mytheoryacademia

[mytheoryacademia]

All Might’s Age: An Approximation

All Might’s age has always intrigued me, as someone who is wondering when Top Heroes who do not die on the job should realistically plan to retire. We know heroes can continue to work for as long as they want thanks to Gran Torino and the Number 9 hero, Yoroi Musha. 

All Might’s age is also important to understand how long the heroes have been relying on his presence scaring the would-be villains of crime and letting brew some problematic behaviours in the way the hero society is constructed. In other words, it seems like Japan has been in a status quo for years thanks to All Might, but for how long?

I will look at other characters’ age and what they can tell us about All Might’s age, and give an approximate range based on this. Note that this is pure speculation based on someone who likes to math. 

Endeavor

We know that Endeavor (Enji Todoroki) is 45 at the beginning of the manga. He says that All Might was already Number 1 when Endeavor reached Number 2 at 20 years old, placing All Might at least the same age as Endeavor. On the other hand, Endeavor never recalls All Might as a peer in UA, their common alma mater. Therefore, they probably were not in the same year. It is also important to note that Endeavor claimed All Might’s fame and aura was already important when Endeavor was 20. Based on Endeavor’s age, All Might was probably at least 3 years older than him, to give him enough time to establish his aura of The Symbol of Peace, The Hero, The Number 1. 

Hawks 

Hawks was the first hero to reach the top ten before the age of 20, which was the age at which Endeavor himself reached the top 2. All Might was older than 20 when he entered the top 10, which also supports the few years he might have on Endeavor. 

Gran Torino

We learned through the movies, OVAs and Endeavor’s shouts of anger about this damn American that All Might spent some time training under in North America after the death of Nana Shimura, when he was 18 years old. Before that, he spent some time training with Gran Torino. 

From Endeavor’s statements, the records established by Hawks and the time he spent training before coming back to Japan, All Might would be, at the youngest, 48 at the beginning of the manga. That would be three years older than Endeavor, leaving him enough time to go to see Nana Shimura die, train a little, go to the US and grow, and then come back to Japan approximately at 21 years old. 

Sir Nighteye

In his character sheet, Sir Nighteye is said to be 38 years old. He was a fan of All Might and wanted to work with him. If he was a student fresh out of high school who managed to work with All Might right off the bat (an assumption I doubt, it seems like an adult when they started to work together), he could have started to work with All Might at 18 years old. That would mean All Might’s career had span over more than 20 years at the start of the manga. Endeavor has been a hero for more than 20 years (he was the Number 2 for 25 years) so this is not directly adding anything to the equation. 

Kotaro and Tenko Shimura

This is where we enter spoiler territory for anime-only fans. In his character sheet, Tenko (Tomura Shigaraki) is said to be 20 years old. His father, Kotaro, was 32 when he died, according to his character sheet. 

A few things can be concluded from this: at most, 52 years have passed between Nana’s death (All Might’s age being 18 at the time). This is because Nana had to be alive to have a son and this son to be alive to have a son of his own, who is now 20. At most, All Might is 70 and has been a hero for close to 50 years. However, both Kotaro and Tenko did not loose their parent at birth. 

First, this picture informs us that Nana’s son (Kotaro) was likely older than 5-6 years old when she gave him up for adoption, as kids on average loose their first teeth at this age. Let’s say he was 6 years old on that photo. If we pretend this is the last picture of her and her son together and if we say that she died shortly after giving him up for adoption, he was 6 when All Might was 18, making their age gap around 12 years old. All Might would have been 44 when he was 32 and died. 

From Shigaraki’s memories, he was at least a few years old when he killed his father (Kotaro). Shigaraki was thought to be quirkless when he was very young, perhaps because it took him a long time to manifest his quirk. Most children manifest their quirk by age 4. It is reasonable to think parents would start to worry about their child being quirkless after they passed the 4 years old threshold. As such, let’s say Shigaraki/Tenko is 4 (at least) in this incident. This is right before he killed his father, who was 32 when he died. 

This means, the age gap between Kotaro and his son is 28 years old, and this son and All Might is 40 years old. Now this son being Shigaraki, age 20, it would mean All Might is 60 years old at the beginning of the manga.

Alternatively, the photo of Nana and her son might be dated and several years might have passed between it and her talking about him to All Might. It is also possible that Shigaraki was older than 4 when he finally manifested his quirk. Still, All Might should not be younger than 48 years old at the beginning of the manga. Say Kotaro spent some years with his foster family before Nana died (say 2-4 years). That would bring him at 8-10 years old when she died, and reduce his age gap with All Might to 10-8 years. If Shigaraki also showed his quirk later than 4 years old, for instance 6 years old, that means Kotaro died 14 years before the manga, at 32. If he was still alive, he would be 46, making All Might 54-56. 

One more exercise for funsies: since Tenko/Shigaraki was not the eldest child, his age gap with his own father is at least 19 years old (if he had his children as an adult and the age gap between Hana and Tenko was 1 year). Let’s set it at 20, to let him have enough time to marry and have Hana before Tenko was born. Tenko would have been 12 when his dad died. There is no way Hana is a puberty aged kid (from the memories) when she died. She must be younger than 10, at most I would say 9, Tenko, 8. Let’s say Kotaro was born before Nana met All Might (why did I not think of that earlier instead of going with the teeth theory) and because All Might’s situation seemed similar to Midoriya, they probably met when he was in middle school around 14 years old. If he was put up for adoption before Nana met All Might (4 years before her death), then he was at least 10 when she died (if we use the teeth evidence). Also Nana taking a pupil right after loosing her husband and son makes sense. Kotaro was 24 when his son was born, and 8 years younger than All Might. Making All Might 32 when Tenko/Shigaraki was born, and 52 at the beginning of the series. 

