The Hero Public Safety Commission, abbreviated as HPSC, is a background antagonistic force in the My Hero Academia manga.
Within a world full of superheroes, the Safety Commission are branch of the Japanese Government, officially manging the relations between licensed heroes and the civilian population. They have the power to overturn decisions of other hero bodies and can conduct their own criminal investigations for high-profile villains. Unofficially, the Hero Commission will use illegal tactics for the sake of keeping up the public image of heroes. They will go as far as to train child soldiers and ordering assassinations on potential threats.
Overview[]
The Commission are the government body responsible for all-hero matters within Japanese society. Their members are made up of armed bodyguards, hero agents and policy makers. The Commission's leaders are formed of non-heroes to ensure that superheroes don't dominate positions of power. In this hero society, the faith the public has in heroes is critical for social stability and the Commission will use any means to maintain that. The Commission has a wide range of powers, from creating policies for hero education to conducting their own criminal investigations.
The Commission creates the requirements for an individual to qualify as a hero and they conduct the exams that award such licences. High School students are able to take the provisional license exam, allowing them to use their superpowers in public, as long as its an emergency situation or supervised by a pro-hero. Afterwards, they need to take a second exam to receive their full licences, allowing them to use their abilities as they see fit. In recent times, the pass rates are more lenient, due to society needing a higher number of heroes with All Might's retirement.
On their own, the Commission can scout out children with especially powerful quirks and offer them a private education. Kids as young as six can be scouted and bribes can be offered to the families to gain complete custody. These understudies are required to abandon their birth names and only use the code name that the Commission gives them. They're trained to be soldiers solely loyal to the Commission and they don't have the option to disobey orders. Due to the sensitive information their agents hold, if they try to defect, they may be discredited, falsely framed or executed. The Commission has control of serval of the top-ranking heroes. The Commission's agents will use darker methods then a typical hero. They may commit crimes while undercover or execute people before a fair trial if it's unfavourable for public perception.
Besides from child soldiers and assassinations, the Commission uses other questionable and illegal acts for its goals. For example, they were conducting experiments on the League's Nomu and ordering high-school students to do heroes missions against their teacher's wishes. While the Commission retained its powers for multiple decades, rumours would spread about their illegal methods. Eraserhead planned to do an independent investigation on them one day, but it didn't prove to be necessary with the collapse of Japan. Hawks' and Lady Nagant's histories would be exposed to outsiders, lessening the chances of the Commission regaining power once Japan recovers.
History[]
The earliest known point in the Commission's history was Lady Nagant being scouted. When she was in middle-school, the current president and his deputy approached the young girl, asking if she wanted to save people. Most children dreamed of being a hero and Nagant was no different, accepting with a beaming smile. The Commission trained her rifle quirk, which was envied by many heroes with similar abilities. While having the persona of a typical hero, Nagant was ordered to secretly assassinate others. This was often corrupt pros, who threatened the trust the public held for heroes. Other times, they were people in early stages of conspiring crimes and killing them preventively. This was to reduce the number of negative stories about hero society and preventing the public from doubting that important image.
Despite being well paid, the bloodshed weighed heavily on Lady Nagant. She became depressed and felt guilty when she was approached by admiring fans. To the point, she envisioned her palm covered in blood when a child asked to shake her hand. On one particular mission, Lady Nagant was summoned to the President's office and told to kill two heroes who were entrapping civilians to receive the bounties. For the first time, she questioned if this was all necessary and if erasing the bad eggs was just brainwashing. The president reached for a gun in his jacket, warning that Lady Nagant couldn't disobey orders. Snapping, she pulled her rifle on him first, killing him. The Commission manged to capture her after the murder. They covered up the details of her actions, creating a false story of her getting into an argument with a fellow hero. She was sent to Tartarus Prison, where she'd be in solidary confident 24/7 and have no communication with the outside world - Ensuring she could never leak the Commission's secrets.
