I think Horikoshi’s problem is that he really wanted to write the X-Men but chickened out and ended up with The Avengers.
A lot of what’s wrong with BNHA would be fixed if it was an X-Men-type story. You can still have the fun hero team-ups and the scary villains and the bullshit resurrections, but an X-Men story allows for conflict and complications in a way that The Avengers really doesn’t. X-Men allows its villains to be human. It allows the story to actually confront hard questions and doesn’t always give easy answers. And as a result, it’s much more interesting and enjoyable to read than “rotating cast of heroes punches rotating cast of villains.”
And set-up wise, BNHA seemed headed that way. Horikoshi gestured at some of this stuff early on, although it was subtle and easily missed by the section of the fandom that went to clown school instead of junior high. Some of the things I noticed were:
- Stain’s existence, while it’s meme-ed like crazy even in-universe, serves to advance a coherent, structural critique of BNHA’s society. Sure, we had Shigaraki yapping at USJ, but Stain makes a very clear point and he makes it well. The opening scene of BNHA turns heroism into a blood sport played by powerful, fame-hungry people who are tacitly above the law. Stain is an extremist. Stain is also not wrong.
- Midoriya’s questions about the limits of heroism. Shigaraki brings it up during the mall scene, and Midoriya’s clearly troubled about it. He mentions it to All Might, and rather than spouting the same kind of platitudes as usual, All Might admits the truth: He can’t save everyone. He’s only human. He can try to light the way for “all of them” (civilians, heroes, and villains), but essentially, he admits that Shigaraki’s right and acknowledges villains as being worthy of saving. (and then Tsukauchi pops up with “Shigaraki is probably just a sore loser.” Honestly, fuck that guy.)
- The students’ initial reactions to Bakugou’s behavior. In middle school, Bakugou has fans, if not friends, but when he gets to high school, the initial reaction to his behavior from his peers is a collective “eugh.” They find it off-putting and anti-heroic, and they aren’t shy about saying so, and they openly prefer Midoriya, who’s awkward but ultimately friendly and supportive. Bakugou has the makings of a hero who will succeed in BNHA’s world — and his classmates make it clear they don’t see him as heroic at all.
All three of these examples are Horikoshi challenging aspects of hero-media canon, particularly Avengers-era hero media. Heroes aren’t above critique, or at least, the narrative doesn’t actively smack down anyone who critiques them (yet). Heroes aren’t infallible. Power doesn’t equal heroism or goodness. Time and time again, we’re shown that one guy who’s super good at punching isn’t enough to solve society’s problems. And then we hit the back half of the story —
— where it turns out that in fact, one guy punching super hard IS enough to solve all the problems. Heroes are always right, and anyone who critiques them will get lectured and discredited. Villains aren’t salvageable, or even part of society in the first place. No complexity. No grappling with the issues the story initially raised. Just a nice, sanitized happy ending.
I take it back. BNHA didn’t get Avengered. It got Disneyfied.
