My Hero Academia Episode 1: Izuku Midoriya: Origin

A flashback shows a younger Izuku Midoriya defending a crying child from bullies led by Katsuki Bakugo, who uses small explosions from his hands and mocks Izuku as "Deku," telling him to stay out of it before leaving with his friends.

In the present, Izuku, now a third-year junior high student without any quirk in a world where 80% of people have superpowers, narrates how society has normalized these abilities called quirks.

While walking to school and internally monologuing about his dream to attend U.A. High School—the top hero academy—he witnesses heroes Death Arms, Backdraft, and Kamui Woods battling a giant villain who stole a purse on a freeway, but they hold back due to bystanders.

At school, classmates gossip about Izuku's quirklessness and his U.A. aspirations; his teacher reveals Izuku applied for the entrance exam despite having no quirk, shocking everyone.

Bakugo explodes in anger, grabs Izuku's hero analysis notebook—filled with detailed notes on heroes like All Might, the smiling Number One Hero whose power lets him defeat any villain—and burns it with his quirk, warning Izuku to quit dreaming since he's useless without a power and he wants to be the sole applicant from their school.

As a child, Izuku's mother Inko tearfully supports his hero dreams during a doctor's visit confirming he's quirkless due to recessive genes, shown by an unusual feature in his left foot; she hugs him while crying.

After school, alone in a tunnel and muttering to feel bigger, Izuku is ambushed by a sludge villain who escaped earlier, forcing the liquid body into his mouth and nostrils to possess him as a disguise from pursuing heroes.

Screaming in pain, Izuku struggles futilely until All Might bursts in, the massive grinning hero in a tattered costume; with a "Texas Smash" punch, he disperses the sludge into the air, then scoops it into a soda bottle.

All Might checks on Izuku, apologizes for the mess, and praises his courage for trying to save someone earlier (though Izuku doesn't recall); starstruck, Izuku asks for an autograph on his salvaged notebook.

As All Might leaps away with the villain, Izuku instinctively grabs his leg and hitches a ride skyward; they land on a rooftop where All Might, coughing blood and shrinking to a thin, skeletal man with steam rising from his body, reveals his true weak form maintained only briefly by his quirk's time limit.

Izuku asks if someone without a quirk can become a hero; All Might initially laughs it off, saying pros need power above all, but reflects on Izuku's earlier selfless instinct to help a stranger in danger, declaring that true heroism comes from anyone who runs toward trouble—and that Izuku *can* be a hero.