'My Hero Academia' Reveals True Goal Behind its Hero License Exam

Midoriya and the others were surprised during the Hero License Exam as it suddenly became a much harder simulation of a villain attack while trying to save civilians. But the latest My Hero Academia episode revealed why the test is tougher now.

In order to make up for the lack of All Might as a symbol uniting the heroes together, pro heroes need to develop a strong sense of unity and community in order to prevail in this tougher world.

Further clarifying why an attacking Gang Orca was added into the Rescue Exercise phase of the Hero License Exam, the Heroes Public Safety Commission explained that they didn't want to test to feel like a game. The real goal of the exam is to see how the young heroes would use their quirks and make sound decisions in a crisis. It's not to measure their individual abilities, but their ability to work as a group when the situation calls for it.

The Police Commission actually made this request for a revision to the exam in the wake of All Might's fight with All For One. It assumes that each examinee already has knowledge of first-aid and will instead be tested on their cooperation skills. Because All Might was at the top of power and charisma, it led to a huge gap in between him and the Number 2 hero, Endeavor.

Because it will be awhile before another All Might comes along, the idea now is to build an "army" of heroes with a strong sense of unity and teamwork in his place. So the idea to make the Rescue Exercise tougher by having the examinees deal with both the already tough rescue operation and a simulated villain attack.

This just proves how much the hero society became reliant on All Might, and the resulting power vacuum means that there is a sense on unease that the Heroes Public Safety Commission wants to relive that unease with a strong line-up of heroes who can fix that imbalance.

My Hero Academia was created by Kohei Horikoshi and has been running in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump since July 2014. The story follows Izuku Midoriya, who lives in a world where everyone has super powers but he was born without them. Dreaming to become a superhero anyway, he's eventually scouted by the world's best hero All Might and enrolls in a school for professional heroes. The series has been collected into 19 volumes so far, and has been licensed by Viz Media for an English language release since 2015.