History Characters / ThievesCanBeHeroesUAHighSchool

[[folder:Katsuki Bakugou]]

For more information about him, see his folder as [[spoiler:"Nitro" in the Phantom Thieves' section]].

[[Characters/ThievesCanBeHeroesThePhantomThieves The Phantom Thieves]] | [[Characters/ThievesCanBeHeroesAntagonists Antagonists]] | [[Characters/ThievesCanBeHeroesConfidants Confidants]] | [[Characters/ThievesCanBeHeroesUAHighSchool U.A. High School]] | [[Characters/ThievesCanBeHeroesVigilantes Vigilantes]] | [[Characters/ThievesCanBeHeroesOtherCharacters Other Characters]]]]-]]]

[[quoteright:242:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/katsuki_bakugou_school_uniform_full_body_3.png]]

For more information about him as [[spoiler:"Nitro", see his folder in the Phantom Thieves' section]].

* TheAce: He has it all: the brains, the athleticism, and the Quirk needed to get into the best Hero school in the country.
* AffectionateNickname:
** Izuku still calls Bakugou "Kacchan" out of habit even after years of being tormented by him.
** Makoto refers to him as "Baka-chan", though this is also an EmbarrassingNickname because she's essentially calling him a cute little idiot.
* AnimeHair: Explosively spiky hair much like a comic book starburst.
* BerserkButton: He immediately flies into a rage after seeing Izuku for the first time in months, though Izuku is surprised to find that it isn't nearly as bad as it once was. Bringing up Makoto is an even bigger one because she was the first one to ever beat him and he's furious that she decided to quit her aspirations of becoming a Hero, angrily calling her a quitter and a [[PrecisionFStrike bitch]] over it.
* BornWinner: He coasted all the way through elementary and middle school on his natural talent for both sports and academics and has a very powerful and rare Quirk that got him into a school with a 0.33% acceptance rate.
* BreakTheHaughty: His time in U.A. has been a huge wake-up call for him. In spite of his incredible talents and fighting capability, there are people stronger than him. Chapter 36 even ups the ante [[spoiler:thanks to Shadow Bakugo delivering a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to him, blatantly bringing up his shortcomings to the Phantom Thieves.]] Thankfully, though, he does get better.
* BroughtDownToBadass: [[spoiler:It doesn't stick, obviously, but in Chapter 34 a former bully who tried to pick on Bakugo as a kid shots him with a Quirk-nullifying bullet. It doesn't hinder him much and Bakugo is able to take the former bully down.]]
* TheBully: After getting his Quirk and learning that Izuku was Quirkless, Bakugou became this, tormenting Izuku all throughout their childhood and encouraging others to do the same.
* DuelBoss: [[spoiler:His price for keeping the Phantom Thieves' identities secret is a one-on-one fight with Makoto.]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: Izuku and Makoto bring Bakugou up periodically in their dialogue and thoughts long before he makes a physical appearance in the story.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His first physical appearance in the story has him cussing about the lateness of the trains as he's furiously mashing the buttons on his phone. When he realizes Izuku is staring at him, the first thing he does is call him a bastard and asking why the hell he was at the same station as him.
* {{Foil}}:
** To Izuku. Izuku is a BornUnlucky UnSorcerer ShrinkingViolet who wanted to become a Hero solely to help others but circumstances outside of his control kept him from going to the school of his dreams. Bakugou is TheAce, a BornWinner, and a SmugSuper who mouths off and attacks anyone he doesn't like and wants to become a Hero to cement his ideal of strength above all.
** He's also one to Ryuji. Both of them are foul-mouthed blonds who are talented in their respective fields (Track for Ryuji and pretty much everything for Bakugou). But Ryuji is a BookDumb NiceGuy who was ostracized by his peers after an impulsive decision led to the loss of most of his running ability and cut the power of his Quirk in half. Bakugou is a {{Jerkass}} BornWinner who received nothing but praise and envy from others for his overwhelming talent, getting into the most prestigious Hero school in Japan on his raw power and intelligence and chastises Izuku for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking While Ryuji dyes his hair blonde, Bakugou's is natural.]]
** He's also one to Makoto. Both were Izuku's {{Childhood Friend}}s and have red eyes. Makoto acts like a CoolBigSis and wants nothing but the best for Izuku, but [[AngerBornOfWorry grows cross with him]] when his reckless heroics threaten to do more harm than good to him. Bakugou constantly puts him down and did everything to make Izuku's childhood a living hell simply because he couldn't stand seeing how a Quirkless kid like Izuku could have such a heroic attitude, making him think that Izuku was looking down on him.
* HavingABlast: His Quirk turns his sweat into a compound similar to nitroglycerin, allowing Bakugou to unleash powerful explosions from his hands at will. [[spoiler:This makes him into the Phantom Thieves' explosives expert.]]
