By now, we should all be used to My Hero Academia messing with our emotions. Apparently, though, Kohei Horikoshi can still find new ways to torment us with his writing. And this time, Deku fans are the most affected.
Tensions have been incredibly high since the series began the ‘Final War’, the longest arc yet, in February 2022. Since then, we’ve seen battle after battle between the Pro Heroes and U.A. students against the series’ main villains, but Deku vs Shigaraki was by far the most anticipated one. Just when we thought that Izuku Midoriya had it under control, though, having managed to reach his antagonist’s core, things took a turn for the worse, as All for One made a surprise return. With him came a few revelations, of course, and one of them is devastating fans.
On April 4, a particular manga panel started circulating online, showcasing a bloody Deku, missing both his arms. Naturally, though, there are always those who find it hard to believe what they’re seeing (and with so many fake leakers constantly lurking, who can blame them?). So, could it be true that the protagonist loses his arms in the series, or is something else going on?
Does Deku lose his arms in My Hero Academia chapter 419?
Short answer: yes, Deku loses both his arms in chapter 419 of My Hero Academia. In the previous chapter, the protagonist willingly touched Shigaraki’s hands, convinced that Decay wouldn’t affect him if he kept visualizing his arms inside the One for All/All for One realm. Initially, this seemed to work, but the quirk eventually spread, destroying Deku’s arms up to the elbows. What we didn’t know at the time, though, was that what happens in this realm has real-life consequences.
According to the chapter 419 leaks, Deku is now missing half of his arms in the real world, too. While this occurrence may shock many readers, we can’t say that it came out of the blue. The manga’s author has been foreshadowing that Deku would lose his arms for years through official artwork and within the story itself. For starters, he has broken the bones of his hands and arms multiple times, and if you’ll recall, he was even warned by a doctor that he would lose their function if he kept at it. There was also that one drawing made by Horikoshi, in which Shigaraki is gripping Deku’s arm at the elbow with all five fingers, which is all the villain needs to activate Decay… See what I’m getting at? This was a long time coming.
Does Deku lose his arms permanently?
Okay, so Deku lost his arms, but we don’t know if they’re permanent injuries. Realistically, there are a couple of scenarios in which the hero may get his arms back, and the first includes Eri. Although the girl doesn’t have enough power now to reverse the damage dealt to Izuku’s body, she will likely be able to do so in the future. By now, we know she can control her quirk with enough training, as we’ve seen her use it on Mirio with stellar results. Thus, she could do the same for Deku — if he wishes her to, of course. He wouldn’t be the first character in My Hero Academia to lose his limbs in combat and learn to adapt. (Mirko and Eraserhead quickly come to mind, having lost theirs in the Paranormal Liberation War arc.)
Another way for Izuku to get his arms back would rely on Shigaraki returning and getting a quirk upgrade. In chapter 419, his body is seemingly taken over by All for One, and we learn that the senior villain was the one who gave him Decay, an altered version of a quirk similar to Overhaul, stripped of its restoration component. If Shigaraki were to come back somehow, unlock that component, and turn on All for One, he could restore Deku’s arms. In my opinion, this feels like too many “ifs” but it’s a possibility that would fit nicely with Shigaraki’s character arc.
Even if none of these theories are right, Deku can still be a hero. He has already gotten used to fighting with his legs, and while prosthetic arms would take a while to adjust to, he could use them in combat if it came down to it. All that said, we’ll have to wait for the next chapter of My Hero Academia to see how Izuku handles this loss.