In Kohei Horikoshi’s manga, My Hero Academia, quirks are a burden for many. As the series unfolds, characters are presented with more rising challenges that come with a superpower society. A person’s possibility of success in life is heavily influenced by their quirk, or lack thereof. Laws surrounding quirks indulge in restrictive, inflexible policies that create dangerous situations. And as the previous generation bleeds into the next, passing on their abilities and mutations, quirks themselves pose a safety risk to their hosts.
Elitism
From the very first chapter, the theme of elitism is made abundantly clear, opening with Midoriya’s monologue saying that all men are not born equal. Within society, Midoriya is in a lower social class because he’s quirkless. He’s bullied by his classmates, mainly Bakugou, and mocked for his dream of becoming a hero as his peers laugh at his desire to apply to UA. He’s made to believe that he’s only worth as much as what he’s born as. While middle schoolers are cruel in their avocation for strong quirks, All Might solidifies this with a more calm and sympathetic approach, “Without power, can one become a hero? No, I should think not. [...] If you desire to help people, becoming a police officer is always an option. Those villain custody officers are often mocked but that too is admirable work! It's not wrong to dream. However… you need to be realistic, kid” (chapter 1). The Symbol of Peace, the number one hero in the country who is well known for being hopeful and reassuring is still unable to support Midoriya’s dream of becoming a hero. Midoriya is set up to be an underdog, someone who starts from the bottom and is disadvantaged in accomplishing his goal, and although he starts out that way, an underdog couldn’t be any further from the truth. Midoriya’s lack of a quirk only disables him for a single chapter. He is given arguably the most powerful quirk in the series, and only then is he able to start his journey towards becoming the greatest hero. If this doesn’t confirm it enough, All Might was in the same position as a kid, unable to make a hero out of himself until his master passed down One For All to him. The bottom line is, a quirk may not guarantee superior power and skill in heroics, but a person’s quirk is the author of all that person can become as a hero. Midoriya has always had the moral qualities for the job, he’s empathetic and has a natural instinct to help others, but if he hadn’t been given power, his heroic potential wouldn’t amount to much, if anything at all.
In contrast, people with remarkable quirks are valued more by what they can do for society than who they are as individuals. There are two primary examples of this: Bakugou and Hawks. Similar to Midoriya, Bakugou is told repeatedly from a young age that his success and value is based upon what he is born with. Because he is naturally gifted and has a strong quirk, he’s told by his teachers that he’s amazing before he has the chance to prove himself. This not only feeds his ego at an extremely young age, but sets a reminder in his mind that he has expectations he has to meet, and that if he fails to do so, he won’t be worth as much. Since he ties his worth to his quirk, when he looks at quirkless Midoriya, he sees a mirror of what he fears he might become, or how people will see him if he ever messes up. This leads to Bakugou projecting his insecurities onto Midoriya and bullying him. However, nothing depicts society’s value of quirks quite like the Sludge Villain rematch, where a hero on the scene of what was almost middle school Bakugou’s death, cheerily complimented his quirk and told him to consider being his sidekick once he went pro. There are layers to this scene. First and foremost, the pro hero’s first action towards a 14 year old kid moments after almost being murdered was to reiterate what everyone has repeated to him his entire life; I see your quirk before I see you. Now what can you do for me as a hero? Secondly, this occurs before Bakugou takes the entrance exam for UA, meaning there is absolutely no indication that he wants to become a hero to this stranger, but because the pro saw his powerful explosions in the attack, he assumes as much. The number two pro hero Hawks grows up with similar treatment, although it's taken to a much higher extreme. After saving people as a kid, he is quickly taken in by the government and groomed from childhood to become a hero. As a result, he blows through milestones fast and although he isn’t resentful of what he does as a hero, he wishes that the world would be at peace so he could stop already and rest. Both Bakugou and Hawks are put on a pedestal for their quirks and treated more like tools by society than individuals.
