History Characters / MyHeroAcademiaDabi

* LackOfEmpathy:
** Considering he's a serial killer bent on dismantling his father's heroic legacy without any regard for how his mother, or his siblings, would feel about it, this is a given. He stands out even among the villains. Most of Shigaraki's crew are twisted murderers, but they [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes care deeply]] about their [[TrueCompanions comrades]]. Dabi, however, only sees them as a means to an end. He can barely convincingly pretend to be upset when one of them is killed.

** His final gambit, to trigger a SuperpowerMeltdown that will level everything in 5 kilometers of himself, will take out his entire family as he desires, but as it's perfectly placed to hit both UA and the evacuation shelters while dead center in the battle in Gunga, doing so would also kill the majority of his surviving allies along with them. Dabi intentionally planned it showing how little he cares for the League.

''Villains'': [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaVillains Known Villains]] [[[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaStain Stain]]] ([[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaLeagueOfVillains League of Villains]] [[[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaAllForOne All For One]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaTomuraShigaraki Tomura Shigaraki]], '''Dabi''', [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaHimikoToga Himiko Toga]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaArtificialHumans Artificial Humans]]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaShieHassaikai Shie Hassaikai]] [[[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaOverhaul Overhaul]]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaMetaLiberationArmy Meta Liberation Army]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaParanormalLiberationFront Paranormal Liberation Front]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaVillainArmy Villain Army]])\\

* UnfulfilledPurposeMisery: As a kid, Toya happily trained with Enji in order to fulfill his father's wishes to become a hero who can surpass All Might. When it became clear that his body wasn't suitable for the goal they tried to reach, Enji post haste told him to stop trying for it, and further distancing due to work and his own hangups did not sit well for Toya's psyche. He was constantly frustrated with Enji's discouragement, often training in secret to show hat he can become a hero after all--or more importantly, to show that he still deserved Enji's attention. The birth of his youngest brother Shoto made him snap precisely because Toya saw him as a physical reminder of what he could not accomplish.

* AccuserOfTheBrethren: He spits at Endeavor that he will pay for the suffering he put him through as a child, proclaiming that his father's attempts to atone for the harm he has inflicted on his family have been for naught, and insisting that "the past never dies".
* AchillesHeel: Though {{Downplayed}}, it's showcased that his is his head. His damaged nervous system means he can keep moving and fighting despite the excessive SelfHarm he does to himself with his own flames, and becomes almost unstoppable when he reaches his PointOfNoReturn by the FinalBattle. However this is dependent on his mind and willpower being able to generate his fire, meaning attacks that rattle his consciousness stop him from being able to fight back despite his physical durability. Gran Torino is able to knock him unconscious with a single blow to the head during the Kamino Ward raid, leaving him unconscious for the entirely of the league's subsequent rescue by All For One. When he pushes his firepower to its maximum level when having his final fight with Shoto, despite his evident disregard of his own health, resulting in his flames steadily burning away his skin and [[BodyHorror exposing his muscles underneath]], he takes care to regulate the damage done to his upper head, allowing him to keep track of his targets even as his body steadily self-destructs, leaving him a danger even when he's reduced to a physical wreak that can barely even stand upright. This informs the symbolism of Dabi as a RevenantZombie, and how [[RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain the head is their classical weak point]]. He even metaphorically comes BackFromTheDead after losing initially to Shoto's [[FinishingMove Phosphor move]] because Shoto hit him in the chest rather than the head with it, akin to how Zombies can endure injuries fatal to living beings. This allowed him to retain his consciousness, understand the move's principle and adapt it for his own use. His brain and [[EmotionalRegression mentality]] finally getting damaged by his fires marks the point where Dabi is finally at the end of his durability and his body starts breaking down for good.

* AntagonisticOffspring: Dabi's entire motivation is breaking his father, Endeavor, and absolutely ruining his reputation. As a child, Toya knew that he was only born to satisfy his father’s goals and now insanely wishes to pay back Endeavor for the pain and neglect he felt once he couldn’t fulfill them.
* ArchEnemy: Fancies himself Endeavor's, as he's gleefully dedicated to ruining his father and eventually kill him. His animosity also extends to his little brother Shoto, whom he sees only as Endeavor's "puppet" -- and moreover, one whose personality is too weak-willed to achieve their father's dream of surpassing All Might, even with the 'perfect' natural body for their flame powers and a learning environment to actively cultivate them in, things Toya himself never truly had and which drives his animosity towards the 'masterpiece' for wasting all his potential despite being the one Endeavor hoped would 'replace' Toya, in his perception. When his [[EmotionalRegression mentality is degrading]] as the result of his SelfHarm starting to damage his brain, Toya has a vision of his family being happy with himself minus his distinctive burn scars, but said vision pointedly doesn't include Shoto amongst his loving family surrounding him, showing that he has never considered Shoto family but still just a replacement and a tool but never his brother.

* ArcVillain: Of the Forest Camp Training arc as the leader of the Vanguard Action Squad. He's also the ManBehindTheMan for Hood, Starservant, and Ending in the Pro Hero and Endeavor Agency arcs, and the de facto main antagonist for the overall story arc focusing on the Todoroki family.
* ArmorPiercingResponse: He gives one to Hawks when the hero asks who he really is. His response is censored as a black speech bubble, but it is hinted that he revealed his identity as Toya Todoroki, and it leaves Hawks in a state of shock.

