By poking fun at the character, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes proved its All Might replacement is more like him than it wants to admit. In the wake of the main series ending in December, Vigilantes is the perfect My Hero Academia follow-up, particularly with Season 2 coming out just two weeks after the original show’s finale. Koichi is taking up the mantle after Deku’s journey to becoming the number one hero. But he’s not the only one who feels reminiscent of the main anime’s cast of characters.
While Koichi and Deku go about achieving their goals in vastly different ways, the two have a lot in common — from their underdog origins to their admiration of Pro Heroes. And both of their stories begin in earnest thanks to unexpected mentors taking them in. These mentors may seem different on the surface, but they’re also mirrors of one another. My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2 proves as much, and in a very unexpected way. Warning: Light spoilers ahead for My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2.
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Just Proved How Alike Knuckleduster & All Might Are
While All Might gives Deku the opportunity to become a hero in My Hero Academia, Knuckleduster is the one who takes Koichi under his wing in Vigilantes. And at first glance, the masked street hero seems like a far cry from the Symbol of Peace. He’s got less optimism than Deku and his mentor, and his work is confined to the shadows. Yet Vigilantes Season 2, Episode 3 highlights a commonality without even meaning to. With Knuckleduster disappearing at the end of the spinoff’s first season, Koichi and Pop Step are left to continue his work. And in Episode 3, the two joke that the best approach is to do the opposite of whatever Knuckleduster would do.
If we’re being honest, it’s advice Deku and Bakugo probably would have benefited from. While All Might is a hero many of My Hero Academia‘s characters strive to be like — understandably so, given his accolades — he’s a deeply flawed mentor. He pushes himself too far in his pursuit to save others, often breaking his own body to do so. And while he warns Deku and Bakugo against following in his footsteps, they’re only too happy to do the same. In their efforts to be like him, they take dangerous risks. It makes them admirable heroes, but it also puts them in sticky situations.
And while Koichi and Pop Step may poke fun at their former teacher, they’re doing precisely the same thing. In continuing his quest to save others as vigilantes, they risk endangering themselves. They’re physically putting themselves on the line when fighting villains stronger than them, and they’re risking punishment for operating outside the law. They may not think they’re doing it for Knuckleduster, but he’s the reason they’ve fallen so comfortably into this world in the first place.
Knuckleduster Was Always the My Hero Academia Spinoff’s All Might Replacement
Vigilantes Season 2’s Knuckleduster comment highlights a surprising similarity between the vigilante and All Might. However, the character has been My Hero Academia‘s All Might replacement since the spinoff started. He serves the same purpose in Koichi’s story that All Might does in Deku’s — though, given the differences in the narratives, his role is less prominent over time. Knuckleduster’s backstory also reveals he was a Pro Hero once, and that he lost his Quirk. While the circumstances differ from the reasons All Might becomes Quirkless again, the two still find themselves in a similar scenario: fighting for others, even after losing their powers. Their looks and personalities may be dramatically different, but they’re the same at their core.
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