Warning: This article contains spoilers for Season 7 of ‘My Hero Academia.’
The world ofMy Hero Academiais one in which 80% of the total population have superhuman abilities known as “quirks.“As this singular human society continues to evolve and develop, so do quirks, meaning heroes and villains alike are becoming more and more powerful by the year. Thus, many of the key figures inMy Hero Academiamight be amongthe most powerful characters in animeas a whole.
Indeed,My Hero Academiafeatures some truly mighty beings that somehow keep becoming mightier with every new arc. Some would even argue that the heroes and villains of this series may be some of the most powerful superheroes in superhero media. These formidable beings are the best of the best, but some are undeniably more impressive than others.These are the most powerful characters inMy Hero Academia, proving that this beloved show is truly one of a kind.
My Hero Academia
10Kai Chisaki/Overhaul
Played by Kenjiro Tsuda & Kellen Goff
The primary antagonist ofMy Hero AcademiaSeason 4, Kai Chisaki/Overhaul (Kenjiro Tsuda&Kellen Goff), is, to this day, one of the toughest foes Izuku Midoriya/Deku (Daiki Yamashita&Justin Briner) ever faced. He is such a threat due to the nasty combination of his ruthlessness and his astoundingly powerful quirk, Overhaul, which allows him to take apart and reassemble matter itself.
This power allows him not only to control the arena in which he fights with Deku and Mirio Togata/Lemillion (Tarusuke Shingaki&Ricco Fajardo) but alsoto absorb the matter of others to turn into a giant flesh creature. Overhaul also owns and uses quirk nullification bullets, which can remove someone’s quirk permanently. Overall,Overhaul is a mighty enemy with a unique abilitythat makes him stand out among others, further cementingMy Hero Academiaas a standout within Shonen anime.
9Enji Todoroki/Endeavor
Played by Tetsu Inada & Patrick Seitz
Not only does Enji Todoroki/Endeavor (Tetsu Inada&Patrick Seitz) haveone of the best redemption arcs inMy Hero Academia, he’s got one of the hottest quirks as well.Hellflame allows him to control and manifest absurdly hot fire at will. Thus, Endeavor is typically covered head to toe in flames, even equipping himself with a flame mustache.
Hellflame has given Endeavor the ability torise to the rank of Number One Heroafter Toshinori Yagi/All Might (Kenta Miyake&Christopher Sabat) lost his power and retired. His flames are so powerful they allow him to go toe-to-toe with Hood (Tsuguo Mogami&Daman Mills), the first of the extremely powerful High-End Nomu. Plus, the fire mustache is ridiculously, and ironically, cool.
8Shoto Todoroki
Played by Yuki Kaji & David Matranga
Born and crafted by Endeavor to be the perfect weapon and successor to All Might, Shoto Todoroki (Yuki Kaji&David Matranga) has a power unlike any other in the world inMy Hero Academia, Half-Cold Half-Hot. Shoto can emit and generate ice from the right half of his body and flames from the left, giving him the best of both worlds.
In the recent episodes of Season 7,Shoto has mastered an ability called “cold fire” that allows him to shootflames that both freeze and burn his opponents. This new ability also helps him regulate his body temperature, an issue his father, Endeavor, and his brother, Toya Todoroki/Dabi (Hiro Shimono&Jason Liebrecht), are consistently hindered by, making his power far more efficient and longer lasting than his family’s.
7Katsuki Bakugo/Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight
Played by Nobuhiko Okamoto & Clifford Chapin
Katsugi Bakugo/Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight (Nobuhiko Okamoto&Clifford Chapin) has come a long way since his introduction, not just in his character arc but in power as well. As his character has changed, he’s learnednew ways to utilize his quirk,eventually having what is known as a “quirk awakening.” Bakugo also finds strength in his astounding willpower, refusing to give up no matter the circumstance, making him incredibly difficult to put down.
Bakugo used this quirk awakening to go head-to-head with Tenko Shimura/Tomura Shigaraki (Koki Uchiyama&Eric Vale) in his most powerful form and do some real damage. It also allowed him to train a new style of attack called “cluster” to move abundantly faster than he ever had before. Unfortunately, a weakness came with this new cluster style, as it caused his sweat (that caused his explosions) to go to different places in his body.Bakugo died in a recent episode, but his power and strength of character will live on in the hearts ofMy Hero Academia’s fans.
Played by Yoshio Inoue & Johnny Yong Bosch
Only appearing in the second canon film in the franchise,My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, Nine doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves. Nine (Yoshio Inoue & Johnny Yong Bosch) was experimented on by Kyudai Garaki (Minoru Inaba & Mark Stoddard) as a prototype for what he would do to Shigaraki, implanting a copy of the All For One quirk into another body. Due to him being a prototype, he could only hold nine quirks at a time.