* HappyDance: Toya dances with glee upon revealing his identity to Endeavor and Shoto... He's so happy about ruining his father's legacy that he sarcastically asks Endeavor to dance with him on the battlefield.

* HiddenDepths: Snatch's LastWords apparently resonated with him on some level, as he "thought so hard about it he went crazy". Dabi is also far from impressed with Geten's SocialDarwinist speech during their battle. Both these points make sense; Dabi ''has'' been thinking about the family of one of his potential victims: ''his'' family, if only in how killing them can hurt his father. Likewise, Geten's SocialDarwinist personality probably hit too close to home and reminded him of Endeavor.

* HopeCrusher: Dabi likes to crush any "delusions" of hope or faith people have in heroes, and considering he is a follower of Stain with the belief that there is no such thing as true heroes, along with his backstory, it makes sense.
* HyperCompetentSidekick: On the rare occasion Dabi isn't chasing the next opportunity to advance his own agenda, he's one of the most competent and efficient members of the League, enough that Shigaraki appointed him specifically to lead the Vanguard Action Squad during the School Trip arc. He's also achieved enough standing within the League to be granted command over at least one High-End Nomu and conduct missions on his own initiative.
* HypocrisyNod: Dabi is aware of his hypocrisy of criticizing heroes while hurting people-- but he doesn't give a damn about it because he just wants to get under their skin and mock their idea of heroism.
* {{Hypocrite}}: He calls Hawks a monster for killing Twice, "a man just protecting his friends," and then immediately attacks Tokoyami, who is just trying to protect his mentor, while also calling the teen selfish for attempting to do so. Minutes earlier, he called out the heroes for using students in a major assault but has no problem attacking a student himself. Not to mention the whole "working with an OmnicidalManiac because he disagrees with the hero system" thing. It's made pretty clear that he honestly doesn't care about having a higher moral standard than others around him and will gladly call them out on their failings whilst glossing over his own hand in events just to [[{{Troll}} get under their skin]] and throw them off their game.

** When he first sees Shigaraki, Dabi mentions how gross he looks, even though Dabi himself is visibly burnt to a crisp.
** Later on, Dabi criticizes the rest of the League for holing up in the ruins of a building instead of trying to recruit more members. Toga responds that he hasn't been successful with a single recruit yet, and Twice protests that all of his "attempts" to recruit new members result in them being flash fired to death after they fail to live up to his ridiculously high standards.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: Dabi's fighting style shows [[UnskilledButStrong little finesse]] in his initial appearances, basically unleashing large bursts of flame at his targets and repeating the process if it doesn't work. It's only during the Paramount Liberation War where he displays a little more creativity, such as hovering via flame jets. Once Dabi's identity as Toya is known, he reveals familiarity with Endeavor's Flashfire Fist techniques to such an extent that Shoto can barely defend himself in their first battle. Dabi had been intentionally downplaying control over his flames up to then, both to slow down [[CastFromHitPoints his body's deterioration]] and to maintain his anonymity.

* ThePowerOfHate: Dabi has dedicated his life to destroying Endeavor's heroic legacy out of pure hatred for the hero, and considering his backstory it's not hard to see why. Garaki reveals Dabi should've died years ago, but his undying hatred is ''so intense'' that it's actively keeping Dabi alive. This comes up during the FinalBattle, where despite being reduced to little more than a burning husk, Dabi simply keeps going out of pure hatred.

** There is a mistranslation, hayaumare (早生まれ) actually means '''born between January 1st to April 1st''', and ''not'' born early.[[note]]For those interested, osoumare (遅生まれ) referes to those born outside of the time range.[[/note]] In fact, Shoto is also a hayaumare. Dabi is simply a late bloomer.

''Villains'': [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaVillains Known Villains]] [[[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaStain Stain]]] ([[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaLeagueOfVillains League of Villains]] [[[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaAllForOne All For One]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaTomuraShigaraki Tomura Shigaraki]], '''Dabi''', [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaHimikoToga Himiko Toga]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaArtificialHumans Artificial Humans]]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaShieHassaikai Shie Hassaikai]] [[[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaOverhaul Overhaul]]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaMetaLiberationArmy Meta Liberation Army]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaParanormalLiberationFront Paranormal Liberation Front]])\\

* InconsistentSpelling: His real first name can be spelled "Tōya", "Toya", or "Touya".

