Just like other superhero stories, My Hero Academia takes place in a world where some people are blessed with superhuman abilities that they use for heroic or villainous purposes.

The series puts several spins on this basic concept to make it feel more original. One of these is that it flips the distribution of superpowers amongst the populace. While in Marvel and DC stories superpowered people are in the minority, in My Hero Academia they actually make up 80% of the population.

This makes being powerless(quirkless) much more noteworthy than usual, as the baseline for what is normal has shifted. Any minority group is sure to face some struggles due to their status, and those struggles are often fertile ground for interesting storytelling. MHA does try to put focus on one of its society’s minority groups, but for some reason, the quirkless never get that same focus.

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The Plight of the Quirkless

My Hero Academia Middle School Deku At Desk Shy

When MHA begins, the audience is introduced to Izuku “Deku” Midoriya, the series’ protagonist. Some of the first things that are revealed about him are that he loves heroes to the point of obsession and that he is quirkless. In a series of flashbacks, Deku is shown as a child, discovering his quirklessness, and struggling to grapple with his dreams of being a hero going up in smoke as a result.

In middle school, he’s shown to be relentlessly bullied due to his lack of a quirk. The leader of the bullies is his former friend, Katsuki Bakugo, who not only has a quirk, but a very powerful one at that. It’s even shown that the bullying started when they were children, and has persisted for a decade. It gets so bad that Bakugo tells Deku to kill himself and hope to be born with a quirk in the next life.

There is no reason to assume this is a unique situation in this world. Yes, Bakugo has issues with Deku that go beyond his lack of a quirk, but if Deku had one, the bullying would never have gotten this bad. There are probably tons of kids in MHA’s world who are enduring the same abuse that Deku did. Since most of them could never hope to get a quirk from their hero like Deku did, there’s a good chance they end up living out their lives with poor mental health, assuming they don’t give into the bullying and do what Bakugo suggested. They likely also face ostracisation in the workplace and wider society.

Is There Space For A Quirkless Hero?

My Hero Academia Vigilantes knuckle Duster

Much of the issue with being quirkless is due to the popularity of heroes. Since they are so saturated in MHA society, and everyone looks up to them, the inability to even dream of becoming a hero loses someone a lot of social capital. But does quirklessness really stop someone from becoming a hero?

Some MHA fans like to imagine a world in which Deku had stayed quirkless, and found other ways to keep up with the heroes. Afterall, heroes like Batman and Iron Man in other superhero stories are able to keep up just fine without powers. Why couldn’t Deku do the same?

Unfortunately, MHA’s story just isn’t built for that. First of all, as a teenager from a seemingly working-class family, Deku lacks the resources to create an arsenal on the level of Batman. He might be able to imitate someone like Kick-Ass, but when his weakest classmates still have great utility, it’s hard to see him keeping up with nothing but a jumpsuit and good strategy.

MHA: Vigilantes does feature a quirkless crimefighter named Knuckle Duster, who is able to take out a shocking amount of villains. However, this is partially due to the many years he spent as a hero with a quirk before losing it. Plus, the villains Duster faces off are much smaller scale than the walking natural disasters Deku ends up fighting as the series goes on. And of course, Duster is a large, burly adult, not a skinny teenager, and even he has a limit on how powerful an opponent he can defeat.

Is There Space For More Quirkless Representation?

Ragdoll My Hero Academia

Sadly, as the series is nearing its conclusion, it’s hard to see how it could fit in a satisfying narrative arc about quirklessness. Several relevant characters like Deku, Mirio, and Ragdoll know what being quirkless is like and could definitely act as foils to a quirkless villain of some kind, but the series’ threats have just scaled up too high for that to be satisfying this late in.

After the main story ends, however. A side story might present a good opportunity to cover this concept. Support gadgets are an established part of the world, and using them, heroes like Eraser Head who have more passive quirks are able to keep up. Not to mention that the villain Stain was able to keep up with 3 superpowered opponents even when his quirk was inactive. While the quirkless ship has sailed in the main series, a smaller detour would still have more than enough material to work with.

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