of hero doesn't consider solving problems peacefully/finding a middle ground?
8. While it is heroic to risk your life for others, sometimes it's better not to. As stated, AFO tried to find a middle ground, why would his brother think talking wouldn't solve anything at all? What was the first wielder really thinking about when he refused to eat? Did he think his brother cares about him and will stop so that he will start eating again? If so how come he didn't say he knows there is good in his brother? In fact, AFO himself stated that sinners can change. Lastly, why didn't the younger one lie that he wants to join his brother so that he will be set free and become a double agent in order to stop his brother?

• The series is a Deconstructor Fleet. Yoichi didn't even tell Deku his own name when they first met. It doesn't make any sense. Names have been invented for a reason and it's not like Yoichi had a reason to hide his identity. Why show this character for the first time and not tell his name right away? It's not that big of a reveal. Also, the way he looked at Deku, a small smile, dead eyes and starring at Deku. He claims to like Deku and everyone else looked normally at him. Unlike some other characters, Youchi looks perfectly human. You might believe he's Creepy Good, but the only creepy things about hi appearence are the things mentioned earlier and the fact that he had the hair over his face. Why stare like that at someone you care about and trust?
• Maybe the first user wasn't wrong about not wanting to find a middle ground with AFO, but he sure as hell didn't make it clear how his brother was like in the past. It's possible that AFO was redeemable.
• Even if Yoichi is (mostly) right about his brother, that doesn't mean he is as awesome as he seems.

Yoichi didn't say what happened to the rest of the family. Why? Didn't they left an important impact in the brothers' lives? Does Yoichi not want anyone to even question if AFO has a freudian excuse? Does he want to demonize his brother?

• What if the theory that the first time AFO destroyed someones brain by giving them many quirks being by accident and that he was traumatized by it is true? Yoichi most likely knows this. He didn't tell Deku at least anything about it. I don't have a good feeling abou this.

Oji Harima was a Holder of One for All

One of the silhouettes of previous users shown in chapter 193 looks like Oji.

The First Wielder of One for All died of starvation/malnutrition:

After Yoichi’s unsuccessful attack on his brother, flashbacks imply that AFO kept his little brother locked up. On one visit he comments “You’ve stopped eating again,” and Yoichi seems even more frail and weak than previously. Yoichi may have been using hunger strikes to get his brother’s attention, or even more darkly for a genuine suicide attempt out of loneliness/despair (prolonged isolation is a torture technique after all).

Yoichi is eventually pulled out of his cell by the Second Wielder, though its possible that he is too far gone to be saved by the time they get to him. He then succumbs not long after transferring the newly-formed One For All to his savior.

Vigilante

Toxic Chainsaw will be either an Arc Villain or even the Big Bad of the spin-off, a la Kihara Gensei from A Certain Scientific Railgun

The main conflict seems to be revolved around the drugs that enhance Quirks. As such, Toxic Chainsaw might be able to use his Quirk for producing them, depending on how his Quirk works (and possibly turning him into an Evil Counterpart of a sort to Mina Ashido).

Overhaul and his crew will make an appearance

Or simply be a Greater-Scope Villain given the recent information about the Quirk-enhancing drugs. Maybe he will be The Man Behind the Man for the Arc Villain.

• Kendo Rappa appears in Chapter 86 but it's set several years prior, when he fought in an underground ring and he hadn't been defeated and recruited by Overhaul yet.

The Big Three will make an appearance

Cue to Hilarity Ensues when Knuckle Duster mistakes Tamaki for a villain.

The Vigilantes will eventually show up in the main series

With the Quirk Enhancing Drug making an appearance, it's possible to see Izuku and Knuckle Duster have a conflict of ideals.

Kuin Hachisuka was the Number Nine of the organization that spreads the Trigger drug

Though not stated outright, after the reveal of Number Six it's easy to go back and notice her name contains the kanji for the number 9. It also explains easily why her peculiar aspect, since she apparently was just a big parasitic wasp - she was never human to begin with, and like Six she was the fruit of lab experiments.

by the end of Vigilante the research that created Kuin and Six will be discontinued

The laboratory that produced them will be seized or destroyed, or All For One and the maker of those creatures (possibly the same doctor we know from the main series) will not deem them good to produce anymore, due to both a long time to grow them and their higher intelligence and autonomy, which is a double-edged sword. They will consequently concentrate on the stronger and easier to control Nomu, leading to the main series.

The underground fighter Drunken Lee is Hisashi Midoriya

In Chapter 86, a flashback introduces us to the underground fighting ring where Kendo Rappa used to fight. Before his appearance, however, we are shown a fight between a wolf-man mutant and a guy in a chinese attire called Drunken Lee; the latter wins thanks to his fire breath - a quirk that is known to belong to Hisashi Midoriya.

If Izuku's father was a deep cover agent whose job doesn't allow him to communicate easily due to the risk of blowing his covers, it would explain why he's been such a ghost in Izuku's life, and him working abroad would be just a cover story. Inko may not know the truth either, or know and been asked by Hisashi to keep it secret, or know and have decided on her own to hide the truth from Izuku, whom she felt was already quite affected by his being quirkless to know about his father. Hisashi having sacrificed staying on the side of his son while he was growing up in exchange for such a dangerous job, may also prompt Izuku to better understand Shigaraki's resentment towards heroes.

Finally, there's a precedent in Vigilante itself. The flashback arc about Aizawa presented us Oboro Shirakumo and his death, and just one month later the main series had the shocking reveal of him being Kurogiri. Likewise, this other flashabck may introduce some character that the main series will eventually explore further.