And here we go back into the Hero-Verse (you can see the pattern emerging here, can't you?) with the latest arc who's title I'm borrowing not from the main Marvel universe, but from a notable spinoff that I think every fan of MHA with the slightest interest in crossovers would've heard of...
I present to you:
My Marvel Academia!
When Ochako arrives in her assigned universe, she finds it to be a world that is both familiar and different to her own.
Here, people have been swapped around and merged, with certain individuals taking on new identities and interchanging between heroes and villains.
This is a world where Marvel and My Hero Academia have been fused together, melded into one singular entity. Ochako stands within the city of Nueva York, a fusion of American and Tokyo made when this universe's version of World War Two escalated rapidly in a mutual nuking of both countries, with Japan lobbing a nuclear bomb into New York. In the aftermath, the city was rebuilt from scratch by joint Japanese and American efforts as a sign of peace against the Iron Curtain of the Soviet Union, and now, in the modern day, serves as the capital of scientific and cultural progress across the entire planet, and acts as where the cultures of Japan and America have fused together due to them becoming life-long global partners and allies in the wake of the Second World War.
It is the New York of the world, the birthplace of all sorts of scientific breakthroughs and marvels, and it is here where Ochako, She-Venom, greeted by this world's heroes:
Toshinori Yagi, this world's Captain America, David Shield, this world's Iron Man, Rikido Sato, this universe's Hulk, and Tenya Iida, this universe's Thor.
They are the Ultimates, the Avengers of this universe, and Uraraka quickly explains herself to them, making clear her mission and the stakes at hand. However, the Ultimates are not so quick to believe her, as they've been tricked by people pretending to be from other universes before (apparently this universe's Mysterio has tried his hand as pretending to be a multiversal hero). However, seeing her proof, that being her Web-Watch, its ability to create portals, and the fact that they already know the Ochako of this world too, convinces them to hear her out.
So. with their newest arrival in tow, the Ultimates depart to this universe's version of U.A., that being the MCU. There, Ochako finds many alternate counterparts of her old classmates there, such as Yui Kodai as Psylocke, Pony Tsunotori as Squirrel Girl, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu as Luke Cage, Gwen Shield as Gwenpool, Mineta Minuro as Kid Kaiju, Mei Hatsume as Iron Woman, and even meets their teachers, with Twice as Deadpool and Aizawa as Daredevil (that gets some odd looks from Ochako in particular considering Aizawa's history in her home universe, along with sending some hidden looks of strained pain at Tenya whenever she looks at him).
And then, she meets the Spider of this universe...
Herself, Ochako Uraraka, the Sakura Spider.
The two counterparts give each other odd looks at first, with Sakura distrusting She-Venom due to the amount of attacks that her enemies have tried to pull on her, and She-Venom herself is surprised that there is a counterpart of herself that kept the Sakura Spider name. The two of them eventually come to an agreement when She-Venom explains what is going on in the multiverse and the role that Sakura plays in it.
The two of them eventually begin to share their stories, with the Sakura Spider telling She-Venom of her backstory. In this universe, Ochako was born with a spider-quirk instead of a gravity-quirk, and had helped her parents with their construction business for the earliest years of her childhood, developing her skills as a labourer and mechanic. This was on top of her befriending a boy her age by the name of Izuku Midoriya, a shy and nerdy quirkless boy who struggled to defend himself against his quirked peers. So, Ochako became not just his best friend, but also his defender, shielding him from bullies such as Katsuki Thompson and becoming a streetwise delinquent counterpart - armed with her trusty spider quirk and all the powers that it gave her - to his introverted nice guy.
A few years ago, she'd grown tired and frustrated with not being able to help her parents and their struggling business in any meaningful way, and began to use her new powers to begin fighting in underground boxing rings to earn money for them. This grew into her developing an ego problem, and she grew to be much crasser and self-assured with herself with every fight that she won.
