Summary
At first glance,My Hero Academia’shero society seems to embody the essence of a perfect community, with heroes and civilians working alongside to maintain peace. However, delving deeper into the dynamics of this society reveals thecracks within the hero world, as unethical experimentation and invisible caste systems run rampant. One such societal evil is the practice of quirk marriages, a form of experimentation that runs on the principles of genetic selection.
Quirk marriages have long plagued the hero world as people have been coerced into forced marriages simply to conceive enhanced quirks. While the practice itself has dwindled over time, the effects of such an unethical practice are vividly apparent in the current hero society. Be it psychological trauma or physical defects, the children of quirk marriages have suffered deeply, portraying the grim side of this perfect society.
The Idea Behind Quirk Marriages
Quirk marriages follow the concept of selective breeding, and while it may be a sound notion for strengthening animal breeds, it trudges into a few major moral dilemmas for humans. The primary purpose of quirk marriages is tointermix two powerful quirks, resulting in the offsprings possessing an enhanced version of the original two quirks. Quirks are bound to become stronger as generations pass, yet forcefully marrying two quirks together for the sake of power is clearly an unethical practice.
The concept becomes even more bizarre considering people have been coerced into marriage simply for their powerful quirks. Endeavor is a prime example of this phenomenon, as he bought out Rei’s family to compel her into marriage, leading to a family filled with psychological distress and constant misery. With heroes themselves involved in such a practice, it’s clear that other segments of society still continue to dabble in this unethical act.
Quirk marriages took off sometime during the second and third generations of quirk users. While the practice was never officially outlawed, it has always been viewed through the lens of immorality, since these selective marriages brought about a number of ethical dilemmas. The series has explored two of these aspects throughEnji (Endeavor) and Rei’s problematic marriage, a pairing that resulted in a broken family and a child with a self-harming quirk.
Victims of Quirk Marriages
Selective breeding in humans in itself is an ethical dilemma, but the added factor of genetically curating superpowers deems this practice an entirely immoral act. However, there’s much more to the practice of quirk marriages that adds on to the depravity of the process, primarily revolving around the offspring conceived by this cruelty.The Todoroki familyembodies all the unethical aspects of quirk marriages, painting a complete picture of the result of a forced matrimony.
Enji coerced Rei into the marriage by bribing her entire family, leaving her no choice but to cease resistance. Endeavor forced her to give birth to four children, even though Rei did not wish to have any children after Fuyumi Todoroki’s birth. However, the Pro Hero forced Rei to comply, only to be satiated by Shoto Todoroki’s birth who possessed the perfectcombination of Hellflame and Frost, making it a superior quirk to his own.
In the process of creating his successor, Endeavor risked the lives of his own children, specifically Touya Todoroki, commonly known byhis villain name Dabi. Dabi’s Blueflame is a result of Endeavor’s Hellflame quirk, yet he failed to receive the heat resistance that accompanies it. Instead, he inherited his mother’s cold resistance, a useless trait for a flame quirk. This rendered his power extremely unstable as it harmed his own body, and the effects can be seen on Dabi’s entire body, slowly burning all of his flesh. Endeavor was entirely aware of these risks, yet he pushed to have a genetically engineered child regardless of the drawbacks.
The Unethical Aspects of Quirk Marriages
Risking the lives of future offsprings is an unethical barrier on its own, yet this practice has a few other unintended effects on hero society. The most glaring one is the inadvertent shift towards the practice of eugenics, a controversial phenomenon that promotes procreation between genetically well-endowed individuals, while excluding those with socially undesirable qualities.
In the hero world, an unspoken discriminationexists against Heteromorphs, or those that possess quirks that produce physical abnormalities. These quirks are thought to be weaker than their counterparts, and users are often victims of prejudice due to their appearances. Quirk marriages would essentially exacerbate an already existing discrimination, as Heteromorphs would be entirely excluded from the gene pool, ending their existence almost entirely after a few generations.
Quirk marriages pose serious ethical dilemmas, and theplight of Heteromorphsis directly tied to this practice. From every single perspective, these marriages are a hotbed of botched quirks and psychological trauma, not to mention the eradication of an entire segment of society. Quirk marriages accurately represent the dark side of hero society, one that is often glazed over for the sake of promoting a narrative of a perfect hero world.
