Formerly Quirkless, Izuku Midoriya inherits All Might's Quirk and now must learn how to use it properly in order to pass the entrance exam for U.A. High School.
On the day the students were supposed to turn in their desired high school, Midoriya Izuku, a young quirkless boy that dreams of being a hero is bullied by his former childhood friend, Bakugo Katsuki. On his way back home, he is attacked and almost killed by a villain with a sludge quirk, but is saved by the #1 Hero, All Might. Grabbing at him to ask him a question, the two end up flying around and on the kerfuffle, the bottle where All Might held the sludge villain is dropped.
All Might lands and reveals his true, weakened for to Midoriya, revealing he has lost a lot of his power after a great fight. He also tells Midoriya to not try to be a hero, as quirkless boy wouldn't be able to fight villains. Dejected, Midoriya tries to get home while All Might looks for the sludge villain, who released himself and is now attacking Bakugo. The heroes at the scene can do little to help due to the location and the fire caused by Bakugo's quirk.
All Might is paralyzed as he has used up all his power that day. Midoriya sees the scene where nobody is helping them and rushes forward attempting to help his former friend, inspiring All Might to act and finishing the villain with a single punch, saving everyone involved and flying away. On the way home, Midoriya is stopped by Bakugo who refuses his help, and also by All Might, who sees potential in him and takes him under his wing as his apprentice and the one who will receive his quirk.
In the following ten months leading to the entrance exam of the prestigious U.A. High, Midoriya is trained by cleaning a trashed down beach and muscle training by All Might.
On the day of the exam, Midoriya finally cleans the entire beach, and receives All Might's quirk by eating a strand of his hair.
On U.A., Midoriya meets the uptight Tenya Ida and the perky Ochaco Uraraka. The exam is about destroying robots to gather points. Unable to fight, Midoriya sees himself with 0 points by the time they are supposed to clear up and run from a giant, more dangerous robot worth 0 points. The robot however catches Uraraka and Midoriya saves her by using his super strength, mangling his limbs but destroying the robot in the process. Uraraka saves him from an otherwise deadly fall with her gravity powers, but Midoriya stays with 0 points.
Weeks later, Midoriya receives a message from U.A., showing he gained a total score in rescue points in spite of gaining 0 fight points and has therefore entered the hero course.
- Izuku Midoriya: Origin
- Roaring Muscles
- Entrance Exam
- Starting Line
Tropes:
- Adults Are Useless: Most notably, Midoriya's homeroom teacher in middle school doesn't intervene at all when Bakugo assaults Midoriya right in the middle of class.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Midoriya asks both his mother and All Might if Quirkless people like him are capable of becoming heroes. His mom has no straight answer and all she could is tearfully apologize. All Might disagrees at first, but sees the boy in action in trying to save Bakugo and later says yes, he can be a hero.
- Asshole Victim: Given that Bakugo had earlier told Izuku to take a swan dive off the roof, nobody feels sorry for him when he's targeted by the sludge villain.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Both of All Might's rescues are played in this light, because of his grandiose appearance.
- Midoriya's leap to save Uraraka in the entrance exam is played in an equally flashy light and is one of the most iconic scenes from this story.
- Break the Cutie: As a small child, Midoriya was heartbroken to learn he was among the 20% who'd never develop a Quirk.
- Characterization Marches On: Bakugo, while still a jerkass, dares Izuku to kill himself in the first chapter, which is going too far even for him. The author outright admits this is the case with that line.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Deconstructed. Midoriya's instinctive attempt to rescue Bakugo from the Sludge Villain accomplished next to nothing. One of the heroes even chastises him for nearly getting himself killed. On the other hand, it was this incident that shamed All Might into action and showed him Midoriya had the stuff of greatness in him.
- Damsel in Distress: Zigzagged during the entrance exam. Ochaco is trapped beneath heavy rubble when a massive hazard-bot suddenly appears in the middle of UA's practical exam. She manages to escape under her own power while Deku is busy demolishing the robot and gets to rescue him before he faceplants from fifty stories up.
