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In the long timeline of My Hero Academia, the protagonist and future number 1 hero, Deku has made a number of strides along his difficult journey. When fans first met Deku, he was a shy, helpless child with no quirk and no hopes of becoming a pro hero.

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Now, the Deku that stands in front of audiences has successfully earned his Hero License and is well on his way to becoming a successor All Might can be proud of. Deku often gets heavily criticized for being weak and it's about time critics take a step back to appreciate exactly how much Deku has grown during his journey.

Updated March 16, 2023, by Christine Mendoza: The sixth season of My Hero Academia brings the audience near the final arc of the series. As Shigaraki and All For One grow stronger, Deku finds himself running out of time to train. As the final showdown inches closer and closer, it is necessary that Deku awakens the power that All Might passed down to him and use it to its absolute fullest. It is clear that in order to beat All For One and his increasing forces, Deku needs to not only unlock every quirk One For All holds but master it as well. This season has demonstrated how much growth Deku was forced to go through for the sake of saving innocent lives and stopping All For One once and for all. A few new entries have been added to keep fans up to date with Deku's amazing character development throughout the series.

Disclaimer: This only includes Deku's development up to Season 6 of the anime.

17 Middle School: Quirkless And Ostracized

My Hero Academia Middle School Deku At Desk Shy

At the very beginning of the series, the audience is introduced to a very insecure, shy protagonist. After a young aspiring Deku finds out that he is quirkless, the series then fast-forwards to his middle school days. This was to be Deku's fate — a quirkless student who wished to be a hero with all his heart.

Because of his (at the time) unrealistic dream of becoming a hero and attending the prestigious U.A. High, he was often bullied by his classmates. At this point in Deku's life, he had no one but his kind mother behind him to support his lifelong dream of becoming a hero.

16 Meeting All Might: Beginning The 10-Month Training Program

My Hero Academia Deku Training With All Might

Early into Deku's story, he serendipitously has a run-in with his idol — All Might, the number one pro hero in the world. Realizing his difficult position, Deku takes the opportunity to confront All Might, telling him about being quirkless and insistent on pursuing his dream of becoming a hero.

At first, All Might reluctantly tells Deku his dreams are unrealistic. However, after witnessing Deku rush in to try and save his classmate Bakugo from a villain, All Might has a sudden change of heart. It is then that he tells Deku he has what it takes to be his successor and begins Deku's training period. Deku began as a young average student and didn't have any real physical advantages, so it's only natural that All Might needed to first prepare Deku's frail body for the power of his quirk.

15 Training Completed: Deku Inherits All For One

My Hero Academia All Might Giving Deku One For All

Deku finally completes the rigorous training plan All Might devised for him. After all his hard work and strict dieting (thanks to the helpful hand of his kind mother), Deku is finally deemed ready to have All Might's quirk transferred to him.

However, to Deku's surprise, this process included the bizarre ritual of eating a strand of All Might's hair. This is also where the audience learns the means of how All Might's quirk passage works: via the willing exchange of any kind of item that holds the previous user's DNA.

14 U.A. Entrance Exams: Deku Uses OFA For The First Time

My Hero Academia Deku Breaks His Bones For The First Time

During the entrance exams for U.A. High, Deku finally puts his quirk to the test for the first time ever. During this examination, he finds himself at a loss, overwhelmed by all his classmates showing off their skills and experience. In a serious bind while trying to save Ururaka, Deku finally successfully summons the power of OFA as his intense need to save and protect others activates it.

Here, the audience witnesses not only the first time Deku uses his powers, but also the first time he breaks almost all of his bones and discovers the harsh effect such a powerful quirk has on his body.

13 Sports Festival: First Encounter With Previous OFA Users

My Hero Academia Deku Vs Shinso And OFA Users Sports Festival

After his successful entry into U.A. High, Deku participates in the school's sports festival. Here he is matched up with classmate Shinso Hitoshi who has the eerie ability to brainwash his opponents by simply engaging them in conversation.

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In a panicked frenzy after getting brainwashed by Shinso, Deku sees strange shadowy figures outside of the arena and manages to activate his quirk to break free of Shinso's control. This is the first time Deku encounters the previous users of OFA and has them to thank for his eventual victory against Shinso.