* HeroWithAnFInGood: He's a grade-A {{Jerkass}} and a bully who is on track to become a Hero because his vision of a Hero is "someone who always wins" in contrast to Izuku's belief that a Hero is someone who can save another with a smile. He seems to have gotten somewhat better though since he doesn't throw any of his previous soul-crushing insults as he did in middle school. Despite all this, Izuku genuinely believes that Bakugou has the potential to become the Number One Hero and hopes that Bakugou's dream will one day come true.
* HumblePie: Izuku believes that Bakugou's strangely subdued demeanor was because someone managed to one-up him at U.A. He says this because the last time he simmered down like this, it was because [[spoiler:Makoto]] had beaten Bakugou.
* HypocriticalHeartwarming: He calls bullshit on Izuku's conviction, asking how the hell a nerd like him got convicted for assault when he didn't even do that much harm. He also points out that Izuku doesn't even have a Quirk to do harm with, making the conviction even more questionable. He then expresses his disappointment at being unable to crush Izuku at the U.A. Entrance Exam because of the latter's inability to take it in the first place. This was especially surprising to Izuku, who distinctly remembers Bakugou saying that he didn't want to even see Izuku at the exam. Morgana lampshades this, flabbergasted that this behavior could be considered concern.
-->'''Morgana''': That's how he expresses '''concern?''' I can't imagine what kind of bully he was…
* ItsPersonal: Implied. He visibly toys with the idea of [[spoiler:turning the Phantom Thieves in until they mention they are going after the man distributing the Quirk-nullification bullets, which Bakugou ran afoul of a couple of chapters prior. Bakugou immediately agrees to keep their secret, on the condition that he gets a fight with Makoto.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Foul-mouthed, rude, terribly malicious, and prone to holding deep-seated grudges.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Izuku is genuinely surprised that Bakugou was rather tame and civil to him compared to their last encounter as well as Bakugou's disgust with Izuku's conviction.
* KarmaHoudini: He never really gets his comeuppance for tormenting Izuku for years on end. Bakugou's elementary and middle school teachers did nothing to stop him because he was too athletic, smart, and gifted to punish without hurting the school's reputation. In Japan, bullying is also considered an internal affair to be dealt with privately than in a public setting, which only exacerbated the issue. Even Izuku can't bring himself to hold ill will towards Bakugou and admires the latter's talent and endless drive to be the best at what he does, wishing him the best and hoping that Bakugou becomes the Number One Hero one day.
* MaliciousMisnaming: He calls Izuku, "Deku", after an alternate reading of the characters in Izuku's name. This reading can be written with different Kanji to call someone a wooden puppet, as in someone who will always be strung along by others and will never be able to achieve anything on their own.
* TheNicknamer: He never refers to any of his fellow UA students by name, always some basic description of their appearance.
* PrecisionFStrike: While his language is even more colorful than Ryuji's, the one time he uses "bitch" is when Izuku brings up Makoto.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: The irises of his eyes are blood-red. Unlike Makoto, Bakugou is an incredibly unpleasant person to be around most of the time and hates Izuku's guts.
* SecretKeeper: [[spoiler:He blunders into a Phantom Thieves operation and learns their secret identities. He agrees to keep quiet on the condition that Makoto fights him one-on-one.]]
* SirSwearsALot: He can barely go a single sentence without cussing, and even those instances are rare.
* SmugSuper: He's ''very'' proud of his powerful and rare Quirk. It's implied that someone at U.A. managed to take him down a peg.
* ToBeAMaster: His goal is to become the Number One Hero and surpass All Might.
* WardrobeFlawOfCharacterization: He completely forgoes a tie, leaves his dress shirt untucked, and wears his trousers baggily, showing his general disregard for authority and societal conventions.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: While Izuku does still consider Bakugo to be his friend to a certain extent, the same can't be said about Makoto. After she gave up on her dream of becoming a hero to help ease her sister's burden, Bakugo considers to be a "quitter" for throwing her dream away. When Izuku mentions he reunited with Makoto, Bakugo immediately blows up in anger. [[spoiler:Though contrary to Bakugo's feelings, his Shadow states otherwise.]]