Tenya Iida

A rigidly earnest student from a distinguished hero family, given to gesturing lectures about rules and etiquette. He first dismisses the protagonist as unserious, then becomes one of his staunchest allies. Elected class representative after a panic drill, he proves that his fussiness masks real leadership: during the villain attack he keeps his classmates calm and sprints for help rather than seeking glory.

Iida is tall and broad-shouldered, easily one of the largest students in Class 1-A, with a squared jaw and short, neatly parted dark blue hair. He wears rectangular glasses and habitually chops the air with stiff, mechanical arm movements when he speaks. Engine-like exhaust pipes protrude from both calves, the visible sign of his Quirk. His hero costume is a suit of sleek white armour with silver and blue trim that resembles a knight crossed with a racing machine, complete with a full helmet bearing a pointed crest and exposed ports at the back of the legs.

Rigidly formal, loud and utterly sincere, Iida behaves like a walking rulebook: he lectures classmates on proper conduct, bows at every opportunity and treats school regulations as sacred. That earnestness makes him an easy target for jokes, but it comes from genuine respect for the profession he has inherited by family tradition. He is quick to admit fault and apologises with theatrical thoroughness when he misjudges someone, as he does with Izuku after the entrance exam. Under pressure he proves to be a genuinely clear thinker, able to set aside pride and accept the humiliating or unheroic option when it is the correct one. He values teamwork over personal glory and is visibly uncomfortable whenever he is singled out for praise.

Tenya was born into a distinguished hero lineage and raised to follow it. His older brother Tensei works as the professional hero Ingenium, running a large agency with dozens of sidekicks, and Tenya idolises him as the model of what a hero should be: dependable, courteous and protective of ordinary people. He attended an elite private junior high school, where his strict manners and academic diligence were the norm, before sitting the U.A. entrance examination and passing on recommendation-level results. He arrived at U.A. already convinced that hero work is a matter of discipline and procedure, which is why he initially mistakes Izuku's nervous behaviour for a lack of seriousness and publicly scolds him.

1. Entrance Exam arc

   He first appears loudly criticising Izuku during the written orientation, then dominates the practical test with his speed. After learning that Izuku's apparent clumsiness hid real courage, he seeks him out and apologises at length, marking the start of their friendship and of his own reassessment of what heroism looks like.

2. Quirk Apprehension Test

   He performs strongly across Aizawa's fitness trials and is rattled by the threat of expulsion, protesting that the rules should have been announced in advance. The test cements his role as the class's self-appointed enforcer of order and the student most anxious about doing everything correctly.

3. Battle Trial arc

   Assigned as a villain alongside Bakugo, he throws himself into the role with embarrassing gusto, guarding the fake weapon in an upper room. Uraraka defeats him with a storm of floating debris. He is afterwards elected class representative, largely because his classmates trust his seriousness, and he is genuinely moved by the vote.

4. U.S.J. arc

   Left near the entrance when the class is scattered, he argues with Thirteen about abandoning his classmates before accepting the assignment to run for help. Once Uraraka clears his path he sprints out of the facility at full speed and returns with All Might and the rest of the U.A. staff, ending the attack.

Tensei Iida

Older brother

A working professional hero whose agency and conduct Tenya holds up as the standard for the entire profession. Tenya's rigid etiquette and sense of duty are modelled directly on him, and he speaks of his brother with unmistakable pride.

Izuku Midoriya

Classmate and friend

He publicly rebukes Izuku on their first day, then apologises just as publicly once he learns the truth about the entrance exam. He respects Izuku's willingness to act before thinking about himself.

Ochaco Uraraka

Classmate and friend

She beats him in the battle trial by exploiting his focus on defending the objective, an outcome he accepts gracefully. The three of them form a steady trio within Class 1-A from their first week.

Thirteen

Teacher

During the U.S.J. attack Thirteen orders him to flee for help, a command he initially resists as cowardly. Accepting it becomes his defining lesson that a hero's best option is not always the bravest-looking one.

• He formally apologises to Izuku after realising the entrance exam rewarded rescue as well as combat.
• He objects to Aizawa's expulsion threat as an unannounced rule change.
• He plays the villain role in the battle trial with wholehearted, slightly absurd enthusiasm.
• He is elected class representative by his peers and is visibly overwhelmed by their confidence in him.
• He escapes the U.S.J. at full throttle and brings the U.A. faculty back in time to save his class.

• His hero family's name is attached to his brother's professional identity rather than his own during this series.
• He speaks with exaggerated formality and punctuates sentences with sharp, robotic hand gestures.
• Exhaust vents in his calves are a permanently visible feature of his Quirk.
• He attended an elite private junior high before entering U.A.

• IIzuku Midoriya
• All Might
• KKatsuki Bakugo
• OOchaco Uraraka
• Shota Aizawa
• SShoto Todoroki

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