Well just to get the ball rolling, I just had to put this idea of mine into print(so to speak), I've been a huge fan of the My Hero Academia series since I saw an picture the main cast on the net and have been watching it ever since. I love how they take the approach to the social implications to super powered beings in a similar manner to what occurred in Captain America: Civil War and have built such an exciting and rollercoaster world where almost everyone strives to be a hero and battle against villains and super powered mobsters all while protecting the innocent. I've also a big fan of Marvel like anyone else who has been…alive for the past decade and have watched almost every MCU movie with the exception of: Thor 3-Ragnorak; Ant man and Wasp; Incredible Hulk and Captain Marvel.
Now like many other authors in this site, I want to create an storyline which will take aspects of these comic superhero giants and incorporate them into a single, exciting story that I hope is as entertaining to all reading it as it is to me to write it. The premise is simple: Izuku decides on a different path to fulfil his dream and become a hero.
Now unlike cannon or many other stories, Izuku will NOT have a quirk at birth or receive any such in this story, the reason is simple-he wants to prove that he on his own skills, abilities and merit can became a hero that like All Might-protects others and brings hope wherever he goes. I'm having him take this path as to prove everyone wrong about him and people who don't have a quirk of some kind as it seems sort of hypocritical that All Might tell him he can be a hero because of his convictions and good nature but still offers him a quirk to do so…like he was silently hinting to his earlier point, don't get me wrong-All Might wasn't trying to hurt Izuku's feelings when he told him earlier as he was most likely speaking from experience(All for One probably came to mind) and how he knew that one must have some kind of physical power to back up their positions as there are some situations where you will need some kind of edge that intelligence just can't give. In this telling of the My Hero universe, Izuku wants to be a hero but also wants to prove the naysayers wrong about him and show the world that there is more to heroics than just some power someone is lucky to have from birth-he wants to prove that people can still do what many would call the impossible if they can willing to put in the work, heart and time and that even a hero with a quick can be beat by someone without one.
As you can imagine, there will be many changes to the main plot as characters will develop differently from the main universe we all know and will of course effect as the story grows but I'll also try to keep characters somewhat close to their cannons selves and not go too far into OC territory here but you never know.
Chapter 1: Changing courses of Fate
Archive entry 1: [The following entry is a rewrite of a pre-existing diary entry of one Midoriya Izuku]
Is it wrong to be born without some genetic advantage?
This is a problem that I thought about all those years ago. I was about three years ago and I was 5 years old. It had been…very bad for me after it got out I was without some genetically given ability or quirk as they are known. All my schoolmates either shunned or made fun of me, those days became more and more hurtful as I was the only kid in the whole of Kindergarten not to have a quirk to call me own. I had just got my butt handed to me after I stood up to Kacchan…again, I was trying to help the boy they were beating up because he was crying and heroes don't let people cry like that.
After they left me lying there, I wanted to cry too. I wanted to yell why I didn't have some awesome quirk, why didn't I have some special power, why my pinkie toe still had some useless joint. But it was then I thought back to how much my parents loved me, even though Otousan was often away with work, we always wrote letters and did video chats-I knew that I wanted to be a hero to keep them safe and protect people…like All Might but all I had going for myself was that I was really smart, I know I was because Okaasan, Otousan and my sensei all said I was.
Could I still be a hero even if I didn't have a quirk? I wanted that answer to be yes so badly, I wanted to believe that it was possible for me to save people with a smile on my face.
That it happened. A super odd sight changed my life forever and made me determined to become a hero and gave me a course to follow to reach my dream.
I saw a very big bird flying above me and it looked like it was circling me like those….vultures, yeah vultures did Simba in the Lion King movie, it did this for a while because I was not keeping count, I was caught by how…free it was to do as it pleased, after some time I got up and was about to walk home when is made its call and flew down to meet me.
I should have been scared but…I wasn't…somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that this bird could kill me and I wouldn't be able to stop it but…
I was so mesmerized by those golden eyes, small but strong built, its beautiful coat of features and how it showed such dominance over me from just opening its wings and extending them fully.
In was then I knew that I needed to do to become a hero.
I thanked the bird and it just screeched at me and flew off. It wasn't till later that after googling it at home that I found out that I had just seen a Steller's sea eagle up close and personal and not been harmed in anyway.