12 Fight Against Muscular: First Usage Of OFA At 100 and 100,000,000%

Muscular in My Hero Academia

Until this point, Deku had been warned about "over-doing it" with his quirk as it was clear that over-usage of OFA had detrimental effects on his body. However, in a terrible run-in with a powerful villain Muscular, Deku has no choice but to use his quirk at 100% in order to save a helpless Kota.

In an unfortunate turn of events, Muscular withstands Deku's 100% smash and continues to pursue him and Kota. Now pushed to his limits, Deku is finally forced to use OFA at a whopping 1 million percent. Although Deku left this battle victorious, it was pure adrenaline and concern for getting young Kota to safety that allowed Deku to ignore his injuries and flee afterward.

11 Full Cowling: Deku Develops A New Style & New Armor

My Hero Academia Deku Shoot Style Full Cowling

The audience up until this point watched a young struggling Deku aspire to be just like his idol. It was clear that Deku's admiration of All Might forced him to try and imitate his hero rather than grow into a hero identity of his own.

After the dangerous encounter with Muscular, Deku decided to develop his own style of combat; a unique one that came from his own mind, not All Might's. With the help of U.A.'s support class' Mei Hatsume, Deku then develops his Full Cowling Shoot Style — a combat style utilizing kicks rather than punches aided by Mei's leg-support armor.

10 Fight Against Overhaul: Aided By Eri, Deku Freely Uses OFA At 100%

My Hero Academia Deku And Eri Vs Overhaul

At the time of the big battle with Overhaul, Deku still had difficulties with handling the immense power of OFA. It is also during this battle that Deku discovers Eri's quirk of "rewinding humans" allowing him to unleash OFA at 100% with little to no repercussions on his body.

Although Eri couldn't quite control her quirk, this just meant Deku needed to keep his attacks going in order to give Eri something else in his body to rewind. Deku ensured to take advantage of her power and successfully subdued Overhaul.

9 Heroes Rising: Deku Transfers Half Of OFA To Bakugo

My Hero Academia Heroes Rising Deku And Bakugo OFA

In one of the most intense fights in the entirety of the series, in Heroes Rising Deku and his classmates are pushed to their limits with their encounter with the villain Nine. Nine, a powerful villain connected to All For One, seemingly defeats a battered Bakugo and Deku. However, with little to no other options available, Deku makes the decision of transferring OFA to Bakugo in order to have two current vessels present at once.

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At this point his quirk is essentially split in two; Bakugo now canonically being a (temporary) user of OFA. Although this incredible battle ends with Nine's defeat, the embers of Deku's quirk begin to fade away as a wary Deku finally loses consciousness.

8 Nine Aftermath: OFA Users Transfer Quirk Back To Deku

My Hero Academia Heroes Rising All Might Deku And Bakugo

By the end of the film, the pro heroes finally arrive at Nabu Island well after the battle. All Might finds the weakened Deku and Bakugo and discovers that although the embers of Deku's quirk went out, OFA still miraculously managed to find its way back to Deku, leaving Bakugo with no recollection of what happened.

All Might interprets this as the previous OFA users reigniting the quirk back into Deku, as they wished for him to continue being the chosen vessel. (Sorry, Bakugo!)

7 Joint Training Battle: Deku Manifests Blackwhip

My Hero Academia Deku Manifests Blackwhip

At this point, Deku is visited by visions of the previous users of OFA. Initially deeming them as simple nightmares, Deku eventually understands that the previous users are trying to communicate with him.

During the joint training exercise, Deku then summons a mysterious quirk — the Blackwhip. In the form of black, glowing tentacle-like entities, Blackwhip is manifested within Deku via the quirk of a previous OFA user. It is then that Deku learns that the core of OFA is growing larger and stronger in him; ultimately causing him to manifest the cultivated quirks of all the past users.

6 Paranormal Liberation War: Deku Creates His Own Usage Of Blackwhip

My Hero Academia Deku Froppy Blackwhip Style

At this point in season six, Deku can now much more comfortably use Blackwhip. In his attempt to catch up to Dabi during the Paranormal Liberation War, Deku finds himself at a loss when he realizes both of his arms are out of commission after using OFA at full capacity multiple times.