* NotBrainwashed: Garaki reveals that his survival on the mountaintop years ago was due to All For One himself rescuing Toya. Having [[WeAreEverywhere kept an eye out]] for children who could be groomed into serving as his "[[GrandTheftMe next me]]," All For One would wait to find children with powerful Quirks and enough [[DarkAndTroubledPast trauma]] to make them easily manipulated. He would then "miraculously" appear in child's [[DarkestHour hour of need]] and "rescue" them. Taking them in to his prepared locations where the child's issues, impressionable nature, and sense of gratitude towards their "savior" would make them easy to for All For One to groom into developing tools in his own purposes, as he did with those like Tenko Shimura. However, Garaki makes it clear that Dabi is ''not'' a brainwashed follower of All For One--in fact, he burned down the building they kept him alive in for three years shortly after awakening and rejecting his [[DealWithTheDevil offer to help him]], and wasn't supposed to live longer than a month afterwards without aid from Garaki. Everything Toya has done since becoming a villain is under his own willpower, and in fact, his [[DeathSeeker ultimate goal]] is the complete opposite of [[ImmortalitySeeker All For One's]].
* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Dabi has his own agenda and only joined the League of Villains further it. He'll cooperate with them as needed in the short term, but he couldn't care less about the goals or wellbeing of his so-called "teammates" beyond what use they can be in his quest to tear down Endeavor's legacy. He'll outright refuse to aid the League in an objective if he doesn't think it will help him in his long term goal, as shown when didn't bother lifting a finger to help tame Gigantomachia.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His real first name can be spelled "Tōya", "Toya", or "Touya".

* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: Invoked. Dabi will do ''anything'' to destroy his father and the heroes but he has no plan for anything better to replace them, all he wants is for everything to disappear completely, preferably in the most gruesome and painful way possible, and then... nothing. Even after ruining his father and Hawk's reputation, the simple fact that Endeavor still tries to get back on his feet just further motivates him to go even harder in his quest to destroy his father, hinting that nothing will ever be enough to quench his thirst for revenge.

* BodyHorror: His most prominent feature, and the result of his self-destructive Quirk. At least 80% of his body appears to be charred or skinless. [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0aLTCKVoAEcddX?format=jpg&name=large The rest looks like it's been stapled onto the burned bits]]. As he thinks back to the LastWords said by Snatch, the patches start bleeding, evoking a TearsOfBlood effect. This is pushed further during his confrontation with Endeavor, as the stapled-together parts of his face start coming apart. He's also UnableToCry, as his tear ducts have been burned away (truly, his tear ducts were the first parts of his body to burn). In fact, this is why none of his family recognize him until his reveal, with him sarcastically admitting he can understand their surprise. In later chapters, one can see that some of his burns are slowly travelling past the staples. During his fight with Shoto, his face has straight up started to melt away, revealing the muscles on his cheek and his his teeth down to the root. When he pushes his firepower [[DeathOrGloryAttack to the limit]] in preparation to kill Shoto once and for all, the flames become so hot that he melts the statue of All Might he's standing upon and his appearance is nothing less than a flaming demon from hell, showing ThroatLight from his flames broiling his interior as much as his exterior. When Shoto seems to have stopped his rampage with his 'Phosphor' move, he reveals he copied the principle of the technique with his own quirk to avoid defeat and stands back up again, his outer layer of skin below his head all burned away and looking like a burned zombie from his almost-lethal injuries that he resolutely ignores for the sake of his obsession. By the time he finally reaches Endeavor, the damage is so bad that his own ElementalPunch ''explodes'' his own arm, and the stump shows that his interior is almost entirely molten flame and heat held inside his crumbling physical 'shell', making it clear that he's more dead than alive now, and ''[[{{Determinator}} still fighting despite that]]''.

* AchillesHeel: Though {{Downplayed}}, it's showcased that his is his head. His damaged nervous system means he can keep moving and fighting despite the excessive SelfHarm he does to himself with his own flames, and becomes almost unstoppable when he reaches his PointOfNoReturn by the FinalBattle. However this is dependant on his mind and willpower being able to generate his fire, meaning attacks that rattle his consciousness stop him from being able to fight back despite his physical durability. Gran Torino is able to knock him unconscious with a single blow to the head during the Kamino Ward raid, leaving him unconscious for the entirely of the league's subsequent rescue by All For One. When he pushes his firepower to its maximum level when having his final fight with Shoto, despite his evident disregard of his own health, resulting in his flames steadily burning away his skin and [[BodyHorror exposing his muscles underneath]], he takes care to regulate the damage done to his upper head, allowing him to keep track of his targets even as his body steadily self-destructs, leaving him a danger even when he's reduced to a physical wreak that can barely even stand upright. This informs the symbolism of Dabi as a RevenantZombie, and how [[RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain the head is their classical weak point]]. He even metaphorically comes BackFromTheDead after losing initially to Shoto's [[FinishingMove Phosphor move]] because Shoto hit him in the chest rather than the head with it, akin to how Zombies can endure injuries fatal to living beings. This allowed him to retain his consciousness, understand the move's principle and adapt it for his own use. His brain and [[EmotionalRegression mentality]] finally getting damaged by his fires marks the point where Dabi is finally at the end of his durability and his body starts breaking down for good.

** His ultimate goal is basically to achieve this, not just killing himself, but using all of his remaining time before then to make himself the most remorseless, deranged and unforgivable villain he can to the public to throw mud on his Endevour's [[GuiltByAssociation reputation by association]], and then aiming to kill them both in a MurderSuicide attack, a process he directly equates to dragging his father to hell with him. His spite goes even beyond his ultimate target however, as he makes it clear he also wants to kill his 'replacement' Shoto before that to further break his father and show how he's better than his 'masterpiece', and furthermore goes the additional mile of trying to use his family drama to break the public's faith in the concept of heroes, even targeting Hawks, an otherwise-unrelated hero, as another example of how flawed the concept of a real-life superhero is. He has no true reason to do this beyond apparently wanting the idea of heroes to die alongside him, as he was unable to achieve it as a child because of his DreamCrushingHandicap, and so seeks to deny that same dream to countless others.

