Awesome / My Hero Academia - Rise Of The Villains

Main Awesome Index | UA Beginnings | Rise of the Villains | Final Act Saga | Final War Arc (Part 1, Part 2)

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Hero License Exam Arc (Chapters 98-121, Episodes 51-61)

• Chapter 101 has a few of the students expanding their abilities:
  • Midoriya coming up with a simple yet brilliant solution to ensuring that he doesn't permanently cripple his arms due to overuse of One For All. Start focusing on using his legs to execute kicking attacks, which helps him save All Might from a falling piece of rubble. Full Cowl: Shoot Style is the second of Deku's major Levels in Badass plus his first real move away from just imitating All Might and developing a hero style and identity to call his own.
  • Bakugo develops his Armor Piercer move, which allows him to focus his explosions into a narrow area for greater penetrating power.
  • Instead of just using his shadow for external attacks, Tokoyami learns to layer his shadow over his body to augment his own combat abilities.
  • It's revealed that in just the 4 months she's been enrolled at UA, Hatsume has built countless prototype inventions.
• Chapter 103: The provisional license exam begins and all the other participating schools immediately target the U.A. students because their Quirks have been exposed, thanks to the sports festival. However, Midoriya anticipates this immediately and has already rallied his classmates to work together against it.^note Their new moves prove effective; despite several salvos (including some Quirk-based attacks), none of the U.A. students are hit, forcing a Time for Plan B. Even though a teacher from one of the other schools called him out on not warning his students, Eraser Head responds perfectly.
  Eraser Head: Being a hero means being able to get yourself out of a pinch. Once you become a pro, it's a given that your Quirk has been exposed to the world. I'm sorry to say, but we're looking a bit farther ahead than everyone else.
• Chapter 104: Inasa is the first examinee to pass the first test, by wiping out 120 other examinees simultaneously.
  Inasa: "I believe that heroes are hot-blooded! Everybody's fighting!! Everybody's fired up!! I love it when things get hot!! This intense battle! Allow me to partake in this hotness!! PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!!"
• Chapter 105: When battling against what initially appears to be the Shiketsu High girl Camie Utsushimi... but ultimately turns out to be Himiko Toga in disguise, Midoriya uses his analytical abilities to deduce that Himiko's Quirk allows her to shapeshift and foils her attempt to fool him by pretending to be Uraraka, as he quickly realizes the fake never used Zero Gravity.
  • The ability of Mei Hatsume's mech supports is shown to absorb the recoil from a strong kick and send that energy out as a second shockwave, instantaneously, it's like being kicked twice. It also protects Midoriya's legs from further recoil damage.
  • Toga's physical skills are impressive, especially considering she has a non-offensive Quirk. As Camie, She hits Deku with a ball, is so fast he barely can keep up with her and she even manages to restrain him.
• In an anime-only segment, Todoroki is challenged by a group of ninja-themed students who work together to counter both his fire and ice. He eventually succeeds by using the terrain to his advantage by setting off an explosion to stun them, then incapacitates them with his ice long enough to hit their sensors.
• In another anime-only segment, a team consisting of Yaoyorozu, Tsu, Kyoka, and Shoji face an all-girl squad led by the hyper-intelligent Saiko Intelli. This clash is full of cerebral awesome:
  • The enemy team systematically disable Kyoka and Shoji's sensory advantage, then trap the U.A. students in a room that is filled with cold air to put Tsu into a state of hibernation. They are only defeated because...
  • Momo figures out their plan and realizes that they intend to force her to use her Quirk to seal off the vents, draining her of her energy and leaving the team defenseless. Motivated by Midoriya's selflessness, she opts for a high-risk attack instead of the strategy that the leader had anticipated: she creates earmuffs for her team and a powerful amp for Kyoka, who unleashes a sound blast that defeats Intelli's unexpecting team.
