My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising sends Izuku Midoriya (Justin Briner) and the rest of class 1-A to the isolated and peaceful Nabu Island to run a hero agency as part of the Hero Work Recommendation Project. When powerful villains arrive on the island intent on stealing the quirk of the little boy Katsuma Shimano (Maxey Whitehead), the fledgling heroes need to quickly navigate the learning curve from heroes-in-training to professional heroes in order to protect every citizen on Nabu Island and defeat the villains.
Heroes Rising is the second film based on Kohei Horikoshi’s manga series, My Hero Academia. Set in a superhuman society where 80% of the population inherit an ability known as “quirks,” Izuku Midoriya dreams of becoming the number one hero despite being born quirk-less. When the current top hero All Might (Christopher Sabat) decides to transfer his quirk, One For All, over to him, Izuku becomes his successor and trains to become a pro hero at the prestigious U.A. High School. While the series normally focuses on Izuku and his classmates’ hero academia, Heroes Rising follows class 1-A on their first real job as professional heroes without any backup, after each of them have passed their provisional hero license exam.
Heroes Rising is set during the events of season 4 of the Japanese anime series, occurring sometime after Sir Nighteye’s hero agency infiltrated the Shie Hassaikai compound and captured the Yakuza group’s leader, Overhaul (Kellen Goff). In Heroes Rising, after a few incidents in which Pro Heroes have lost their quirks permanently, the Hero Public Safety Commission believe the League of Villains is behind the attacks, since they are currently in possession of the Shie Hassaikai drug that permanently disables quirks. However, the real villain behind the attacks is Nine (Johnny Yong Bosch), a powerful villain with a “quirk-stealing” ability that can steal up to nine individual quirks after undergoing quirk enhancement experiments. As Nine attempts to steal Katsuma’s cell activation quirk, Izuku, or as he’s known by his hero name “Deku,” is forced to make a tough call in order to save the islanders, resulting in one of the biggest twist endings in My Hero Academia history.
What Happens In My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising’s Ending
In the My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising ending, Nine and his group of villains launch their final attack on class 1-A, who set up a more defendable base within the island’s castle ruins. Using a strategic plan to separate Nine from his associates, the heroes force Slice (Lydia Mackay) underground to face Tokoyami (Josh Grelle) and Ashido (Caitlin Glass), while Chimera (Greg Dukie) is redirected into the forest to oppose Todoroki (David Matranga), Tsuyu (Monica Rial), Iida (J. Michael Tatum), and Kirishima (Justin Cook). As Deku, Bakugo (Clifford Chapin), and the rest of class 1-A attack Nine in waves, they begin to exhaust Nine’s power and buy some time for the Pro Heroes on mainland Japan to receive their distress signal.
To protect Katsuma and Mahoro (Dani Chambers), Deku and Bakugo overcome their rivalry and fight Nine side-by-side, only faltering as Nine injects himself with what appears to be a quirk-enhancing drug. As Nine’s power rages uncontrollably and he creates a massive tornado, Deku comes up with a crazy plan that will give them the extra strength they need to defeat Nine and offers to transfer his quirk One For All over to Bakugo. Knowing that he may not have access to One For All afterwards and that his dream of becoming the number one hero will be over, Deku passes the quirk down to Bakugo. The transfer increases Bakugo’s power tenfold and Deku himself is able to fight with the embers of One For All. With double One For All, the two of them save everyone on the island and defeat the villain Nine, achieving both of their goals simultaneously.
Does Deku Still Have One For All?
While the twist of Heroes Rising is one of the most shocking moments within My Hero Academia, the ending presents a bit of a problem: the main character in a series about superheroes no longer has a superpower. After Bakugo and Deku defeat Nine with a surge of power that almost levels the island, All Might and the Pro Heroes arrive on Nabu Island to provide assistance. Deku confesses to All Might that he transferred One For All over to Bakugo and asks for his forgiveness since Deku believes he let All Might down as his successor. All Might comforts Deku, telling him that he made the right choice and that he’ll always be part of One For All’s history having increased its strength with his courage.
In that moment, glowing red streams begin to course through Deku’s body, showing that One For All is still present within Izuku. All Might provides two possible explanations why One For All didn’t transfer to Bakugo, the first being that Bakugo fell unconscious before the transfer could finish, or the more likely reason, that the past bearers of One For All allowed Deku to remain the current wielder after viewing his display of heroism. Settling the problem almost as instantly as it arrives, Heroes Rising provides a satisfactory resolution that neatly wraps up the film while also suggesting an intriguing new concept - that the past bearers of One For All aren’t simply vestiges, but appear to have some agency over the current bearer in the present.
