Despite the large number of heroes that populate the world of My Hero Academia, hero teams don’t become too big of a factor until partway through the story.
In the wake of All Might’s retirement, many heroes opted to start teaming up more in order to deal with the incoming crime wave. This is where My Hero Academia: Team Up Missions comes in. It is a spin-off of the original story, which focuses on teaming heroes up for each chapter, often by putting students with a professional hero for the day. Similarly to the series’ hero work studies, this makes for some entertaining character combinations.
7 Iida/Yaoyorozu/Amajiki/Fatgum
MHA’s hero work studies created some amazing student/hero dynamics. One of the more fun is the combination of the enthusiastic Kirishima and Fatgum with UA’s pessimistic 3rd year, Amajiki. This team recreates that dynamic somewhat, replacing Kirishima with Iida and Yaoyorozu.
As the two most formal students in class 1A, Iida and Yaoyorozu come to the team with much respect for their mentor’s abilities, which of course aggravates Amajiki’s inferiority complex. Ultimately, he ends up being the star of the show, much to his own dismay.
6 Todoroki/Kaminari/Shishikura/Inasa
This team manages to bring back the most interesting hero students from Shiketsu High and pairs them up with members of class A that they had some conflict with in the license exam arc. Except now, there is far less bad blood between them.
These four actually make for a balanced dynamic, with Inasa’s energy, Shishikura’s sourness, Kaminari’s friendliness, and Todoroki’s stoicism to tie it all together. This is further exemplified by their group task of making soba noodles, which shows how synergistic their quirks can be. And when some villains eventually arrive, they are able to handle the situation with teamwork that seemed impossible during the license exams.
5 Deku/Bakugo/Hawks
While there was an entire arc that placed Deku and Bakugo in Endeavour’s agency, they barely get a chance to speak to Hawks in the main story. Chapter 2 of TUM attempts to make up for this by teaming all three of them up. Seemingly having more respect for students, Hawks doesn’t use them as a cleanup crew like he once did to Tokoyami.
As one might expect, Bakugo is especially determined to prove himself against Hawks’ infamous speed, as they go up against a speedster villain. This team not only echoes Hawks’ genuine relationship with Tokoyami but reminds fans of Bakugo’s begrudging respect for his hero mentors.
4 Deku/Bakugo/Uraraka/Mirko
Mirko is easily a fan favorite in MHA, despite not actually appearing too often in the story. This is due to not only her great design but also her battle-hungry attitude. The latter makes her an ideal mentor of sorts for Bakugo, who shares her obsession with fighting. And as expected, she initially doesn’t consider the students to be on her level.
Deku and Uraraka end up being the counterbalance needed in this team, as they’re more prone to thinking things through instead of rushing in guns blazing. This ends up being the saving grace for a reluctant villain who would have otherwise been shown no mercy by Mirko.
3 DekuTokoyami/Kuroiro/Odd Eye
Season 5 of MHA started off with the long-awaited showdown between classes 1A and 1B. One of the most fun dynamics born from this match-up was between Tokoyami and Class B’s Kuroiro, who both share a comical obsession with darkness.
While the main series hasn’t brought them together again, TUM had them both called to the office of the "edgelord hero," Odd-Eye. While they didn’t fight any actual villains, the three of them made for a hilarious group, constantly testing and outdoing each other’s edginess. Deku was also a part of the team but ended up being more of a spectator alongside Odd Eye’s unfortunate sidekicks.
2 Melissa Shield/Mei Hatsume
Due to the ambiguous canonicity of the MHA movies, Melissa Shield from MHA: Two Heroes hasn’t been able to make an appearance in the main story, despite her arm bracer invention seemingly being used by Deku in Season 6.
In TUM though, she gets to make a visit to Japan and has her tech skills pitted against UA’s own Mei Hatsume. The two end up having quite different views on support work, with Melissa prioritizing sleek new materials while Mei tends to go overboard on clunky gear. They eventually come to an understanding, and if Melissa ever returns, they could easily be a killer team.
1 All Might/Present Mike
Despite being colleagues and teachers of 1A, All Might and Present Mic never actually get a moment together in the main MHA story. In general, All Might only has a few heroes he gets to interact with on a casual level. It’s fortunate then, that TUM gives them an entire chapter together.
The chapter sees All Might appearing on Present Mic’s radio show in order to give advice to callers. While he’s initially more measured, his desire to be more informal quickly leads him to join in on Mic’s more extreme form of advice. It’s a fun dynamic that could really use more screen time.