My Hero Academia Watch Order: Every Season and Movie (2026)

Eight seasons, four films and a spin-off later, My Hero Academia finished in December 2025, so there is finally one settled answer to the watch order question. The seasons are the easy part: 1 to 8 in a straight line, with no filler run to route around. The films are where people slip up, because each is set in a specific gap between two episodes and loses its point if you watch it late. Here is the full order with episode numbers, plus what each season covers and which extras earn their runtime.

My Hero Academia watch order at a glance

#	What to watch	Episodes	Why it sits here
1	Season 1	1-13	Origin story, U.S.J. attack
2	Season 2	14-38	Sports Festival, Stain, Final Exams
3	Two Heroes (film)	97 min	Set in the gap after episode 38
4	Season 3	39-63	Training camp, Kamino, licence exam
5	Season 4	64-88	Overhaul, school festival, Pro Hero arc
6	Season 5	89-113	Joint Training, My Villain Academia
7	Heroes Rising (film)	104 min	Late Season 5, before the war
8	World Heroes' Mission (film)	105 min	Set during the Endeavor Agency arc
9	Season 6	114-138	Paranormal Liberation War, Dark Hero
10	Season 7, part one	139-142	Star and Stripe, traitor reveal
11	You're Next (film)	110 min	Slots right after episode 142
12	Season 7, rest	143-159	The Final War begins
13	Final Season (Season 8)	160-170	The last battles and the ending
14	"More" bonus episode	Special	Timeskip epilogue, May 2026

The seasons in order, and what each covers

Spoiler warning: these summaries name arcs and a couple of turning points, including who leaves the story. Jump to the films section if you want to go in cold.

Season 1 (episodes 1-13, 2016)

Thirteen episodes, the shortest season by far, adapting the first 21 manga chapters. Izuku Midoriya is born Quirkless, inherits One For All from All Might, and meets Tomura Shigaraki during the U.S.J. attack. If the opening feels slow, hold on until the Battle Trial in episodes 6 and 7, where Deku and Katsuki Bakugo tear a training building apart.

Season 2 (episodes 14-38, 2017)

Chapters 22 to 69 across 25 episodes: the U.A. Sports Festival, Vs. Hero Killer and Final Exams. The class register becomes a cast here. Shoto Todoroki gets the backstory that reframes his whole family, and Stain hands the villains their first argument that actually holds together, which is the seed of everything Shigaraki becomes. Stop at episode 38 for the first film.

Season 3 (episodes 39-63, 2018)

Forest Training Camp, the Hideout Raid, the Provisional Hero License Exam and the start of Shie Hassaikai, chapters 70 to 124. The Kamino confrontation is where this stops being a school show: All Might retires, and the safety net every character stood on quietly vanishes. No film interrupts, so watch all 25 straight through.

Season 4 (episodes 64-88, 2019-2020)

It opens on the raid against Overhaul, the grimmest rescue in the series, then swings into the Remedial Course, the U.A. School Festival and the first slice of the Pro Hero arc. That whiplash is the season's whole reputation. Eri, the girl rescued from Overhaul, looks minor here and is not. Dub viewers may notice the last episodes sounding different: they were recorded in voice actors' homes during the 2020 lockdowns.

Season 5 (episodes 89-113, 2021)

Joint Training, My Villain Academia and the Endeavor Agency arc, from volumes 21 to 26. The Joint Training tournament splits opinion because so little is at stake, but the middle third is the best villain writing in the show, and Shigaraki's origin lands in episodes 111 and 112. Two films belong at the end of this season.

Season 6 (episodes 114-138, 2022-2023)

The Paranormal Liberation War (chapters 258-306) and Dark Hero (307-328) arcs. This is the payoff: an assault that costs the heroes more than everything before it combined, then a bleak stretch of Deku working alone in a battered coat while public trust in heroes collapses.

Season 7 (episodes 139-159, 2024)

Twenty-one episodes, chapters 329 to 398. Star and Stripe, America's number one hero, throws everything she has at Shigaraki in episodes 139 and 140, then Yuga Aoyama is exposed as the U.A. traitor. Shota Aizawa turns that reveal into a trap, and episode 142 is your cue to pause for You're Next. The Final War starts straight after.

Final Season, also called Season 8 (episodes 160-170, 2025)

Eleven episodes, produced by Bones through its Bones Film arm, airing 4 October to 13 December 2025 and adapting chapters 399 to 430. It is almost entirely the closing rounds of the Final War: Deku against Shigaraki, All Might against All For One, and the argument about what a Quirk society does next. The short run is not a budget cut, there was simply little manga left.

"More" bonus episode (2 May 2026)

A standalone special rather than part of any season, adapting chapter 431, the epilogue Horikoshi added after the manga's last chapter. It jumps eight years ahead to Class 1-A as working pros, toasting Todoroki's climb to number two, with Ochaco Uraraka and Deku finally facing what they never said. Watch it last: it is the real ending.

Where each My Hero Academia movie fits

All four films were supervised by Kohei Horikoshi, who designed their new characters, but none of their events are followed up in the manga or the series. Treat them as officially produced side stories: worth watching, safe to skip, and much better in their proper slot, because the cast's abilities and injuries match the moment they are set in.

Two Heroes (2018): after episode 38

Ninety-seven minutes, released 3 August 2018 in Japan. Deku travels with All Might to I-Island, a floating research city, and meets Melissa Shield, a brilliant girl born Quirkless. Placement matters more here than anywhere else: All Might still has time left in his muscle form, and Season 3 ends that for good, so watching it later removes the premise. It slots between episodes 38 and 39.

