Summary
A hero or villain will rarely decide to go all-out in a fight if nothing is on the line. Most battles inMy Hero Academiawill have at least some level of stakes to add intensity and excitement to a battle, though how high these stakes are can vary greatly depending on the scenario. While it’s one thing to fight as part of a hero exam, there have also been some battles where a person’s life, or even the fate of the entire country, is on the line.
Raising the bar so high ensures these duels never feel boring or irrelevant. In stark contrast,My Hero Academiais packed full of high-stakes conflicts between the heroes and villains, with the ones listed below being among the biggest examples seen throughout the show.
This list will contain spoilers up to Season 7 of theMy Hero Academiaanime!
8Class 1-A VS Midoriya
After Midoriya comes to realize that Shigaraki and All For One are primarily focused on taking him down andstealing his Quirk, the plucky protagonist takes on a darker persona and decides to go rogue to avoid his classmates being caught in the crossfire. Though he probably should have expected it, it doesn’t take long before Bakugo and the others confront their longtime friend. This was their only chance to bring Midoriya back to his senses, since if they failed, he would have continued down his road of self-destruction and obsession with defeating One For All and Shigaraki.
As a result, each member of the class throws out everything they have to knock some sense into Midoriya, and thankfully, it worked. Though it was far from easy, the students managed to convince Midoriya that he couldn’t take down All For One by himself, saving him from embarking on a suicide mission as a result.
7Midoriya & Lemillion VS Overhaul
Midoriya And Mirio Fought Overhaul To Save A Young Girl’s Life
Overhaul may have pretended to be little more than an innocent father when he first made contact with Midoriya, but the truth is, he hasn’t exactly been a very kind or considerate guardian to Eri. In stark contrast, Overhaul has been using his immensely powerful Quirk as a way to extract blood from Eri’s body. Since Eri possesses theRewind Quirk, this allows Overhaul to create Quirk-destroying bullets, which are capable of causing some serious chaos when used in action.
The reason Midoriya goes all-out in this fight, even unleashing 100% of his power, is because he has a good idea of what Eri is going through behind the scenes. With a young girl’s life at stake, Midoriya and Lemillion made sure not to underestimate Overhaul.
6Shigaraki VS Re-Destro
Initially the leader of theMeta Liberation Army, Re-Destro sees Shigaraki and his League of Villains as threats to his grand plan and ideology. After the MLA and League partake in a massive full-scale war, the conflict eventually boils down to one final duel between Shigaraki and Re-Destro to see which group will stand tall as the victors.
If Shigaraki had lost this fight, the League of Villains most probably would have ceased to exist, especially considering they were already on their last legs by this point in the story. Shigaraki’s victory not only earned him a brand-new army of followers, but it also instilled a new sense of confidence in his allies, who would all become major threats in the final war.
5Star & Stripe VS Shigaraki
America’s Number One Hero Initially Seemed More Than Capable Of Taking Down Shigaraki For Good
Despite being warned by the US government that heading over to Japan was a bad idea, the country’s number one hero, Star & Stripe, decided to take matters into her own hands in an attempt to defeat Shigaraki once and for all. Though Japan’s heroes had all struggled to even land a scratch on Shigaraki after he obtained All For One, Star & Stripe, with her overpowered New Order Quirk, was someone who seemed like she might just be capable of getting the job done.
Additionally, because Star & Stripe is aforeign hero, and a high-ranking one at that, her performance in this fight would determine how other countries would respond to the conflict. Unfortunately, Star & Stripe lost her life at the hands of Shigaraki, which ultimately convinced the other countries to keep their distance, allowing Shigaraki to continue spreading his chaos and making life much harder for Japan’s Pro-Heroes.
4All For One VS All Might
All Might Was Tasked With Putting A Stop To AFO’s Rampage, Despite Being At The Limit Of His Power
By the time All For One comes face-to-face with hisarch rival, All Might, in the main story, the latter of the two is running on fumes. The embers of One For All are almost completely erased, making this the perfect opportunity for All Might to take All For One down, that is, if he still has enough strength left in him.
Throughout the epic fight, which many fans consider to be one of the best in the series, hundreds of thousands of onlookers are watching on with fear to see if All Might can stop the madman in his tracks. If All Might had failed, All For One would never have been arrested, and may have once again become the evil underground ruler of Japan.
3Todoroki VS Dabi
Dabi Becomes A Ticking Time Bomb Who Only Endeavor And Todoroki Can Defuse
On the surface,Dabi’s Blueflame Quirkcan seem very similar to the ability owned by Endeavor, but the difference is that Dabi’s flames burn even hotter, to the point where his own body is slowly being scorched away every time he uses them. In the final war, after exposing his true identity and confronting his father, Dabi’s Quirk goes into overdrive. Many of the heroes begin to panic that Dabi could implode, causing an explosion big enough to obliterate the surrounding area and everyone within it.
Thankfully, Todoroki agrees to take down Dabi, though this would be far from an easy task. Dabi was more than ready to unleash his bubbling hatred onto the world if he wasn’t stopped in time, making it easy to understand why he became such a priority target for the Pro-Heroes.
2Heroes VS All For One
Letting All For One Execute His Master Plan Would Plunge The World Into An Age Of Darkness And Chaos
As if All For One wasn’t already strong enough with his large arsenal of Quirks and special combat abilities, in thefinal war, he is able to use Eri’s Rewind Quirk to return to his younger years. When in his prime, All For One is an absolute monster who isn’t shy about destroying anyone who dares stand in the way of his mission to become a Demon Lord.
The good news, however, is that the heroes don’t make this easy for All For One, considering there are many of them who were brave enough to take him on. As would be expected, this has resulted in many casualties, and even a few heroes losing their Quirks, including Pro-Hero Hawks, but it’s all worth it to prevent AFO from reaching Shigaraki and enacting his devious master plan.
1Midoriya VS Shigaraki
Midoriya Fights To Keep Hope And Heroism Alive
Aside from Midoriya, no heroes can match Shigaraki’s power by the end of the series. With All For One granting him an abundance of new abilities and hisDecay Quirk being fully Awakened, Shigaraki was able to fend off numerous highly powered heroes, and though Bakugo put up an admirable fight, not even he could defeat Shigaraki in the end. The reason Shigaraki was seen as such a threat is that a single touch of the ground would allow him to destroy everything in sight, as he demonstrated by toppling an entire hospital in mere seconds.
As a result, failure for Midoriya simply isn’t an option. Midoriya’s defeat would spell the end of not only the hero society but perhaps even the world in general. After all, Shigaraki doesn’t have some grand ideology or view of the world, he simply wants to destroy everything in sight. Needless to say, this is by far the most intense fight in the series, primarily because the stakes involved are sky-high.
