Fans have hope that My Hero Academia could finally do justice to Dark Deku's earlier misrepresentation after Midoriya almost transforms into a darker form in a recent chapter.
Undoubtedly one of the greatest developments in My Hero Academia, was when Midoriya became Dark Deku. It's rare to see an innocent, bright-eyed hero in shonen suddenly espouse negative qualities, let alone adopt a dark exterior. That's what initially made Dark Deku so innovative, especially for a series like My Hero Academia. As Dark Deku, Midoriya not only completely disregarded and swept aside his teacher and personal hero All Might, but even caused people to both question if he was a Nomu or act surprised when realizing he was there to help them. But then My Hero Academia threw all that progress away by allowing Deku to easily come back to the light, patch things up with All Might and continue on as though nothing happened, making everything he went through a complete waste of time.
But in chapter 367 of My Hero Academia by mangaka Kohei Horikoshi, Midoriya undergoes a physical transformation. At first, he starts taking on a more sinister type of form after seeing how much Tomura Shigaraki had hurt and possibly even killed some of his friends. His shifting appearance is so troubling that Midoriya's friend Lemillion feels compelled to try and talk him out of whatever is happening to him. Once Midoriya is able to control his heart, he takes on a much less evil-looking form. While My Hero Academia saving Deku from darkness was a mistake, it's one that could be rectified.
My Hero Academia Should Let Deku Embrace His Inner Darkness
Of course, there's no guarantee that Midoriya's temporary slip into darkness has anything to do with his experiences as Dark Deku, especially since Dark Deku didn't cause him to literally transform. Dark Deku was a combination of his costume epsilon receiving severe wear and tear over a prolonged period of time and the weight of feeling as though he was the only one who could defeat All for One having an adverse effect on his state of mind. What is clear, however, is that seeing his friends in such poor condition helped spark his transformation, and that emotion is the exact opposite of what he felt as Dark Deku.
When Midoriya became Dark Deku he was seeking to remove himself then, and now he is angered at being separated from them. To be absolutely sure whether he just almost became Dark Deku, Midoriya will need to meet the same conditions, like isolating himself from his friends on both a mental and physical level, for example. It is, heartening, however, that Midoriya is feeling anything negative, especially since it almost caused him to change physically. This gives readers hope that My Hero Academia might revisit this dark time for Midoriya in more than just a few panels like in this latest chapter.
That said, Midoriya becoming Dark Deku once more won't just magically fix the damage that came from him immediately jumping back from the brink of darkness and resolving the tension between him and All Might originally. It almost feels exactly like a completely different scenario in My Hero Academia where Horikoshi seems to be trying to make up for Edgeshot sacrificing himself for Bakugo instead of Best Jeanist by suddenly having Best Jeanist getting involved in Edgeshot's plan in a later chapter. Regardless, it would be refreshing to see Dark Deku again in My Hero Academia.