Nana’s son’s age is pure speculation, however. The only thing we know is a strict minimum: he was not a toddler when she last saw him. What if instead of being younger than All Might, he was his age or older? Well then All Might’s age gap with Tenko/Shigaraki would be too small and he would end up barely older than Endeavor, which does not make much sense. Kotaro, if he was still alive, would be around 24-28 years older than his son, so 44-48 years old. This is right in All Might’s strict minimum age from Endeavor’s story.

In conclusion: All Might is probably in his mid to late-50s at the beginning of the manga, when Midoriya and co enter UA.

[mytheoryacademia]

Stolen Quirk Theory: Midoriya was born with a quirk... but it was stolen

The theory that Midoriya was in fact not born quirkless is one I've seen several times in the fandom. The first version of that theory is that his quirk was stolen, hence making him quirkless for most of his life, up to the moment he was handed One For All by All Might.

The Doctor

In the very first episode Izuku Midoriya: Origin, we see a flashback of a doctor telling a young Midoriya that he should give up his dream and that he likely does not have a quirk. That doctor is consulted for his expertise on quirks. His physical appearence is the same in the manga and the anime.

This doctor is never named, but later on in the series, it looks like we see him again in a very different context.

This character (and this is when we get into the spoiler territory for people who are following the anime only) is All For One's doctor. His name is Kyudai Garaki and here is his portrait.

Unless doctors in the MHA universe are all bald with fluffy mustaches and weird steampunk-ish glasses, I say it's the same guy.

This guy is a doctor who has worked with All For One for at least as long as Tenko Shimura (Shigaraki) has been found. He apparently went missing after he presented his theory about how quirks would continue to evolve, and found an ally in All For One. His base may be in Jaku and he might be All For One's personnal doctor, but those two elements and his disappearance did not prevent him from practicing medicine as a doctor and quirk expert.

For once, All For One might have coerced the medical board in Midoriya's area to allow him to have a clinic under a false identity (Daruma Ujiko). They were friends and he was passionate about quirks, All For One could help a friend out; but they were also allies obsessed with quirks, and what better way to continue his beneficial (to their cause) research than to work with seemingly quirkless children or anyone with medical issues relating to quirks? Second, he only became All For One's personnal 24/7 doctor after his life-altering fight with All Might, five years before the meeting between All Might and Midoriya and years after Midoriya went to a doctor. He had time to practice on the side. He moved his operations from Musutafu to Jaku, or Inko and Izuku traveled between the cities to seek his expertise.

The relationship between that doctor and All For One and Deku is an explanation for how Midoriya's quirk was stolen.

Diagnosis

To determine if a child is likely quirkless, the Doctor (Garaki) tells Inko and Izuku that they use a x-ray of the foot. He explains that missing a joint in the pinky toe is an indicator if the child will develop a quirk or not.

First, he is an expert on quirks and has been there for a long time (he is a 120 years old after all), but I wonder what he meant by "in the past" and "early study". I would say in the manga it is worded a little differently. it was demonstrated by researchers that the pinky toe's missing joint and quirks were linked. Just because something is old, it does not mean it is not reliable. Where it is possible that Midoriya's case was a lie, however, is in the x-ray. It is entirely possible that the doctor switched the x-rays with someone else's.

The way the Doctor (Garaki) tells the results is also important. Studies showed a link between a missing joint and having a quirk in the early days, as a proof of "evolution" to the next stage in homo, for a lack of better words. I'd be curious to see if this link continues to this day and if the data is consistent. From how it is presented in the manga, it does. Still, it is not a joint that causes the lack of quirk, but both are manifestations of the same cause. Meaning, perhaps you could have an extra joint and a quirk. Or a missing joint and no quirk. I just do not have the data, and I mildly trust this doctor. I'm also curious how the society explains quirklessness in a children when both parents have a quirk. These early studies were a way to find quirks, I would want more recent studies to find out quirklessness, why it happens after parents likely "evolved" for generations, like it was the case for Inko.

Counterpoints

1. Genetics: It is possible that having more joints in the pinky toe has become a recessive trait in the hero society and only manifests in about 20% of the population. Likewise, quirklessness would also be a recessive trait. Meaning both parents have quirks, but also have a quirkless gene that they could pass on to their child. That could explain how Midoriya's two parents had a quirk, a form of evolution, while he showed a recessive trait. As mentionned above, the pinky joint diagnosis is also still valid, even if it is old.

2. Timeline: Midoriya never manifested a quirk and only went to the doctor after it's been years of trying and hoping. So either his quirk was stolen in his very early childhood (more on that in another theory) or it never was.

3. Motif: why stole his quirk in particular? From what Inko said, Izuku's father could breath fire and she could only attract small objects to herself. Both are not very impressive quirks. Midoriya could have a variation of them in a more powerful form, or a combination that could be interesting (pyrokinesis, for instance). All and all, it was a quirk, but not as useful or flamboyant as Half and Half, Erasure, Rewind or Overhaul.

I'll let you decide what you think of this, and if you have additions/suggestions, I'll gladly add them to this post! Thank you for reading.