When My Hero Academia originally kicked off, Izuku Midoriya didn’t seem to have much of a future in the hero industry. Even the number one hero, All Might, directly instructed the young student to give up on the unrealistic dream. All the heroes of this world all have one thing in common: a quirk. These quirks give their user a special ability or power. However, only 80% of the population have them, leaving the other 20% (such as Midoriya) quirkless.
It wasn’t until All Might saw Midoriya risked his life to save Katsuki Bakugo that anyone believed he could be a hero. All Might saw something in Midoriya that no one else has thus far. While he may be quirkless, he has the potential to be a great hero because of his instinct to save every person in danger. This quality is proof enough that Midoriya could be an incredible hero if it were not for his lack of power. However, All Might is able to change that, as he passes his own quirk onto Midoriya.
Though he now had a powerful quirk named One For All, it is still up to Midoriya to live up to his quirk. His training at U.A. has led to further familiarity with his quirk. He no longer needs to push his body to use his power. While he still has a ways to go, Midoriya has proven he has become the ultimate hero that All Might knew he would be, but not because of his power. Chapter 295, titled Tenacious, displays Midoriya’s greatest quality. It is because of his actions in this chapter he can be considered the ultimate hero.
The previous few chapters have shown the ongoing battle between Midoriya (aka Deku) and League of Villains leader Tomura Shigaraki. All For One, the founder of the villainous organization, has been controlling Shigaraki, pushing him to embrace his hatred in order to become more powerful. It’s clear that Shigaraki has been progressively fading into the background as All For One continues to take over his body. While everyone sees Shigaraki as just a villain, Deku sees him in a different light. He believes that Shigaraki needs saving from All For One, and he seems determined to help.
His perspective here is a perfect callback to his actions in Chapter 1 of the manga. Though Katsuki Bakugo had not been kind to Midoriya in the past, he still felt a compulsion to save him. This is exactly why All Might chose Midoriya to become the next user of One For All in the first place. Though he may have work to do in regards to his physical power, Izuku Midoriya has already proven himself to be the ultimate hero of the series. It has been made clear that All Might chose correctly in his successor. Readers can look forward to seeing the young hero embrace his heroism even further, both in his physical power and optimistic mentality.