But it all came to a head one day when she got into a fight with a random mugger, who ended up shooting not her, but her best friend and love interest Izuku Midoriya. He died that day for Ochako's mistakes, and Ochako vowed to never let that happen to anyone ever again. From then on, Ochako had taken up the name of the Sakura Spider at first, acting as a vigilante before helping Daredevil, Aizawa, in taking down the Rose, Valdo Gollini, who had been trying to steal Captain America's identity and being invited to attend the MCU as a full-time hero.
In this universe, hero society is a lot different of a beast than in MHA's norm. There are no ranking systems in place for the heroes, but the Ultimates are regarded as the best team in the world and the paragons of what their society should aspire to be. The fact that the two current leaders of the Ultimates, Captain America and Iron Man, are quirkless has helped to improve relations between quirked and quirkless populations (of which are about equal to each other in this universe) and negate racial tensions, though those do still exist thanks to the terrorist group known as the Brotherhood of Quirks led by their leader Wolfram. However these are combated by the political group known as the X-Man Unity Party, who work to resolve and help alleviate universal racial tensions between the quirked and the quirkless, helping Shield Industries in promoting new technologies and devices to bridge the gap between both peoples.
In the Sakura Spider's world, heroes operated as government-sponsored vigilantes that are given more legal leeway to deal with threats to national and global security, yet are also expected to work in tandem with the police and government bodies as well. Each hero is paid as if they were police officers, and each hero school operates more as a police academy. Heroes that push for merchandising and sponsorships are generally frowned upon (with rare exceptions such as David Shield's corporation and his sponsoring his apprentice Mei Hatsume), and heroes that attempt to run multiple careers at once are eventually phased out due to the high stress that comes with the role of being a pro hero in this universe. As such, pro heroes are much rarer, but are generally more skilled than the pros of She-Venom's home universe and firmly set on the side of good due to the increased focus on morality tests within their academies.
It's not a perfect system - if it was, then there wouldn't be villains for the heroes to battle against - but it's still much better than the system that was in place in She-Venom's universe.
She-Venom begins to take notes.
However, in recent days, the Sakura Spider has been encountering a group of villains called the Sinister Syndicate that have been targeting her and her classmates specifically. She isn't sure why these villains are trying to kill her specifically, but she doesn't want to leave her world yet until she can be sure that her friends and family are safe.
She-Venom, despite the severity of the situation, decides to oblige her request.
Sakura takes She-Venom down to a local concert, headed by the idols Fuyumi Todoroki and Jiro Kyoka, known as the Luna Snows. Here, She-Venom begins to share her own experiences from her home universe, from losing her parents to fighting through crisis after crisis, from being ejected from her home universe and now working to save the entire multiverse... it's a lot to say the least, and She-Venom is thankful to have at least a moment's worth of peace amidst the endless chaos.
She then shares her stories with her Izuku, how she had entered a relationship with him and Keemia and how he himself was holding the Anti-Venom Symbiote. Sakura is surprised to hear of this and wishes that she had taken the chance to admit her own feelings for her Izuku before he died. She-Venom muses that the pain of loss will never go away – she still misses her parents dearly all these years later – and tells Sakura that while the pain won't go away, she will at least become better at managing it.
Sakura isn't sure how to feel about that, but thanks She-Venom anyway.
However, on their way back to the MCU, the two are attacked by a pair of villains from the Sinister Syndicate, one of them being Speed Demon (based on the Speed Villain from the MHA Team-Up manga) and Kuin Hachisuka as Swarm. The two heroes defeat the villains after a long battle, but it serves to highlight to She-Venom the sheer amount of animosity that whoever is leading the Syndicate feels for the Sakura Spider to send two villains just to kill her specifically, for whatever reason that might be.
Later, She-Venom and Sakura attend a political conference (with the MCU's hero course as guests) between the X-Man Unity Party representative known as Anna Scervino (known as Magik) and the representative of the Atlas Party, Inko Midoriya (who became a politician after the death of her son and starting the Midoriya Foundation to support quirked and quirkless rights) regarding the de-escalation of racially motivated hate groups and militant factions such as the Brotherhood of Quirks and the Dark Avengers.
