Izuku Midoriya is one of the most beloved anime heroes from recent shonen anime. His hero suit is iconic and full of deeper meaning when it comes to the design choices. Midoriya, whose hero name is Deku, upgrades his suit frequently and drastically throughout My Hero Academia. His suit is upgraded so much that people can tell what season each iteration of his suit is from.
Some of these suit changes are subtle such as his shoulder pads, which don't exist in the first iteration of his suit. Other upgrades are more blatant such as his Iron Armor Soles or even the color of his suit. Read on to find out exactly how Deku's suit changes throughout My Hero Academia.
The Original Suit
Much to the embarrassment of Midoriya, his mother, Inko, used his initial hero suit design from his notebook and got it commissioned as a surprise. It’s very obvious in the suit’s debut episode that it’s inspired by All Might because there’s side by side views of the two outfits in the episode. All Might immediately notices the “bunny ears” on Deku's hood that resembles his own hair.
The original color of his suit was a mint green with white accents that partly mimicked All Might's accent patterns. Alongside the “bunny ear” hood, he sported knee pads, his signature red shoes, a mouth guard that resembles All Might’s signature smile, a red tool belt, and a pair of simple, but bulky gloves. His original suit has some practical uses. The kneepads are great for breaking falls. The gloves are good for keeping his hands unscathed. His hood would be a great way to hide his identity and be a good identifier in the field. Ironically, he never uses said hood except in specific scenes throughout the series. One of those scenes is when Deku and Miro meet Eri while on patrol. Deku is incredibly protective of Eri during this scene and Mirio makes a comment about Deku not wearing his hood before flipping it up to cover his face.
Deku’s original suit wasn’t tailored to his specific quirk because he didn’t even have it when he designed the suit. Deku probably tailored the suit with the intent that he wouldn’t have a quirk, but even so the suit is somewhat ill prepared for a real fight. This can be seen in the training episode where he fights Bakugo and gets half his hood blown off. So far in the anime, Deku hasn't really used his hood. It almost feels like Horikoshi, the author of the manga, forgets it even has a practical use. On the other hand, this could be due to the fact that Deku is the main character and viewers would want to see his face most of the time. Deku’s original hero suit seems to be more of a homage to All Might than something that seems practical for fighting.
Color & Style
The style of the suit changes fairly quickly, but keeps many of the same initial ideas. The white accents are now a more intimidating black, his suit changes from mint to a darker teal, and his mouth guard is actually a more refined looking piece.
In the original it was also more of a see-through material rather than a metal grate on his face. Despite not using it, the hood generally stays the same. The style generally becomes more refined and battle-ready over time.
Leg Braces & Iron Armor Soles
Hilariously inspired by Bakugo’s fighting style, Deku develops Full Cowling: Shoot Style, which uses his legs instead of his arms. Deku is told in season 3 that he will be unable to use his arms at all if he keeps destroying them. The doctor explains to Deku that it's "like a bomb went off" inside his arms. It gets to the point where Recovery Girl actually refuses to heal him because she can’t condone him destroying his body for others.
In a preventative measure so as not to destroy his legs like he did with his arms, he asks Mei Hastume, the hyper support course student, to create support for his legs and feet. The Iron Armor Soles are developed by Mei, as with most of Deku’s upgrades, and are also used for his Shoot Style. The Iron Armor Soles absorb impact, similar to Uraraka’s heeled shoes, and redistribute energy, so it is over a larger area. This is a huge advantage for Deku as it allows him to use his quirk at a higher percentage without ruining his body.
Airforce Gloves
Just before getting the Air Force gloves, Deku has a pair of full arm gloves. These gloves were created due to the fact that Deku needed more support on his arms. Deku’s Airforce Gloves are an upgrade from his second pair of gloves and a revamp of a piece of prototype equipment that Mei Hastume created.
These gloves are more cohesive with his costume in the sense that they incorporate the same teal color as his base jumpsuit, thus creating a more refined design. The gloves keep the full sleeves like his second pair, but are now retractable. Some viewers might be confused about the little gold bits on the back of his gloves, but these are used for his quirk. The tiny gold bits are actually tunnels that help Deku aim his precision air attacks better. Deku’s Black Whip also bursts out of these tunnels the first time it manifests, so it’s good for helping aim that as well.
Differences in Movies
In My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, Deku gets a special gauntlet made by Melissa Shield that helps stabilize his power output for One for All. This gauntlet is dark red and wraps around Deku’s arm snuggly. It seems to be made out of a transformative metal. The piece of equipment ends up breaking by the end of the movie, but he was able to use more powerful punches while donning it. It was actually good the gauntlet broke because Deku couldn’t figure out how to take it off.
In the movie My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission, Deku, along with several other characters, have cool stealth costumes specifically for the movie’s mission. This outfit is sleek and uses black as the main color but has teal-green accents that match Deku’s regular accents. The outfit is basically a sleeker version of his most recent outfit, including the updated gloves and Iron Armor Soles. Unlike his usual costume, the hood of this one actually hides his face. This outfit is definitely better for sneaking around in a stealth mission than his usual one.
Deku’s outfit has been the most upgraded in the series so far, but the series is yet over. There are more upgrades to be animated in the future. In the meantime, viewers can look forward to season 6 in Fall 2022.