My Hero Academia is about to delve into its biggest conflict yet with the “Meta Liberation War”, which will see Tomura Shigaraki lead an army of fanatical believers in a free-quirk society against an army of heroes that have been secretly preparing for the coming war. However, as the future looms dark and terrible on the horizon, chapter 258 of the My Hero Academia manga drops a new revelation that seems to lend a whole lot more credit to a theory about Izuku Midoriya’s past as a quirkless fanboy, and his possible connection to All For One and the villain’s right-hand man, Dr. Ujiko.
Warning: My Hero Academia Chapter 258 SPOILERS Follow!
Chapter 258 of the My Hero Academia manga sees the Pro Heroes make a decisive preemptive strike in the Meta Liberation War. Using intel from a spy embedded with the League of Villains / Meta Liberation Front, the Pro Heroes get locations on all the MLA bases and move to take them all down in one coordinated strike. Meanwhile, Endeavor leads a main strike team ot arrest All For One’s longtime right-hand man, Dr. Ujiko.
As the heroes have learned Dr. Ujiko is actually Maruta Shiga (a very controversial name, BTW. The creator of the Nomu lives a horrible double-life, hiding his illicit activities and experiments creating the Nomu behind the facade of being a benevolent community activist and quirk doctor:
“Founder of Jaku General Hospital and current chairman of the board. He promoted community-based medicine rooted in quirks. And after founding the hospital, he devoted his time and energy to charitable works. He set up orphanages and nursing homes nationwide, all through partnerships with his hospital. His past paints him as a whimsical man, but he’s earned acceptance and respect from many communities.”
Now, My Hero Academia fans have noticed for some time that Dr. Ujiko looks just like the doctor who first informed Izuku Midoriya that he was quirkless, in one of My Hero Academia‘s first flashback scenes. With the reveal that Dr. Ujiko is actually Maruta Shiga, a well-renowned quirk doctor, that connection seems all abut confirmed. Here’s the rub, though: other fan theories have predicted that Deku and Ujiko’s connection goes much deeper than just a chance meeting and diagnosis.
As the theory goes: Dr Ujiko used his access as “Maruta Shiga” to survey, experiment on and even steal quirks from promising candidates. He then supposedly delivered them to All For One, or implanted them in his Nomu creations. The speculation here is that Izuku Midoriya was never actually quirkless – in fact, quite the opposite: he had a quirk that was powerful enough to attract All For One’s attention, and Dr. Ujiko stole it, informing the unaware Midoriya family that Izuku simply didn’t have one.
While that’s still all just speculation, it stands to reason that Ujiko used his medical practice and acclaimed reputation to do more than just hide in plain sight. There’s definitely a method to the doctor’s madness, and it’s chilling to think how he may have changed Izuku’s life forever. It would also be a great circular theme if All For One stealing Izuku’s quirk ironically gave birth to the means for All For One and the League of Villains’ eventual downfall, by Deku’s hand.
My Hero Academia was created by Kohei Horikoshi for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 2014. The story follows Izuku Midoriya, who lives in a world where everyone has powers, even though he was born without them. Dreaming to become a superhero anyway, he’s eventually scouted by the world’s best hero All Might and enrolls in a school for professional heroes.