SMASH NOTES // Dark Deku ABRIDGED
Added 2025-07-06 13:48:02 +0000 UTCMOVIE RECAP:
JAILBREAK! Disguised as Ida, Yomama infiltrates Tartarus and demands to be given AFO’s quirk before he is killed by Shigaraki; who is currently taking advantage of a Hero Society too stunned to respond after the events of the Meta-Liberation War by breaking out hoards of high profile prisoners
AFO comes to the realization that Yomama is a homonculus created by Overhaul (Vasily), and mocks her bid for power as a cheap, inhuman cry to mimic Nana Shimura
Shigaraki abducts AFO and replaces his consciousness with a past vestige of AFO, now twisted by the Shigaraki’s hatred and madness
Yomama calls Shigaraki “my heart,” as Ms. [REDACTED] did when he was a child, but Shigaraki does not recognize any of his family members within her; save for the dog, whom he toys with
Muscular murders several prison guards
Vasily, arms missing and reduced to a childlike state, is taken hostage by Lady Nagant; who is later commissioned by the new AFO to assassinate Deku
Stain murders several prisoners before begrudgingly accepting intel on Shigaraki’s history from a dying prison guard
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Due to a shortage of professional heroes, Deku has been accepted into the “big leagues” and dawned a darker appearance and abandoned U.A.; he easily defeats Muscular
“Better Midoriya” (Shindo) is preparing to abandon his mission to extract Yuri (or whatever is left of him) and return to Russia, but cannot help but feel indebted to Deku; so he remains with Tatami to help any refugees
Endeavor is confronted by his ex-wife Rei, previously presumed dead by their children, and demands to take half of the blame for Dabi and their familial issues
Jeanist is dating Rei, making it clear that there will be no Todoroki family reunion when this is all over
Gran Torino survived the War, but has succumbed to his dementia and forcibly retired
Hawks also survived, but is currently too injured to work beyond a support role in the “New Hero Society,” whose members hate and distrust him for his double agent role in the War
In a flashback, we learn that Hawks was homeless as a child, abandoned by his father, and left to care for his schizophrenic mother. He is recruited by Hero Society for his involvement in locating and rescuing victims of the 9/11 attacks.
In exchange for Hawks’ cooperation, they not only promise comfort and freedom, but also to manipulate the rankings so Endeavor works for him someday
Melissa Shield is now dating Yuji Itadori
The Sanjapangeles Police Department has gone rogue and formed a citizen’s militia with other Dark Deku fans, throwing parties in abandoned government buildings and attacking anybody they deem suspicious
Ida confronts Yomama for using him for his connections to AFO and implies he has somehow already witnessed the new world she’s attempting to create; warning her that it is doomed to fail
Yomama apologizes for the inappropriate nature of their relationship and breaks up with him
Ochako, confused by a letter written in Japanese left behind by Deku, rallies her classmates to locate and return him to U.A.
Unable to transcribe the letter due to Detnerat sabotaging their internet, they capture Endeavor’s (who recently learned to read in Japanese) attention by threatening to class-action sue Hero Society
Eraserhead is recovering in a hospital and now has a prosthetic leg made of LEGO
INNER-TURMOIL: Deku has refined his ability to communicate with previous vestiges of One for All, but is disappointed to discover they are all incompetent
Young AFO is disinterested in heroism, but is willing to mediate for the other vestiges
En, Banjo, and Hikage are revealed to have been former sidekicks of All Might, used as targets similarly to Deku to be culled by AFO or succumb to the lethal effects of OFA
All Might is a pillar of flame that refuses to communicate with anybody
Nana Shimura tells Deku he’s out of his depth, projecting her own failure to save Shigaraki
The remaining vestiges are alternate versions of Bakugo and Ida, who are involved in a “game of multiversal musical chairs” wherein they fill empty spaces that would otherwise break the chain of OFA leading to Deku
ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM: Deku is pursued by the disgraced hero Lady Nagant, who believes killing Deku would mean snuffing out the last flame of Hero Society
Lady Nagant is revealed to be a former protege of Yuri Yaoyorozu, privately assassinating countless targets in order to maintain Hero Society’s clean image
She was recruited similarly to Hawks by Redestro, confirming Detnerat has always had an oligarchical relationship with Hero Society and current affairs have been a long con to supplant heroes and overtake the support weapon market
Yuri admits to his mistakes in creating Hero Society and asks Nagant to kill him after they are ordered to assassinate his children, Momo and Tenko, who are perceived as future threats. After some hesitation, she obliges and is arrested
Shigaraki hides a self-destruct quirk in Nagant’s “deposit” and activates it after she fails to assassinate Deku
Deku is disillusioned after her presumed death, vowing to take on the burdens of Hero Society alone, so it doesn’t corrupt his friends too
Stain overhears Deku and reprimands him for losing his way
Stain is thriving in the apocalypse, settling down with his pen pal to help clean up the city in the heroes’ absence
He gives Deku the intel he received on Shigaraki, but warns him it’s worthless in his hands alone
