Kohei Horikoshi – who created My Hero Academia from the beginning had a completely different idea for Deku. Initially, the author wanted to give Izuku Midoriya or Deku, a Batman style, very different from what we know today. However, currently, Deku’s image is that of a powerful superhero, but still in the style of a high school student.
Horikoshi talked a bit about the creation of Deku in the first volume of the manga, even showing some drawings of how the character was initially conceived. Izuku appears with a wilder appearance, long hair, and everything looks different.
Even Deku’s hero uniform feels scarier, even the hero’s name is “Fiend Kid”. Furthermore, the idea would be that Deku doesn’t have any Quirks (special powers) throughout the series, unlike how he received his Quirk from All Might in the story we know.
If Horikoshi had kept the original Deku version, the story of My Hero Academia would have been different. Deku will become one of the heroes who uses gadgets to defeat villains without any powers, just like Batman. Deku’s appearance also has a darker feel, even the name is reminiscent of Batman.
Everything changed when the author let Deku inherit All for One and learn how to use this new power. Characters like All Might and Gran Torino help him on this journey and our protagonist eventually masters his skills very well. Without the Quirk, as in the first draft, Horikoshi would have had to pose other challenges to Deku, which would have completely changed his trajectory.
It’s curious to think what My Hero Academia would be like if Deku didn’t gain any supernatural powers. Some people think the story would be even better if it followed a “normal” guy trying to become a hero in a world full of superpowers.
But in the end maybe Horikoshi made the right choice. The difficulties Deku faces in mastering his Quirk makes us love him more. And the fact that he received power from the hero he idolized, All Might, was very special. Watching an ordinary teenager receive incredible powers and win in the end was very inspiring, showing that Deku is the perfect choice for the main character of My Hero Academia.