Archive entry 2: [The following entry is a rewrite of a pre-existing diary entry of one Midoriya Izuku]
Okaasan was very hard to convince, Okaasan didn't want me getting hurt all the time like heroes do but I proved to be just as stubborn about it, I told her how I had thought about it for a few days and came to the thought that I and Kacchan would never be on the same level in a physical sense because he had a quirk and I didn't but I could hope to surpass him in a mental sense because I was really smart, always curious about things and had a good sense of observation according to Otousan and sensei. I told her why I wanted to be a hero, so I can keep her safe like All Might and eventually, she gave in and said she would help me create the means I would need to do so, at the time-I didn't know she also agreed to do so thinking that I would change my path to support rather than combat but that was something I only learned down the line.
But like stone, my path had been set.
The first thing I did was build a scale model with the help of many….many YouTube videos of what I wanted to build. It took 5 months of working on it after kindergarten in my room but I finally managed to complete a scale model made from papier-mâché, Legos and wooden parts I got at the arts and craft store down the road to show her. (Just imagine what the first Vulture flight suit from the MCU looked like…if it was built a rather smart kid instead of a genius builder like Tinkerer)
Otousan (Who was watching via video call) and Okaasan were…surprised to say the least, Otousan asked why I made the….armour? I guess that what we decided to call it-look like a bird's wings, so I told them about the day I saw the eagle and after Okaasan calmed down from worrying over me, I told them I wanted to be like birds, free and proud but also deadly and caring. At the time, I already liked them after watching some of Otousan's videos and seeing them in National Geographic, I would go so far as to say I liked them almost as much as I liked heroes since my room had equal amounts of All Might stuff as it did anything and everything I could get about Birds of Prey.
Otousan was very happy with that and agreed that I could follow my dream but he said there would be a problem with it. He said that in order to build anything like what I wanted-I would have to follow the same steps he did to become as smart as he did.
I had to focus on and amplify my strengths, in this case my mind and memory which meant studying harder than any of my peers(I was only 6 at the time so that meant a lot) and not focusing on my weaknesses like my lack of quirk.
To cover up my own flaws and weaknesses by delegating those tasks and responsibilities to others I can trust who are good at them, Kaa-chan offered to help that and even said she would look through the neighbourhood for tutors and older kids to help me learn what I needed faster while Tou-san said he would send me some notes on mechanics and basic science to help me along.
He told me to always be ready and willing to learn and that I should start keeping a notebook where I can write down what I learn, my observations and theories about the quirks of others and the world around me, he told me to try and learn something new every single day, no matter how small and unimportant it might be.
Lastly he told me to try and put that knowledge into practice as often as I can so that find it easier not just to remember it but how it works and how it can be applied in varying situations, he said to experiment and play with it(in a controlled environment if possible).
Archive entry 3: [The following entry is a rewrite of a pre-existing diary entry of one Midoriya Izuku]
Tou-san is smart
Like…really smart.
When I was younger, I never really knew just how smart he was, all I know was that he worked abroad and was rarely home.
It wasn't till I got older that I understood just what he did for a living. Tou-san is a researcher for the University of Tokyo and regularly travels with National Geographic funding and support so he can research and study animals and plants around the world. Just the other day he was telling me and Kaa-san about how even animals can develop quirks which leads to new behaviours, diet, mating etc. simply put, quirks are creating their own new species in the animals kingdom.
Maybe that Eagle had a quirk, that's why it came to me of all people? That would explain what it was doing this far inland anyway since they mostly feed on fish.
Tou-san also let me more notes to work with so I can't complain.
Archive entry 7: [The following entry is a rewrite of a pre-existing diary entry of one Midoriya Izuku]
It has been around 13 months since that fateful day, I'm now 6 and three quarters and have made some serious headway. At first I just studies extra hard in numbers and spelling class till I was the top of the class, the others made fun of me but I didn't let it get to me.
After that, Kaa-san started to take time off work and would help me learn things they only start to teach in 2nd and 3rd year of Elementary. I got hard more times than I counted but I refused to give up and pushed on. It helped what Kaa-san was able to get some of the older kids to help me with my studies. I like hanging out with them, even if most of the time they were just helping me with my studies.
Oh and I have already filled the 3rd book with my 'Hero Analysis for the Future' and my 2nd 'Book on Characteristics of Winged flight in Combat'. I never knew you could learn so much from being observant, maybe I should do more research on Hawks since he has wings.
Archive entry 9: Diary entry of Midoriya Izuku
I did it!
I was able to accomplish my short term goal!
I'm only 8 years old and in the last days of the 1st year of elementary but I've already completed the yearly curriculum for 5th Graders. Now Kaa-san will let me learn how to use Power tools, with adult supervision of course, she doesn't like me holding the knives in the kitchen after-all.
