My Hero Academia is far from being the same series it was since day one, and that's a good thing. What was once the fledgling minds of tomorrow's heroes are quickly becoming the valiant hearts of today. Fans have enjoyed the growth of characters like Midoriya Izuku, Katsuki Bakugou, and Shoto Todoroki, but one student whose progress shouldn't go unnoticed is that of the new Ingenium, Iida Tenya.
He's one of the most aspiring students at U.A. and has quickly taken prominence in Class 1-A, both as its class president and just as a guy that's hard to ignore. It's very appropriate for a guy like him to have gotten so far away from the starting line in such a quick amount of time. This list will be looking at that journey as it breaks down how Iida has changed from Episode 1 (& how he's stayed the same).
10 Changed: Became Independent From Deku
While this wasn't exactly in Episode 1, Iida's close friendship was apparent early in the series. Despite the two having a rocky start during the Entrance Exams, Iida grew to admire Deku's natural heroic tendencies and came to adore him even more as a classmate.
In any other Shonen series, Iida would've been a core member of the central group, but he made it apparent during the Sports Festival that he didn't want to depend on Deku. Since then, he's been trying to carve out his own path as a hero, breaking the pattern of the central, Shonen friendship.
9 Stayed The Same: Proud Of His Family
Since day one, Iida has made it very apparent that his name is Iida. A lot of characters in this series try to make a name for themselves as heroes, such as Deku trying to make One for All his own power or Todoroki trying to separate himself from his father.
Iida, however, has stayed on the same path and is simply trying to make his family's long line of heroes proud, particularly his older brother.
8 Changed: Took On The Ingenium Name
On that note, Iida has taken a very specific turn in the series. While he was proudly trying to represent the Iida name during the Sports Festival, the brother that he was so proud of was having his career ended by the Hero Killer, Stain. His brother's last wish as a hero was for Iida to take his hero name as his own.
After confronting a dangerous and life-changing battle against Stain, Iida eventually got the courage to take up his brother's name and now patrols the streets as Ingenium.
7 Stayed The Same: Comically Serious
A lot of fans were worried during the Stain Arc that Iida was going to become the Sasuke of the series, i.e. the edgy bad boy on a path of vengeance. Fortunately enough, the power of friendship helped save his life, his honor, and his entire identity from becoming derivative.
Because of that day, Iida gets to remain one of the most comically serious characters in the series that berates his classmates with dramatic concern and somehow does everything, even relaxing, with an endearing attitude.
6 Changed: Became Class President
During Iida's initial appearance in the series, he may have been a very proud and loud entrant to the Entrance Exams, but he was just another student like everyone else. One of the biggest additions to his character later in the series was when he took up the mantle as class president of Class 1-A.
Though it was originally meant for Deku, he more than proved his passion and initiative for the position during a school-wide panic and continues to handle his presidency with incredible concern and responsibility.
5 Stayed The Same: Quirk
An obvious addition, certainly, but a necessary one, given how characters have evolved over the course of the series. Deku has recently developed a new Quirk, Toga can now copy Quirks, and Shigaraki has become a much more dangerous villain. With powers and abilities shifting every now and then, Iida remains a pillar of reliability and consistency.
While he's certainly honed his Quirk (more on that in a bit), it's still essentially the same ability: Drink a bunch of juice and go really fast. There's no harm in that either. Speedsters in all media and especially anime are some of the most reliable characters out there.
4 Changed: Evolved Recipro Burst
While Iida's Quirk, Engine, hasn't really changed much, Iida has developed it enough to where it just works better. Thanks to his training and some advice from his brother, Iida is now developing his own muffler on his body and is able to run faster and longer than usual.
This is best exemplified in his Quirk's max ability, Recipro Burst. This initially allowed Iida a few short seconds of peak speed, but he's gradually developed the ability to where he can now go at peak speed for 10 minutes at a time.
3 Stayed The Same: Costume
Over the years, several costumes in Class 1-A have changed from their original, flashy designs to become much sleeker, practical, and more adaptive to their growing abilities. This is evident in Deku's Gamma Suit or Kaminari's new shooter gear.
While some of his class' evolution has become evident on the capes on their own backs, Iida has maintained the straight and narrow and done minimal to no changes to his iconic costume. This could be due to his strong attachment to his family's design (his mufflers are now just for show) or just the poor negotiations with the Support Department. In either case, Iida's is getting really good at being a familiar face.
2 Changed: His Hand
As stated earlier, Iida tried to avenge his brother by directly challenging the man who beat him, Stain. However, reality soon kicked in as Iida quickly realized that he was just a kid going up against a guy who specializes in killing full-fledged Pro Heroes.
While Deku and Todoroki were able to help save the day, Iida didn't leave unscathed. His own hand got severely cut during the scuffle; and as penance, he refuses to get it properly healed. Instead, it remains as a constant reminder of one of his greatest shortcomings.
1 Stayed The Same: Outspoken
While Iida may have had a traumatic experience given the situation with his brother and the vengeance job going awry, that certainly hasn't made the guy any humble or, at least, quieter. Since day one, Iida has been one of the most outspoken characters in the entire series, going as far as to call out Deku during the Entrance Exam's preliminary assembly.
While this could be annoying and even obnoxious on most other characters, Iida has stayed the same loud fellow and has managed to make that voice one of his most endearing qualities.