It is at this conference where She-Venom meets Katsuki Thompson, who has adopted the name of Agent Venom due to his Symbiote quirk. Katsuki is remorseful as to Izuku's death in this universe and feels like he could've prevented it by simply being kinder to him. As such, he has taken on a more mature tone and become much more stoic in how he goes about things, and has also become more considerate of the people around him. Ochako is saddened to hear of what Izuku's death has done to everyone, and the good man that Bakugo in her universe could've been if he had lived and learnt his lesson...
But then, suddenly, the conference was attacked.
Not by a quirk/quirkless hate group, but by the Sinister Syndicate.
She-Venom recognises a few of them. Neito Monoma as Mysterio, Denki Kaminari as Electro, Ojiro Mashiro as Scorpion, Muscular as Rhino, Kurogiri as Spot, and their leader, Maguma Iwata, as Molten Man. Worse yet, they have brought a Sentinel with them, this universe's version of a Nomu.
The heroes jump into action, and She-Venom joins the Sakura Spider in taking down the Sinister Syndicate. She-Venom realises that the villains are going after Anna and Inko and tries to stop them, but is forced to pull back to defend the Sakura Spider when most of the villains go after the MCU students, giving the Spot the chance to grab the two politicians and teleport away, along with the rest of the Sinister Syndicate. Even worse is that Agent Venom is absolutely mauled by the villains and kidnapped as well.
In the aftermath, She-Venom wonders as to why the Sinister Syndicate stole away Anna and Inko, reasoning that they may have been kidnapped to stop any future laws against quirk and quirkless discrimination from being passed. Sakura, meanwhile, is furious at the Sinister Syndicate for taking Inko and wants to hunt them down immediately, but She-Venom is able to convince her to hold back. Whoever is in charge of the Sinister Syndicate might've taken Inko not out of racial motives - if attacking a conference dedicated to cooling racial tensions wasn't that - but in an attempt to get her to start acting recklessly and lure her into a trap. Sakura says that's not possible, as S.A.F.E. and Director Mera keep the civilian identities of the pro heroes in service under lock and key, but She-Venom reminds Sakura that she said it's not a perfect system. Whoever was in charge of the Sinister Syndicate was targeting her and her class specifically. This was just another way to hurt her. Sakura is forced to relent, unable to argue with that line of logic, and so she and She-Venom begin to work with the authorities to help track down Inko and Anna.
Soon enough, working with Jubilee (Mina Ashido) from the X-Man party and the Fantastic Four (composed of Momo Yaoyorozu as Ms Fantastic, Hagakure Tooru as the Invisible Woman, Kirishima as the Thing, and Todoroki Shoto as the Human Torch), the two Spider-People are able to locate Magik at an abandoned school known as Midtown High, right before she is about to be murdered on live television by a pair of Sentinels and Toga, the Chameleon of this world. She-Venom ends up having a little bit of a crisis at having to fight Toga once again, but she is able to power through it and take down the Chameleon, rescuing Anna and preventing her public execution.
But as it turns out, Anna's execution was nothing more than a distraction.
The Sakura Spider's parents have now been taken.
That is more than enough confirmation that whoever is in charge of the Sinister Syndicate knows the Sakura Spider's identity, and the Spider-Person in particular receives a message demanding that she arrive at a specific location otherwise all of the hostages will die. The two Spider-People know that it is a trap, but She-Venom comes up with a plan...
Soon, the Sakura Spider arrives at the designated location, the abandoned Midtown High grounds, and is surrounded by the members of the Sinister Syndicate, from the villains under the control of whoever is leading them to the Sentinels under their command. Once she has arrived, she is searched for any and all equipment on her, and then cuffs with experimental quirk suppressant cuffs, nullifying her quirk.
Then, a voice on the school's intercom begins to speak through a heavy voice filter. The leader of the Sinister Syndicate, calling themselves the Master of Evil.