* TechnicolorFire: In contrast to other fire-users in the series, Dabi's fire is always bright blue to denote how much hotter his flames burn in default. His flames were once orange/red in color before turning blue when he turned 13. The fact that no one in his family ever knew about that change before his "death" might have contributed to their inability to recognize him as Toya.

** Fuyumi: She is the only one of her siblings even willing to forgive their father and try to reconcile with him, while Toya does everything he can to ruin his father's reputation, even if it means further fracturing their already broken family.

** He's an even bigger one to his own father Endeavor, as shown through their pure ambition and conviction to achieve their goals at any cost no matter who they hurt. However, Endeavor only realizes the harm he has caused others, especially his family, later on and seeks to atone for it, while Toya knows what he is doing is wrong, but is too consumed of hatred for his father to care. He will gladly help destroy cities and murder innocents, as shown in the Paranormal Liberation War, if it means making Endeavor suffer in any way.

* WouldHurtAChild: When he woke up from his coma after his self-immolation in an OrphanageOfLove that gathered similarly abandoned children for All For One's plans, many of whom were shown to be looking forward to him waking up and joining their 'family', Toya showed no hesitation or regret over setting the building on fire in order to escape. This endangered or possibly killed innocent children who had never harmed him.

* WouldHurtAChild:
** When he woke up from his coma after his self-immolation in an OrphanageOfLove that gathered similarly abandoned children for All For One's plans, many of whom were shown to be looking forward to him waking up and joining their 'family', Toya showed no hesitation or regret over setting the building on fire in order to escape. This endangered or possibly killed innocent children who had never harmed him.
** By the present, he's fully thrown away any such hang-ups he might have had towards his teenage sibling Shoto, being eager to personally kill him out of all his family members before his intended fatal battle with Endeavor.

* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Unlike the other characters who have fire Quirks, Dabi never displays any sophisticated techniques that differ from "turning his target into a blue fireball". Of course, Dabi's rarely been in a situation where that ''hasn't'' worked out for him yet besides Gigantomachia and Geten. He does start utilizing more techniques in the Paranormal Liberation War arc, such as hovering using his flames, probably as a direct response to the above. Of course, given how he demonstrates a wider arsenal of abilities once his identity is revealed, this could very well have been Dabi merely ending fights quickly to [[CastFromHitPoints avoid damage to his own body]], and even that goes out the window once the cat is out of the bag.

* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Unlike the other characters who have fire Quirks, Dabi never displays any sophisticated techniques that differ from "turning his target into a blue fireball". Of course, Dabi rarely been in a situation where that ''hasn't'' worked out for him yet besides Gigantomachia and Geten. He does start utilizing more techniques in the Paranormal Liberation War arc, such as hovering using his flames, probably as a direct response to the above. Of course, given how he demonstrates a wider arsenal of abilities once his identity is revealed, this could very well have been Dabi merely ending fights quickly to [[CastFromHitPoints avoid damage to his own body]], and even that goes out the window once the cat is out of the bag.

* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Unlike the other characters who have fire Quirks, Dabi never displays any sophisticated techniques that differ from "turning his target into a blue fireball". Of course, Dabi hasn't really been in a situation where that hasn't worked out for him yet besides Gigantomachia and Geten. He does start utilizing more techniques in the Paranormal Liberation War arc, such as hovering using his flames, probably as a direct response to the above.

* AnArmAndALeg: As he's on the verge of his SuperpowerMeltdown and his body is ''finally'' reaching it's physical limits, his refusal to stop fighting eventually exceeds what his shell can endure. Unleashing a massive ElementalPunch from his right arm in this state blows it to pieces of crumbled charcoal, mirroring his father's own injury from All For One, and a symbolic image of Dabi and Endeavour grappling together even shows the two of them 'holding hands', with trails of fire from their stumps reaching out to the other's remaining hand, almost looking like they're dancing together, calling back to Dabi's desire to 'dance in hell' with his father. By that point, the self-damage has reached the point where Dabi doesn't even react to the injury at all and is losing himself in his childhood memories as the fires erode his mind.

* AttentionWhore
** A warped and tragic example. Toya's initial motivation for training himself even to the point of SelfHarm was to force Endeavour to spend time with him instead of focusing on his hero duties or looking for another "masterpiece" in his sibs, and in so doing, validate to Toya that he wasn't a "failure" thanks to his genetic issues with his own firepower. As Dabi, this has grown into an all-consuming desire to make himself the only thing that Endeavour can pay attention to, willing to burn the entire world down and destroy everything Enji loves to ''force'' his father to focus only on him, with his animosity towards his sibling Shoto stemming from the fact that as Endevour's "masterpiece" he distracted their father from looking at him with Shoto's mere existence. Once he reveals his true identity in a public broadcast, he exults in getting recognised as an irredeemable villainous member of the Todoroki family, as it forces Endeavour to face him due to public reproach, and actually calls off his attempt to kill Shoto once Enji falls unconscious from his injuries at Jaku city, wanting his father to be paying attention when he immolates Shoto to torment him and further refocus his attention on everything Dabi does.

