My Hero Academia ended with Izuku Midoriya passing more than a Quirk down to the next generation. In the manga's final chapter, a new character named Dai steps into the spotlight, and his short scene with Izuku mirrors the moment that started the entire series. Dai only appears briefly, but he is the closest thing the story has to a successor for Deku.
Creator Kohei Horikoshi introduced Dai in the last pages of the manga, and his connection to Izuku's own story is hard to miss for anyone who remembers how the series began.
Where Izuku Is In The Epilogue
The final chapter, Chapter 430, jumps eight years into the future. Izuku is now a teacher at U.A. High School, and he no longer has One For All. After the final battle against Tomura Shigaraki, the embers of the Quirk faded away, leaving Izuku Quirkless once again.
His former classmates have moved on to successful hero careers, with Mirio Togata sitting at the top of the hero rankings. Izuku's students include Kota Izumi, the boy he saved at the training camp during the first year, and Koki Terumoto. Izuku is happy teaching, but the chapter makes it clear that he still misses being on the front lines.
Who Is Dai?
Dai appears in the chapter as a middle school student near the rebuilt All Might statue in Kamino Ward, the area where All Might fought his last battle against All For One. When a child falls from a height, Izuku and Dai both jump in to save them at the same time, even though neither of them has the kind of power that would make the rescue easy.
Dai's Quirk is far from flashy. He can throw saucer-like discs from his hair, a power that his classmates mock when he talks about wanting to become a hero. It is the exact kind of situation Izuku lived through as a child, when Katsuki Bakugo and others told him that a Quirkless kid had no chance.
Izuku responds to Dai the way an analyst would. He starts thinking out loud about how the discs could be used, such as stacking them or changing their size, and treats the Quirk as something with potential. Then he tells Dai that he can become a hero.
Why The Scene Matters
The scene is a direct echo of the first chapter's most famous moment, when All Might told a crying Izuku that he could become a hero. In the epilogue, Izuku becomes the person who gives that encouragement to someone else, and he does it without a superpowered Quirk to back it up.
One For All is gone, and the story never hands Dai a special power. His inheritance from Izuku is the core idea of the series, that a hero is someone who moves to save others before thinking about whether they are strong enough. That makes him a fitting final note for a manga about the meaning of heroism.
The chapter follows the encounter with one more reveal. All Might arrives with a new support suit for Izuku, built by Melissa Shield and Mei Hatsume and funded by Class 1-A, with Bakugo contributing a large share of the money. The suit lets Izuku return to hero work, so the series ends with him back in action and a new generation, including Dai, coming up behind him.
Could Dai Show Up In The Anime?
The anime adaptation by Bones has wrapped its final season, and the franchise is still celebrating. The official anime account confirmed that My Hero Academia will hold a Super Stage at Jump Festa 2027 on December 19 at Makuhari Messe, marking the anime's 10th anniversary. Daiki Yamashita (Izuku), Nobuhiko Okamoto (Katsuki Bakugo), Ayane Sakura (Ochaco Uraraka), and Yuki Kaji (Shoto Todoroki) are scheduled to appear.
The anime's official site has also teased that a 10th anniversary project is in the works, so fans may get more news about the franchise's future at the event. The manga itself is complete in Japan, with the final volume released by Shueisha in December 2024, and Viz Media publishes the series in English.
Do you think Dai was the right character to close out My Hero Academia, or would you have preferred the final chapter to focus entirely on Izuku and Class 1-A?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.