  • Also worth noting the fact that Kyoka was shot in the left ear at the time, which means she could only use one of her plugs and, thus, only half of her usual power. Didn't stop her from incapacitating an entire squad through a solid concrete wall with her amped heartbeat... hell, she almost incapacitated herself as well, even through her earmuffs.
  • When Kyoka, Shoji, and Tsu leave, Intelli locks them out and makes a last-ditch effort to tag Momo out. However, Momo quickly restrains her hand with handcuffs, and after Shoji breaks the door open, Tsu restrains her other hand. Momo's three teammates declare that they won't leave their teammate behind. Shocked and impressed, Intelli concedes defeat.
• Chapter 107: Kaminari stepping up to save both Bakugo and Kirishima after the two have been captured using his new tech and a special grenade that Bakugo gave him as insurance.
  Kaminari: AIN'T YOU DISSING MY MATES?!
  • After that, none in Class A has been eliminated yet. To add to the awesome is the fact that a majority of the class is already waiting for the rest.
• Chapter 108: Aoyama decides to step up his game, his laser blast gathers the rest of the U.A. class to save him and Iida. All of this comes with the added bonus of the ENTIRE Class A passing the first part of the exam!
  • Koji and Toru get a big chance to shine in battle, especially considering that their Quirks are not of the offensive type. Koji manages to summon a flock of doves so enormous that it would make Alfred Hitchcock proud, which is the distraction that the rest of the Class A students needed to jump in for the attack, aided greatly by Toru using a new move that allows her to refract light inside of her and then intensify it into an extremely bright flash, blinding all other students present and leaving them at the mercy of Class A.
• Chapter 111: The second test challenges the examinees to work together with an intense rescue scenario, made even more chaotic when a group of heroes shows up to play the role of attacking villains. Todoroki ends up butting heads with Inasa over the latter's resentment of Endeavor (and by extension, Todoroki himself). The combination of Todoroki's shaky emotions and Inasa's wind powers cause him to lose control of his flames and accidentally send them directly at Shindo, who is incapacitated nearby. Cue Midoriya showing up just in time to carry Shindou out of the way, before rounding on Todoroki and Inasa to give them what for.
  Midoriya: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!
• Chapter 112: The chapter itself shares its name with Midoriya's epic What the Hell, Hero? moment quoted above, and boils down to the effect of those words on Todoroki and Inasa. Specifically, it causes them to realize how their selfish actions got them into trouble and leads to them combining their Quirks to trap Gang Orca.
  • The chapter revealed that Shindo was Playing Possum the entire time; because of the effects of his own Quirk (Vibrate), his body is already used to being paralyzed and recovers quickly. He manages to take out Gang Orca's henchmen who were going after the civilians. In one fell swoop despite his body still being numb.
  • Contrasting Todoroki and Inasa's butting heads, Shindo and Midoriya are able to quickly collaborate with Shindo using his quirk to knock the mooks around and Midoriya then closing in to deliver finishing blows. This is despite Midoriya technically disrupting Shindo's plan to deliver a surprise attack on Gang Orca by rescuing him.
• Chapter 113:
  • After spending the previous stage of the exam trying to eliminate each other, all the students join together in this chapter to defend the civilians and fight of Gang Orca's men. It's also shown that Bakugo, Kirishima, and Kaminari spent the entire stage focusing on saving civilians. Them saving the last batch of civilians is what actually ends the stage of the exam.
  • After the exam is over, Gang Orca admits that between the fire prison Todoroki and Inasa created, and Midoriya's surprise attack, he doesn't think he would have actually been able to continue the fight, even without a power-limiter.
• Chapter 114:
  • The results of the exam: Even though Bakugo and Todoroki did not pass it was nice to see the rest of the class make the cut. Plus, a Hope Spot: since Bakugo and Todoroki did pass the first half, they get a second chance; take a special course, pass the make-up test, they get their licenses.
