The kids of Class 1-A are at it again! These heroes-in-training from the prestigious U.A High school have returned for another feature film called My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising. This time, they're running the hero agency of a small island? But, as one would expect, things kick-off and a rag-tag team of villains show up.
Now, the plot of this story is relatively simple, but there are tons of side elements and subtle narratives being told throughout that we'd love to go into more. So, let's do just that.
Disclaimer: The film has manga spoilers sprinkled throughout, and we'll be talking about some of them, so read at your own risk!
10 Endeavor And Hawks Are Already Acquainted
Any fan of the manga was probably scratching their head during parts of this movie, we know we were. Keep in mind that the anime is currently about halfway through what would be Volume 20 of the manga.
So, we've jumped forward a bit in the story, and nothing makes that more clear than the appearance of the No 2 Hero, Hawks. Hawks starts working with Endeavor during a certain point in the story, and seeing these two even remotely in the same scenes is an obvious nod to their upcoming working relationship.
9 Hawks Has Also Already Begun His League Of Villans Investigation
And, going into Hawks a bit more, the guy is a master of espionage. He's calm, collected, all about efficiency, and has a fantastic Quirk. In the manga, we know he is working undercover as a double agent hero in the Re Destro movement. But, in the anime, viewers haven't quite met him yet.
So, when the film introduces him talking to people in power, it's a great way to let us know that this crimson winged hero carries some gravitas. Plus, tying him to the League of Villains in any way whatsoever is another fantastic hint for anime fans that we may be seeing more of this dude in the upcoming story arcs.
8 The Students Have Already Advanced Their Quirks
Now, we asked a couple of people in the group that we saw the premiere with what they thought about the Manga spoilers in the film. And, apparently, most of them didn't even know they were spoilers until we said anything! Well, mostly, all of them were wondering how Tokoyami could suddenly fly.
The bird-headed lad has never shown any ability of hovering let alone flight, so to suddenly show him using a new ability like that is pretty brave on Bones' part. Frankly, all of the kids are using their new gear and abilities they showed off after the Joint Training Arc with Class B in the manga. And, while we liked seeing them, it must've made little sense to anime-only fans.
7 Oh Hey Look It's The Doctor
The doctor, Kyudai Garaki, might be one of the biggest spoilers in the series, but he's getting harder and harder for anime-only kids to avoid. First, there was the whole controversy with his name and what it supposedly referenced.
Now, he's showing up in the movies! Again, a casual fan would just assume that he was some doctor that the League of Villains happened to recruit. But, the film also briefly mentions what the doctor is able to do for people, and that's something we just now got to in the most recent manga arc!
6 The Expanded Mechanics Of One For All
This has to be the worst offender in the movie. Anything else could have easily been waved aside as "non-canon" or "only used in the films". Things like the Full Gauntlet from the Two Heroes movie or even Bakugo's brief fling with One for All. But, hinting at Deku's Quirk potential with One for All, the inability for the Quirk to be stolen, and the will of the vestiges all in the same movie? No way people could ignore that!
Luckily it's not like any of these "spoilers" are from too far in the future, most of them are revealed in the arc after the Gentle Criminal one. Still, anime-only fans don't even know about the vestiges really yet, so they jumped the gun a bit.
5 Bakugo Actually Willingly Fights Alongside Deku
You may not have noticed, but Bakugo and Deku absolutely got along better in the movie than they would be in the current arc of the show. It's not like their relationship hasn't steadily been improving, especially since Bakugo learned about OfA, but not to this scale.
In the film, they're basically a tag-team! They're using combo abilities, figuring out plans of attack, and even sharing Quirks. Why the big change? Well, again, this movie is a bit of a time-skip, and the stories we skipped to get to the movie is where the two bridge the gap between them even more.
4 One For All Might Have A Will Of Its Own
Honestly, this is a hidden plotline we almost missed, and we're caught up on the manga! The idea that All Mights Quirk, One for All, has a will of its own is pretty absurd. It's a quirk, a bundle of stored energy that can be held by its user, it shouldn't be capable of thought... Yet in this film, we see that the Quirk itself actively made the choice about its host.
It used All Might as an intermediary to transfer OfA from Bakugo back to Deku, and that's new information. Horikoshi again stated in an interview that this concept was something he had planned on using for a potential end to the series, so we know that it's basically canon. So, does that mean Nana Shimura is still alive inside Deku?
3 U.A's Under Scrutiny, Yet Sends Their Students To An Island Un-Supervised
A slight narrative throughout the run of My Hero Academia is the idea of responsibility. Obviously, Heroes are responsible for the damage they cause, the lives they save, and their own well-being, but what about the school that taught them? What is U.A taking responsibility for? Well, quite a lot actually. We've seen them buff their security, move to a dorm system, and apologize publicly in response to villainous activities.
The quick turnaround is why they're one of the "best" schools in fiction. So, how in All Mights name are they allowed to let a class of students loose on an island unsupervised? They're doing legitimate hero work on this island! Not an internship, not a work-study, just running their own impromptu agency.
2 Deku's Learned To Smile For Real
Another little story we've seen progress throughout this hero narrative is the growth of Deku's smile. Originally, the kid was freaking out in every situation and didn't even bother to try smiling while fighting. Then, after working with Nighteye and listening to All Might, we could see him smiling more often. But, the smile was shaky and obviously a front.
Now, in the film, Deku has truly learned how to save with a smile, and we can see how effective it is. By the end of the movie, Katsuma idolizes the green-afro'd lad almost to the same level Deku idolizes All Might. Which, frankly, makes Midoriya's parting words to the child that much more impactful.
1 The League of Villains Has Been Busy
And finally, what are the League of Villains up to in this film? If this is somewhere in the middle of Volume 25 or so, they should either be fighting for their lives again the Meta Liberation Army or living it up as the new heads of the Paranormal Liberation Front. Yet, we can see that they're fine and already in contact with Dr. Daruma.
So, we can only assume this movie takes place before they're tested again Gigantomachia. Still, there's a narrative throughout the film that Shigaraki is coming into his own as a villain more (and rocking a sweet new alternate look). Which explains why they're mass-producing the Quirk-erasing bullets.