Romeo says that there is a Body-shop nearby, maybe they'll let me watch them work till I'm old enough to help out and learn about their craft.
Till then, I have to wait and find a title which should give me a heads-up, 'Mechanics for Dummies'?
Well I suppose I have to start somewhere.
Archive entry 10: Diary entry of Midoriya Izuku
Bakugou is being mean again.
I just don't understand him anymore. Always picking on others and always so angry. Maybe the day will came when I do understand him.
But today isn't that day. Ever since he got his quirk, his change for the worst, everyone wants to be the best, there's nothing wrong with it but why does he have to be so mean about it?
Now he's starting to target me more and more, about the fact that I keep posting the top of the whole grade in just about every single academic topic we do. I told him that he can't stop me from reaching for my dream, and I made a vow to show the world that being quirkless doesn't mean useless and that wouldn't change no matter how many times he calls me that stupid nickname.
He was so shocked that he didn't even do anything when I left the classroom but I have a felling he will be ready tomorrow.
Maybe I should start working out?
Archive entry 11: Diary entry of Midoriya Izuku
Turns out that exercise isn't such a bad idea, Kaa-san said that every hero knows some form of self-defence and Tou-san told me keeping in shape is always a good thing, no matter your occupation. Plus there that pesky law in Japan about being overweight which at this point might as well be illegal as most stores don't sell larger than average clothing unless the customer is naturally large like All Might or has some mutation like Gang Orca, there also the fact that you could lose your job if you're overweight.
Yeah, Kaa-san and I need to work out more and I already came up with the best exercise regimen:
5 minute warm stretches, followed by 20 Push-ups and 20 Sit-ups then a 2km jog and lastly cooling down stretches.
.
.
.
Mom removed the jog and replaced it with 1 hour of a home work-out video. I never knew what the heck Tae-Bo was till now. Then I made the mistake to tell my older tutors about it.
Apparently it's a type of work-out mostly used my middle aged mothers and they laugh so hard that Akito fell down in tears.
Why Kaa-san? Why?
Archive entry 15: Diary entry of Midoriya Izuku
As much as I hate to admit it but those Tae-Bo videos really do help. When I had my last check-up with the doctor, he said I was as healthy as a horse, when I saw myself in the mirror this morning, I saw myself but I was much more toned and muscularly defined(or as defined and toned as a 9 year old could be anyway).
I also found that the local beach had a lot of spare and 2nd parts lying around. Shame that no-one wants to clean it up but I suppose it's not as glamourous and flashy enough for people to care.
Anyway, it's a great source of spare parts since I got permission to shadow the mechanics at the body-shop. The owner goes by Kenny Levin and he seems pretty nice, he takes time to show me around the
Different tools and other equipment. He showed me how to take apart and basic generator and put it back together again….then told me to do the same which took me around 3 hours to do what he did in 20 minutes, I blame the fact the tools are real heavy. After that, he and the rest of the crew put me through me paces and made sure I memorised just about every tool and part needed for mechanics. One of them even gave me his old notebook where he wrote stuff about the more complex aspects of Mechanics.
Tou-san came back for the week so I was able to show him all 8 books with my 'Hero Analysis for the Future' notes and all 5 'Books on Characteristics of Winged flight in Combat', I even started another series I call 'Land-based Avian combat tactics' since a lot of birds can't fly, I'm so far still working on the first one for that. We spent some time going over my notes, he was a real great help as he pointed out stuff I had noted that was redundant, too complex and should be kept for later times and what was too summarised to be of great importance. We also were able to make a more realistic drawing of my idea together.
We even went one a family picnic and while we were out, we found the perfect spot for me to test out my new suits once I start building them.
Archive entry 16: Diary entry of Midoriya Izuku
All Might's been acting strange lately
I mean he's always acting odd but that just how he is, that All Might but now, there something different to it. I noticed it the other day when I was working on internal skeleton for my Mk I suit. All Might used to be seen almost all the time during the day, either fighting crime, saving people or just witnesses saying they saw him running or jumping through towards wherever he wanted to go. Now he barely seen for more than a few hours a day, I counted. The most, the time he's seen in a day amounts to about 5 and a half hours. Why is that?
He doesn't look like he's getting old, he and Endeavour are more or less the same age and he's as active as ever, maybe more so now that All Might around as often.
Maybe he's sick, Like Grandpa was before he went to the doctor's and got that operation done? If that's true then why doesn't he just go to the doctor?