** However, it's made clear that Dabi is ''self-invoking'' this against himself, emphasising that he's a remorseless SpreeKiller in his public broadcast, going out of his way to target unrelated heroes with his fires and claiming that said flames are Endeavour's own Quirk cutting their hopeful futures short, and happily [[DeadlyUpgrade self-destructing himself with his maximum firepower]] just to [[SpitefulSuicide hurt or kill as many people as he can before the fires consume him]]. He does this in order to continue [[GuiltByAssociation inflicting as much disgrace as possible against his father with his actions]], and makes it clear that he has no intention of regretting his selfish crusade against him. When Shoto temporarily stops him, he just re-purposes his Phosphor move's principles to self-invoke a SuperpowerMeltdown and deliberately aims to self-detonate in the vicinity of the evacuation shelters, making it clear he ''will not accept'' any other outcome to the fighting that doesn't end with him [[DeathSeeker dying an unrepentant and monstrous villain]] that hurt others to his final breath.

* BodyHorror: His most prominent feature, and the result of his self-destructive Quirk. At least 80% of his body appears to be charred or skinless. [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0aLTCKVoAEcddX?format=jpg&name=large The rest looks like it's been stapled onto the burned bits]]. As he thinks back to the LastWords said by Snatch, the patches start bleeding, evoking a TearsOfBlood effect. This is pushed further during his confrontation with Endeavor, as the stapled-together parts of his face start coming apart. He's also UnableToCry, as his tear ducts have been burned away (truly, his tear ducts were the first parts of his body to burn). In fact, this is why none of his family recognize him until his reveal, with him sarcastically admitting he can understand their surprise. In later chapters, one can see that some of his burns are slowly travelling past the staples. During his fight with Shoto, his face has straight up started to melt away, revealing the muscles on his cheek and his his teeth down to the root. When he pushes his firepower [[DeathOrGloryAttack to the limit]] in preparation to kill Shoto once and for all, the flames become so hot that he melts the statue of All Might he's standing upon and his appearance is nothing less than a flaming demon from hell, showing ThroatLight from his flames broiling his interior as much as his exterior. When Shoto seems to have stopped his rampage with his 'Phosphor' move, he reveals he copied the principle of the technique with his own quirk to avoid defeat and stands back up again, his outer layer of skin below his head all burned away and looking like a burned zombie from his almost-lethal injuries that he resolutely ignores for the sake of his obsession. By the time he finally reaches Endeavour, the damage is so bad that his own ElementalPunch ''explodes'' his own arm, and the stump shows that his interior is almost entirely molten flame and heat held inside his crumbling physical 'shell', making it clear that he's more dead than alive now, and ''[[{{Determinator}} still fighting despite that]]''.

** His final moments as he's self-detonating have him ''finally'' expressing some reservations about killing himself, but ''only'' because he's presently getting exactly what he wanted in [[AttentionWhore his entire family's undivided attention]] as they all work together to cool him down, and dying would rob him of that. When Shoto averts his explosion, what convinces Dabi to cease using the scant remaining life in his body to fight is Endeavour tearfully telling him he'll listen to everything he wants to say to him, using his remaining energy to ceaselessly curse at his family and continue to force them to pay attention to him, effectively choosing not to kill himself just for a purely selfish motivation, rather than any genuine remorse or regret.

** After Shoto apparently defeats him with his 'Phosphor' move, he stands back up again, revealing he managed to understand and replicate the technique's principle with his own quirk to counter Shoto's extreme cold and avoid getting completely frozen, manifesting flames hotter than before and his body's outer layer of skin completely burned away beneath his neck, exposing his muscles. His dialogue makes it clear he plans to head straight to Endeavour's battlefield to confront him next, even ''with'' such grievous injuries, the vast distance and the heroes all standing in between him and his father, making it clear he ''absolutely will not quit'' until he succeeds in his mad vengeance or dies in the attempt.
* DissonantSerenity: InUniverse. After Hawks kills Twice he's apparently enraged by the act, his voice becoming emotionally distraught and his attacks on Hawks becoming sadistically drawn-out and painful in 'revenge', until Hawks points out that his expression is nothing like that of somebody who's upset over the loss of a friend, with a WhamShot of Dabi having a gleeful SlasherSmile on his face. The paneling and framing of the prior scene completely hiding his expression drive home how Dabi 'sounds' and how he 'looks' are completely at odds with each other, which he [[SarcasmMode insincerely claims]] is because his injuries prevent him being able to express sadness properly, implying that Dabi is simply [[MaskOfSanity putting on a performance]] that cannot hide his utter glee at Hawks having just given him the perfect ammunition to use in [[ItsAllAboutMe his anti-hero public agenda]]. This further emphasises the [[AmbiguousSituation ambiguity]] behind whether Dabi genuinely feels any camaraderie towards the League that is eclipsed by his grudge with Endeavour and desire to [[ManipulativeBastard use them]], or if he simply considers himself [[IveComeTooFar too far gone]] to ever actually care for them.

