Most anime fans are familiar with My Hero Academia, one of the biggest hit anime to grace the screen in the past decade. The show is known for its adaptation of the superhero genre blended with familiar anime tropes. My Hero Academia follows Izuku Midoriya on his journey to become the world’s best hero after inheriting a Quirk from his idol, All Might. Along the way, audiences are introduced to a slew of heroes and villains that help or hinder Midoriya’s journey.
While plenty of discourse is had around the heroes of the My Hero Academia universe, there isn’t always as much discussion centered around its villains. This could be because the villains’ arcs and character growth really aren’t the central focus of the anime, a point of contention among fans and critics alike. That being said, saying the show doesn’t have a roster of amazing villains with incredible power and potential would be untrue. So, let’s take a closer look at some of the top villains in My Hero Academia whose power rivaled the strongest heroes.
1) Shigaraki
You can’t have a My Hero Academia villain list without including Tomura Shigaraki. Known as the Symbol of Fear, Shigaraki is the leader of the League of Villains and the successor to All For One. Covered in the hands of the family members he killed during his Quirk awakening, Shigaraki is visually one of the most striking characters on the screen. That’s not to mention his powerful Quirk, Decay, an ability that allows Tomura to quite literally decay anything with a touch of all five fingers.
Shigaraki starts the series as a whiny, entitled villain whose overpowered Quirk is overshadowed by his general incompetence as a leader. This begins to change when we see him take revenge on Overhaul, removing the rival villain’s arms as an act of revenge for the League. After a long period of training against Gigantomachia and coming into his own as a leader, Shigaraki truly becomes a force to be reckoned with, defeating powerful enemies like Re-Destro, and taking over the Paranormal Liberation Front. His Quirk grows in strength, enough so that Shigaraki can destroy a city with the touch of his hands against the ground. More so than some heroes, Shigaraki earns the slow build to becoming the main villain of the series, and a true threat that Deku is pressed to stop.
2) All For One
If Shigaraki is the face of the villains, All For One is the one pulling the strings behind the scenes. All For One is the mastermind behind most of the League’s actions and is the reason Shigaraki was molded into the role of a villain. Sadistic and malicious, All For One’s main goal in the anime is to steal One For All, the Quirk that was once his younger brother’s before it was transferred to the next Holder. All For One was viewed as the most powerful villain in Japan and was the main nemesis of All Might at one point during the hero’s life.
It’s revealed that All For One’s ultimate goal is not only to steal One For All, but to take over Shigaraki’s body as his own and become an unstoppable force of evil. This is possible with his extremely strong Quirk, All For One, which is the basis of his villain name. The Quirk allows All For One to steal the Quirks of others and wield them, a power that is an extreme advantage in most fights and situations. We see him utilize this power often, including taking the Quirks of notable characters like Hawks and Stain.
3) Stain
Stain, or Chizome Akaguro, was a villain active in Japan who was additionally dubbed the Hero Killer. He’s infamous for his role in killing pro heroes due to an intrinsic belief that society would be better without false heroes polluting it. This ideology warped Stain into a cruel, unforgiving figure that justified his murder of heroes as necessary and right. One such victim of Stain was Tensei Ida, the brother of Tenya Ida from U.A, who Stain left a paraplegic after their battle.
Stain’s Quirk, Bloodcurdle, allowed the villain to paralyze his opponent after tasting their blood. This paralysis could last up to eight minutes, depending on the person’s blood type. This Quirk was incredibly useful and debilitating in a fight, especially when paired with Stain’s swords that he used to injure and draw blood for his Quirk to make use of. Despite Stain joining the heroes in the final fight against All For One, the villain was a menace in his prime that terrorized numerous pro heroes and ruined the lives of many through his hatred for most of hero society.
4) Gigantomachia
Gigantomachia is one of the strongest villains in My Hero Academia in terms of raw power and strength. The massive giant was associated with the League of Villains, in particular serving All For One and even acting as the mastermind’s bodyguard. Later, Gigantomachia is used as a tool to help Shigaraki train and unlock his true potential, with the giant only recognizing Shigaraki as worthy when the other defeated Re-Destro. His every action revolves around serving All For One, though he does later defect to the heroes’ side when AFO abandons him after the Paranormal Liberation War.
It is noted in the anime that Gigantomachia possesses several Quirks given to him by All For One to make the giant stronger and more deadly. His original Quirk is called Endurance, turning his morale into stamina, energy, and durability. Other Quirks he possesses grant Gigantomachia traits such as muscle hardening, enhanced senses, gigantification, pain dulling, and more. He’s known for being a force of reckless calamity on the field, plowing through enemies to reach his goal, or All For One’s objective, a trait that makes him a terrifying enemy to counter.
5) Dr. Garaki
Dr. Garaki is a villain who is often overlooked for the flashier options that litter My Hero Academia. That being said, Garaki is easily one of the most important people associated with the League of Villains. Garaki is responsible for numerous experiments that have benefited the side of the villains and caused trouble for the heroes. His Quirk, Life Force, extends Garaki’s life and makes him appear as a younger version of himself, giving him more time to build and expand on his life’s work.
