My Hero Academia: Kohei Horikoshi Reveals The Original Ending He Had Written For Deku, and How He Changed It

This article contains spoilers from My Hero Academia’s Ending.

Summary

Kohei Horikoshi originally planned for Deku to become a teacher, but changed it to focus on unity.
Deku losing One For All was always part of the plan to explore the true meaning of heroism.
While Deku’s ending changed, he remains a hero despite initially being planned to be quirkless.

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Horikoshi Was Asked About The Change Of Endings Recently

Where To Read And Watch My Hero Academia

My Hero Academia has proven itself to be one of the most popular series out there over the course of the last decade or so. One of the biggest reasons for this is the protagonist, Izuku Midoriya, who, right from the very first chapter, grabbed the attention of all fans, especially due to his determination to be the greatest Hero.

My Hero Academia: Horikoshi Just Revealed The Strongest Hero In The World After The Final War

There are many powerful heroes in MHA, but one stands out as the strongest, and it isn’t Deku.

Thanks to the prologue of the series, fans knew very well that Deku would go on to become the greatest. However, along the way, the author made several changes to his character. In fact, the author changed Deku’s ending entirely, and he recently revealed what his old plans for Luffy were.

Horikoshi Was Asked About The Change Of Endings Recently

The Recent MHA Art Event Revealed More Information To Fans
Horikoshi Confirmed Changing Endings

My Hero Academia has held a ton of events lately, and this has proven to be great for the fans, especially because the manga ended a while ago and they are getting more content to stay attached to the beautiful world that Kohei Horikoshi crafted. From the release of one-shots, all the way to releasing the most comprehensive Fanbook, and even an art book, My Hero Academia has received a ton of content as of late.

This is the story of how I became the greatest Hero! — Izuku Midoriya

At the same time, a recent article exhibition for My Hero Academia was held as well, and it also revealed a ton of exciting Horikoshi art, and at the same time, some juicy bits of information as well. Horikoshi was asked about the ending of My Hero Academia and how he went on to change it, and much to the surprise of the fans, he revealed everything there is to know about it.

Horikoshi Reveals Deku Was Initially Supposed To Remain Quirkless

Deku Losing The One For All Was Always The Plan

Kohei Horikoshi was recently asked about the ending of My Hero Academia. More specifically, fans were confused about the fact that the series of My Hero Academia started with Deku saying he became the Greatest Hero. Later on, Horikoshi switched this story up, and fans got something else entirely. To this day, nobody is sure why Horikoshi made the change, but now, the answer is quite clear. Kohei Horikoshi has officially confirmed to the fans why and how the ending, specifically for Deku, was changed, and what his initial plans were. Here’s what he had to say:

Question: Chapter 1 ended with “This is the story of how I became the greatest hero”, and in chapter 324 that changed to “This is the story of how we all became the greatest heroes”. Then in chapter 430, the story ends with “This is the story of how we all continue to reach a hand out to others together”. Was this the plan from the beginning of the series?

Horikoshi’s answer: No! It wasn’t! I originally planned for it to end with Deku becoming a teacher and saying “You can be a hero!”. Having used up his powers but looking fully confident… like that. The reason it changed is that this series was no longer a story just about Deku and One For All. In this series I was exploring “What does it mean to be the greatest hero?” and the answer this manga came to is that it means “reaching a hand out to others”, so I thought I would put the answer in writing and that’s how the final monologue of chapter 430 became what it is now.

Deku Is A Hero Again

While Horikoshi initially wanted Deku to remain quirkless and stick to teaching, things are very different now. Deku isn’t just a teacher, but he’s also a Hero. This was made possible with technological progress over the years. While this does dull his initial ending a bit, it almost makes up for Deku losing his quirk, and in a way, is good.

My Hero Academia: Horikoshi Pays A Big Tribute To Dragon Ball And Akira Toriyama

Horikoshi, the creator of MHA, pays tribute to the late Akira Toriyama.

Where To Read And Watch My Hero Academia

The My Hero Academia manga was wrapped up by the mangaka, Horikoshi, in 2024. The story features 430 chapters for fans to read. All these chapters can be found on Manga Plus, as the story used to be serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump when it was still ongoing.

When it comes to the anime, this series is still awaiting its final season, which will be released later this year. The series can be watched on Crunchyroll.

My Hero Academia

Release Date: April 2, 2016
Network: TBS, MBS, Nippon TV
Directors: Shouji Ikeno, Tsuyoshi Tobita, Ikuro Sato, Takudai Kakuchi, Masashi Abe, Tetsuya Miyanishi, Kazuma Komatsu, Yoshifumi Sasahara, Masayuki Otsuki, Daisuke Tsukushi, Takayuki Yamamoto, Yohei Fukui, Takuro Tsukada, Masatoyo Takada, Naomi Nakayama, Sayaka Morikawa, Takanori Yano