Nine’s quirks include All For One, weather manipulation, type-A cell activation, air wall, scanning, bullet laser and hydra, making him an absurdly strong and dangerous foe for Class 1-A. Nine was so strong that Deku was forced to share/transfer One For All with Bakugo so they could double up One For All at full cowling level strength to defeat him. Full cowling is stronger than peak All Might, so needing to double up to fight him is wild. Nine is not onlyone of the best anime movie villainsbut alsoa remarkably dangerous foe for Deku and his friends.
5Cathleen Bate/Star and Stripe
Played by Romi Park & Natalie Van Sistine
Cathleen Bate/Star and Stripe’s (Romi Park&Natalie Van Sistine) tenure inMy Hero Academiamay not have been long, but her impact is huge, and she got a great chance to show off her astounding power, New Order. The top hero in the United States of America,Star and Stipe’s quirkallows her to set a rule for anything she touches and says the name of, with a maximum of two rules being set at one time.
Star and Stripe’s power against anyone else is almost a surefire way to win, not to mention a wholly creative ability.
Star and Stripe’s power is groundbreaking. Being able to set any sort of rule for any item or person allows her to take people down easily; she almost did to Shigaraki when she set a rule that stated if he moved, his heart would stop. Unfortunately, she was facing the future demon lord, so her effectiveness was compromised. Still, Star and Stripe’s power against anyone else is almost a surefire way to win, not to mention a wholly creative ability. The only issue is that she needs to touch the object or person and figure out a person’s true name, which can make it hard to take down certain villains.
4Toshinori Yagi/All Might
Played by Kenta Miyake & Christopher Sabat
All Might, the symbol of peace. All Might had been known for years as the most powerful superhuman in the world. He protected the planet for almost his entire life before he sustained an almost fatal injury, handing over One For All to Deku and eventually losing his powers. But when All Might was at his peak,he was the most powerful there could be.
As far as audiences know, All Might has never truly lost a battle, with his lowest point being the terrible injury he suffered in his gigantic battle with All For One (Akio Otsuka&John Swasey) before the show started. With the base iteration of One For All he could use, All Might was granted super strength and super speed.All Might was also the first ever One For All user to actually beat All For One.He is a legend in the world ofMy Hero Academiaand one of its strongest figures.
3All For One
Played by Akio Otsuka & John Swasey
The Demon Lord himself, All For One, has arguably one of the most powerful quirks in history. Simply put, All For One can steal the quirk of any person and hold as many as he wants, while also holding the ability to redistribute the quirks he holds. Over time, this absurdly broken ability has allowed him to build an immense catalog of quirks,making him feel virtually unstoppable.
It’s not all perfect, though. All For One has one weakness, and that is his ailing body from the big battle against All Might years before the show. Season 7 ofMy Hero Academiasees him return to his prime form, but only because of intentionally killing him, so there’s an even larger weakness in that. Some considerAll For One the best villain inMy Hero Academia, and it’s not hard to see why.
2Tenko Shimura/Tomura Shigaraki
Played by Koki Uchiyama & Eric Vale
The primary villain of the series, Shigaraki, is the real deal when it comes to power, especially with where he’s at in the recent Season 7. Leader of the League of Villains and the Paranormal Liberation Front, Shigaraki’s original quirk is called “decay,” which gives him the power to turn whatever he touches (and, eventually, anything touching what he touches) to dust. As the series progresses, though, he becomes the successor to the evil All For One and is gifted the All For One quirk.
Not only would he gain this new power, but Shigaraki would have his body transformed,gaining an astronomically fast growth rate. Thus, he can sprout new parts from his body as hundreds of thousands of fingers clumped into a giant blob, all of which are able to use his decay quirk. The biggest kicker? This advanced growth rate is physical alone and not powered by any kind of quirk, so heroes like Eraser Head do not affect this new ability. Shigaraki is amongthe best villains in anime, and his absurd power is just the icing on top of his evil cake.
1Izuku Midoriya/Deku
Played by Daiki Yamashita & Justin Briner
With how far the One For All quirk has come and his consistent training, there is no way anyone else is more powerful inMy Hero Academiathan the protagonist himself, Deku. Starting the series as a meek young boy, Deku has become a man whose power has sprouted off into seven quirks, each from the previous One For All Users.
Deku has become very confident, resulting in him being more concise and proficient in how he uses One For All, even with all the six new and powerful quirks within it.Quite similar to Bakugo,Deku also holds willpower that is enviable and seemingly unbreakable; he’ll stop at no end to save the day and use whatever quirk he has to do so. He’s become very good at using all seven quirks in sync with each other, making him a tank of a quirk-user. Deku isamong anime’s best protagonistsand the most powerful character inMy Hero Academia, even if the competition is strong.