The Master of Evil begins to speak, unleashing a diatribe about how the world has treated the quirkless, how those in power seek to keep them down beneath their heels and how those with power seeks to drive them down and keep the powerless in the dirt. But look at him and his Sinister Syndicate: he's made an entire criminal organisation by granting them powers and abilities through science and technology, on par with and even exceeding those with quirks. That should make them equal to those with powers, and yet they are still looked down upon as less than human - as undeserving of life - by those who are born lucky enough to be given a power that they don't deserve.
But now, the Master of Evil plans to prove that the quirkless are not just equal to the quirked, but superior. With his Sinister Syndicate and his new Sentinel machines, he intends to force the quirked and the powerful to recognise the quirkless and their abilities. If not, then they will suffer much like he had when he was-
Sakura cuts through his points and makes clear that everything the Master of Evil is saying isn't true in the slightest; there are tons of people out there fighting for equality between the quirked and the quirkless. Hell, his Sinister Syndicate had attacked a political conference and kidnapped a bunch of politicians despite their working to alleviate racial tensions. If they had succeeded in executing Magik, then they would've set back any discussion on racial equality by decades. There's now an entire generation of children that are growing up with no knowledge of the segregated drinking fountains and facilities between the quirked and the quirkless. Does the Master of Evil truly want to undo all their progress for the sake of what, pride?
The Master of Evil says that it is for respect, but Sakura cuts through that just as quickly. In actuality, all of this isn't about pride, is it? And certainly not respect.
It's rage. Anger. Hatred.
Sakura points out all the Sinister Syndicate members around her, all augmented with technological marvels, and then to the Sentinels themselves. Look at all this! Whoever this Master of Evil is, they're intelligent enough to not only create massive robots and turn people into cyborgs, but also to give them artificial quirks and develop devices that can suppress people's own quirks! They're that smart! The tech here is enough to put everything made by Shield Industries - the main head of whom is both quirkless and part of the Ultimates, by the way - to shame, and yet here the Master of Evil is, working with a bunch of criminals for some foolhardy attempt at raging against the system, no matter how flawed it may be.
The Master of Evil had the capacity to do so many good things with the gifts that they had... but instead they squandered it. For all of their intellect, they're nothing more than a petulant child.
And also... the Master of Evil is a stupid name.
The Master of Evil doesn't care. He wants the peace talks and anti-racism movements to fail. He wants to ignite feuds between the quirked and the quirkless. He wants to start a war between the two to ultimately prove that the quirkless are equal and better than those that were born gifted and with power. He doesn't care who he has to hurt to get there.
Sakura simply spits at his voice. So it is about hatred, then. That and casual discrimination. An eye for an eye, right? If they're racist towards him, then it's okay for him to be racist to them as well? Is that it? What a stupid thing to think.
…But what the Sakura Spider doesn't understand is what she has to do with anything. She's never met anyone before calling themselves the Master of Evil, and all the Sinister Syndicate's members are new to her and her class as well. Why kidnap so many people just to lure her out? What has she ever done to him to earn such visceral rage?
The Master of Evil says that his minions in the Sinister Syndicate are simply fellow quirkless people who have seen the benefits of working alongside him if they follow his orders, but as for his own feud with the Sakura Spider...
Well, let's just say that this has been a long time coming.
For everything that she has done to him...
Then, a new figure steps into the room. Not the Master of Evil himself, but his top minion, a gruesome cyborg called Rokuro Nomura, who is referred to as the Sinister Six due to him possessing six synthetic quirks.
The Master of Evil demands that the Sinister Six murders Sakura, and the cyborg monster obliges, approaching Sakura with the intent to kill...
And the Sakura Spider simply repeats the Master of Evil's statement, that this indeed has been a long time coming...
And that is when She-Venom bursts into the abandoned school, having followed Sakura there due to the sliver of the Venom Symbiote that she'd placed on the Spider-Person, followed by the sliver of Symbiote breaking apart Sakura's cuffs and allowing her to jump into action as well.
