My Hero Academia Art Imagines a World Where Izuku Swapped Sides With Shigaraki

My Hero Academia has been bringing rivals Izuku Midoriya and Tomura Shigaraki much closer together, as the series enters its most drastic and decisive times of war between heroes and villains. In fact, My Hero Academia Season 6 has been hitting fans with powerful imagery in its episodes and latest opening credits sequence – imagery that hints at there being some previously unknown space for conflict between Tomura Shigaraki and his mentor, the archvillain All For One. 

There’s an entire thread of discussion about My Hero Academia that’s dedicated to the debate about who Izuku Midoriya and Shigaraki (real name: Tenko Shimura) would’ve become if they had each landed under the wings of different mentors. Now, a piece of My Hero Academia artwork imagines the version of the story where Deku ended up being the potential successor to evil incarnate, and Shigaraki ended up being heroism’s biggest hope! 

This artwork by illustrator @Myu060309 isn’t just aesthetically awesome (which it definitely is): the level of detail in the image is so good that it might just inspire an entire wave of fan wishes that this What If?/Elseworlds alternate universe fantasy get explored in an actual manga and/or anime story arc. 

Tenko – This artwork shows what kind of hero Tenko Shimura would’ve grown up to be, as the inheritor of One For All. Tenko’s outfit was clearly inspired by his grandmother, Nana Shimura, the seventh user of OFA, who served as a mentor to All Might. Like All Might, this heroic version of Tenko expresses his love of Nana through the homage of wearing a cape styled after Nana’s own.  

Izuku – This version of Izuku Midoriya who is All For One’s protege is a perfect mix of what Tomura Shigaraki became under All For One’s influence, and who Izuku became during his “Dark Deku” arc – which is exactly the material season 6B of the anime is about to cover. Deku Shigaraki has the appropriate dark cloak covering him, and the signature white hair. What’s harder to explain is why a version of Izuku under AFO’s influence would need to still wear the same glove/boot support items that were meant to help him manage the level of force and damage done to his body while using One For All. 

That small criticism aside, this is such awesome work – to the point that (as we said) we wouldn’t be mad at having this sequence actually appear in the series… somehow. 

NEXT: How My Hero Academia’s Anime Can Better Adapt the “Dark Deku” Arc

My Hero Academia releases new anime episodes on Hulu and Crunchyroll. New manga chapters are free online.