DEKU v. CLASS 1-A: Class 1-A locates Deku and demands he give up his corny, one-man crusade and return to U.A., either peacefully or by force
Ochako chooses peace, while Deku chooses force
Yomama reveals to Deku her ulterior motives and accepts fate however it plays out
Deku is ultimately stopped by Ida who empathizes over their mutual loneliness and being “down bad”
Sensing that Deku is nearing the end of his journey, Itadori apologizes to Deku for mocking him and begs him to stay around a little longer; unable to bear the weight of responsibility as Shonen Jump’s new golden boy
ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL: Vice Principal Nezu has leeched off several government subsidies (and an inheritance from Upper Crust) in order to convert U.A. into an impenetrable fortress to protect refugees
The refugees refuse to accept Dark Deku, believing him to draw unwanted attention from villains
Ochako admonishes their refusal to be inconvenienced as the root cause of Hero Society’s failure, and they are shamed into housing Deku for just one day
Deku’s filthy ass finally takes a shower
Deku and Ochako discuss their mutual desire to save Shigaraki and Toga out of pure spite against the “old way” of doing things
They make a bet that whoever saves their respective villain first gets to keep all of Deku’s weed that Ochako previously stole
POST-CREDITS: an American flag clad hero, Star, arrives atop a fleet of expensive stealth bombers; proclaiming that the government will fix everything
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE MULTIVERSE:
The confirmation of Bakugo as OFA vestige #2 and Ida as #3 now explains AFO’s interest in them
They also reveal that there is a paradox in the multiverse caused by one specific universe’s break in the OFA chain, so various Bakugos and Idas hop places to fill in and correct that paradox
Our Bakugo is destined to either contribute to another universe’s chain or die
Old AFO may have known about this chain all along and spared Jeanist’s life (only seemingly killing him) as he plays in an integral role in Bakugo’s development and survival
This also implies that AFO has been resigned to fate this entire time, adding additionally depressing layers to his story
New AFO may be interested in defying fate and destroying the chain in order to summarily destroy OFA
There appears to be a “soft” overlap between the Heroverse and Jujutsu Kaisen Abridged
It has been implied since the Jump Force ABRIDGED era that some universes can temporarily overlap and interact with each other without realizing it’s an anomaly
This is the result of chaos and disorder in the multiverse that Jiren found aberrant
The Yuji we encounter in the finale has clearly been impacted by the Shibuya Incident
Yomama has revealed her plan, and it appears to have already happened???
Into the Gokuverse mentions that time travel is NOT linear, but rather parallel to other universes. Given that Ida is a “transdimensional Uber,” it stands to reason that he wound up in the Spy x Family ABRIDGED universe after the events of Jump Force ABRIDGED and eventually escaped
THEMES AND SUCH:
MHAbridged has always been a story about hatred, but this is the first time since the pilot that it’s been described as cyclical in nature; wherein the transgressed ultimately assume the role of the transgressor resulting in mutually assured destruction
This world, like our current real-world state of affairs, is the product of a series of “provocations and retributions” and rebuilding from the damage that causes. However, something remains irreparable each time, and accumulates over time. Someday, there may be nothing left to rebuild
Hero Society has collapsed. The villains have achieved “retribution” and completely overrun San Japangeles. If by some miracle the heroes can fight back and win, nothing is ever going to be the same after this. Too much has been destroyed; namely trust in their previously unchecked authority
Deku’s many acts of unearned kindness throughout the series are viewed as breaks in the cycle, however, in this movie he has become overwhelmed and runs out of kindness to give. He is at risk of becoming irreparable
Characters like Ochako and Stain step up and break the cycle in his place, regardless of their provocations or whatever retributions they may deserve
Stain is poised to snuff out the remaining heroes (like Nagant does), but decides cleaning up the city will suffice
Deku’s mean letter to Ochako could fuel their grudge match for ages, but Ochako chooses to kill him with kindness instead
Interestingly, this is also the second instance in recent memory where both a hero and villain share ideals
Ochako and AFO both discuss the cycle of “provocation and retribution”
In MHA War Abridged, Shigaraki and Rem both mention they blame “systems instead of people”
Toxic masculinity, male loneliness and the Snyder-verse
It’s easy to identify Dark Deku as a parody of Christopher Nolan’s Batman, a caricature that despite its impact, has long overstayed its welcome in the zeitgeist to become twisted into what we saw in the Snyder-verse (Man, you really do die a hero or live long enough to become the villain…)
SIDE NOTE: Zack Snyder is a very nice guy and talented film director, and like any creative, he cannot control how audiences receive and perceive his work
The Snyder-verse was the canary in the coal mine for a generation of young men who value solitary, unchecked power and brutalism in their idols above all else. Where does this stem from?