Maybe I'm over thinking tings again, Tou-san says I have that mentality. Anyway, I've finished this year's curriculum and now I'm bored out of my mind in class, I already know what Sensei is telling us and have completed all the assignments, test and projects for the year, maybe I should talk to Kaa-san about it.
Archive entry 17: Diary entry of Midoriya Izuku
I suppose Bakugou know has even more reason to be mean. Kaa-san talked to my principal and because of me academic brilliance, they came to the conclusion that I should be moved two grades up to the 6th grade so I can 'continue to grow'. It must have been odd when my former homeroom teacher told the class that I was too smart to be in the 4th grade and had been bumped up to a higher class but it was necessary to do so, it's not like I had any friends to worry about leaving behind.
Now I can really start touching up on more complex levels of Mechanics. I also picked up some books and downloaded some videos on Airframe Design and Complex Mechanism Design since Tou-san was able to get one of his colleagues to look at my designs and point out many flaws in it. It's still possible but I would need to heavily revise the design to make it a reality.
Also, Keven told me that working with such heavy tools and machinery requires a strong body so I've increased my workout regimen to:
5 minute warm stretches, followed by 60 Push-ups and 60 Sit-ups, followed by a 600m run and 20 minutes of Tae-Bo videos and finished with 5 minute cool down stretches.
I've only been at it for about a month but I swear I can feel the changes already.
Archive entry 20: Diary entry of Midoriya Izuku
The Mk I flight suit was a complete and utter failure.
It took my two whole months of all–nighters and Sunday session to finish it but that thing was a bust. Kaa-san and I drove to my newly secret testing site and luckily for me, Kaa-san was able to convince me not to wear the suit but rig it with a bag of rocks which weighed more or less the same as me.
The giant set of wings and propeller blades was the length of 1 and a half cars and needed to be assembled on suit since it wouldn't fit in the car otherwise. The thing was also very heavy as it weighed around 315kgs, was extremely noisy since we could hear it powering-up from over 500m away since we needed to be at a distance in case something happened and lastly, it was unable to sustain flight for more than 30 seconds with something was heavy as me and without weight only lasted an additional 45 seconds. Even then, the thing couldn't get more than 2m off the ground before it caught fire and crashed into a nearby tree. The only thing this model shows that it is possible to carry one after much work back at the drawing board.
Archive entry 22: Diary entry of Midoriya Izuku
It's the winter holidays and the year hasn't really been that exciting for me. School still a place with no friends since everyone is put off by my quirkless status or the fact I'm two grades ahead of everyone else my age. I was able to find out the many problems which lead to the poor performance of the Mk I and have dedicated my whole winter break to solving as many of them as I can.
But I can't help but feel sad…when I look out the window and see all the other kids playing in the snow and having fun but who am I fooling, even if I went outside, no-one wants to play with me because I'm not like them, I'm different.
But I have come to realize something.
I don't need them, I don't need them around just to tell me that I can't succeed, that I'm delusional, that I should leave the heroing to people like Bakugou who have such 'amazing quirks', I'm going to succeed, to prove them all wrong and one day beat Bakugou and show the world that quirks aren't the be all end all.
That's a promise.
Archive entry 27: Diary entry of Midoriya Izuku
Well, its official, I'm a genius.
I was able to finally complete the Mk II and it shows much more promise than its older predecessor which I have to give thanks to Tou-san, the Mk I was mainly made(85% to be exact)made from junk I found by Dagobah Municipal Beach which did account for some the Mk I failings but thanks to Tou-san getting his hands on some better parts from some of the support students by Tokyo university, the Mk II is only 60% trash now, I paid extra attention to picking out the best and most suitable parts this time around. I've also improved on the mechanical and electrical side too so all that lead to the Mk II much clunky as to the Mk I and weigh less coming in at 260kg, not as noisy as it now just sounds like a muscle car when powering up and can lift up to 90kg up to 6m off the ground for over 3 minutes.
It was such a success that Kaa-chan let me ride it around for a bit before we went home, Tou-san was so happy when we told him that it. Now all we have to do is tone down the size, make it more streamlined, add flight time and increase how much it can carry-after all, one day I'll might have to carry people to safety so it needs to be able to support that kind of weight. But I was able to create the proper flight mechanism to help stabilize movement, so like I said-I'm a genius.
I did find something else to do over the winter break, whenever I got frustrated with the Mk II, I would head over to Dagobah beach and just let the breeze calm me down, not many people went there and the times than they did were few and far between. After a while I thought about cleaning the place so that people could enjoy the beach, it was the right thing to so after-all.
