Summary
In any anime series, it’s inevitable that fans will always have a first impression of a character when they make their debut. However, now and again, there will be a few characters who, for one reason or another, will go completely against fan perceptions of who they are and what they can achieve, and this has happened many times throughout the course ofMy Hero Academia’s story.
This has even resulted in some pretty major plot twists, showcasing an entirely new side of the character that nobody could have anticipated. Considering it would be boring if fans were able to predict how every character ends up from the moment they appear, having them go against the grain and defy all expectations allows them to become even more memorable and intriguing, with theMy Hero Academiacharacters below being the prime examples.
This list contains heavy spoilers up to the end of the My Hero Academia manga.
7Gentle / La Brava
The Mischievous Villain Duo Turned Out To Be More Than Just One-Time Antagonists
When Gentle and La Brava show up during the school summer festival, it feels as though they are simply one-off antagonists who would only show up in that particular arc. After all, they didn’t exactly pose as much of a threat as the likes of All For One and Shigaraki. They were instead a lot more upbeat and bubbly, which fed into the joyful tone of this portion of the story.
However, the once-dangerous duo make a surprise return and come back in the final war to help out the heroes fend off Shigaraki. With La Brava using her hacking skills to fight back against Skeptic and Gentlesaving countless lives with his Elasticity Quirk, the two ended up becoming heroes at the end of the day, even though they seemed largely insignificant when they debuted.
6Endeavor
Horikoshi Dedicated A Lot Of Time To Exploring Endeavor’s Mindset And Growth
It’s revealed pretty early on in the story by Todoroki that Endeavor has been a pretty horrible father to his family. As someone who was obsessed with overtaking All Might, Endeavor would partake in a Quirk marriage in the hopes of producing offspring who would be more thancapable of exceeding his rival, though this ultimately led him to become more frustrated and eventually abusive towards his own children. Needless to say, it seemed pretty clear that this guy was going to be detestable for the entire series. At least, that’s what many fans were led to initially believe.
Endeavor as a character is explored in great depth throughout the course of the story, and once he eventually achieves that number one Pro Hero position, he begins to question how (or if) he can make up for his past sins. This would have seemed impossible in the early arcs, but by the end, many fans actually came to see Endeavor in a different light. Though his past cannot be excused, it was definitely a surprise to see him become so regretful of his actions.
5Kurogiri
Shigaraki’s Spooky Butler Is Revealed To Be A Lot More Human Than Some May Have Believed
While it was clear that Kurogiri was a little different from the other Nomu who appear in the series, primarily because of his appearance, it was easy to assume that he was simply just another one of the hundreds of dangerous mutants who had been conjured out for the League of villains. He would therefore blend into the background anytime the League showed up on screen, but it’s eventually revealed that he’s actually much more important than many would have anticipated.
It turns out thatKurogiri is actually Oboro, a childhood friend of Aizawa who was turned into a loyal servant for Shigaraki after his body was crushed in a tragic accident. He would even go on to play a pretty massive role in the final war, where his Warp Gate allowed the heroes to execute their attack strategy to take down All For One and Shigaraki.
4Minoru Mineta
It Turns Out that Mineta Isn’t A Complete Coward After All
Minetta is often considered the most disliked character in all ofMy Hero Academia, and it’s primarily because he possesses so many negative qualities that make him hard to love. One example of this was his cowardice. Over the course of the story, there are several instances where he would decide to hide and run away anytime a villain appeared, so it’s understandable why onlookers would see him as rather useless in combat and unwilling to stand up for his friends.
Though Mineta does still retain his perverted nature and irritating persona for the entirety of the series, he does at least start to grow a little more confident, despite this seeming like an impossibility many arcs ago. Not only would he join his fellow students in standing up against Deku after he went rogue, but Minetta evenbegged All For One to take his Quirkinstead of Tokoyami, which is certainly no small feat considering how powerful this villain was during the final war.
3Hawks
Playful And Lazy But Also Dedicated To Keeping Society Safe
While a Pro Hero obviously needs to bepowerful enough to fend off villains, they can also end up earning this position because of their popularity. This is something Endeavor explains to the audience when Hawks is first introduced, and when paired with his lazy and relaxed personality, Hawks seems as though he has simply cruised into being a hero without actually caring about helping and saving those in need.
As the series goes on, though, it becomes clear that fans' initial impressions of this quirky hero were actually completely wrong; underneath the surface, Hawks is actually someone who is willing to put his own reputation on the line for the sake of maintaining a peaceful society. For example, he would willingly go undercover to cozy up with the villains, only so he could extract crucial information for the heroes to use, proving just how loyal he is to the cause, even though he might not seem like it at first.
2Yuga Aoyama
Yuga Was Hiding His True Affiliations From Deku And The Other Students
Considering most ofthe students in class 1-Aare very weird and outlandish, it means Aoyama never seemed out of place and felt like he was just another teenager who simply wanted to become a hero. Sure, he may have acted a little strange every now and again, such as when he was peeping into Deku’s bedroom while he was sleeping, but many fans presumed he was simply just a little awkward and just needed to become a little more confident.
The truth, however, was that Aoyama had actually been a mole working for All For One, and he was tasked with relaying the students' locations to the evil mastermind so that he could keep tabs on them. Needless to say, Aoyama completely betrayed fans' trust when he revealed who he really was and even how he came to acquire his Quirk in the first place.
1Deku
The Conclusion To Deku’s Personal Story Shattered A Lot Of Theories And Expectations
Considering that Deku is the main character of the series, in classic shonen anime fashion, it seemed likely he would end the story as Japan’s top hero. This, however, isn’t exactly what ends up happening once the final war is over and done with. In order to defeat Shigaraki once and for all, Deku is forced to give up his Quirk by fusing the last remnants of it into Shigaraki’s body, tearing him apart from the inside out.
Deku therefore ends the storynot as the next All Might, but as a teacher without a Quirk, preparing the next generation of kids for the dangers they will face once they grow up and become heroes themselves. Deku sometimes seems a little predictable in terms of his growth, but the conclusion to his story is definitely one that nobody saw coming, proving many people wrong in their predictions.