We’re not here to provide answers, but we posit in this movie the culprits of fear, loneliness and frustrations in a system that promotes it
Many of the male heroes in Dark Deku ABRIDGED have completely surrendered to their work and engaged in a series of misanthropic behaviors such as brutalizing their “villains,” mocking each other, not showering and objectifying women. The latter is a funny joke between them until it’s either their turn to get rejected, or a woman in their life gets objectified (“Dark Deku and I got beef now”). The movie posits that loneliness does not stem from a lack of romantic relationships, but rather the devaluing of genuine friendship, which resolves many of the conflicts in this movie:
Despite having been rejected before, it isn’t until Melissa becomes spoken for by Yuji (a rival in the “Jump” scheme of things) that Deku begins to lose satisfaction with his own heroics and begins targeting women as markers of his success
Yuji later apologizes for mocking Deku and expresses his own dissatisfaction with being the new star of Shonen Jump. Deku is the sole reason he’s willing to put up with that pressure
Deku’s fight with Class 1-A does not end with a smash, but instead a hug with his best bro Ida, who is the first to admit he’s lonely and sad. They resolve to look out for each other!!
Stain has grown a lot since we last saw him, and refers to Deku as a “positive friend.” He even steps up during a severe lack of adult-competence in Deku’s life
He does not shame Deku for failing at romance, but rather for abandoning his good values in pursuit of it
Rei’s refusal to rejoin the Todorokis briefly causes Endeavor to lose his sense of purpose in restoring his family and Hero Society
Hawks offers his f--ked up version of friendship as a consolation prize, but he hasn’t been a very good friend now has he?
Endeavor begins to think about the lack of stability in his own life after his father’s death, and how many of his previous toxic behaviors may have been brutish, desperate bids at recapturing that stability
Chilli indirectly reasons that there is a false mythos to Endeavor’s father, and that stability may stem from the many little contributions of a community itself
Despite being the victim of one last, soul crushing prank, Ochako is the first to be man enough to bury the hatchet; resulting in a strong friendship with Deku that will continue to blossom throughout the remainder of this abridged series
They stand side-by-side as equals in the final shot, something Ochako has long wished for
Loneliness (with heavy self-reflection) can be a virtue
Discussed above with Endeavor
Stain openly admits to wandering alone for a while after escaping prison; unplugging from popular outrage and focusing on the problems a single person (or two) can reasonably help
Struggling alone for a while taught Deku a lesson that all the power in the world is secondary in value to all the human connections he forged without it
In fact, Deku might feel he doesn’t need One For All anymore…
“I was tired of hearing them scream”
Everything traces back to 9/11
Hawks has always been motivated by his own convenience, but at least we know now that it’s a trauma response
No one (wo)man can have all that power (because it will destroy them)
This entire movie is a twilight of the soul moment for Deku, simply because he wanted to shoulder ALL the burden for his friends. Admirable actions can still be toxic
Endeavor’s pursuit of what he perceived as his father’s one-man authority over their community utterly ruined his life. There’s also the possibility that this very idealism killed his father
Even Shiggy can’t handle the pressure of being sole-destroyer, running back to AFO and returning to the cyclical abuse and manipulation he’s endured before
The last living trace of AFO, a long time authoritarian figure in the series, is now nothing more than a malicious, twisted echo that’s overstayed its welcome
Yomama and Lady Nagant are literally repeating Nana’s mistakes in order to carry on another man’s (Yuri’s) singular will
Nagant dies similarly to Nana; not exploding, but falling from a great height while her adoptive son Vasily watches in horror (that damned cycle…)
TRIVIA:
With a script of 63 pages and over 40 voice actors, Dark Deku Abridged is currently the LARGEST JoyRide Abridged project (as of time of writing these notes [2025])
However, Dr. Stone ABRIDGED the Movie still has the longest runtime by 9 minutes [Total: 1 hour 9 minutes, with a 55 page script and 16 voice actors]
Dark Deku ABRIDGED is the first installment of MHAbridged to be written after the original manga concluded, with full knowledge of its ending and how readers received it
It is also considered the first installment of the abridged series’ final saga
Star’s post-credit sequence is completely improvised, and cut down from a sequence of recorded improvisations that were later reworked into MHAbridged: New Order
