My Hero Academia Chapter 420 picks up directly after the major revelations of how far All For One’s manipulations of Tomura Shigaraki’s entire life went. That all led to the Izuku Midoriya looking rougher than he ever had in the aftermath as he was missing both of his arms. Now bleeding out Midoriya got a welcome surprise from his fellow Class 1-A classmates led by Shota Aizawa showing up when he needed them most. Will Class 1-A be enough to turn around the fight against All For One? Let’s find out with My Hero Academia Chapter 420.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer & Artist: Kōhei Horikoshi
MY HERO ACADEMIA CHAPTER 420 SYNOPSIS
Flashing back to when after the fall of U.A. High School floating fortress Kurogiri teleports Eraser Head and Present Mic a glacier far offshore. Present Mic angrily grabs Kurogiri and yells that they should’ve never placed their faith on a corpse.
Eraser Head stops the crying Present Mic, though Mic denies crying, as he notices signs of tears on Kurogiri’s face. Aizawa theorizes that as a U.A. student when he died Oboro Shirakumo spirit is breaking through within Kurogiri as Warp Gates could’ve been used to kill him and Present Mic. When Kurogiri weakly says his name Present Mic realizes Oboro’s memories will never fade.
Kurogiri suddenly activates another Warp Gate and teleports Eraser Head to the U.A. Evacuation Center.
Eraser Head immediately orders Ectoplasm to gather all the heroes assigned to evacuation and protection missions, leaving only those best suited for defense of the evacuation zones to their assignments. Death Arms, coming out of retirement, steps up along with other young heroes to help Eraser Head. A kid gives Eraser Head his All Might shirt for someone who may need it.
To make sure they gather all their forces Eraser Head has Lizardy, Jack Mantis, Ectoplasm, and other heroes teleported Takoba National Stadium to defeat the villain known as Gashly Eijiju. With that all the major fights in each battlefield has concluded.
Eri then approaches Aizawa and gives him her horn that she has cut off to use on Deku. Eri states that she wants to help however she can so that one day they can all hear her sign.
In the present, Eraser Head stabs Izuku Midoriya with Eri’s horn. Midoriya’s arms start to return as they were before being destroyed.
As that happens Creati, Grape Juice, Chargebolt, Tentacole, and Anima lead other heroes to appear from various Warp Gates to back-up Midoriya in the fight against All For One.
REVIEW
My Hero Academia Chapter 420 was all set-up but is exactly what it needed to be. Kōhei Horikoshi has not been shy professing his love for superhero comic books, specifically the Marvel Universe. With us being close to the end of My Hero Academia it should come to no surprise that Horikoshi would pay homage to Marvel. We get a homage to Avengers: Endgame that fit perfect for what this point of the story called for.
Before we get to the Avengers: Endgame moment, My Hero Academia Chapter 420 dedicates time to developing how we get there. Given the focus on all the final battles this was needed for the characters that show. Specifically, Horikoshi dedicates time to developing why it is Shota Aizawa leading the charge for the heroes who show up to back-up Deku.
It really couldn’t have been anyone other than Aizawa that was given this role. Aizawa is by far the most developed adult character in My Hero Academia. He has been a constant throughout the series from the very beginning. He has directly mentored Izuku Midoriya and Class 1-A so they could step-up the way they have in this story.
All of that development as the calm and cool mentor built to how he handled identifying Oboro Shirakumo inside Kurogiri. Unlike Present Mic, who was understandably letting his emotions get the best of him, Aizawa understood what was going on. He need to make sure that whatever was left of Oboro’s spirit within Kurogiri did not dissipate. Staying true to his character, every piece of dialogue was aimed to have Oboro be able to reclaim his agency and help out the heroes.
Not missing the opening created we see Aizawa immediately go into full leader mode. He wastes no time in inspiring all heroes who can help rally around him. Having Death Arms step out of retirement was a great moment to elevate what Aizawa was doing. Death Arms was the first hero we saw retire due to not being able to handle the world turning on heroes. Having Death Arms return shows that the heroic spirit within everyone is alive and well.
With this Horikoshi further drove home the sense of urgency there was to get all the heroes to where Midoriya was fighting Tomura Shigaraki and All For One. That was don by how all-out Aizawa had the heroes go to quickly defeat the last powerful villain in Gashly Eijiju through sheer numbers. It all helps to emphasize we are towards the end of this story.
Adding in Eri’s contribution to this final fight was an emotionally touching moment. Seeing Eri not care about the ramifications to her Quirk by breaking off her horn for Aizawa to give to Midoriya was great. It shows that Eri quickly understood that she couldn’t go to the battlefield but it did not deter her from making a difference. That being motivated by wanting to make sure Midoriya and the rest of Class 1-A can hear her sing was a great call back to how Kyoka Jiro’s song at the festival inspired her so much.
All of this built the hype for Horikoshi to deliver My Hero Academia Chapter 420’s Avengers: Endgame “everyone is here” portal moment. What made this Avengers: Endgame moment better was how earned it was. This wasn’t just Horikoshi paying homage to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All of Izuku Midoriya’s classmates and other heroes showing up to back him up in the fight against All For One was what this entire series built towards. Every character moment and plot thread is what made this hit as hard as possible. It was the perfect note to hit on to conclude My Hero Academia Chapter 420 and build maximum excitement for the next chapter.
FINAL THOUGHTS
My Hero Academia Chapter 420 delivers the most perfect Avengers: Endgame homage there has been. Kōhei Horikoshi made sure the ending was something that the reader knew was earned and builds even greater excitement for what will happen next.
Story Rating: 10 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 9.5 Night Girls out of 10
