After a particularly savage beating from one Katsuki Bakugo following the Sludge Villain incident, Izuku Midoriya falls into a coma for a year. When he wakes, he is not the same person he was a year prior.
Verdant Revolution
by KarraHazetail is a My Hero Academia fanfic that tells the story of an Izuku Midoriya that spent 18 years in a completely different, war-torn world while he was comatose. Those years at war have had significant impacts on his psyche, and the boy that wakes up a year later is shrewd, smart, and more than a little skeptical of the hero society he worshipped before. He's still going to be a hero, but he also decides to start turning society on its head by pointing out the flaws beneath the shiny surface.
Verdant Revolution provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: As is the case in canon, Endeavor is guilty of this with his treatment of his children. Additionally, the parents of Himiko Toga end up getting arrested for child abuse among other charges due to their treatment of her.
- Adaptation Name Change:
- Instead of Pinky, Mine gets to go by her first choice of Alien Queen.
- Iida goes by Overdrive instead of Ingenium.
- Momo calls herself Genesis instead of Creati.
- Setsuna calls herself Arytiss instead of Lizardy.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Many of the first-year Hero Students are severely traumatised from the USJ Incident where that didn't really happen in canon.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Setsuna can turn into a Raptor dinosaur instead of just splitting her body parts.
- Affably Evil: All For One is incredibly polite when he and Kurogiri drop into Moonlit Industries to pay Izuku a visit.All For One: I see that you know who I am, young man. I must say that I am surprised you would be so blunt with me. But we can still have some decorum, no?
- Age Lift: As in many other fics, U.A. is a university here instead of a high school, shifting all of the students' ages up.
- Air-Vent Passageway: Nezu likes to use these.
- All There in the Manual: A lot of extra information about the other world can be found in the comments for each chapter, with the author replying to questions from readers.
- Artificial Limbs: In chapter 34, it is revealed that Izuku has been providing prototype versions of these to amputee patients at the hospital he works at. In the next chapter, Uraraka decides that she wants to get prosthetic legs in order to return to U.A..
- Ascended Extra: Hatsume Mei is introduced early on and quickly becomes one of the main characters, helping Izuku to design and build his support gear.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: While Izuku is at the police station after the robber from the coffee shop is arrested, he looks at a case board in Naomasa's office and just about immediately deduces that the three cases being treated as separate incidents are all connected. This is also our first glance into what Stain is up to.
- Badass Boast: Izuku gives an incredible one to All For One of all people:Izuku: Let me make something clear for you right now, though. I have no interest in the feud you have going with the number one for some reason. I don’t even particularly care why. But if you come after one of my own? I will make your life a living hell. I don’t have the qualms that normal heroes have. I will hunt and kill anyone and everyone that chooses to associate with you. I wonder. How will you explain to Tomura in Hell why his last moments were him choking on his own blood. Make an appointment like a normal person, and come with a proper business deal. For now however, last warning before I get impolite. Get out of my office.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Izuku is this when dealing with bureaucrats, and he comments on the attire of All For One and Kurogiri when they visit him at Moonlit Industries.
- Big "WHAT?!": Izuku shouts a loud "What!" the first time Hatsume mentions making babies with him.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Izuku dominates most battles he's in.
- Darker and Edgier: In spades. The dangers of being a hero are discussed with frankness, injuries are described in all their grisly reality, and the psychological impact of death and destruction are depicted honestly.
- Death by Adaptation: Shishida Jurota dies of his injuries from the USJ Incident.
- Deconstruction Fic: Deconstructs the common Quirkless!Izuku setup, as well as having many, many points where the flaws of both heroes and a society that revolves around them are dissected with brutal frankness.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Jiro is this when she sees Izuku hauling trash at Dagobah Beach.
- The Dreaded: Izuku becomes this to Dabi before hiring him on as head of security for Moonlit Industries.
- Get Out!: Nedzu tells Hawks to get out after laughing at the HPSC's demands that he removes certain students from the Hero Course.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Izuku can makes his eyes glow, and they will if he gets really pissed.
- Grade Skipper: Due to his experiences from the other world, Izuku tests out of his remaining school within a couple of months after waking up, going on to earn multiple doctoral degrees.
- HA HA HA—No: When Hawks tries to deliver demands from the HPSC to remove certain students, Nedzu just laughs before abruptly stopping and telling Hawks to Get Out!.
- Hidden Depths: Izuku came back from the other world with quite a few new skills, such as woodworking, the ability to play a guitar he built himself, and can rewrite the human genome and create advanced artificial intelligences.