  • Special mention should go to Yaoyorozu. The second phase gives each examinee 100 points, detracting points for each mistake without any opportunities to recoup those losses. While the passing score is 50 points and not many of the members of class got above 80 points, Yaoyorozu got a score of 94, a virtually perfect performance. No wonder Jiro's shocked upon seeing it.

Internship Arc (Chapters 121-162, Episodes 62-78)

• Chapter 119: One For All: 8%.
• Chapter 120: Bakugo beating Midoriya, in both the fight between them and the popularity contest.
• Chapter 122: The Top Three of the U.A.'s 3rd Year Students make their first appearance! Including one who happened to be All Might's potential successor before Midoriya!
• Chapter 123: Mirio Togata, of the U.A's Big Three, shows off his Quirk and skills against all of Class 1-A with exception of Bakugo and Todoroki to prove why he's comparable to even the Pros! In just 5 seconds, he takes out HALF OF THEM! All while yelling "POWER!" like he's Terry Crews.
• Chapter 124:
  • Despite Midoriya catching Mirio's attention by attempting to counter him, Mirio countered his counterattack because he trained for that in case his enemies would do so. Then Mirio takes out the remaining Class 1-A with no scratch on him whatsoever.
  • Mirio's Quirk: Permeation. Despite the harsh drawbacks to his Quirk on intangibility, he eventually made it work into Difficult, but Awesome by his own natural talent.
  • Let's give props to Mirio to where he started from. Unlike Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki, who are gifted with powerful Quirks, Mirio started from the bottom and eventually worked his way up to the top.
  • Mirio acknowledging Midoriya's potential, and even thought about him getting interned by "Sir". Gran Torino might also be thinking the same thing, and this is the guy who happened to be All Might's former sidekick.
• Chapter 127: Under Mirio's recommendation, Deku goes to meet "Sir": Sir Nighteye, the former sidekick to All Might himself. Nighteye challenges Deku to take from his hand the stamp he needs to sign the internship contract. Deku tries his damnedest, using moves that make Nighteye think of Gran Torino. Nevertheless, using his own Quirk (Foresight) Nighteye avoids every move and denies him the stamp. But, after the test, Nighteye notices something that forces him to reconsider. Throughout the entire frenetic test, Deku had taken great pains not to damage a single piece of the massive All Might memorabilia collection in Nighteye's office; Deku had been holding back because he knew what they meant for Nighteye, and yet he still managed to do as well as he did; Nighteye changes his mind and lets Deku sign-on.
  • Pay attention: When he realizes the insane lengths Midoriya went to to protect the All Might memorabilia while trying to get the stamp, Night-Eye finally does what Mirio told Midoriya he had to get him to do in order to get the internship: laugh. A tiny one, but it was clear as day.
• Chapter 129: Eri is clearly terrified of returning to Overhaul, but runs back to keep him from killing Izuku and Mirio. It's even more heroic when you learn what she's going back to.
• Chapter 133: Kirishima chases a low-level thug into a dead end. Driven into a corner, the criminal injects himself with the "Trigger" drug, which combines with his Quirk to make dozens of long blades project from his body, and they prove to be sharp enough to cut through even Kirishima's hardened skin. Kirishima responds by showing off the benefits of his recent Quirk training, which lets him push his Super-Toughness to a whole new level and shatter the thug's blades, giving himself an even more badass appearance in the process.
  • RED RIOT: UNBREAKABLE.
• In Chapter 138, we get a look at the Quirk of the 9th nationally ranked hero, Ryukyu, who Ochaco and Tsuyu are interning with. She can transform into a freaking DRAGON. Not only that but a western one with huge wings and everything.
  • This needs repeating. The world of My Hero Academia has a DRAGON as one of its top-tier heroes.
  • And not just any dragon — one that looks like a Blue-Eyes White Dragon!
• In Chapter 139, after being dropped into a room with three Expendables, Suneater encourages the other heroes to continue on ahead because he can handle them by himself. Fatgum, knowing that Suneater isn't the sort to boast about himself, agrees to put his faith in Suneater's abilities. Amajiki then spends the next two chapters proving that faith wasn't misplaced.