The strength that Garaki has lies in his incredible intellect. Garaki has an intrinsic knowledge of how Quirks function; he is also extremely skilled working with technology and appears to be a biological genius. The doctor is the one to create the Nomu, monstrous weapons of mass destruction used by the League during many of their attacks. Dr. Garaki was also capable of copying Quirks, as well as enhancing bodies such as Shigaraki’s, a key reason he was able to contain All For One.
6) Kurogiri
Kurogiri is one of the strongest support villains in the anime and another important piece of the League of Villains. He’s the first high-end Nomu created with the sole purpose of watching over Shigaraki and serving the successor in his quest to grow his capabilities. Later, we learn Kurogiri was made from the corpse of a former U.A. student, Oboro Shirakumo, a past classmate of Shota Aizawa. His Nomu status forced Kurogiri to obey and comply with the commands he was given, though he’s shown to have a generally level-headed personality that offsets Shigaraki at the start of the show.
Besides his Nomu status, Kurogiri has one of the most useful Quirks for evasion and escape. His Quirk, Warp Gate, created a fog from Kurogiri’s head and hands that acted as portals. These portals were utilized by the League numerous times to make quick getaways and evade capture, making the villain an asset that was often the backbone of the League’s operations.
7) Overhaul
Overhaul is one of the early villains of My Hero Academia that set the tone for the anime and presented a real threat to the U.A. students and the League at once. Kai Chisaki was the leader of the Shie Hassaikai, a yakuza group that Overhaul took over after attacking the old leader who disagreed with his ideals. Kai wanted to remove Quirks from the world, viewing them as a plague infecting the world that needs to be eradicated. He will use anyone to do this, including Eri, the former boss’s granddaughter, and his own minions.
Kai is shown to be incredibly analytical, with a level-headed and calm personality that is driven to achieve his goals. This is only made threatening by his powerful Quirk, Overhaul, the source of his villain name. Overhaul is able to disassemble and assemble matter to his liking, a Quirk so strong it even caught the attention of All For One. In the end, it took Izuku, Eri, Mirio, and other pro heroes to finally defeat Overhaul in an intense battle, but it was Shigaraki who removed his arms, neutralizing the threat of his Quirk.
8) Re-Destro
Re-Destro, or Rikiya Yotsubashi, is the successor to Destro and the leader of the Meta Liberation Army. Re-Destro’s belief echoes that of Destro, his ancestor, in that Quirks should be liberated to prevent the shunning or oppression of individuals by society. This goal is something Re-Destro is adamant about upholding and defending, going so far as to kill over it. Initially, in the fight against Shigaraki, Re-Destro easily holds the upper hand, going toe-to-toe with one of the most dangerous villains in the series. He’s later defeated and hands over his Commander title, instead becoming a lieutenant in the Paranormal Liberation Front.
Re-Destro is shown to beat villains such as Twice and Shigaraki in battle at various times, with a mastery over his Quirk that earns him immense respect from his followers. The Quirk in question is called Stress— it allows Re-Destro to store and convert negative emotion into power. During this power upgrade, Re-Destro gains enhanced strength and durability, enlarges his body, and releases energy attack waves. The strength of his Quirk matched with Re-Destro’s natural leadership skill made him a worthy opponent of the League and one of the stronger villains in the anime.
9) Dabi
While he’s not the main villain in My Hero Academia, Dabi remains one of the most iconic figures in the show. Toya Todoroki is the eldest son of pro hero Endeavor, turning to villainy after nearly burning himself to death while training his extremely strong Quirk, Blueflame. This Quirk produces destructive blue fire from his body, flames that are proven to be stronger and more intense than Endeavor’s own Hellflame Quirk. However, Dabi is not able to utilize his Quirk for long periods due to his body inheriting his mother’s resistance to cold temperatures due to her ice Quirk.
Dabi harbors intense resentment and anger towards his father and family, blaming them for his breakdown and the fact that he was cast aside to train Shoto into becoming Endeavor’s successor. His view of heroes is that they use public perception and admiration to hide their own evil deeds, and are willing to self-destruct and kill to ruin his father’s image and expose the lies. Dabi is not only powerful enough to overpower and burn Hawks, but he also fights numerous strong individuals such as Geten, Nejire, and at one point, Shoto.
10) Lady Nagant
If there’s a villain we should’ve seen more of, it’s got to be Lady Nagant, or Kaina Tsutsumi. Formerly a hero who worked under the Hero Public Safety Commission, Lady Nagant became disillusioned by the corrupt system and turned to the other side. Trained to assassinate villains and heroes who posed too much of a threat, Kaina suffered a near breakdown, killing a superior while attempting to leave her position. She first appears in Tartarus, broken out of the prison when All for One attacks it, freeing multiple villains.
Lady Nagant’s skill is shown in the regard that other notable characters hold for her power, such as Hawks, and even All For One. Her Quirk, Rifle, lets Kaina grow a rifle from her right elbow, and load the rifle through a hole in her hand with bullets created from pieces of her hair. Kaina also received a second Quirk from All For One, Air Walk, which grants her the ability to levitate and jump through the air. Combined with her training from the Commission, Lady Nagant is a deadly threat that luckily sides with the heroes in the final war.
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