‘People are attracted to strength. Power is entertainment,” proclaims wannabe world saviour Dark Might (voiced by Kenta Miyake) in this fourth film spin-off from the daffy Japanese X-Men knock-off. It’s a statement within touching distance of Watchmen-style auto-critique of the superhero genre, especially as this preening tycoon bears a passing resemblance to Alan Moore’s ne plus ultra supervillain Ozymandias.
Dark Might has designs on succeeding All Might, one-time paragon and now out-to-pasture teacher in “foundational hero studies” at Japan’s top hero academy. But the overzealous violence with which he dispatches a wrongdoer rings alarm bells for star pupil Midoriya (Daiki Yamashita) – which are apparently justified when Dark Might tractor-beams him and a bunch of other bystanders into his giant flying fortress. This sprawling wonderland is where the big bad is forcing his slave Anna (Meru Nukumi) to transform compatible victims into augmented superfolk who will join his side.