• Chapter 143: Despite being Blown into a wall by Rappa last chapter Kirishima swallows his fear and gets between him and Fatgum tanking each blow with sheer grit alone, giving Fat the opening he needed to launch his finishing blow.
  Kirishima: (thinking) If I crack, then I'll harden again! Stay strong! Protect others! Even if it means your life!
  ...
  Fatgum (To Tengai and Rappa): There's just one reason you're gonna lose! Because all of us, me included, underestimated him!! Get a taste of the manly heart of the hero called Red Riot and his chivalrous spirit!
• In Chapter 144, In a flashback, we see that Mina Ashido once met Gigantomachia and lied to him about the location of a hero agency. Let that sink in; she was the first of Class 1A to even see a League of Villains member, and it was second most dangerous one, and she survived!
• Chapter 145 flashes back to a low point in Kirishima's life. It was then he saw something: a recorded interview with an older hero named Crimson Riot. Hearing his words inspired him to adopt a spirit of chivalry, to live without regrets. From then on, Kirishima vows not to hesitate again: to face danger head-on. This is what pushes him to once again pursue U.A., and he pulled it off (Rewatch Bonus: Go back to the entrance exam results when it showed Uraraka qualifying third. Kirishima was second, behind only Bakugo.). Now, it's thanks to his Heroic Resolve that Fatgum has the opening he needs to break through the barrier and defeat Rappa.
• In Chapter 146, For his gutsy actions, Kirishima gets Rappa's respect, to the point where he breaks rank and leads Fat to medical supplies to help tend to Kirishima's wounds and even explained some of Chisaki's power.
• In Chapter 150, after catching up to Overhaul, Mirio is ambushed by the remaining two Bullets. One of them uses his Quirk to disorient Mirio physically while the other attacks him psychologically by making him confront the fact that he let Chisaki take Eri back when they met before. But Mirio is the sort of person who acknowledges and overcomes his weaknesses, and his own Quirk subjects him to disorienting sensations as it is, so he powers through and counters with his Phantom Menace technique.
  • After knocking out the Bullets, he immediately launches an attack on Chisaki and Chronostasis. He appears next to Chisaki so suddenly that he forces the other man to dodge away from his attack while simultaneously demonstrating incredible control of his Quirk by launching a kick that phases harmlessly through Eri and impacts only Chronostasis. This gives him the chance to take Eri from the latter's grasp and get some distance, where he proclaims that he'll be her hero.
  • He continues pushing the limit the next chapter by not only skillfully turning the parts of his body that are coming under attack intangible, but also doing so while protecting Eri so that she isn't hurt by Chisaki or the others. Even when the entire floor is reconstructed to be a spike trap of stones, he manages to hold her up while also phasing through fatal damage.
• Just how awesome Mirio is coming to a head in Chapter 152. The previous two chapters had been titled "Mirio Togata" and "Mirio Togata!!" This one (and the corresponding Episode 74) is titled "Lemillion" to let you know right off the bat that his true heroism is going to shine. He does it by Taking the Bullet for Eri, letting himself get hit by a perfected Quirk-destroying bullet. And then, barely missing a beat, he just keeps laying into Overhaul using nothing but the physical conditioning and foresight he trained for to help him master his Quirk in the first place. He ends up taking hits without the ability to phase through Overhaul's attacks, but he continues to fight and protect Eri for five whole minutes before getting badly wounded, buying just enough time for Izuku to smash his way into the room. While still under the effect of an intoxication Quirk. If there was ever a question of whether someone could truly be a hero while Quirkless, Mirio just proved it with a resounding yes.
  Overhaul: Ironic, isn't it? You came here to save this girl, and it's her Quirk that will end everything you've come to rely on! YOU'RE POWERLESS!!
