Beyond the flashy fights and hype music, the show has such an interesting cast of characters that you never know what’ll come next. Especially when it comes to the villains. And for this list we’re looking at all of the villains in the show, then ranking the most powerful Quirks among them.
15. Soramitsu Tabe – Food
Soramitsu’s Quirk is quite situational. Straight off the bat, he counters most defensive Quirks. We’ve seen his teeth go through flesh and bone like butter – so fending him off is rather difficult. Even in the case of someone like Kirishima or Fatgum, I can’t say that they’d be able to ignore his attacks. And even something like Todoroki’s ice could probably just get gobbled up before it does any serious damage. And if we turn off the PG rating for a second, we can agree on one thing – if Soramitsu bites your arm off, you’re probably bleeding out or running away immediately. However, since he’s really weak against anyone who keeps their distance (like Bakugo) I can’t place him too far up.
14. Kendo Rappa – Strongarm
Rappa has a similar win condition as Soramitsu – get close and one-shot your enemy. We’ve already seen the amount of damage he’s capable of dishing out. And if you don’t have mobility or some way to slow him down – most characters would fall dead after a single barrage. Plus, although far from indestructible, he has a lot more tenacity than Soramitsu. I mean, the dude’s built like a tank for a reason. However, he’s not particularly quick on his feet, so a cautious ranged fighter could probably just kite him until he drops.
13. Danjuro Tobita – Elasticity
Gentle Criminal is an interesting dude. His Quirk doesn’t seem all that powerful at face value, but can do absolute numbers if used correctly. For one, the absolute confusion you can cause is quite immense. From turning the battlefield into a bouncy castle by altering the ground to using the air as a shield – you have to be smart when facing this dude. And if Gentle really wanted to kill heroes off, I’m pretty sure he could do it. Just by getting a gun and/or some grenades and then using his Quirk to make their pathing unpredictable, Gentle could take down most lower-ranking heroes. And turning the air elastic right in front of someone’s face is sure to get the killed if they use any type of projectile. Overall, both using and fighting against this Quirk requires intelligence. So he can just IQ stat check a fair number of characters in the show.
12. Sludge Villain – Sludge Body Quirk
Okay, this one’s going to seem a bit stupid, but hear me out. Although this was among the first villains we’ve seen in the show, and he doesn’t even have a name – I think he’s in the upper echelon of power. This is mostly due to the fact that the dude would be an S-class assassin. He could just get into a bottle of some green drink (and we know that he can fit) and then insta-kill anyone who goes for a drink. The show had him pouring sludge into Deku and Bakugo for five minutes without doing any damage, but I think that’s just the show being PG. Not only could he drown you rather quickly, but he could also just force his sludge into your lings/head and kill you instantly. And unless you have enough raw power to blow him completely away, he can just brute force his way into your mouth/nose and take you out. Therefore, he just got unlucky that he faced the most powerful dude around.
11. Goto Imasuji – Pump Up
Muscular is just a wall that you can’t get by without a certain amount of power. All of his stats are pretty out there, with power and durability, in particular, being insane. After all, he managed to output the same (if not more) force than a 100% One for All Deku. Not to mention that his muscle fibers can serve as defense, and even as tools for immobilizing his enemy! He’s basically the exact opposite of Gentle Criminal as brains have very little to do with this fight. You can either get through his muscle armor/survive his strikes or you can’t. No in-between. And if we take the manga into consideration (which we aren’t), he’d be a few places higher on this list as well.
10. Moonfish – Blade-Tooth
This guy has no business being as powerful as he is. But the fact remains that he can take out most standard heroes. For one, his fighting style is really difficult to counter. He can attack you with dozens of teeth blades at once and each one can easily cut through flesh. The teeth are also very fast and don’t allow you a lot of time to strategize or fall back. In fact, if Todoroki wasn’t there to create cover, I think Moonfish would’ve taken out Bakugo rather quickly. And let’s not forget that he can do all of this while in the air – meaning that you’d have to take out all of his teeth before getting a good chance to attack him. The only major downside to this Quirk is that you rely on being undefeated. Because once someone busts all of your teeth – you’re pretty much Quirkless without intervention.
9. Atsuhiro Sako – Compress
Let’s be honest here, Compress is a one-shot ability. And if the show was rated R, you already know Mr. Compress would be an absolute terror on the battlefield. Let’s first focus on what we’ve seen. He can take off entire limbs by just compressing them. And you don’t have to be a genius to assume that compressing someone’s head is both possible and lethal. But if he really wanted to kill someone, he could go with the usual formula – compressing them entirely. From that point on, all he’d have to do was drop the marble in the middle of an ocean or into a volcano. The only real downside is that he has to touch his opponent in order to activate his Quirk. And of all the one touch=one kill Quirks on this list, his has the least versatility.