- Establishing Character Moment: As is part and parcel for the beginning of a series, this arc has several:
- Izuku Midoriya: he's first shown standing up for a battered boy, defending him from bullies. This highlights his compassionate, considerate nature and his inability to ignore those in danger. For better or worse, it also shows how he is willing to put his own life on the line to help others in need, reckless as he is.
- Katsuki Bakugo: in his very first scene in middle school, it's made clear that he's as an arrogant, cantankerous douchebag who is especially cruel to Midoriya and sees his aspiration to be a Hero to be a personal attack because Midoriya's Quirkless. It also shows that he is brimming with Pride, wanting to be the great and the only one qualified to enter UA from his and Midoriya's school.
- All Might: in his debut video, the essence of his heroics are on display very clearly: his desire to bring hope and peace to people are reflected in his beaming smile and his words of reassurance. While cynical as times due to his condition, he is reminded through Midoriya's actions as to why he became a hero in the first place.
- Ochaco Uraraka: the first thing she does is stop Midoriya from face-planting with her Quirk and wishing him luck on the exam; this goes a long way to show that she's a tender, compassionate young lady.
- Exact Words: Midoriya asks if he can become a hero even if he lacks a quirk. All Might hesitantly answers "no" after his true form is exposed but later, seeing the boy have the resolve in trying to save Bakugo, changes his answer to "yes". Both answers are right, however. Midoryia has the will to be a hero, but he must have a Quirk to stand a chance against dangerous situations and villains.
- Heroes' Frontier Step: Izuku Midoriya takes his step when he dashes in to try and save Bakugo from being killed by the Sludge Villain, despite being Quirkless and scared to tears. This action prompts All Might to leap back into action despite his power limit and later offer Midoriya One For All.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Izuku Midoriya wanted to be a Hero badly, but being Quirkless, it only made him the butt of jokes for not being able to let go of his dreams. He even suffers a Broken Pedestal moment when his idol, All Might, tells him he can never be a hero without a Quirk. It isn't until he attempts to rescue his former best friend from a creature he caused All Might to lose that All Might has a change of heart and allows him to inherit his Quirk.
- Karmic Jackpot: All-Might's decision to name Izuku his successor was because Izuku was willing to give his life for someone else in-spite of his lack of strength.
- The villain points are used to rank a student's physical prowess, but rescue points are used to tally a would-be student's moral character, a thing that separates heroes from villains (aside from government clearance, anyway). Because Izuku went back to save Ochaco from getting crushed by the zero-pointer instead of taking the time to collect villain points, he wound up passing exclusively for his act of heroism.
- Noodle Incident: All Might suffered a grievous internal injury from a battle against a dangerous villain in the past; one that costs him half of his stomach. Because of this, he is unable to keep his muscle form for very long and constantly coughs up blood when strained too much. He never goes into detail of the battle or who was responsible, as it was a closed secret from the public. We eventually learn the truth much later in the series.
- The Reveal: Midoriya is shocked to learn that his hero idol, All Might, can be reduced to a sick and scrawny man when he is unable to maintain his iconic form, due to an injury that has been kept secret from the public. Furthermore, he learns that All Might's Quirk, One For All, is passed down from person to person rather than being born with it. And he is now chosen to wield it.
- Secret-Keeper: Midoriya becomes one for All Might when he witnesses his true form. All Might beseeches the boy not to write or talk about it to anyone.
- Secret Test of Character: The entrance exam is revealed to be one. While indeed looking for those that had strength and ability, the examiners were also looking for those who would put others' well being before themselves, rewarding them with hidden "Rescue Points". Midoriya passes for this reason as he saves Uraraka from a rampaging machine, which contains no Combat Points. Uraraka also gains plenty of rescue points for saving Midoriya after he destroys the machine.
- Training Montage: Izuku spends 10 months building up his body by clearing trash off a beach so that he'll be strong enough to inherit One for All without exploding.