  Mirio: No! I am not powerless! I AM STILL LEMILLION!!
• Say what you will about Overhaul but you have to hand it to him, the use of his Quirk to fuse himself with his ally into a One-Winged Angel form is pretty incredible.
• Chapter 154: One For All 20%.
  Deku: I WILL BEND THE FUTURE!!
  • Even though Mirio has seemingly lost his Quirk for good^note The Quirk that removes others is Eri's after all, so if she makes it out, he's got a chance, the level of sheer, unequivocal beatdown he put on Chisaki is haunting the yakuza even though his victory over him is sealed. He keeps speaking directly towards Mirio like the young man were his archnemesis, constantly looking back his way as though half-expecting him to get back up and resume the beating, trying frantically to, if even not retrieve Eri, kill Mirio right away. Sir Nighteye makes no qualms in pointing out just how terrified of Lemillion Overhaul had to be in order to use one of his incredibly-limited in supply completed Quirk-disabling bullets on him.
• Chapter 155: Just as all hope seemed lost with only Deku determined to save and change the future that Nighteye visioned, Team Ryukyu arrives just in time to help and change the tides of the fight to the heroes favor.
• Chapter 156: After everything she's been through, being told she's cursed, blamed for her own suffering, and exploited for a power she can't even control, the determination and sacrifices of the heroes finally break through Eri's despair. When Chisaki snatches her out of Deku's reach to try to carry her away from the battle, she harnesses her own Quirk for the first time in order to undo his One-Winged Angel fusion and uses Mirio's cape to reach Deku. After all the torture she's suffered at Chisaki's hands, she's fighting back.
• Chapter 157: Eri has healed Deku's injuries with her rewinding Quirk. However, since she has no control over it, she could accidentally kill Deku by rewinding him too far. And Chisaki is bearing down on both of them with a monstrous stone creation he made using his Quirk. What is Deku's solution? He intentionally uses Eri's Rewinding to his advantage, knowing that it can heal all the wounds he accumulates, and...
  Izuku Midoriya: Eri... will you lend me your power?
  • ONE FOR ALL: FULL COWL — 100%
• In Chapter 158, Overhaul gives "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Deku. Overhaul is himself a humongous Eldritch Abomination and the city is terrified. In response, Deku sends Overhaul flying high into the sky with one kick!!! Even Toga is amazed. Now in his One For All: Full Cowl 100% Mode, Deku proceeds to Speed Blitz Overhaul in midair, followed up with a massive barrage of Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs that blows away most of the villain's added mass. He then punches Overhaul so hard in the face that his mask comes off... What is remarkable is that this whole time, little Eri is clinging onto Deku's back with only Mirio's superhero cape securing her to Deku. Which is itself an awesome way of all three of them fighting back against Overhaul.
  • The anime's depiction of the aforementioned Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs also deserves special mention. Deku zooms above Overhaul, pulls his fist back, and then just seems to vibrate for a second while emitting a flash without seemingly moving. Suddenly, the entire sky is covered with huge fists that cascade down on Overhaul, giving the impression that Deku punched at or near the speed of light. The final punch to Overhaul's face also appears to be so fierce that the villain's remaining "meat mass" instantly calcifies and crumbles. And it should go without saying that the entire sequence features some of the finest quality art and animation of the series to date.
  • The anime also adds in All For One's theme during the aforementioned scene, perfectly capturing Overhaul's feelings of fear and despair as he's faced with Deku using One For All at 100%.
  • An overlooked moment from the same chapter/episode. Ryukyu tells Uraraka to get Nighteye to an ambulance. That means using Zero Gravity on Nighteye and herself to fly out of the hole. Even knowing how much using her Quirk on herself nauseates her, you can see her face as she holds her breath. She's obviously doing everything she can to keep her composure while performing this simple but crucial job.
• Deku finally defeats Overhaul in a one-on-one duel. Nighteye had predicted Deku's death at the hands of Overhaul, but Deku practically stomped on all of his own Death Flags.
