Throughout the entire My Hero Academia series, fans have followed the story of a world where super-powers (quirks) are totally common, and being a hero is an actual job that you have to go to school for, which gives you benefits, retirement, paychecks, etc.
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This is the way of the world in MHA, though the origins of this society had never really been explained. That is, until recently, when My Hero Academia: Vigilantes explained exactly when, where, and how professional heroism got started.
In chapter 12 of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes (which you can read here for free), Koichi has enlisted the help of an older college classmate, Makoto, in helping him with his studies. The subject being worked on in his class his Hero Sociology.
Makoto simplifies things for Koichi, breaking down the things he needs to know about where heroes started, and how it became a profession. She explains that, when people first started displaying quirks, only vigilante justice existed. People used their powers to fight off crime in their areas.’
Before long, legislation was passed that required people to register their quirks, and the vigilantes were turned into the first professional heroes. At least, that’s the way the history books tell it.
Makoto goes on to tell Koichi that most of these vigilantes actually didn’t become heroes, and were turned away by their governments. In fact, most of these vigilantes were actually classified as villains, and were arrested for using their quirks, even if most of them weren’t performing villainous acts.
This is where MHA reveals where heroism actually started, and it’s origin is pretty surprising. The first Hero Licensing System was put in place right here in the U.S., in the state of Rhode Island. When the law was initially written, there were 189 vigilantes fighting in the area.
Much to Koichi’s surprise, a lot of those vigilantes didn’t continue on to become heroes. Of the 189 vigilantes, only seven were actually hired as heroes.
As Makoto says, “The true goal of the licensing system was not to endorse heroes, but define what constitutes a villain. To divide those arbitrarily using their quirks into heroes and villains and to put limitations on the latter. Just part of the plan to regulate quirks on a societal level.”
Finally, we have some perspective on where the professional heroes got their start, but it doesn’t sound like the issue of heroism is as black-and-white as we might have guessed.
New episodes of My Hero Academia are released on Saturday mornings, and new chapters of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes debut each week.
