My Hero Academia has many deep themes and resonant character arcs. Costumed pro heroes and supernatural Quirks may not exist in real life, but they are clear allegories for today's conflicting ideals and people's personal strengths and flaws. That's what made protagonist Izuku Midoriya so relatable as a Quirkless boy who gained One For All, but another, more obscure character has an even more compelling "make do without" arc.
Melissa Shield was also born Quirkless, like Deku, but her experience of life without a Quirk was markedly different than Deku's, and in some ways, even more compelling. Melissa never became a fighter and isn't the new symbol of peace, but her experience as a Quirkless person may inspire My Hero Academia fans in ways Deku's own experience never did.
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Who Is Melissa Shield?
Melissa Shield is a minor My Hero Academia character who made her debut in the first feature-length movie, Two Heroes, which has since been confirmed to be canon, making Melissa canon, too. Melissa Shield and her father David played a supporting role in that movie when Dekua and his class 1-A classmates visited I-Island, where Melissa and David study and work. In many ways, that movie set up Melissa not just as a typical I-Island resident, but also as the new Mei Hatsume. Like Mei, Melissa is a gifted and creative girl who enjoys inventing support items for pro heroes in her workshop. In Two Heroes, Melissa gifted Deku one of her best items, the Full Gauntlet. This item allowed Deku to safely use One For All's full power, which helped him defeat the movie's final villain.
Like Deku, Melissa Shield was born Quirkles, making her a rarity in her and Deku's generation. Despite being totally Quirkless, Melissa has total confidence in herself and what she can contribute to the pro hero industry. She also has her loving father David, a fellow inventor, to support her, along with All Might himself. Having her father and "Uncle All Might" around is a boon for Melissa, but her true strength comes from within, and she used her Quirkless status to her advantage. Instead of feeling like she's missing out, Melissa focused on what she can do, with no Quirk training to occupy her time. That, and her sharp mind, made Melissa the perfect candidate to support Deku with hero accessories and help save the day as a support hero of sorts.
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Melissa Shield Accomplishes More With Less
Being a cheerful and gifted inventor helps boost Melissa Shield's appeal, and My Hero Academia fans may like her for the same reasons they do Mei Hatsume, UA's own inventor girl. However, Mei Hatsume has the benefit of her Zoom Quirk, which makes her eyes like natural microscopes to see tiny and delicate machinery, while Melissa is Quirkless. Many scenes in My Hero Academia show how stressful or miserable it can be to have no Quirk or have the "wrong" Quirks in this bizarre future, such as Deku himself, but not all "born wrong" character arcs are like that, nor should they. It's unknown if Melissa was ever ostracized or bullied for being Quirkless, but she definitely found the willpower and courage to make something of herself despite this supposed disadvantage.
Melissa's upbeat attitude and lack of tragic flashbacks suggest that she was always confident in herself and her Quirkless abilities all her life, and it's refreshing to see a My Hero Academia character own their Quirkless selves so comfortably. It's not Deku's fault that he was born Quirkless and bullied for it, but even so, My Hero Academia needed to balance out Deku's miserable upbringing with the opposite, and Melissa Shield delivered. She inspired My Hero Academia fans with her skills and attitude alone, and she did not need a shonen superpower like One For All or a great destiny to do it. By now, Deku is truly special as someone with many Quirks in one and the exciting destiny of facing Tomura Shigaraki in battle, while Melissa Shield has come this far all on her own, no protagonist powers needed.
Even if Melissa Shield cannot fight and has a much shorter character arc than Deku in My Hero Academia, it's a pleasant change of pace to see someone who didn't suffer for being Quirkless. It also provides hope to the viewers that Quirkless youths like Melissa can accomplish great things without being a part of superpowered society, with willpower and hope alone to guide them. This also means that for once, a Quirkless person is defined not by what they don't have, but what they do have. Melissa Shield is free to be her authentic self without Quirks complicating things, and that makes her feel more genuine, and thus more inspiring and relatable, than even characters like Deku or Ochaco Uraraka. She does more with less, and she relishes the challenge.
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Melissa Shield Is What Deku Could Have Been
Only a few other Quirkless characters are seen in My Hero Academia, and they all felt terrible about it until they received a Quirk, which changed their lives. This means My Hero Academia fans will never know what those three characters would have been like if they remained Quirkless and were forced to make something of themselves anyway. In this futuristic world of Quirks, that's a formidable but also potentially enriching challenge, but Deku, All Might, and Yuga Aoyama never had to face that challenge. They were all given Quirks in their teens, and that put them on an entirely different path.
However, Melissa Shield remained Quirkless, with no One For All or even All For One to change that. By now, Melissa Shield identifies strongly as a Quirkless scientist who relies on her intelligence and good attitude to help save the world, and she would probably decline to receive a Quirk from anyone. Melissa has truly carved out her own identity and own niche, party in spite of and partly because of having no Quirk. It's impressive to see, and it makes her even more relatable and inspiring than Deku himself.
Deku might have grown up to be more like Melissa if he remained Quirkless, with some MHA fans speculating that Deku would become a costumed vigilante to express his desire to save the world. Melissa Shield, meanwhile, really is living that Quirkless hero life, and she didn't have to become an outlaw vigilante to do it. When Deku met Melissa on I-Island, he probably saw his would-be future self in her, and no doubt that's what made them such good friends and allies during that cinematic anime adventure together.