  • Can we take a moment to appreciate that Deku CHANGED THE FUTURE with nothing but his fists, his will and an abused, scared little girl desperately clinging to her hero? This qualifies as both Heartwarming and Awesome.
• Once Deku achieves One for All: 100%, the fight with Overhaul is essentially over. Despite achieving a terrifying One-Winged Angel form, Overhaul is completely overpowered by Deku in moments. Deku's blows tear apart Overhaul's body, and is so fast that Overhaul can't lay a finger on him. Overhaul's Quirk, once frightently powerful that essentially gave him a Touch of Death, is completely useless against Deku's overwhelming might. Overhaul's Quirk merely buys him time to reform his body, only for Deku to tear it apart again. Deku is only able to do this right now because Eri's Quirk is rewinding all the backlash that would've left him like after his fight with Muscular, but what's happening now can easily be seen as a very exciting taste of Deku's full potential. If this is what Deku's going to be like when he finally masters One For All, two words spring to mind: HOLY SHIT!
  • Toga, Blood Knightess supreme, the definition of In Love with Your Carnage, has only this to say in reply:
    Toga: "Dang, Izuku. Nice."
• Chapter 160 gives us a spotlight chapter for the League of Villains, and it shows how dangerously effective they can be. Gaining info on the vehicle carrying a recently-incarcerated Overhaul from Toga and Twice, a second group of the League composed of Shigaraki, Dabi, Mr. Compress, and Spinner ambush it on the highway in a scene that looks like something straight out of an action film. Here are the highlights
  • Shigaraki jumping on the escort car.
  • Mr. Compress throwing miniaturized boulders under the escort cop car to launch it off balance and get Shigaraki onto the prison van from the escort car while the aftermath of said launch causes the other escort vehicles to spiral out of control.
  • Dabi taking on Sand Hero Snatch one-on-one and burning away all of his attacks before Snatch gets trapped inside one of Compress's balls (along with the fire Dabi made, burning him to death).
  • Shigaraki using Compress’ launch to land on the prison van, bursting his hand through the windshield and disintegrating the driver.
  • Spinner proves himself to be quite the Badass Driver.
  • All of this is capped off in the end by Shigaraki and Mr.Compress mutilating Overhaul by removing his arms through their own Quirks, and stealing the perfected drugs that he made, all while boasting how everything he did was for naught and that the League of Villains will be the next "Overlords" that Overhaul could only dream of being, leaving Overhaul to scream in rage.
• In Chapter 161, the heroes are amazed that despite Overhaul's monster rampage and destruction of four houses, there were no casualties. Only three civilians received light scratches. Nejire Hado then reveals that half of it was thanks to Deku. He had blasted Overhaul into the sky and resolved the fight in the air to minimize collateral damage.
• Chapter 162 Despite having just lost both his Quirk and his mentor, Mirio continues being the ever-smiling optimist we've come to know him as, doing exercises in his hospital bed. His reason? He knows Nighteye wouldn't want him feeling down, not to mention his last Foresight predicted that he'd become a splendid hero.
  • Mirio's optimism combined with the fact that he continued protecting Eri even without a Quirk, compared to his own dejection and the fact he needed Eri's help, makes Deku fully realize why Nighteye wanted Mirio to be the successor, and starts to offer to transfer his power to Mirio. The kid's ready to give up the dream he finally has within his grasp, to help his senior. And then Mirio one-ups him once again by refusing before Deku could even finish making the offer, reasoning that all that would achieve is putting Deku into his shoes.