- Holding Out for a Hero: Discussed at length between Izuku and Mirio, where through the trolley problem, Izuku gets Mirio to understand that society has become dependent on Heroes, with Hero Society becoming a crutch instead of the pillar it's supposed to be with society-wide detrimental behaviours and beliefs.
- Home Base: Moonlit Industries serves as as a fortress for Izuku and Mei, as well as Dabi and Himiko.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Snipe, in chapter 31 after All Might gives Izuku One For All without his consent. Nezu joins him.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Izuku is genuinely heroic, but his experience in both his original world and the world he visited while in a coma has left him extremely jaded.
- Mad Scientist: Mei Hatsume as per canon, gets crazily excited about her inventions. Izuku also qualifies, though he specializes in the biological disciplines whereas Mei is the expert on mechanical engineering.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Shouto is shocked by how badly he hurt Hagakure as collateral damage during the USJ Incident.
- Oh, Crap!: People react with shock and fear whenever Izuku decides to drop the mask.Izuku gave him a wide smile now. Dabi felt another chill run down his spine. There was a predator in this alley, and it wasn’t him.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: In chapter 18, Jiro narrowly escapes a rape attempt by a former employee of her parent’s store. Needless to say, Izuku and Dabi make sure the assailant is permanently taken care of.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: Izuku is fond of giving these to people, up to and including All Might, Nezu, and All For One.
- Scary Teeth: Nezu is shown to have a mouth full of fangs in chapter 14.
- Secret-Keeper Mei is the one person Izuku trusts his secrets with.
- Shout-Out:
- In chapter 5 when discussing Izuku’s equipment, he mentions that it needs to be capable of underwater combat, in case he runs into someone with a “water bending quirk”.
- The end of chapter 16 has Mei remembering a quote from “an old fantasy novel”.
It was then that a passage from an old fantasy novel she’d read popped into her head. She hadn’t understood it when she'd read it. Not fully, not its deeper meaning. Now she did, and she whispered it to the sun as it crept up for all to see. “Ten spears go to battle and nine shatter. War didn’t forge the one that remained. No, it identified the one that wouldn’t break.”
- Shown Their Work: A little Googling makes it quite apparent that the author isn’t just handwaving things. References to things like the standard levels of protection for ballistic armor, the weight of a cube of pure tungsten, and specific behaviors in particle physics are all accurate.
- Super-Strength: Izuku is incredibly strong, but it's not from a quirk. It's a result of genetic modifications he received while in the other world.
- Tears of Joy: Jiro cries happy tears when Izuku and Mei make her a device that protects her quirk from being overwhelmed. The fact that they care enough to help her out like this brings the tears.
- These Hands Have Killed: Several of the first year hero course students are traumatized from the fact they were forced to kill in self-defence.
- Time Skip: There's one of about six months between chapters ten and eleven to give the time to build the Moonlit Industries offices.
- Training from Hell: Several examples:
- Izuku puts Mei and Jiro through the wringer in preparation for the U.A. entrance exam.
- Izuku himself went through this during his time in the other world.
- When Izuku goes to take the entrance exam for U.A., his written test is an entire ream of paper with the title, "Midoriya's Super Special Entrance Exam".Nezu: “Oh, and Midoriya?” Midoriya looked up at him, clearly desperate to be left alone to get started. “The pages are double-sided.” Midoriya’s eyes went wide, and he snarled an inhuman sound before his head whipped down and he started writing faster than any of the other three could even keep up with.
- Later on, after Izuku replaces All Might as Class 1A's Heroics Instructor he starts to put all of Class 1A through this.
- Will Not Tell a Lie: Izuku says something along these lines on multiple occasions.Izuku: I don’t lie. Manipulate, redirect, twist, and on occasion, I’ll outright not answer. But I don’t lie. So do not ask a question that you don’t want the answer to.
- What the Hell, Hero?: A common theme in this fic is that heroes often don't take the time to really analyze a situation before intervening, making things worse in many cases. Of particular note is the reaction to All Might giving Izuku One For All without his knowledge or consent, which is a blunder so bad Gran Torino gives All Might a severe beating for it.
- Wham Line: Several:
- In chapter 29, a big one in the aftermath of Class 1A's first combat training exercise:
Uraraka: Why can't I feel my legs?!- Chapter 30 drops another one:
Izuku: Oh, I’m going to kill him. That motherfucker dosed me.
