WARNING: This article contains spoilers for My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, available now.
Making a movie that ties into an anime series is tricky. On one hand, you want to give your audience the high quality content that made them fans in the first place. On the other hand, your anime film can't really change the overall status quo of the series. Essentially, anime tie-in films are filler arcs with high production value.
Take Pokémon: The First Movie for example. Sure, Ash Ketchum dies, but by the end of the film he is resurrected by Pokémon tears or whatever. Despite being the most emotionally charged moment in the entire Pokémon franchise, Ash's death is never brought up again. Then you have the My Hero Academia movie, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes. Just as My Hero Academia is basically Harry Potter but with superheroes, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes is basically Die Hard but with superheroes.
Considering Two Heroes takes place before the third season of My Hero Academia, the stakes are especially low. If you're already caught up with the series, then all of the film's "twists" will come across more as anecdotes. Basically, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes is like discovering a long lost Season 4 episode of The Office. It's enjoyable, but it's not going to change the overall series.
While Two Heroes can't shake up the overarching plot of the series, that doesn't mean there aren't worldbuilding revelations -- both significant and subtle -- to be had. Oh, and just as a disclaimer: We haven't read the manga, so some of these revelations may be more speculative than factual.
ALL MIGHT'S EYES
One of the highlights of Two Heroes are the flashback sequences covering All Might's fledgling days as a Japanese exchange student studying in America. Through these flashbacks we learn trivial snippets of All Might's past, like how he got his first costume. In retrospect, All Might's Americana motif is the superhero equivalent of that one guy who spent a semester abroad in England before coming back with an accent.
What's peculiar is that, during these flashbacks, All Might has normal eyes -- white scleras and everything. How did All Might get his black and blue eyes? No idea. Seriously, the film gives us three different All Might outfits, yet no one ever addresses what's up with All Might's blacked out visage.
INTERNATIONAL WATERS
Beyond All Might's flashbacks in America, the bulk of Two Heroes takes place on I-Island, a man-made, moving island. I-Island was designed as a paradise for scientists, as the top support gear companies from around the globe pooled their resources to create a city-sized think tank centered on researching new technology for Pro Heroes. Evidently, the "I" stands for "International," as quirks are not restricted whatsoever on I-Island.
I-Island's laissez faire approach to Quirks may just be a convenient means to allow Class 1-A to use their quirks sans litigation. The implications of this small change are huge, however, as we had assumed that requiring a Hero License to use Quirks was just the world standard. Does that make Quirk licensing basically My Hero Academia's version of gun control? We're now super curious as to how other governments regulate Quirks.
FULL GAUNTLET
One of I-Island's inhabitants is Melissa Shield, a third-year student studying to be a scientist at I-Island Academy. Melissa gives Deku the Full Gauntlet, a special glove originally designed for All Might. When wearing Full Gauntlet, Deku can throw hands using One For All without injuring his arms whatsoever.
Remember, Two Heroes takes place before Deku started relying on his legs for fighting in Season 3. Having a support item that lets Deku use his arms effectively literally solves Deku's Achilles' Heel. Sure, Full Gauntlet shatters when Deku uses 100% of One For All, but why not just ask Melissa if she could make another gauntlet? That's like, if Cyclops broke his first pair of ruby quartz glasses but never asked Professor X for another pair, instead deciding to just learn how to shoot lasers out of his ears.
THE LEX LUTHOR THEORY
Call us ignorant weebs, but we had always assumed that the over the top support items from My Hero Academia were so powerful because they were designed by quirk-wielding inventors like Mei Hatsume, not unlike like Forge from the X-Men. Then we met Melissa Shield, a quirk-less student who has crafted some of the most advanced support items in My Hero Academia.
Essentially, Melissa's aptitude as a scientist serves as a greater reflection of the society of My Hero Academia. The amazing abilities of Pro Heroes actually improved humanity, inspiring ordinary scientists like Melissa to craft technology that matches the power of their protectors. This is basically the opposite of Lex Luthor's theory that superheroes (specifically Superman) hold humanity back from greatness and progression by acting as an overprotective crutch.
QUIRK ENHANCING SUPPLEMENTS
Melissa's father, David Shield, designed the McGuffin of Two Heroes, a helmet that augments the Quirks of whomever wears it. This helmet turns the film's main antagonist, Wolfram, from a wannabe Hans Gruber into the anime equivalent of Magneto. Specifically, "unlike with drugs, this device can augment one's quirk without doing any damage to one's mind or body."
Even though the helmet is destroyed by the end of Two Heroes, we just received confirmation that performance enhancing substances exist within My Hero Academia. Will we get a "very special episode" of My Hero Academia in the future? Maybe an arc focused on an ersatz Bane? We're not condoning drug usage whatsoever, but we totally want the next U.A. Sports Festival tournament arc to have a quirk enhancing supplement scandal subplot because those super illegal fights would be super entertaining.