8. Geten – Ice Manipulation
Geten relies a lot on his surroundings. If he’s fighting you in a desert for some reason, he’s basically useless. If he’s fighting you in a town, he’s extremely powerful. And if he’s fighting you at open sea, he’s probably one of the most powerful characters in the show. After all, we’ve seen him turn water into ice and then control it on a massive scale (an entire town). And at that point, he outscales even someone like Todoroki (who maxes out at a large building level). Not to mention the fact that, unlike Todoroki, Geten can keep going for quite some time as the ice isn’t in direct contact with his skin. He could’ve easily been a main villain.
7. Kurogiri – Warp Gate
If you’re facing Kurogiri and you don’t have some type of flying Quirk, you’re probably going to lose. After all, he can just teleport you 100 feet into the air and have gravity do the rest. But even if you can fly, Kurogiri could defeat a lot of enemies if he got a bit more creative (and sadistic) with his Quirk. He could simply teleport you into a max-security prison and have either the guards or the prisoners take a few swings at you. And if this dude ever goes into space and discovers that he can teleport people up there, it’s basically over for the hero society. All of that being said, it’s still possible to completely avoid his mist and stay right where you are – so I can’t exactly call him the strongest villain around.
6. Rikiya Yotsubashi – Stress
Let’s be real for a second – in the year 2022, Re-Destro would Re-Destroy the entire world with the amount of stress he’d be under. Do you think not having autonomy over your Quirk is bad? Try going through a recession! Jokes aside, the dude is one of the most powerful characters in the show in terms of raw strength. And we know this because he can literally destroy entire buildings with a single hand swipe. And if he goes 100% straight off the bat, there’s no way you’d be prepared for the pain train coming your way – as all of his stats get boosted out of the stratosphere. The only way to really counter him is by either hiring him a therapist or lighting weed directly under his nose – and even then you couldn’t be certain that you’d win!
5. Kai Chisaki – Overhaul
On the most fundamental level, Overhaul is simply a one-shot ability. So if Chisaki can get in range, he bodies just about every other character in the series. However, this Quirk also gives you quite a bit of versatility as well. For instance, you can affect the terrain and make spikes come out of the ground – effectively turning your enemy into a shish kebab. But even more importantly, you can heal and/or make a giant flesh mech by disintegrating people. So if Chisaki really wanted to make full use of his power (and turn the show into a seinen), he can use huge groups of civilians as weapons. Not only could he constantly heal but he could make an even bigger flesh mech and simply overpower whomever he’s facing.
4. Dabi – Blueflame
The only thing better than a short-range one-shot is a long-range one-shot. And if we’re considering how hot blue flames scientifically are, Dabi would one-shot every hero in My Hero Academia. Not to mention that he’d do so from a safe distance and while covering a wide area of attack. So, even if you saw the attack coming, you probably couldn’t get out of the way in time. And the beauty of the Quirk is in how simple it is. No 300 IQ moves are needed – just point in the direction of the person you want to kill and then unleash hell. Even in terms of tenacity, we haven’t really seen him run out of juice that quickly. He’d probably have more than just one chance at killing you.
3. Jin Bubaigawara – Double
It was only recently that this sleeper OP Quirk finally got the recognition it deserved. Even before the power-up, this was a very strong ability. After all, you can just clone the strongest dude around and point him in the direction of the enemy (given that Twice knows their measurements). But since Sad Man’s Parade came onto the scene, he just became busted. We’ve seen him pop out hundreds of clones in mere seconds and even though they aren’t that durable, they can overwhelm most heroes. And once again (not to be that guy) but clone some guns alongside the clones and you have an entire army that doesn’t fear death. Overall, the dude deserves to be in the top three. I’d even fancy the notion of him being the most powerful if I’m being honest.
2. Tomura Shigaraki – Decay
At the start of the series, this dude simply wasn’t that intimidating. Not only did he have to fully grab you in order to do damage, but it was also slow (as seen when he grabbed Eraser Head’s elbow). He had less potency than Overhaul while also having none of the versatility. But then he powered up and became worthy of the top villain. After all, all he needs to do now is to be in your general vicinity and touch the ground. Plus, since he actually trained, he’s more than capable of evading your attacks and keeping up with more mobile opponents. And the best part is that this isn’t even his final form!
1. All for One – All for One
If All for One really wanted to take over the world and took that goal seriously, My Hero Academia would’ve been a very short show. After all, he could’ve literally just taken all the other fourteen Quirks from this list and combined them. But no, he just wanted a really strong arm for some reason. Nevertheless, All for One as a Quirk is simply the pinnacle of power. You can render your enemies powerless, use their Quirks against them, or counter them with one of your many powers. Nothing even comes close to this type of versatility and range. No wonder it’s ultimately the main Quirk that drives the entire series forward!