The two Spider-People begin to kick the collective asses of the Sinister Syndicate, including their Sentinels and the Sinister Six cyborg. The Master of Evil is freaking out, raging about how this interference is insignificant and that his Sinister Syndicate will prevail, but once both the Sinister Six cyborg has been taken out and the Sentinels are destroyed, the other members of the Syndicate decide to cut their losses and flee, with one of them calling out that they should've known that working for a kid would turn out badly.
This is enough to prompt a fit of rage from the Master of Evil, and he sic's his last creation on the two Spider-People: his mech-suit known as the Tri-Sentinel, with which he intends to march on the MCU itself and destroy it as a sign of resistance against the quirked population. The two Spider-People attack the giant mech, pulling it piece by piece...
And that is when they get reinforcements from the Ultimates themselves, who quickly assist the Spider-People in destroying the mech and, along with the students and teachers of the MCU and the other heroes in the city, both quirked and quirkless, rip the Tri-Sentinel apart and leave the Master of Evil completely defenceless.
The Master of Evil, clad in a vest and suit and wearing a mask - and now also revealed to be a fifteen-to-sixteen year old teenager, begins to poke at the Sakura Spider's insecurities as he tries to formulate a way to escape, digging at how Izuku Midoriya had died because of her and how he was going to do the same to his hostages if she didn't let him go. This is enough to get Sakura to pause, conflicted with her emotions and thoughts, which allows the Master of Evil the chance to escape-
Which is then cut off when She-Venom interrupts his monologing and punches him in the face, knocking him down to the ground.
Why the hell would any of the heroes be there if those hostages were in any danger?
They'd been rescued half an hour ago. The only reason that the Master of Evil didn't notice is because David Shield had hacked the cameras in the warehouse where they were being held to prevent the Sinister Syndicate from realising that they'd lost their leverage.
And as the Master of Evil tries to monologue again, pointing out the unfairness of the world, the value of the quirkless against the quirked and all the failings of the hero (the latter of which can be taken word for word from the League of Villains in MHA's canon), She-Venom gets tired and - having already figured out the identity of the Sinister Syndicate's leader - pulls off the mask to reveal the Master of Evil to be-
Izuku Midoriya, who is a villain in this world.
Sakura is horrified by this, as she had thought that Izuku had died years ago, because of her. Izuku scoffs at her, saying that he had almost died because of her, but was able to save himself and go into hiding, faking his death to enact his plans. She-Venom asks what his plans even were, and Izuku retorts that it should be obvious: the complete destruction of hero society and the power of the quirkless proven against the quirked.
As it turns out, Izuku has long resented not just the treatment that he received from not just his bullies for thinking that he was weak and pitiful for not having a quirk, but also from Ochako (the Sakura Spider) for always defending him and thinking that he was too weak to defend himself. Sakura is shocked at this fact, thinking that she was always protecting Izuku from the worst that the world had to offer, but Izuku shouts back at her that he never asked for her help. He never asked to be seen as weak, not in her eyes, and not in anyone else's.
Things only got worse when he tried to ask Captain America if he could be a hero without a quirk, but Captain America had brushed him off and told him to go home. Captain America, standing with the rest of the Ultimates at the scene, tells Izuku that that's not what he said. He'd been in a rush because he'd just captured a dangerous criminal and needed to get him into custody quickly and had told Izuku to get clear. Heck, he'd even tried to find him again once he'd dropped the criminal off to the police to give him an actual answer - which would've been yes - but Izuku swears at him, calling him a liar.
So, Izuku decided that if the world didn't want him to be a hero, then he would make them pay for what they have done to him as a villain. He would use his intellect to build up a criminal empire to take revenge on all those that have done him wrong - who have denied him the chance to be a hero - and prove to the world that he could stand on par with those who had power given to them at birth.
The Izuku Midoriya in this story arc is basically a stand-in for the basic Villain!Izuku in MHA's fandom, down to the suit and tie that he is typically dressed in. He is incredibly intelligent, charismatic, and is always thinking one step ahead of his opponents, analysing them, and making breaking speeches to anyone and everyone who has always wronged him to prove his worth as a quirkless person amongst the quirked (think something close to the Apotheosis fic). The way that this arc has been written out probably doesn't do a good job of communicating it, but he is meant to be the basic archetype of how a villainous Izuku Midoriya is portrayed in the fandom, motivated by All Might's dismissal of him as a hero.
