Summary
- Quirks were a mysterious emergence of superpowers among humans in My Hero Academia.
- One origin theory proposes a virus as the origin of quirks, adding complexity to their history.
- All for One’s backstory suggests he might be the first quirk user, contradicting the official Glowing Baby narrative.
The following contains spoilers for the My Hero Academia manga.
For most of the story in My Hero Academia, it seemed like the first quirk user in the series was unquestionably known to be the Glowing Baby. It is explicitly stated through the narration to the audience in both My Hero Academia and the Vigilante spin-off anime at the beginning that this baby was the first public discovery of quirks.
However, All for One’s backstory, revealed toward the end of the series in the manga, throws some doubt over this baby being the first quirk user. Was All for One secretly the first Quirk user before the public learned of the Shining Baby?
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The Introduction of Quirks
What We Knew of Superpower Origins
The superpowers that characters wield in My Hero Academia come from inherent, biological anomalies known as quirks. At the start of the series, we are told that these quirks suddenly appeared among humans decades before the current story began, and are given a brief explanation of their emergence.
“The first incident was in Qingqing City. An extraordinary child was born who radiated light. After that, reports of people with superpowers popped up across the globe…Before long, the supernatural became the totally normal. Dreams became reality.” -Izuku Midoriya in Episode One of My Hero Academia.
While there is a public history of when quirks are thought to have begun, there are still mysteries surrounding them in the series. For example, why quirks suddenly began appearing is still unknown to the people of My Hero Academia. This allowed much speculation about their origins and left the door open for their history to become more complicated as the series progressed. Some characters in the world have come up with their own theories. For example, the villain Overhaul believes that quirks are a diseased byproduct of a virus that was spread by rodents across the Earth, though the narrator of MHA admits there is no way to prove this is true.
“A never before seen, mysterious mutation that quickly spread among the peoples. According to one theory, it was an unknown virus that spread throughout the world, carried by mice. But there is no clear evidence that backs that theory.” -The narrator of MHA, possibly Izuku Midoriya, discusses the origins of para-normality in Chapter 158.
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A Hidden History
One for All’s Origins Contradict the Official Narrative
In Chapter 407 of the manga, a point that the anime has not yet reached, we are told the full origins of All for One and his brother Yoichi. It turns out that All for One’s mother showed slight signs of having a quirk before the discovery of the shining baby. While it is implied she couldn’t actually use her quirk, she had begun to develop warts on her left arm from a mysterious illness.
“After giving birth to the twins by the river… She died immediately. But for some mysterious reason.. All the warts were gone from her arm as a consequence.” -The narrator of MHA in Chapter 407.
Curiously, the concept of rats is brought up again, suggesting that rats had tried to eat the corpse of the mother and the newborn babies. However, the two brothers were washed away by the river, with the narrator revealing that all these events had taken place a year before the Glowing Baby was first documented.
“Did you know that the glowing baby guy has over 10 million sympathizers? How weird. He may be the first officially documented case… That’s why I killed him and stole his meta ability.” -All for One
Since his brother Yoichi didn’t have a quirk he could use at first, it seems that, going by this backstory, All for One was the first known quirk user in the series from what has been revealed about the world so far. It’s incredible that the glowing baby story, which was one of the foundational expositions at the beginning of the series, had more to it than we were originally led to believe.
My Hero Academia can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Hulu.
My Hero Academia
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2016 - 2025-00-00
- Network
- TBS, MBS, Nippon TV
Cast
-
Daiki YamashitaIzuku Midoriya (voice) -
Kaito IshikawaManga Fukidashi (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
In My Hero Academia, some humans have superpowers called quirks. Izuku Midoriya, nicknamed Deku, is not one of them. Deku has always idolized heroes like the number one hero, All Might, and since he was a child, he has always wanted to be a hero. However, his lack of a quirk has always held him back, but a chance encounter with All Might after discovering a classmate in danger sets Deku on the path to becoming a true hero. My Hero Academia centers around Deku and a class of heroes-in-training at UA. This school shapes young quirk users into future heroes through fake rescue missions, combat training, and other hero-tempering tasks. With young Deku inheriting the "One-For-All" quirk, he will learn what it means to be a true hero while facing off with dastardly supervillains.
- Seasons
- 8
- Studio
- Bones
- Franchise
- My Hero Academia
- Characters By
- Kohei Horikoshi
- Japanese Title
- Boku no Hero Academia
- Based On
- Manga
- Creator
- Kōhei Horikoshi
- Distributor
- FUNimation Entertainment
- Main Characters
- Tsuyu Asui, Katsuki Bakugo, Ochaco Uraraka, Izuku Midoriya, Shoto Todoroki, All Might
- Production Company
- Bones
- Story By
- Kōhei Horikoshi, Yōsuke Kuroda
- Number of Episodes
- 159
- Streaming Service(s)
- Hulu, Crunchyroll
- MyAnimeList Score
- 7.85 (Season 1)
