My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is the only film that matters (and Horikoshi confirms it in chapter 406)

With the recent chapters of My Hero Academia, it has become pretty evident that Mangaka Kohei Horikoshi has been trying to get his audience to accept the 2019 movie My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising as a canon storyline. This has seen the inclusion of several movie characters in the manga, in addition to similar fight moves. Thus, fans are wondering if it means that the Heroes Rising movie is the manga series' best installment.

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is the franchise's second film that canonically takes place right after the Meta Liberation Army Arc. It is an original story that saw Izuku Midoriya and his Class 1-A friends visit Nabu Island, where they are tasked with saving a group of islanders from a villain called Nine.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the My Hero Academia manga.

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How Horikoshi has been trying to stay true to My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising ending

Following the release of My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, the series Mangaka Kohei Horikoshi was asked whether the movie's events were canon or not. Given the events were too outlandish to be true, fans had doubts about the same. Nevertheless, the Mangaka chose to stay true to his original statement and claimed that the Heroes Rising plot was canon to the manga.

The Mangaka even revealed that the film's ending was how he visualized the manga's original ending to be. However, this was later altered, which is why the storyline was made into an original movie. Since then, elements from the film have shown up in the manga series, even more so in the most recent chapters.

Deku with Katsuma and Mahoro in My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (Image via BONES)

Therefore, there is a good chance that Kohei Horikoshi wants to depict an ending with a similar plot. The film's ending saw Deku share his One For All powers with Bakugo to team up against the villain Nine. This saw them overpowering the All For One user villain.

As for the manga, Deku and Bakugo are currently fighting their own battles—Deku Vs Shigaraki and Bakugo Vs All For One. Nevertheless, it seems very evident to fans that the fight is a tag team battle, especially due to AFO's mission that needed him to get to Tomura Shigaraki.

All For One as seen in the anime (Image via BONES)

If All For One somehow does beat Bakugo, he might get to Shigaraki and take over him. If that does happen, Deku and Bakugo may be forced to fight a single foe, which would be a young and strong All For One. Further, if the heroes were to face such a situation, considering that the My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising storyline was canon, Deku may decide to share his One For All quirk with Bakugo again.

With that, the two heroes should theoretically be able to fight the final boss together. If this is the ending for the manga that Horikoshi has planned, it would be very similar to that of the My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising plotline. This would ultimately mean that the film may have represented the manga franchise in the best way possible. With how the manga has been progressing, it would not be a surprise to see Deku and Bakugo soon share the One For All quirk.