My Hero Academia World Heroes Mission Review – Something Truly Heroic

Just so we can get this out of the way, yes, I am a fan of My Hero Academia. I’ll admit, I came into it late, but I binged the heck out of it once I tried it out and while I’m not done with Season 5 yet (I have to watch it on Toonami), I know all that’s going on. So when I found out that the third movie was going to be playing in a theater near me? Oh yeah, I jumped at the chance to watch this on the big screen. And as this My Hero Academia World Heroes Mission Review will reveal, it was definitely worth the trip to the theater to watch it.

In terms of timeline placement, this movie takes place within the “Endeavor Agency” arc, where Bakugo, Deku, and Shoto are stilling working with the No.1 hero. During that time, a terrorist organization named Humarize (which was teased in an original episode in Season 5) unleashes a devastating chemical attack that supercharges the Quirks of people and kills all who have them. The heroes go and mobilize to 25 cities around the world in order to try and stop Humarize, but all early efforts are stopped because they can’t find them.

Little do they realize that the REAL threat is something even more sinister, and clever, than they realize.

Enter everyone’s favorite future No.1 hero Deku. Because after the hero squads of the world are told to “stand down”, a seemingly simple robbery puts Deku and a new kid named Rody Soul on a collision course in more ways than one.

You see, Humarize had a defector that had key information on how to stop their big plan, and Rody accidentally grabs the briefcase while on the run from Deku after he helped do a jewel robbery in his own way. Humarize then mobilizes its own forces (including corrupt officials) to label Deku a murder and turn everyone against him (more or less) in order to get the briefcase back.

My Hero Academia World Heroes Mission honestly does a good job of making things feel important even when we don’t realize it at first. Including how Rody may be an “accidental participant” in the story, but he’s deeply connected due to his father being conscripted by Humarize to make their “Trigger Bomb” that can kill heroes. This ostracized Rody and his siblings because everyone thought they were the children of a terrorist, when in fact they weren’t. And of course, Deku going and being the “inspiration and beacon of hope” slowly turns the hero-weary Rody into someone much more heroic.

What really sets My Hero Academia World Heroes Mission apart though from what we’ve seen in the anime (especially in Season 5) is the action. The movies seem to always want to dial it up and deliver the best action possible and World Heroes Mission absolutely does that with multiple set-pieces that are able to deliver beautiful flowing action and perspective shots that we don’t always get in the singular episodes.

Part of the reason for this is that while Humarise hates Quirk-users, they have some in their ranks to ensure the success of their plan. One of which is an archer who has homing arrows. An early fight features Deku trying to save Rody from this archer and they weave around a bridge using his Black Whip ability and it’s really cool.

And that of course says nothing of the final three battles that Deku, Bakugo, and Todoroki have that showcases their Quirks in full as well as brilliant and hope-driven they can be in battle. Seriously, it’s a visual marvel at times to behold and it’s something your mouth will drop at when you see them.

As in most My Hero arcs, everything rides on the villain being a worthy combatant and able to make you understand their vision. Flect Turn (a terrible name, sorry) is honestly a rather clever villain and one who again shows the dark side of Pro-Hero culture. Because much like Shigaraki, his Quirk left him unable to have a true connection with anyone, including family, friends and people he loved. So, he decided that Quirks were the downfall of society and that only “pure humans” should live.

This is a direct conflict to Heroes Rising villain Nine who just wanted a “survival of the fittest” world where only the strong survive. Flect wanted to “save people” from the burden of having Quirks they “couldn’t control” and thus “save lives”. An interesting take on the “hero’s duty”.

And as I noted before, his plan to do this was actually quite ingenious. As his bombs were placed in specific spots and then they lured the heroes to them so that when the panic started…the Pro-Heroes wouldn’t leave, and thus a large chunk of the hero community would be wiped out and hero society…could collapse.

Pretty clever, huh?

Being that this is a film, there is honestly very little character development outside of Rody, but we do get to see some key moments from all three of our “Three Musketeers”. Including Bakugo showing how smart he honestly is, Shoto taking matters in his own hands, and Deku being Deku and never, EVER, giving up. You’d think we’d be tired of something like this by now, but because of how they deliver it…it’s really cool.

Now, that being said, there are some issues as I’m happy to spell out in this review.

First and foremost, they do telegraph certain things. Including an incredibly drawn-out sequence in two parts of the movie where Rody “reveals” his Quirk. Which, of course, was going to go and help save the day. Furthermore, while the villains’ plot was brilliant…you already knew it was going to fail, and they even have a “countdown clock” that they totally abuse cinematic timing with…and of course save the day with fractions of a second on the clock.

Add to that, in the final battles with the “Three Musketeers”, each of them take serious damage…and shake it off like it’s nothing. Bakugo gets impaled multiple times, Deku gets shot by lasers repeated, and Shoto is held underwater for an incredible amount of time…and it just…doesn’t affect them in the typical anime fashion. And of course, Deku is able to “dig deep” for his One For All power boost right when the fight needs it too. It’s not bad per se, and I’m glad they showed them taking serious damage (and bloody…bloody damage…) but you’d think they would’ve made it at least a LITTLE more believable.

Finally, and arguably just as important, despite this being a “World Heroes Mission”…we honestly only see a few of the World Heroes. Japan’s heroes are the ones that are there the most, including Class 1-A and B’s students. Which even Deku admits shouldn’t have happened because they were just “Free Help”. And for those who were hoping for a “Heroes Rising” situation where all of the students would get a kind of moment outside of “fighting for everyone”…you’re going to be a bit disappointed.

Still, even with the very small bumps in the road, My Hero Academia World Heroes Mission is another crowning achievement of anime movies building on what the series before them did. If you’re a My Hero fan, you’ll be believing in heroes too when the film is over.