Prejudice
Along with both of these perspectives there are also those who are discriminated against and labeled as villains for their quirks, such as Shinsou and Gang Orca, who are seen as suspicious or scary. Shinsou is teased by his former classmates, they ask him not to brainwash them with his quirk and tell him it would be so easy for him to become a criminal. They put him into a box and assume awful things about him with nothing from his actual character to back up their claims. Gang Orca is assigned to play the role of a villain in the Provisional Hero License exam because he looks scary. Similar conclusions can be drawn from villains like Toga and Shigaraki, it's in their nature to cause harm, and if they repressed their quirks and conformed they would likely still face prejudice for this physical part of themselves they can’t control, although this doesn’t justify their crimes.
Quirk Laws
In addition, laws surrounding quirks have been shown to pose problems in society. From Hero Killer Stain to Wolfram and his goons, the series acknowledges how restrictive rules can put both the heroes in training in danger and regular civilians they’re trying to keep safe. Specifically Vs. Hero Killer Arc, when Iida, Midoriya and Todoroki face off against Stain, they have no choice but to use their quirks and fight. Stain was significantly more experienced than them and had full intent to kill. If they abided by the law and didn’t use their quirks, they would essentially be putting up their hands waiting for death obediently. Japan’s hero society states that people can’t use their quirks in public unless it's in self-defense, but because the kids are enrolled in a hero course and don’t have their licence, they’re in a weird place, not pro heroes and not civilians at the same time. Unable to fight villains or use their quirk to save people yet unable to save themselves. They’re scolded for taking Stain down by the Chief of Police out of procedure, telling them that they’ve broken the law. When Todoroki tells him that they’re training to be heroes, who’s whole purpose is to save people, and that the victim on the scene would have died if they did nothing, the Chief rebuts, “is it okay to break the law if it's for the greater good?” And given the situation they were in, yes, absolutely. In the case of Stain, following the law would mean standing by and watching his victim die, allowing themselves to be killed, all while knowing they have professional training to specifically deal with situations like this. Even the Chief of Police is aware of the issues in the laws as he later thanks them for keeping the peace. We can see how these laws can lead to huge acts of deviance such as the Liberation Army, a terrorist group with the goal of making the usage of quirks legal for everyone and the decriminalization of vigilantes.
Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory
Finally, quirks themselves have proven to be harmful to its host and have been predicted to eventually cause mass destruction with the Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory. The theory was first introduced in the Remedial Course Arc where Bakugou and Todoroki join other school students who failed the Provisional Hero License exam to earn their licenses. They are put to the task of managing a class of kindergarteners, who are wild with surprisingly strong quirks. Present Mic remarks that the new generation have been born with abilities much more powerful than the last, which leads to the conversation of the Quirk Singularity, “With each new generation, quirks blend and evolve. And there will come a day when these complex, overpowered quirks will be impossible for individuals to control. They call it the Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory” (chapter 166). The doctor who created the theory also explains it to Shigaraki, and how quirk evolution is even more dangerous for powerhouse stockpiling quirks such as One For All and All For One, “It is a quirk that expands, so to speak. With each generation it becomes more impure, more ambitious, and more powerful. Without a body that can keep up with your expanding memory, you will eventually reach a point where you will lose control. I named the concept ‘The Quirk Singularity’. But nobody took this concept seriously. Nobody except All For One. Without the proper ‘hardware’ to match your ‘memory’, you won’t be able to last for long. Signs of this have already started appearing since the fourth generation” (chapter 246). As Shigaraki and Midoriya get stronger, their own quirks may build to the point where they are uncontrollable or too dangerous. This has already been foreshadowed with the past users quirks in OFA being unlocked at unexpected times, and Shigaraki’s decay causing citywide evacuations. Not to mention other characters like Twice, Toga and Eri, whose quirks have caused them insane hardships out of their own control.
My Hero Academia is a story built off the premise of superheroes being the mainstream, but it also questions the challenges and societal failings that come along with it. It frames status and expectations amongst people based off of their quirks and how they play a role in both elitism and prejudice. It also shines light on parts of the legal system and how its flaws contradict the point of heroics. And finally, it addresses the biological risks of quirks themselves and how they may get worse in the future. This all begs the question, has society in My Hero Academia really benefited from the evolution of quirks, or did they only introduce a more modern problem?