* ImplacableMan: Somewhat {{Downplayed}}. Dabi will do anything to continue his quest of vengeance against Endeavor, and as Shoto and Iida learned the hard way in Chapter 363 Dabi cannot be easily be defeated and even responded by stealing Shoto's Phosphor move and used it to torch the Flaming sidekickers alive. However, his mental fortitude allowing him to ignore his physical [[SelfHarm deterioration]] does ''not'' negate the damage he's doing to himself, and he remains a threat mainly because he's outputting his fires to the level where he's more an environmental hazard than a physical foe. When he actually manages to attack Endeavour in this damaged state, the blowback of his own ElementalPunch explodes his arm, and the main threat he brings is that he's self-invoking a SuperpowerMeltdown to commit a ''massive'' SpitefulSuicide, rather than beating his father with his new firepower.

* TheMadHatter: A subdued version. When Shoto questions if he is insane, Dabi nonchalantly agrees with the assessment, claiming he has no feelings anymore. Whilst his behaviour makes it clear that he's not a mentally stable person at all, it's also shown that at least part of this is him [[TheUnapologetic intentionally embracing]] the characterisation of a demented killer, all to shame his father Endeavour with his own conduct by proxy, deflecting all the blame for his actions onto Endeavour's poor parenting skills.

* PragmaticVillainy: He refuses to continue fighting Shoto, not out of mercy for his sibling, but because Endeavor has passed out and he wanted Endeavour to witness and emotionally suffer his two sons fighting each other to death. When Dabi and Shoto have their rematch, despite pushing his firepower to its highest level, now that he's finally at the point of being able to [[TakingYouWithMe incinerate himself and his family members with his own hellfire]], Dabi controls and regulates the excessive heat he generates enough to avoid burning his upper head too badly. This enables him to keep fighting and burning everything around him even as his extremities steadily disintegrate from the heat, as he needs to avoid excessively damaging himself before facing Endeavour in a final blaze of glory. He eventually calls off his assault on Shoto when he calculates that the SelfHarm he's doing to himself will destroy his body before he could reach Endeavour's battlefield, not out of mercy towards his sibling.

* PsychopathicManchild: Dabi is stoic, calm and barely ever engages in bloodshed for his own amusement. However, if he's provoked and given the chance, he will murder people just because they made him mad. He also seems to enjoy when his plans come to fruition at the cost of others, such as when he widely smiles at the destruction of the city during the Paranormal Liberation War. Chapter 350 reveals that he was in a coma from 13 to 16-17, and he doesn't seem to have mentally developed much past age 13. His increasingly manic behavior after revealing his true identity isn't unlike of a child throwing a tantrum for his father's attention. By the time he finally confronts him, compressing his flames within himself to self-invoke a SuperpowerMeltdown results in his fires rising to a level wherein they start to even burn Endeavour through his heat resistance, and the self-same heat starts eating into Dabi's brain at last, resulting in him [[EmotionalRegression falling back into a child-like mentality]], seeing his attacks on his father as him demonstrating what he can do with his Quirk even as it blows his decaying body to pieces and calling out to Natsuo to come play with him.

* SafetyInIndifference: He seems detached from the League and any ally he makes due to his abandonment issues stemming from his family life. It's unclear if Dabi's refusal to engage with them as friends is due to him being more focused on achieving his goals over forming any personal relationships, especially since his ultimate aim is to [[DeathSeeker kill himself]] as a final act of spite against Endeavour, or if he considers himself [[IAmAMonster too far gone]] to be capable of that kind of empathy anymore.

* SelfHarm: Due to wanting to [[WellDoneSonGuy please his father]] Toya would continue to train by himself despite the harmful burns it caused his body. He continues to do this well into adulthood, and ultimately aims to take this to it's logical conclusion: [[DeathSeeker burning himself away to nothingness]] via achieving a level of firepower Endeavour never could, whilst [[TakingYouWithMe using it to destroy everything his father values]].

* SuperiorSuccessor: Subverted. A flashback of Shoto's reveals that Toya was Endeavor's first choice as his successor because his fire powers were much stronger than his father's, but he had inherited his mother's weak constitution toward heat. His desire to prove that this was the case despite the SelfHarm his fires caused him lead him to become increasingly obsessed with 'proving his worth' to his father and that he wasn't a 'mistake'. Unable to dissuade Toya from training even in secret, in part because he still ''hadn't'' given up on his desire for a child strong enough to beat All Might, Endeavour and Rei had more children in the hopes this would stop Toya's self-destructive obsession. Instead, it only drove him into an [[ExistentialHorror existential breakdown]] when Shoto was born. By the present, this is the root of his hatred towards his youngest sibling alongside their father, despite Shoto having down nothing to him personally.

* WhyWontYouDie: By the FinalBattle, Dabi's willingness to push his firepower to an unbeatable level in order to kill both Shoto and Endeavour [[DeadlyUpgrade eats away at his body]], by the end of his clash with Shoto resembling nothing more than a roasted corpse that can barely ''move'' anymore, and having to propel his disintegrating shell around by the force of his flames. Burnin outright says that regardless of his mad tenacity, his physical body should have long ago succumbed to the sheer heat he's generating and crumbled into charcoal. This furthers the symbolism of Dabi as a RevenantZombie, sustaining his existence through sheer hatred and staving off death until he achieves his vengeance.