So I did it, while all the other kids were playing in the snow or hanging out with friends, I went to the beach every morning at the crack of dawn for three weeks and clean what I could till mid-day before I would go home, shower-eat something and work on the Mk II till supper. After I finished the Mk II, I would spend even the afternoons cleaning the place. I don't think I'll finish anytime soon but I can see that I'm making progress as the garbage piles grow smaller and smaller, one inch at a time-day by day.
Kaa-san likes that I'm doing community service like that, she believes that its very heroic to clean up the beach so that people can enjoy it again, she liked to go there when she was younger and even helps me whenever she has a day off from work at the hospital.
Tou-san even came home with great news the other day! He got invited to I-island for a three day conference for a summit on the global animal watch. He said we could came with! I don't even know what I'm going to wear since Tou-san said that very rich and fancy people will be in attendance. Kaa-san said she'll get me a suit and tie later this week. Maybe I can ask Mr Shield about my plans, he'll super smart and knows just about everything about machines so he'll be able to help me solve the problem.
Now how to make a prototype flight combat suit and get it passed customs?
Archive entry 29: Diary entry of Midoriya Izuku
I-island is every bit as amazing as I thought it would be and more. I can't believe that this whole place is dedicated to the pursuit of science and knowledge. Tou-san must really be respected in the scientific community if he was invited here, after-all there are a lot of tourists here but they all had to pay to get here. There is so much cutting edge tech just sitting around for public use or entertainment. There was so much to see and so much to do that Kaa-san and I spent the whole day just walking around acting like tourists, there were even some foreign pro heroes here too. I filled up two whole 2 books worth for 'Hero Analysis for the Future' and another three books just about the tech that I saw.
When I think about it, my stuff really is amateurish in comparison but they all have their PH.D. Already, I'm a genius not a Saitama who can pull just victory from any situation no matter what. Speaking of which, I need to download Shingeki no Kyojin and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood while we're here. We don't get much wifi at home and I need my anime fix. Maybe I'll get some Pewds videos too. It's been a while since I watched his videos since I've been busy lately.
Archive entry 30: Diary entry of Midoriya Izuku
I can't believe that I got to meet the David Shield! The man whose effect on the world is second only to All Might, he was All Might's first partner from when he lived in the States and is the only person to receive a Noble Quirk prize! He was at the summit and I totally fan-boyed out when we talked to him. Apparently, Tou-san has a big project coming up which means he'll be paired up with David Shield, I don't know much but I do know that it'll involve the brains of mammals and that Tou-san will be living here for the next year.
Its sad knowing that once we leave here, Tou-san will stay behind but we already promised to chat and send letters, and Tou-san never breaks a promise!
Also I got to meet Mr. Shield's daughter-Melissa, she's older than me by around two years and is doing her 1st year at Junior high but already has many rewards to her name-like father like daughter I suppose. It was nice to talk to someone close to my age for a change and since I've also starting my 1st year in Junior when I get back to Japan, we had a lot more to talk about while we were together. We walked around the labs and met a lot of the researchers, I almost passed out what they were working on, all this could change the world one day!
Melissa is quirkless like me but she doesn't let it get her down and she works hard to help create the tools that hero's will use to save people, I really like that about her. Really, what's not to like about her? After we exchanged numbers to keep in contact(I can't believe I got a girl's number!) she left to get her stuff together for class in Monday so I left and looked around for Mr. Shield. I found him near his personal lab and was able to ask him if he could help me later on since I needed to actually got get the Mk II and show him. He probably thought it was some school project and agreed to meet me the next day, which happened to be Sunday.
Archive entry 30: Diary entry of Midoriya Izuku
I can't believe that I made Mr. Shield gawk like that, to be fair I was already strapped into the suit and waiting for him by the time he showed up. He was really impressed with my work! He even said it was amazing that I made such a thing with mostly broken, 2nd hand or used parts I found in scrapheap, I got complimented for my work by the David Shield! This will literally go down as one of the best days in my life!
He was impressed with the control system I came with and how a compensated for the fact my hands were busy with the control by using my legs for picking stuff up and combat like actual birds of prey and by the fact that the wings were strong enough to knock a grown man on his butt. After I removed the gear and we sat down, the ideas he added to my plans left me with a blown mind, I'll didn't doubt his mind before but after that, I'll never will.
