My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

Note: This review contains spoilers for My Hero Academia.

After ten long years, the ever-popular My Hero Academia has reached its conclusion. This incredible milestone reminded us that although we had kept up with both the manga and anime, we still hadn’t seen the series’ third film from 2021, World Heroes’ Mission, despite owning the Blu-ray for quite a while. In honor of the manga’s finale, we thought we’d finally go back and take a look at this film and see what we had missed. Unfortunately, while it does continue the trend of incredible animation, certain developments make the story less satisfying than the previous film, Heroes Rising.

In response to a terrorist attack from the doomsday cult Humarise, led by Flect Turn (Robbie Daymond), the World Heroes Association dispatches pro heroes and U.A. High Hero Course students around the world to disarm bombs designed to kill Quirk users. When no such bombs are found, the heroes are out on standby. As they await new intel, Izuku Midoriya (Justin Briner), Katsuki Bakugo (Clifford Chapin) and Shoto Todoroki (David Matranga), who are in the country of Otheon, encounter a jewel robbery in progress. Midoriya chases after courier Rody Soul (Ryan Colt Levy), but the chase takes a turn when it crosses paths with a car crash, leaving Midoriya and Rody in possession of a case that puts Midoriya on the country’s Most Wanted list.

Izuku Midoriya (Justin Briner, left) and Rody Soul (Ryan Colt Levy, right)
have to go on the run.

As before, I’ll mention separately that this film takes place during the Endeavor Agency Arc, which for anime-only viewers translates to Episodes 13-18 of Season 5 (Episodes 101-106 overall).

On a technical level, there’s no doubt that World Heroes’ Mission succeeds. Studio Bones continues their streak of quality work through dynamic camera work, smooth animation and great fight choreography. For the most part, the audience has no issue keeping track of everyone’s movements and the flashy combat moves make for a great visual spectacle. The newer characters also have designs that fit in well with the established world, including Flect Turn, and the English voice acting sounds as great as ever, as longtime fans can tell that they’re very comfortable in their roles.

The story, on the other hand, is where the film gets rocky. Right off the bat, the film doesn’t do much in the way of getting anyone unfamiliar with the series up to speed with the characters and setting outside of throwaway dialogue. While you can at least get a feel for the existing character dynamics, this film still feels more impenetrable for anyone outside of the real target demographic of longtime fans like us.

Getting past that, the film does have some good ideas. Flect Turn is an interesting concept for a villain, both in his unique Quirk and his related backstory. His motivation feels believable and the lengths he goes in achieving his goal raise the stakes higher than any prior villain. The idea of Midoriya ending up a wanted criminal for a crime he didn’t commit also sounds good on paper and he has great chemistry with Rody. You can really believe the bonds of friendship that they form as they learn more about each other while on the run.

Flect Turn (Robbie Daymond) is an interesting concept for a villain.

Despite setting up a great high-stakes story with interesting characters, however, the film falls apart in the execution. For such a worldwide threat, we don’t get much of a sense of its scale apart from glimpses of the other Hero teams outside of Otheon. When Midoriya gets accused of mass murder, we don’t get any elaboration, not even any evidence like doctored footage, and the accusation gets waived right after the final battle with little acknowledgement. Although Bakugo and Todorki do get their share of screentime, most characters get sidelined in favor of Midoriya and no one gets any real development, likely due to the film’s placement in the timeline (even acknowledging that the film isn’t canon). Midoriya and Rody’s road trip, while engaging, also slows down the story and arguably takes away some of the urgency of the main threat, even stopping for a montage with an insert song (“Flowers”).

Then there’s the final battle. Although well-animated with a great source of tension from the nature of Flect Turn’s Quirk, the resolution feels cheap compared with Heroes Rising, as it boils down to overpowering the opponent. Although I prefer battles where characters outsmart their opponents, I can still appreciate this type of resolution if done well. The problem here stems from how Deku not only uses his Quirk’s most powerful finishing move, but does so in a way that doesn’t destroy more of his body at this point in the overall story. I feel that some other clever twist might have helped, as flashy moves can only carry a climactic fight scene so far.

Considering how well the previous films turned out, it’s sad the third film, while entertaining, couldn’t live up to the bar they had set (at least by My Hero Academia’s standards) in spite of its promising premise. As a fan of the franchise, I can only hope that the fourth (and presumably final) film, You’re Next, does a better job.