** By the present, he's fully thrown away any such hang-ups he might have had towards his teenage sibling Shoto, being eager to personally kill him out of all his family members before his intended fatal battle with Endeavour.

* DeathSeeker: Made explicit by the final confrontation with him. Despite his sheer hatred towards Endeavor being more than sufficient for All For One's plans for a [[GrandTheftMe vessel]], Garaki notes that he ultimately had to pass Toya over as a potential body because the boy's self-destructive firepower and desire to kill himself to spite Endeavor made him unsuitable for his [[ImmortalitySeeker long-term goals]].

* AllForNothing: His life's mission was to destroy Endeavor and everything he tried to protect, particularly Shoto before [[SpitefulSuicide dying to his own Quirk]]. By the end of the FinalBattle though, after nearly succeeding with his SuperpowerMeltdown, all of his efforts went up in smoke thanks to Shoto and the Todoroki family's Ice Quirks. He wasn't even able to ''die'' (at least not initially), leaving Toya with nothing for his efforts but to curse his family.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: He leads the Vanguard Action Squad when they attack the training camp, being able to effectively rally the dangerous group, and is the only person outside of All For One's inner circle (All For One himself, the Doctor, and Shigaraki) to be given control of a Nomu. This is in part because of his shared history with Garaki and All For One, and by the time of the FinalBattle, his plan to use [[PowerCopying Toga]] along with a sample of [[MesACrowd Jin's blood]] to activate the [[ZergRush Sad Man's Parade]] on the heroes makes him part of the BigBadEnsemble of the villains, rather than [[SplitPersonalityTakeover Tomura]], pairing with his wide-range destructive ability now that he's reached the point of [[DeathOrGloryAttack killing himself to destroy Endeavor's legacy]], and potentially taking both his family and everything in a 5 kilometer radius with him.

* AloofAlly: While everyone else in the League eventually forms a sense of camaraderie towards each other, Dabi deliberately keeps a wall between them and treats its various members with indifference or disdain. Dabi even opts out of the collective rematch with Gigantomachia, leaving his comrades for a month and a half. Come the Paranormal Liberation War, he outright admits he doesn't care about the League at all. This attitude [[HoistByHisOwnPetard undercuts]] his attempt to preserve the Sad Man's parade. Since [[PowerCopying Toga]] can only copy the Quirks of those she truly loves, Dabi's standoff attitude means that despite his [[DestroyTheAbusiveHome surface-level manipulation]] of her towards achieving that goal, Toga cannot replicate any league member's Quirk against the heroes, including his own.

** Ironically, his masterstroke to overthrow the heroes is waylaid by another example of these. He planned to preserve the threat of the Sad Man's parade through Toga's PowerCopying, and pushed her towards that end, but since her own Quirk's true potential is fuelled by ThePowerOfLove, as opposed to Toya's own spite-driven firepower, it meant that only [[MesACrowd Jin's Quirk]] could be replicated, handicapping the threat Toga could unleash.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Inverted. While the rest of the League has grown to form some kind of companionship with each other, Dabi makes no attempt at all to grow close with them, often insults them, and in general never seems to enjoy their company. At one point he says he is only looking out for himself. After Twice is killed by Hawks, Dabi out rights says he never cared for them from the start. This attitude [[HoistByHisOwnPetard backfires on him]], both through Shoto confronting and beating him temporarily with [[ThePowerOfFriendship aid from his allies]] whilst Dabi [[IWorkAlone insists on fighting alone]], and also through Toga failing to replicate his flames through the Sad man's parade because her Quirk needs her to truly love a copied target to copy their powers as well, and Dabi's attitude means that Toga subconsciously does not care for him as much as [[TrueCompanions Jin]].

** His lone-wolf attitude also undercut his plans to preserve the Sad Man's Parade through [[PowerCopying Toga]] and a sample of Jin's blood. Toga needs to [[ThePowerOfLove truly love]] her copied target to copy their Quirk well.Despite apparently [[DestroyTheAbusiveHome consoling her]] and pushing her towards this end, Dabi's [[AloofAlly lack of true care for her]] meant that Toga is incapable of replicating his Quirk's firepower the she makes a duplicate of him, [[PowerUpLetDown halving the threat]] she unleashes.

** His stand-off attitude with the league undercuts his attempt to use Toga as a backup method of unleashing the [[MesACrowd Sad Man's parade]]. Because Toga can only replicate the Quirks of those she truly loves, she doesn't care enough for Dabi to replicate his dangerous firepower, unlike with [[TrueCompanions Jin]].