Hero License Course Arc (Chapters 163-168, Episode 79-80)

• Because of their behavior during the exam, Todoroki and Bakugo, along with Inasa Yoarashi have to survive a special trial along with Camie Utsushimi, the genuine article who as it turns out got swapped out during the actual exam thanks to Toga's scheming and needs to make up as well. Their trial: tame the Precious Brats of Masegaki, a class full of precocious, misbehaving Quirk-powered brats. The point: they can't muscle their way out of this, and they have to think fast. So they take on the brats' problems one by one. A bunch of them decide to attack. The teens No-Sell the assault and figure out who's calling the shots. While Yoarashi and Todoroki cooperate and appease most of the brats with an ice slide, Bakugo confronts the "boss" and (crossing with Heartwarming Moments) opens up that he shouldn't look down on people. It works. The brats listen to the teens and even chip in to clean up, helped along with encouraging hints. Gang Orca finally compliments them: now they get it.
• Chapter 167 has hinted that Endeavor might be starting to rethink his own behavior, but that's not the awesome moment. When confronted with his father's uncharacteristic kindness, Todoroki rejects it. Considering that he's lived with his father's violent abuse all his life, and that Endeavor didn't offer anything but an expression of pride that, from Todoroki's perspective, is probably either hollow or insulting, it was quietly impressive to see him stand up for himself. It's a good reminder that after everything he's been through, Todoroki doesn't owe Endeavor anything, least of all his forgiveness.

Culture Festival Arc (Chapters 169-183, Episodes 81-86)

• 169: Gentle's debut sees him getting jumped by five heroes as he robs a store for one of his videos. Cue him having an "Oh, Crap!" Smile, cutting the feed... and him having handed the heroes their asses when we next see him.
• In 172, we get to see some of the non-combat based awesome things for several characters. Ashido is a killer dancer, Jiro is apparently an amazing singer, Tokoyami is a masterful guitarist and Kaminari is no slouch at it, either. It even turns out Bakugo is a practiced drummer. Same chapter, Midoriya takes his next level in badass; now that he knows how to use One For All at 20% safely by using it only for brief periods, he can boost himself and add concussive wind blasts to his attacks: using them either directly or to maneuver by Recoil Boost. Three chapters later, Hatsume gives him gloves that let him adapt his Delaware Smash technique to fire air bullets; he can now attack at range: something that had been bothering him since the Overhaul fight.
  • Ashido is also good at teaching her dancing skills.
• 174 has All Might, in his unpowered form, casually catch a what appears to be a giant-sized Golden Snitch that was flying at him and Deku from behind without turning around.
• 175: Midoriya being able to guess Gentle's plan and identity just from hearing his voice and that he bought some fancy tea. Awesomeness by Analysis indeed!
  • Credit needs to be given to Gentle as well for figuring out that Midoriya was a U.A. student due to mentioning having a classmate who shares the same fancy tea.
• 176: Gentle repels Deku coming at him full throttle simply by turning the air into an elastic substance.
  • Deku manages to recover from Gentle's attack in midair and fire a blast of pressurized wind at him, within just a few hours of breaking in his upgraded gloves. He then uses the opening to leap off a nearby telephone pole and wrestle Gentle into a building that was under construction.
  • The fact that Deku is starting to build a reputation from his feats going as far as back as the Sports Festival. When Gentle and La Brava recognized Deku as "that crazy kid who purposely broke his arms fighting", they have a freakout and start to take him more seriously. Think about it. Deku is starting to become Nightmare Fuel for low-scale villains, and he's still a hero in training!
• 177: Deku lifting a steel support beam off of himself with one arm while using the other to launch an attack on Gentle. "How tenacious!" indeed. That said, credit has to go to Gentle for an improvised gambit using said beam, bluffing that he'd drop it on a civilian and knowing well that Deku would delay himself to save the civilian.
• 178: Deku rapidly calculating the locations of Gentle's invisible air trampolines, then rebounding an air bullet off of one so that it hits Gentle from behind, giving him an opening to pin Gentle and La Brava to the ground.
  • The reveal of La Brava's Quirk, "Love". After a flashback showing just how much it means to her to have someone who accepts her feelings, her Quirk channels her love for Gentle into a massive power-up, giving him the strength to throw Deku off of them.
