Have to disagree with the "Deku had the potential to become a hero without a quirk and the first chapter showed that" take

If anything, it shows the opposite of that – It shows the fact that despite possessing the heroism, he lacked the ability to produce any results by himself.

This is primarily responding to the MHA discourse on the timeline.

Everyone in MHA wants to be a hero, you see all characters say that, but what the first chapter shows is that willpower isn't sufficient – You need to be able to make a difference.

Deku could make a –

– difference, but he lacked the ability to produce change by himself –– This is what justifies him being granted the opportunity to have access to that ability.

And I did like him coming to that realisation after facing the harsh truth, it showed the fact that –

– he **did** do everything feasibly in his power, but wasn't reckless and delusional enough to ignore reality, which works to his benefit in establishing the realism MHA justifies this under.