Deku normally uses his arms to spawn or control the tendrils of his Blackwhip, but with his arms bruised and tender, he takes a tip from fellow U.A. classmate, Froppy. Froppy's frog-like style of combat involves her using her long tongue as another appendage, allowing her to cling to enemies without the use of her hands. Deku took notes and combined his Blackwhip with Froppy's technique, spawning his Blackwhip tendril from his mouth instead of his arms.

5 Encounter With A Reborn Shigaraki: Deku Activates Float For The First Time

My Hero Academia Deku Uses Float

During Shigaraki's terrifying awakening, Endeavor and his team find themselves at a loss after Shigaraki manifests the ability to spread his Decay quirk beyond the things that he touches directly. Needing to neutralize and capture Shigaraki, Deku awakens a new ability of his own: Float.

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Originally held by the seventh OFA user, Nana Shimura, Float grants Deku the ability to levitate in midair, allowing him to get closer to Shigaraki in their heated battle, without any risks of being attacked by the deadly power of Decay.

4 Bakugo Injured: Danger Sense Manifested For The First Time

My Hero Academia Deku Activates Danger Sense

During this intense battle against Shigaraki, Bakugo is severely injured. Angered and hurt by the chaos around him, Deku, in a moment of retaliation, awakens a new quirk called Danger Sense. However, during this battle, Deku is not completely familiar with the quirk and activates it without fully understanding it or manifesting it in a way he can successfully use it.

During this battle, Deku experiences Danger Sense in the form of a sharp pain in his head. However, it is only near the end of this massive battle that Deku finally begins to understand that the pain he had been feeling was the power of the fourth OFA user, Hikage Shinomori.

3 Overpowered By All For One: Deku Is Paralyzed By The Overusage Of His OFA Quirks

My Hero Academia Deku Overuses His Quirks And Is Paralyzed

In Deku's pain and anger from seeing his friends and idols being rendered helpless and afraid, he overstimulates his newfound powers. In this fight against Dabi and Shigaraki, Deku had manifested two completely new quirks from previous OFA users, as well as utilizing a new technique with Blackwhip (a quirk fairly new to him) he had created on his own. In his haste and sheer anger towards the havoc and damage Shigaraki had caused, Deku finds himself completely frozen.

It is then that Deku realizes that overuse of his new quirks will lead him to be temporarily paralyzed. Just like his journey to train his body to handle OFA, Deku learns that he must also slowly work to get his body accustomed to all the previous OFA users' quirks as well.

2 Reunion With Muscular: Deku Uses Smokescreen

My Hero Academia Deku Uses Smokescreen Against Muscular

Upon seeing the fellow hero in training, Shindo, in trouble against a newly free Muscular, Deku swoops in to save the day. However, with the public slowly realizing that the heroes were keeping secrets from them, Deku understands it is necessary to conceal his identity while he finds and captures all the freed prisoners.

This new, hardened Deku is already fairly proficient with Smokescreen, the quirk inherited by the sixth OFA user, En. Smokescreen is the ability to manifest a purple cloud of smoke/fog in order to obscure the battlefield or conceal the user's location. Although Deku uses Smokescreen against Muscular comfortably, he still hasn't completely mastered the new technique as he does fumble and emits an excess of smoke at one point, temporarily obscuring his own vision.

1 Meeting Lady Nagant: Deku Awakens Fa Jin

My Hero Academia Deku Uses Fa Jin Against Lady Nagant

During Deku's encounter with the former pro hero, Lady Nagant, he finds himself at a loss, finding her sniper bullets too fast to dodge. It is in the midst of this battle that Deku awakens yet another quirk from a previous OFA user: Fa Jin.

Fa Jin, the quirk of the third OFA user, grants the user the ability to store or build up kinetic energy through the repetition of motions. In this case, Deku took a breather while hiding from Lady Nagant and quickly did a few squats to store up energy in his legs to use for later in the battle, and eventually bests the former pro.

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