Midoriya Izuku is not only just an average, high school kid, but in a world where 80% of the population has special powers called Quirks, he's one of the few who just gets to be human.
That is until a fateful encounter builds a bond between him and the World's #1 Hero, All Might, and gifts him one of the most legendary Quirks of them all. This was just the start of his journey to becoming a great hero, and he's had some wild adventures since then. This list will be breaking down a few of the ways that Izuku has changed since Episode 1 (and a few ways that he's stayed the same).
10 Stayed The Same: Still An All Might Fanboy
A huge part behind Deku connecting with All Might is his innate fanaticism with the Symbol of Peace. All Might's not just one of the most active and effective heroes in the world, but a hero that uses his celebrity to help inspire the amasses. Young Deku was one such child that admired All Might during the hero's early years and has collected quite a bit of paraphernalia dedicated to the man.
Even though he was taken in as All Might's ward, he's still the same fanboy that he was as a kid, and his new dorm room is adorned from wall to wall with All Might stuff (almost to a creepy degree). Skill-wise, he wasn't the most obvious choice for being the next Symbol of Peace, but he certainly has an appreciation for the position.
9 Changed: Got A Quirk
Since that fateful meeting, Deku's life changed in more ways than one. The biggest change of all being in how All Might would eventually gift him the Quirk, One for All. With it, Deku would inherit the cumulative strength of each of the Quirk's past users.
While this would entail a variety of new powers (more on that later), Deku's personal stock would rise as his got amazing new physical abilities that let him leap through the air in a single bound, punch holes in giant robots, and create massive gusts of wind with just the flick of his finger.
8 Stayed The Same: Still Can't Use One For All
With that being said, it's not as if Deku's exactly as overpowered as Superman or the Hulk. Shonen anime may be famous for their spectacular powers, but the industry has always been a stickler for having even more interesting restraints.
While Deku may have super strength, the power is literally too much for his human body, often having the kid tear his muscles and break his bones every time he uses it. So, despite having One for All, Deku has yet to fully master the Quirk and often has to rely on his base cleverness to get himself out of jams.
7 Changed: Got A Quirk...Again
While Deku isn't quite down with the first part of One for All, One for All certainly doesn't seem to be waiting for him. As Deku learns more about his Quirk and its past users, he eventually got a hold of one of the Quirks of its past users, Daigoro Banjo. With Daigoro's Quirk, Black Whip, Deku is able to create sticks and powerful whips that can be used to both whip enemies and swing through the air.
Though his current control is still flimsy at best, Deku is giving the same attention to learning it as he continues to do for One for All now. With Deku becoming a very special inheritor of One for All, only more Quirks await his future.
6 Stayed The Same: Still "Friends" With Bakugo
Ever since day one, Midoriya Izuku has been "friends" with Katsuki Bakugo. That term should be taken lightly considering how rocky the two's relationship really is. Bakugo was always the confident and leading kid of their childhood. He'd take Deku and the other neighbor kids across a variety of different adventures across the forest.
However, as Bakugo became more fascinated with himself, he started to despise Deku more and more for his natural kindness. Bakugo would only become more aggressive of a bully as the two became older, but Deku still held on to their early kinship and even continues to respect the guy to this day for his passion and genuine talent as a hero. The same can hardly be said the other way around.
5 Changed: Stands Up To Bakugo
While Deku may still be nice to Bakugo, that doesn't mean that he's gonna remain the hothead's whipping boy. As All Might's successor and a fellow classmate in U.A., Deku has stopped taking some of Bakugo's abuse and has even demanded some respect.
Though he's far from having the same control and even power as Bakugo, the two get to be equals and even rivals throughout their various exchanges in the prestigious academy. And, as he reluctant as he's handled it, Bakugo just couldn't ignore him and has ended some of his bullying tendencies. Some of them.
4 Stayed The Same: Still A Nerd
While he's become significantly more social as a person, that doesn't mean that he's dropped some of his more asocial tendencies. As a textbook nerd, Deku still takes notes of quite literally everything in his everyday life. This ranges from taking extensive notes during his actual classes to taking everything to heart during his internships.
Deku's tendency to take obsessive notes has even taken to creepy degrees as his unnatural dives into his notebooks have even scared some people off. It's a character trait that's become a running gag in the series that makes it much less of a mystery as to why he didn't have that many friends in the first place.
3 Changed: Got New Friends
It's sad to consider this, but for the longest time, Bakugo was Deku's only friend. That's even counting all of his years as Deku's tormentor. As both a mild-mannered kid and one of the few Quirkless people in the world, Deku has always had trouble making friends. That is until he enrolled into U.A. Since he first set foot on its heroic grounds, he was overwhelmed by a variety of smiling faces and helping hands.
He would immediately make friends with Tenya Iida and Ochaco Uraraka and would even develop enough popularity to become elected Class 1-A's first Class President. From there, he'd not only patch things up with Bakugo but also break through the cold shoulder of one Shoto Todoroki. As a Shonen protagonist, only more friendships await for the once lonely kid.
2 Stayed The Same: Still A Crybaby
One of the most iconic scenes in My Hero Academia is All Might showing a now buff Deku an old image of him crying during his first day of training. It was a striking parallel that truly showed how a few weeks could really change the boy.
With that being said, Deku is still a massive crybaby. He cried multiple times during his first day of U.A. and can still get pretty emotional from time to time. Shonen heroes are infamous for doing the stoic, single tear thing, but Deku really breaks the curve by really bawling when he needs to.
1 Changed: Got A New Costume
When Deku first appeared as a hero, he looked more like a first draft drawing than anything that would actually go off in mainstream print. Dawning an outfit based on his childhood drawings and made by his mother, Deku's original costume was every much as fragile and tattered as the person wearing it. Since then, Deku has made some changes to this costume, with his current one, Costume Gamma, portraying the very sleekness and functionality befitting of a modern superhero.
Beyond just its improved design, the costume also has powerful boots great for stomping on foes and gauntlets that can help Deku shoot precise and dangerous air pockets. Every step that Deku takes as a hero is portrayed on his very costume. Expect him to have something entirely different by the end of the series.