Yet, as Izuku finishes and basks in the guilt of the people around him, She-Venom speaks up and calls Izuku a massive hypocrite.
This arc's purpose is not just to show Ochako's (She-Venom's) growth as a character (having her paired up with an alternative version of herself is a good way of showing this), but it is also to deconstruct the very nature of Villain!Izuku, as regardless of how smart and charismatic he may be, even in a world where the quirked and quirkless are equal in number to each other, he is still a teenager - a child - trying his hand at being a mastermind, and is capable of making mistakes and acting completely irrationally, like a regular teenager would, especially one with deep-seeded trauma, anger, and resentment that will cause it to lash out and self-sabotage themselves. After all, why would a group of grown criminals ever listen to the advice of a child when they can just take advantage of them and their prodigal genius inventions, and then abandon him when they get what they want? You know, like the criminals of the Sinister Syndicate had just done.
And, as She-Venom points out, Izuku had more than enough opportunity to be a hero. The world that she came from was nowhere near as equal as this world is. Her world is completely skewed to the quirked over the quirkless, and yet her Izuku, though he made mistakes of his own, still chose to do the right thing in the end, to be the hero even when he had more than enough reason to lash out at the world.
And yet, the Izuku of this world had so many more paths to greatness open to him, especially if he wanted to prove that he could stand amongst the greats with no power to his own name as well. Iron Man and Captain America, the two leaders of the Ultimates, are quirkless for goodness sake! And much of the MCU's hero course is made up of quirkless people! Izuku had more than enough opportunities to make himself great, and all of them would have made his name known to everyone.
But no. Izuku chose not to do that. Izuku chose the easy path. He chose the path of hate.
Izuku says that he didn't chose his path, but She-Venom makes clear that he did. He chose the easiest path available to him. If Izuku actually wanted to make something good out of his life, he could've put the work in and done it right. It would've been hard, but it would've been worth it.
But no, he chose to be a monster. He chose to hate. He chose to take the easiest path of all.
Izuku snarls at her. It's not his fault he's this way! It's everyone else's! It's Bakugo's fault for bullying him! It's Sakura's fault for coddling him! It's Captain America's fautl for turning him down! It's Inko's fault for not making sure he wasn't born quirkless!
She-Venom then, with a snarl of her own, asks if that was the reason why he kidnapped his own mother. Izuku then says that it was his mother's fault for not checking before with an ultrasound to make sure he wasn't born quirkless, and it was Captain America's fault for turning him down, which goes to highlight Izuku's obsession with his treatment as a quirkless person in the past.
And that is when She-Venom finally delivers the truth to this Izuku: if Captain America saying no to him (even if he may not have meant it at all or if he misunderstood it) was all it took to drive him into villainy, then he never deserved to be a hero in the first place.
This is ultimately what this villainous version of a villainous Izuku Midoriya is: a petty, spiteful, vindictive and immature child who kidnapped his mother, childhood bully, and best friend's parents just to torment them and said best friend out of jealousy and obsession with his past bullying, even when there were dozens of opportunities to do better available to him in this world.
Izuku screams at her, beginning a tirade of everything that was done to him, when suddenly-
She-Venom's Web-Watch connects to her mind and begins to broadcast images and holographic projections onto the world around them, showing the Izuku that She-Venom came to know and love, his mistakes and triumphs, and the hero that he grew to become, even when the whole world seemed to be against him.
The projections soon fade, and the villainous Izuku is left in shock at what he has seen, unable to formulate a response to the visions around him even as he is taken into custody. The destroyed Sentinels are taken away to be studied and dismantled, and the rest of the Sinister Syndicate has slipped away into the criminal underworld of Nueva York.
