The most iconic and well-known quirk in the entirety of the My Hero Academia story is the One For All. This legendary Quirk relies on the inherited powers of its predecessors, which, with each generation, build up its strength and potential. This Quirk previously belonged to the iconic Number One Hero of Japan, All Might. However, All Might ended up passing the Quirk to his successor, Izuku Midoriya, the protagonist of the series, at the very beginning of the series. Izuku Midoriya then went on to master the Quirk as no one had done before him.
At the end of My Hero Academia, specifically in Chapter 430, it was confirmed that the embers of One For All had burned out and he lost the Quirk, leaving him completely powerless. This was expected after his final confrontation against Shigaraki. However, he has come back stronger than ever before with a power-up that surpasses even that of All For One. Deku has now acquired a new Hero Armor with powers that replicate One For All and one that is constantly developing with newly advanced technology.
Izuku Midoriya Lost the One For All Quirk In The Final War Arc
Izuku Midoriya, the main character of My Hero Academia, has proven himself to be a skilled fighter from the get-go. We have followed his journey since the very first chapter of Kohei Horikoshi’s story, and through it, we have seen tremendous growth and character development for him. For one, when Izuku Midoriya started his journey, it was revealed that he was born Quirkless, which, in this world, is a rather uncommon occurrence. By being Quirkless, Deku had little chance of becoming a Pro Hero. However, that would all change when he ran into the Number One Hero of Japan, All Might. It was All Might who took him as his successor and eventually gave him his own Quirk after he proved himself worthy.
With One For All, Izuku Midoriya’s progress was slow. While he initially could not fire damage without injuring himself, by the end of the story, he mastered this power and used all its vestiges to great success, all the while managing to put out 45% of OFA without injuring himself. Sadly, Deku’s Quirk powers ended up being very short-lived. About a year after he acquired these powers, he ended up losing them. In the Final War arc of My Hero Academia, Izuku Midoriya came face to face with Shigaraki, who was boosted by his Decay and All For One at the same time. In an attempt to both rescue and defeat Shigaraki, Deku decided to sacrifice the One For All and give him a new chance at life.
Ultimately, this attempt of his failed, and Shigaraki died. With the sacrifice of the One For All quirk, Izuku has become Quirkless once more. By becoming quirkless, his dreams of becoming a Pro Hero had been shattered, and that’s also why he took on teaching at UA High and instead guided the new generation forward. In the final chapter of My Hero Academia, released on August 5, 2024, in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump Double Issue 36-37, Izuku was given a new power-up in the form of a Hero Armor.
Deku Received A Bigger Power-Up In The Form Of An Armor Suit
Upon the release of My Hero Academia Chapter 430, many fans were initially upset due to Horikoshi’s decision. A lot of readers believed that Izuku Midoriya, after all he’d achieved over the years, deserved a better ending where he accomplishes his dream of becoming the Greatest Hero there is, with the power of One For All in hand.
Deku never got One For All back, but he did ultimately receive a new power-up in the last chapter released of the story on August 5 in the form of a Hero Armor. In this chapter, Horikoshi confirmed that Izuku Midoriya has a new power-up, technically even better than his former One For All. This new power-up is a Hero armor. Armor suits in My Hero Academia were first introduced in the Final War arc by All Might himself. After having become powerless, All Might used his money to develop an Armor Suit in hopes of defeating All For One.
Now, Deku himself has a similar suit, gifted to him by All Might and funded by Class 1-A. With its powers, we can see Deku finally join the other Pro Heroes and reach new heights of strength as an active fighter. He even becomes Japan’s Number 4 Hero, as revealed via the special August episode “I Am a Hero Too,” released on August 2, 2026.
How Deku’s Armor Copies One For All And Surpasses Its Powers
One For All is Deku’s most iconic power, but the armor suit that he obtained at the end has the potential to be even better. As confirmed by Kohei Horikoshi, over the 8-year timeskip, technology has come quite far and is far more advanced than what we saw against All For One in the Final War. In a way, this power-up is technically an even greater gift than One For All ever was. In the My Hero Academia guidebook, Horikoshi, the author of My Hero Academia, reveals that the new armor suit can actually replicate the powers of One For All. At its base, it gives Deku the very same powers he had from his now eradicated Quirk. But on top of that, his vestige powers like Black Whip, Gearshift, and Fa Jin, as well as all the others, are all within his grasp once more, and they can be combined as well.
The main thing that puts this armor ahead of One For All is the potential for constant evolution of technology in My Hero Academia. In just 8 years, technology made it so that even a Quirk like One For All could be replicated. In a few more years, the hero armor suit can basically replicate any power to perfection. It could even be said that Armor Suits will, in a few more years, render most Quirks useless and give even the weakest fighters great powers.
In a way, the power of the new armor suit is comparable to All For One, without the harm that the latter caused. It would be interesting to see Izuku Midoriya’s armor suit in action, which is something that, even today, 2 years after the ending of the series, we haven’t seen. There’s a chance of finally seeing Deku in his armor suit take center stage, as we’re headed for Jump Festa 2027. On December 19, 2026, a big event has been lined up for MHA, which could include a new movie announcement.
My Hero Academia’s manga by Kohei Horikoshi ended in 2024. All chapters are available to read on Manga Plus or Viz Media. The anime by Studio Bones has also ended with Season 8, with all episodes available to stream on Crunchyroll.