As we talked I told him how the suit's power source was just an old diesel engine I got off a motorcycle I found in the dump that I repurposed and upgraded to which he said was creative but was the reason the suit couldn't fly very high or lift larger loads since no motorcycle engine could provide such power. He suggested that I used a special kind of battery they developed here on I-Island to make up for this and replace the engine with new one being developed here on I-Island, which relied on both solar energy for the secondary charge as well as fats, I could get that at any butcher since all animals have fat. Plus it would generate 6 times the power of the old engine I was using and last much longer.
We also swapped out the heavier steel alloy I had used for the construction and replaced it with lightweight but strong gold-titanium alloy which according to our math would offer more strength at less weight. The feathers of the wings was replaced with a dense but lightweight aluminium-steel alloy Mr Shield had developed so that they would be just as strong but at two thirds the weight. After we put it all together as fast as we could, we tested it.
And it was a success!
The New on-board OS made the ride much smoother as it controls the systems necessary for flight and quick reaction times that normally would require the user to do so I could focus on other things. The new design was the best one yet, it looked so modern, so sleek…so graceful that I hardly recognised it when it was completed. The new wiring and support components in the joints and each individual feather also helped reduced drag as the wings can move more freely to compensate for such. And all this came in at only 145kg in weight. Rather than being noisy, it sounded much softer now but we both knew it was producing more power than all three predecessors which was proven when in the very large lab, we found out it could lift up to 200kgs in weight!, had a flight time of over 30 minutes and when we flew it outside, had an altitude ceiling of 320m and could reach a top speed of 145km/h.
Afterwards I did ask why Mr. Shield helped me since I can't be the first kid that asked. He nearly fainted when he told me that my Tou-san had told him about it before he got here since he knew I would ask him for assistance. I cried when he told me that I could be a hero and he was behind me in my journey to become one 100%. Before Kaa-san and I left for home, Mr. Shield gave me a 6TB hard-drive with everything I would need to know about: Physics; Chemistry; Metallurgy; Mechanical Science; Electrical Engineering; Aerospace Engineering; Software design and other fields of Computer science and finally many…many notes and papers on Plasma and Nuclear physics since he figured that I would want to develop an even stronger power source down the line.
As a fell asleep on the flight back to Tokyo, I thought to myself that I had 5 years till the UA entrance exam, I had five years to master everything Mr. Shield gave to learn, five years to perfect my idea to a level where I can use it like any hero uses their quirk. As a closed my eyes with my head on Kaa-san lap I made a vow.
I'll become the armoured hero from above, I'll became a Bird of Prey to Villains and a Dove of peace to the weak….
'I'll become a Vulture'
Well that is the prelude and everything that you need to know about this story. As you can imagine, I showed how Midoriya is developing differently than cannon as he spends most of his time by himself or studying in this one as isn't as socially stunted. He's still bad with social interactions but it's for similar reasons as to why Shoto is bad with them, he isn't nervous he just not used to them and hardly had friends growing up so he does not fully know how to react to people. Now as you all read, Midoriya in this one knows David and Melissa so he does have a friend but she is on an island somewhere in the pacific most of time if not in the States with her papa visiting family so for the most part Izuku is alone.
We'll see more of Katsuki in the actual first chapter as he has gone through his own character revision to fit with, after-all if 'Deku' was dumped up two whole grades then he would be forced to see Izuku in a new light, he won't be nicer in this one but he will see Izuku as a rival from an earlier point in the series and will of course increase his own strength to prove his better. Izuku noticing All Might lack of public appearance is something he might have noticed if he was more experienced with his observational skills but he didn't and I'm not faulting him for, rather in this story-Izuku had went through such a change in perspective at a younger age that he was able to pick up on that, that fact that he brainstormed reasons as to why this was just to show just how much he had mentally developed up till that point as he turned his attentions away from just following after hero's making noted but rather finding ways that he could join them.
I gave Mr Midoriya an actual occupation and reason for his extended periods of absence in this story as in cannon we don't know what he does or did for a living and in many stories, he either a horrible husband and father, walks out on them at some point or is a straight up villain so I decided that he needs a change as we don't know what he's like, so yes in this story Izuku does have both parents, both live and care for him and support him in his wish to become a hero.
When it came to Izuku's taste in anime, I just chose the first names that came to mind which funny enough wasn't JoJo so there's that. If you have any suggestion to add-on, please review and share them so that I can see what to do with them.
Now as to why Izuku says five years instead of three since his two grades ahead of his cannon self, that will also be explained in the next chapter.