My Hero Academia Time Skip Turns Izuku Into Anime’s Iron Man

My Hero Academia’s manga ending includes a major time skip that answers the biggest questions fans have had about the series: Where will Izuku Midoriya end up? 

Deku started off as the powerless protagonist of MHA before he inherited the ultimate benevolent power of One For All. As the series progressed, however, fans kept debating what the best shape of Izuku’s arc would be: ending the story as the most powerful hero in the world (having earned the respect and mastery of that power)? Or coming full circle back to his original status quo as a boy with the heart of the greatest hero, if not the powers. 

My Hero Academia’s Final Chapter answers that question with a time skip 8 years into the future. We find an older Izuku Midoriya working as an instructor at U.A. High School after the last ember of One For All was extinguished inside of him. Midoriya works alongside his former sensei, Aizawa, and even though he doesn’t get to see them much, he still keeps tabs on all his old classmates, who each grow to become famous pro heroes and/or social advocates. 

There’s a bittersweetness to the epilogue, as Midoriya never again gets to be the pro hero he once dreamed of being. Instead, a final scene shows him once again spring into action, powerless (to save a young boy from falling down), and earn a young fan who thinks his quirk power is useless. Meeting the legendary Deku in person, and watching Izuku analyze his power and strategize how to use it better, inspires the boy with the hope that he can be a hero of significance – and inspiring the next generation of heroes is a power no one can take away from Izuku. 

How Deku Becomes MHA Iron Man 

While that’s all well and good, a “post-credits scene” to My Hero Academia’s manga shows Izuku arriving at U.A. to find All Might waiting for him with a gift: A high-tech suit of armor developed by America’s Melissa Shield and Support Class prodigy Mei Hatsume, and funded by all of Izuku’s former classmates (especially Bakugo). The armor is based off of data collected when All Might had his final showdown with All For One in his own armored suit – and now Deku is the next candidate to push hero technology to the next level, with his own suit of armor able to replicate powers and evolve as it compiles new data. A final splash page image shows Deku back on his job as a hero, right alongside all his Class 1-A buddies. 

This final scene is an uplifting one, as it shows that Midoriya’s lack of powers can be compensated for, but his heroic heart and mind is still his true “superpower.” If My Hero Academia ever continues, seeing Deku in his Iron Man era would be just as exciting as watching him learn and master OFA; if the series is done for good, it’s calming and comforting to know that Deku’s dream lives on. 

My Hero Academia’s final chapters can be read online.