Heroes Rising (2019): after Season 5

Class 1-A is posted to remote Nabu Island as its entire hero service, then a villain called Nine turns up hunting a boy whose Quirk could cure his terminal illness. It is the best action showcase of the four because every student gets something to do. Its exact slot is the most argued of the four, somewhere in the back half of Season 5, so stop at the finale, episode 113. The ending is divisive for a decision the main story never acknowledges.

World Heroes' Mission (2021): after episode 113

A doomsday cult called Humarise plants bombs designed to kill Quirk users worldwide. Deku, Bakugo and Todoroki draw the country of Otheon, where Deku is framed for murder and goes on the run with a street kid named Rody Soul. It is set during the Endeavor Agency arc, so the Season 5 finale is the right stop, immediately after Heroes Rising. The short OVA "Departure" is its prologue.

You're Next (2024): after Season 7 episode 4

Directed by Tensai Okamura and released 2 August 2024 in Japan, 11 October 2024 in the US. A European crime boss remakes himself as Dark Might, copying All Might's look and manner to claim the vacant Symbol of Peace title, a sharper idea than the earlier films managed. It sits between episodes 142 and 143. Of the four this is the easiest to skip, since nothing in it touches the main plot.

Release order or chronological order?

For once these barely differ. Each film was built to fill a gap that already existed, so release order and story order match, and the list above is both. The one wrinkle is for weekly viewers: You're Next opened in Japan in August 2024 while Season 7 was still airing, months after the episode it follows.

The OVAs and specials, and which are worth it

Eleven shorts sit outside the numbered seasons. None are required and most run well under half an hour.

• Departure (2022) is the pick of the bunch, because it leads straight into World Heroes' Mission.
• All Might: Rising (2019) runs about two minutes: Nana Shimura dies shielding a teenage Toshinori from All For One, and Gran Torino puts him on a plane to America.
• Save! Rescue Training (2016) returns Class 1-A to the U.S.J. four days after the attack; Make It! Do-or-Die Survival Training, Parts 1 and 2 (2020) is more of the same.
• Training of the Dead (2017), HLB Hero League Baseball (2022) and UA Heroes Battle (2023) are comedy: a joint drill wrecked by a zombie Quirk, pro heroes playing baseball, and a winter-break card game.
• Laugh! As If You Are in Hell (2022) takes place during Deku's Endeavor internship, so it pairs with late Season 5.
• A Piece of Cake (2025) is a You're Next prequel bundled with its home release. I Am a Hero Too premiered at Anime Expo on 4 July 2026 and streamed from 3 August: six minutes of a teenage Eri, now set on singing, asking Deku for advice before her first street performance.

Where My Hero Academia: Vigilantes fits

The spin-off is a separate anime, not a season. Bones Film produced it under director Kenichi Suzuki: season 1 ran 13 episodes from 7 April to 30 June 2025, season 2 another 13 from 5 January to 30 March 2026, both on Crunchyroll. It follows Koichi Haimawari, a college student whose Quirk lets him skate along surfaces, pulled into unlicensed hero work beside the street idol Pop Step and the brutal Knuckleduster.

It is set about five years before Deku enters U.A., but starting there is a mistake. The view from street level only lands once you know what the system looks like from the top, so save it for after the Final Season. As of September 2026 a third season has not been announced.

Things people get wrong

Season 8 and Final Season are the same thing. The eighth season was branded My Hero Academia: Final Season and runs 11 episodes rather than the usual 25, so anyone hunting for a longer season eight will not find one.

The manga does not continue past the anime either. It ended at chapter 430, the Final Season adapted up to that point, and "More" covers chapter 431. That makes this one of the rare long shonen where the adaptation is genuinely complete, so there is no manga to pick up afterwards.

And there is no fifth film. The 10th-anniversary livestream on 20 September 2026 brought a new "You Say Run" recording and a 2027 expo, not a new season or film, and the Netflix live-action adaptation still has no release date.

For a rewatch, our guide to how Quirks work is the best companion, the full characters guide covers who is who across 170 episodes, and we rank the heavy hitters in the strongest My Hero Academia characters. For what to start next, try the best shonen anime of all time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the correct My Hero Academia watch order with movies?

Season 1 (episodes 1-13), Season 2 (14-38), the film Two Heroes, Season 3 (39-63), Season 4 (64-88), Season 5 (89-113), the films Heroes Rising and World Heroes' Mission, Season 6 (114-138), Season 7 episodes 139-142, the film You're Next, Season 7 episodes 143-159, the Final Season (160-170), and finally the bonus episode "More".

In what order should I watch the My Hero Academia movies?

Two Heroes, then Heroes Rising, then World Heroes' Mission, then You're Next. That is both their release order and their chronological order. Against the series they go after episode 38, after episode 113 for the two middle films, and after episode 142.

How many My Hero Academia seasons and episodes are there?

Eight seasons totalling 170 episodes, aired between April 2016 and December 2025, plus a bonus epilogue special called "More" that aired on 2 May 2026. The season lengths are 13, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 21 and 11 episodes.

Are the My Hero Academia movies canon?

They sit just outside the main canon. Kohei Horikoshi supervised all four and designed their new characters, but their events are not followed up in the manga or the TV series and nothing from them carries over. They are officially produced side stories, not required viewing.

Is My Hero Academia finished?

Yes. The manga ended at chapter 430 with a chapter 431 epilogue, the Final Season adapted the story through chapter 430 in December 2025, and the bonus episode "More" adapted the epilogue in May 2026. The anime covers the complete story.

Do I need to watch My Hero Academia: Vigilantes?

No, it is optional. The spin-off is set about five years before the main series and follows a different cast led by Koichi Haimawari. Its two seasons, 26 episodes in total, aired in 2025 and 2026, and it works best once you already understand how hero licensing works.