* NotBrainwashed: Garaki reveals that his survival on the mountaintop years ago was due to All For One himself rescuing Toya. Having [[WeAreEverywhere kept an eye out]] for children who could be groomed into serving as his "[[GrandTheftMe next me]]," All For One would wait to find children with powerful Quirks and enough [[DarkAndTroubledPast trauma]] to make them easily manipulated. He would then "miraculously" appear in child's [[DarkestHour hour of need]] and "rescue" them. Taking them in to his prepared locations where the child's issues, impressionable nature, and sense of gratitude towards their "savior" would make them easy to for All For One to groom into developing tools in his own puroses, as he did with those like Tenko Shimura. However, Garaki makes it clear that Dabi is ''not'' a brainwashed follower of All For One--in fact, he burned down the building they kept him alive in for three years shortly after awakening and rejecting his [[DealWithTheDevil offer to help him]], and wasn't supposed to live longer than a month afterwards without aid from Garaki. Everything Toya has done since becoming a villain is under his own willpower, and in fact, his [[DeathSeeker ultimate goal]] is the complete opposite of [[ImmortalitySeeker All For One's]].

* {{Foil}}:
** While he is set up as a foil to many characters, such as Shigaraki and his little brother Shoto, he seems to be set up as Hawks' foil in almost every way:
*** Hawks was scouted to become a hero despite coming from a villainous background, his father being a thief and serial killer, while Dabi was born to a hero but became a villain.
*** Their fighting style are inverted, Hawks' power comes from his skills while Dabi has to rely on the strength of his flames.
*** Both met Endeavor in their childhood, however, one grew to resent him and the other grew to admire him.
** He's also a foil to [[TheHero Midoriya]], from their personalities, powers and backgrounds.
*** Toya was born in part due to Enji Todoroki's desires for a SuperiorSuccessor who could overcome [[TheAce All Might]] and his self-identity is deeply wrapped up in his inability to achieve that role for his father thanks to his genetic incompatibility with his inherited quirk, eventually becoming 'replaced' in his perception by his little brother, leading to his insanity from his existential crises and getting 'rejected' by his father. Midoriya, meanwhile, has no direct connection to All Might besides being a hardcore fanboy of him and heroics, became accepted as his successor after proving his heroic will to him by accident after a lifetime of getting his dream as a hero rejected to his face, and turned out to be generically prepared to become [[ComboPlatterPowers a better user]] of One For All by complete accident.
*** Midoriya and Toya both utilise a self-destructive fighting style at first, that leaves them both with heavy scarring, with Izuku's using his body to physically attack despite breaking his bones every time, powering through the pain and the damage, and Toya's using his intense flames to attack from a distance, as he's physically frail and can get knocked unconscious easily with a single blow. Izuku is eventually convinced to set aside this damaging fighting style as a means of figuring out his own identity separate from All Might, adopting a kick-based fighting style to avoid damaging his body beyond the point of no return, whereas Toya sticks with the same fighting style throughout the series, disregarding his personal disfigurements because he's [[DeathSeeker planning on dying]] in the end anyway, thus he has no reason to preserve his body.
*** Toya [[IWorkAlone constantly works alone]] and has his own plans separate from the league out of mistrust for them, being [[ChessmasterSidekick incredibly successful at his plans]] despite telling nobody his goals and is very perceptive of the motivation of people around him to manipulate them for his own ends as he needs, seeing those around him as tools for his own purpose. He even gleefully convinces Toga to embrace her more destructive impulses despite them alienating her from the wold around her, convincing her to reject the world around her if it won't accept her as she wants to be, like himself. When Izuku tries to work alone he is eventually overwhelmed by the constant stress of trying to do everything by himself and convinced by his classmates to let them shoulder some of his burdens-- in fact, he is at his most sucessful whenever he works together alongside his untied allies, and constantly proves to have a gut instinct towards people's best nature, believing that they can be better than their current circumstances.
*** Their biggest difference is the effect each has on the Todoroki family. Toya is deeply involved with the family's past trauma, and his reveal of his true identity serves to demoralise them all, to his maniac glee, delighting in their dismay as he mocks their hopes that their lives could move on from their DarkAndTroubledPast, and pointedly airing his family's dirty laundry to the world to sate his own wish to harm them, especially Endeavor and Shoto. Izuku meanwhile, has no direct connection to the Todorokis, but is instrumental in convincing Shoto to take the first steps to move past his trauma and start bringing his family closer together. When they briefly speak during the Paranormal Liberation War, Izuku, who has shown [[SympathyForTheDevil empathy and understanding]] towards villains before, utterly rejects Dabi's attempts to invoke the same towards his own circumstances, shouting back that Dabi embraces his past to hurt others, and because of that he's not like Endeavor at all, which motivates the latter to snap out of his HeroicBSOD and strike down Gigantomachia with the last of his strength. Dabi seeks to drag that Todorokis down with him to wallow in their miserable past, whilst Izuku is the one that directly and indirectly motivates the family to start moving forward to embrace a happier future.

''Villains'': [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaVillains Known Villains]] ([[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaLeagueOfVillains League of Villains]] [[[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaAllForOne All For One]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaTomuraShigaraki Tomura Shigaraki]], '''Dabi''', [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaHimikoToga Himiko Toga]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaArtificialHumans Artificial Humans]]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaShieHassaikai Shie Hassaikai]] [[[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaOverhaul Overhaul]]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaMetaLiberationArmy Meta Liberation Army]], [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaParanormalLiberationFront Paranormal Liberation Front]])\\

* FateWorseThanDeath: Not only did his revenge murder suicide against Endeavor failed, but his body is rendered to a crippled state as a result of trying to make himself a living fire nuke, and is basically a living charred husk that can barely talk and move.