What Was The League Of Villains’ Plan?
One aspect of the plot that remains unanswered in the My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising ending is the reason for the League of Villains’ involvement in Nine’s plan for world domination. Since Tomura Shigaraki (Eric Vale), the leader of the League of Villains, has his own plan to alter hero society, it doesn’t seem likely that the League intended for Nine’s utopia to be successful, and instead supported Nine for their own hidden agenda. While the League only makes a few short appearances within Heroes Rising, Shigaraki’s presence seems to loom in the background throughout the film like a puppeteer pulling the strings. So what exactly were the League of Villains planning within Heroes Rising? One possible reason Shigaraki may have supported Nine’s temporary reign of tyranny might have been to distract the Pro Heroes from the League’s own movements.
Introduced in My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, the Pro Hero Hawks (Zeno Robinson) begins to investigate four different assaults early on in the film where Pro Heroes were knocked unconscious and awoke to discover that their quirks were gone permanently. While the Heroes Public Safety Commission suggests it’s related to the League’s quirk disabling drug, Hawks believes it’s more likely a villain similar to All For One who has a “quirk-stealing” ability. However, Hawks seems to be missing some vital information that only the audience is privy to. Throughout Heroes Rising, when Nine attacks class 1-A on Nabu Island, he’s only ever seen using five total quirks, including shooting lasers from his fingers, creating a shield of air, sprouting dragon-heads from his back, stealing quirks, and controlling the weather. Since the last two quirks were powers Nine already had, the former given to him through quirk enhancement experiments and the latter naturally inherited, that means that Nine wasn’t in possession of the fourth and final quirk taken from one of the Pro Heroes.
If it wasn’t already clear that Shigaraki and the League must have stolen the fourth quirk for themselves, there is a scene in Heroes Rising that foreshadows the League’s involvement. When Hawks is investigating Mr. Shimano’s assault, he states “So maybe the suspect doesn’t want people to know what quirk he stole. Why does he need to hide it?” With Shigaraki watching him in the distance, it’s safe to assume that he and the League released Nine intentionally to execute their plan of obtaining the mystery quirk undetected by the Pro Heroes.
Deku And Bakugo Learn To Win And Save Together
While Deku and Bakugo have always been rivals within the anime series, Heroes Rising is the first time the two characters put aside their differences and learn to work together. Bakugo’s turning point in Heroes Rising arrives when Bakugo eavesdrops on Deku and Katsuma’s conversation about what motivates them to become heroes. When Deku asks Katsuma what type of hero he wants to be, Katsuma says he wants to be able to beat up villains, which has always been Bakugo’s main motivation to become a hero himself. As Deku details his own point of view, that keeping people safe means more to him than defeating any villain, Bakugo seems to finally understand Deku’s perspective and begins to respect him more as a hero. Finding mutual respect for one another despite their differing viewpoints allows them to work together when it matters most, combining their motivations of winning and saving in order to stop Nine.
The Real Meaning Of My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising’s Ending
While the film is centered on the conflict between Nine’s group of idealist villains and class 1-A, the overarching meaning behind the My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising ending has nothing to do with Nine at all. When observing the events of Heroes Rising from a different vantage point, the plot isn’t about the failure of Nine’s Utopia, but rather the future success of Shigaraki’s new world order. While Nine was defeated at the end of the film, his belief in the world belonging to those who are the most powerful is actually proven to be correct in his fight against Deku and Bakugo, who are able to take down Nine using the doubled strength of One For All. While that extra power procured a happy ending within Heroes Rising, the idea that more power can make a difference sets a dangerous precedent about the future of hero society.
While the League of Villains’ movements are shadowed throughout the film, the events of Heroes Rising vaguely hints at the League’s future plan. In the flashbacks detailing how Nine acquired multiple quirks, the mysterious “Doctor” associated with All For One is seen in a lab performing quirk enhancement experiments, not just on Nine, but on many different subjects. It may be possible, based off of the past Nomu experiments and the events of Heroes Rising, that the League intends to develop a formula that will allow Shigaraki to utilize multiple quirks and the experiments on Nine brought them one step closer to that eventuality.
Not only does Heroes Rising establish a future where the villains can acquire multiple quirks, but it allows for the possibility that Deku himself could utilize all of the quirks found within One For All. When Nine attempts to steal Deku’s quirk in Heroes Rising, he’s unable to do so because he can only store nine quirks at a time and there are traces of the individual quirks that once belonged to the past bearers remaining within One For All. With the potential of accessing multiple quirks on both sides, My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising seems to be lining up a future showdown between Shigaraki and Deku where the one with the most power wins.
More: My Hero Academia Is Perfect For an Open-World Game