The Commission manged to recover from Lady Nagant's betrayal and the deputy stepped up to become the new president. They continued their operations with child solders and scouted out the six-year-old Keigo Takami. His family was forced to hide in a slum when his father became a murderer. Keigo's mother was scared she'd be arrested too for harbouring a criminal, so she fled with her son onto the streets. When the Commission heard about the six-year-old stopping a car crash with his powerful wings, they offered to train him and provide for his family. As apart of the agreement, Keigo was renamed 'Hawks' and he cut ties with his mother, who was given a house for her silence. Hawks was trained to have a charismatic persona, while secretly analysing the world around him. He was swayed partially into the Commission's ideals, willing to bloody his hands if it was meant for the greater good. When Hawks got his full licence at eighteen, he proved to be a powerful tool for the Commission. He instantly became popular with the public with his good looks and skill. He became the only person to reach the top 10 heroes before the age of twenty.
While this was all happening, the Commission continued to have their eyes elsewhere. With the rising threat of the league of villains and All Might's retirement, the Commission wanted to increase the quantity of heroes. Madam President made a public speech that the combined effort of multiple heroes could make up for the singular pillar of All Might. The Commission encouraged heroes to form to teams and they increased the pass rate of licensing exams. Though they began to make questionable policy changes, which put young students in harm's way. Students as young as fifteen were allowed to get provisional licenses and their internship hours were expanded, despite the concerns of their teachers. As a final straw, highschool students were ordered to go on a high-profile raid, against the entire army of the Paranormal Liberation Front. The raid went poorly, with many students being badly injured and the worst of them being erased from the official reports.
Prior to the raid, the Commission had ordered Hawks to go undercover in the Liberation Front. For the sake of the mission, Hawks committed serval crimes. He conspired with Dabi for a nomu attack on a sea dock and testing its strength on a hero. Though Hawks got caught out when Dabi sent it prematurely, with the Nomu attacking an entire skyscraper. To regain Dabi's trust, Hawks kidnapped the top hero, Best Jeanist and allowed the Commission to put him in suspended animation. Hawks presented Best Jeanist's unconscious body to Dabi, pretending he'd murdered him. Despite this, Dabi sensed that Hawks was a spy. He sent thugs to force Hawks' mother to reveal his past. Dabi would end up exposing Hawks' actions and by proxy, the Commission in a public broadcast.
Additionally, Dabi would tell his suspicions to his ally, Re-Destro. A clone of Re-Destro was sent to deal with the Commission for daring to investigate them. Using his connections as a CEO, the villain set up a business meeting with Madam President. Both sides knew they were up to something, so the Commission ambushed Re-Destro in order to arrest him. As a clone with no self-preservation, the Re-Destro imposter went on a rampage despite the bullets firing at him. While dying himself, the clone manged to kill Madam President on his way down. The President's death was one of the Liberation Front's many victories that day, alongside the inmates of six major prisons being freed. Lady Nagant was amongst the escaped inmates of Tartarus.
With their leader's death and the general collapse of Japan, the Commission was in shambles. Their members became scattered and they couldn't perform their duties, such as filing the paperwork to request foreign aid. Without anybody left to give him orders, Hawks drifted away from the the Commission. He could voice his opinions more openly and follow his personal morals, rather then having to use shadier tactics. He joined the other top heroes in rounding up the escaped inmates. Amongst the jailbreakers he encountered, he ran into Lady Nagant. She was saddened to see that Hawks was her successor in doing the Commission's dirty work. She asked if he'd lost hope for this world but Hawks countered he was the optimistic type. When Lady Nagant revealed the assassinations she'd been ordered to do, Hawks admitted he wasn't surprised.
Amongst the surviving members of the Commission, Yokumiru Mera became the unofficial leader of them. With Commision's dark history being exposed, its future was looking grim. Despite this, Yokumiru didn't waste time covering it up again and pressed with the larger threat. He gave legal clearance for the heroes' plans, including giving the unlicensed Shinso permission to use his quirk for the battle. The acting president showed no resentment working alongside Hawks and the reformed Lady Nagant. After the Final War, Hawks had become the new president of the Commission.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
- Lady Nagant on Villains wiki
- Hawks on Heroes wiki
- Madam President on My Hero Academia wiki
- Hero Public Safety Commission on My Hero Academia wiki