Izuku's former hostages are released as well, and they are in shock at what has happened to them and what Izuku has become. Racist movements, meanwhile, have latched onto the actions of the Master of Evil and the Sinister Syndicate as justification for their actions, and any motion to help alleviate racial tensions have been put on hold, meaning that Izuku has done serious damage to quirked-quirkless relations in the short-term, though there are proposals being floated around to reform the education system to prevent such an event from ever happening again. Whether or not those proposals will be successful, only time will tell.
Meanwhile, She-Venom and the Sakura Spider meet up together once more, and She-Venom expresses her sympathies to Sakura. Sakura is shaken by what she has experienced and the betrayal that she feels from Izuku. She confesses to She-Venom that she feels guilty for what happened to Izuku, but She-Venom shuts that down by making it clear that Izuku's choices are all his own. He had the chance to do something with his life, and he chose to squander it with petty resentment. That's on him, and no one else.
There's a difference between someone that was forced into being evil and someone who chose it all on their own.
Sakura nods at this after thinking it over, then gestures down to She-Venom's Web-Watch, telling her that she hadn't known the device could access her memories. She-Venom replies that she hadn't known either. This kind of technology is completely alien to her, who knows what it can-
And that is when She-Venom has an idea.
Cindy Moon... she was maddened into misanthropy by by Ezekiel Sims and Cassandra Webb, back when the woman was senile and mad from the constant visions that she was assaulted with.
But all of those visions... maybe they were all of the bad things that happened to the Spider-People across the multiverse... and only the bad things?
What if the Web-Watch could show Cindy the good that all the Spider-People have done and experienced as well?
With this thought in their minds, She-Venom and the Sakura Spider depart from this universe and through the portal behind them to the war ahead, thinking over a possibility that might bring about an end to this gruesome conflict...
Originally, this arc was going to be much like its namesake and copy the idea of replacing all the students in Class 1-A with Marvel characters, such as Peter for Izuku and Wanda for Ochako, but then I realised that that idea had already been done before, and I wanted to do something different. As such, this arc is somewhat similar to the original My Marvel Academia, but also different with a lot of characters being swapped around and many MHA characters being given the identities of those from Marvel.
Another idea I had was for Izuku to be Sakura Spider's guy-in-the-chair, but I decided against that as well, and settled on him being this universe's main villain for this arc.
The reason why I did that was to create a contrast between the main Izuku that we've been following throughout this story and this arc's version of Izuku, showing how the former could've become like the latter if things had been ever so slightly different.
However, I knew from the start that I didn't want this arc in particular to be an 'Izuku is Spider-Man' story. Those are a dime-a-dozen amongst Marvel/MHA crossovers, and a lot of this story is about me trying to make something different.
But more than that, this arc is meant to serve as a deconstruction of the villainous Izuku genre in MHA's fandom. A lot of fanfic writers tend to write villainous versions of Izuku Midoriya as their jumping off point being All Might telling him that he can't be a hero without a quirk, and from then on falling quickly into villainy and having no problem with siding with the League of Villains and helping them carry out their various acts of terror against hero society. Those same stories portray Izuku as highly intelligent and extremely willing to act as a villain for the sake of taking his revenge against hero society, up to and including murder, and have a tendency to constantly treat those versions of Izuku as always in the right no matter what he does.
However, whenever I hear those stories, I always think to myself: "If Izuku, for all his incredible genius, is so quick to jump into murder and villainy just because All Might told him no, then does he even deserve to be a villain in the first place?"
If someone jumped off the slippery slope just because someone told him off, even if he was being bullied beforehand, if that is all it takes to turn him to villainy then it's clear that they don't deserve the chance to become a hero at all.
In continuation to that, this arc - much like the other arcs that are dipping into the Hero-Verse and focusing on specific characters - serves as both an examination and culmination of Ochako's character development throughout this story, showing how much she has grown and evolved throughout the story. And what better way to do that is with another version of herself?
And to be fair, the Sakura Spider in Marvel proper is very clearly and expy of Ochako herself, so it just fits perfectly.