My Hero Academia Explains How Its Hero and Villain Names Began

By Nick Valdez

My Hero Academia has been making its way through the final battles between the heroes and villains in the latest chapters of the series, and the newest chapter of the My Hero Academia manga has explained how the code names for each of the heroes and villains actually began! My Hero Academia's criminal justice system is filled with a lot of unexplained nuance as while there are heroes who work for the Public Safety Commission, and villains who fight against them, there's still a police force and a more grounded take on how law and order generally works in the real world. 

It's been revealed in the My Hero Academia: Vigilantes spin-off series that criminals are branded as "villains" when the quirk enhanced nature of their crimes reaches a certain level of amount and severity, and the newest chapter of the main My Hero Academia manga series actually clued fans into how this labeling system began in the first place. As fighting continued between those with quirks increased in the past, code names were developed to both identify a foe and were then used by those foes to keep their anonymity. 

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(Photo: Shueisha)

My Hero Academia: How Hero and Villain Names Began

My Hero Academia Chapter 393 begins with a flashback showing the League of Villains discussing the merits of villain names, and Tomura Shigaraki explains that a theory was that before all of these code names began, heroes and villains were virtually indistinguishable. It started when a fighter needed to call an unknown foe something, and from there those using those nicknames to further hide their own identities. It was a survival tactic in the world before the age of heroes, but at some point everyone went in on these code names. 

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Once people started to fully announce themselves by these code names, it became a much fuller part of the world. It started this "world of comic books" as Shigaraki calls it in the world of My Hero Academia, and that further explains why those like All For One had their own kind of golden era. If the lines weren't clearer before, it was probably easier to garner lots of influence. But in this new age of heroes, there are those like Deku who are putting everything on the line against the other side. Regardless of whether or not there's a nuance to the battle itself. 

How do you feel about My Hero Academia's use of hero and villain names for its characters overall? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

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