  • Gentle knocks Deku unconscious with just one karate chop on his neck and defeats him. Or so it seems. Deku actually managed to tank Gentle's blow and is ready to shoot him.
    Gentle (To an unconscious Deku): Love always wins in the end.
    Deku: I have fought lots of people faster and stronger than you. I HAVEN'T LOST YET!!
• Chapter 179 is a series of spectacular exchanges between Midoriya and Gentle as they clash ferociously. As Midoriya has said, he's been frequently shown to fight opponents on a much higher level than himself. This is a rare occasion where we get to see him fighting an opponent on, or at least close to, his own level, showing just how far he's evolved since the beginning of the series.
  • Gentle's flashbacks also indicate that he's come a long way since his days as an aspiring hero. Apparently, villainy suits him pretty well.
• Chapter 180: The Deku vs Gentle finale counts as one. Gentle acknowledges Deku as the strongest opponent he has ever fought. He even throws away his reputation and style to go all out, as a mark of respect towards Deku.
  • A massive moment for Gentle, as Izuku acknowledges him as the "toughest opponent he has ever fought" up to that point. Let that sink in for a moment and recall what kind of monsters Izuku has traded blows with in the past, yet Gentle proved himself to be a notch above all of them from Izuku's perspective in terms of a challenge: mainly because all the other villains Izuku had fought had been genuine villains; Gentle was different, or rather, he was no different at all; Midoriya admits later that, had things turned out differently, he could've been in Gentle's position. Mad respect from the "madman" himself for Gentle.
  • Gentle silently admits that Deku succeeded in thwarting his plans and protecting U.A. and the festival.
  • Gentle's last plan? It's not a last-ditch attempt to fight Deku at all... no, it's a ploy to keep La Brava from punishment. Gentle manifests the last vestige of La Brava's power-up and hurls Deku away. Sure, it doesn't work, but Deku sympathizes with Gentle so much that he ends up helping him out!
  • This is also Izuku's second victory against a villain where he didn't have to injure himself in any way to win and the first time he was able to do so alone.
• Chapter 182/Episode 86: One that has nothing to do with combat in the form of the concert: the main reason Midoriya went to the trouble of engaging Gentle to begin with. All of 1A's work pays off with an incredible show of music and spectacle that wows the crowd and wins over even its most spiteful critics. More importantly, it does something that even defeating Overhaul and rescuing his victims couldn't do: it lets Eri smile.
  • Then gloriously performed in the anime with the Awesome Music, Hero too. The manga, naturally, couldn't convey music and didn't include any lyrics, leaving it up to the reader to imagine how good it was. The anime lives up to it; fittingly, the lyrics are about how being a hero isn't just about being strong and winning against bad guys. It's also about standing up for your beliefs, making others smile through your own positivity and kind actions, and following dreams and goals that you know will make you happy, which can apply to several characters beyond the ones featured in the story.
    • It achieves the goal of finally saving Eri: if her rescue from the Shie Hassaikai was the first half of a milestone in her life to give her a new, hopeful start, the other half was for her to experience real joy and happiness at a festival promoting optimism and passionate talent, which her two heroes helped with making happen. This as a whole allows her to emotionally move that much further away from Overhaul's cruel influence, which is shown in the anime as a billowing shadow that parts with Eri cheerfully raising her arms towards the end of the song and breaking out in a huge, joyous smile.
    • The song is also a heartfelt sendoff for All Might, Sir Nighteye, and Mirio, all of whom believed in those same principles and keep on doing so even when they had their heroic careers cut short.
    • After 1A's song-and-dance, you can see the tears of joy in Midoriya's eyes when Eri is excitedly recounting the performance, still with that great big smile. Inviting her to the festival and fighting Gentle to protect it; this is where it all paid off for him.
    • A definite moment for Jiro, and the song applies to her as well. During the performance, we see a flashback to when she chose being a hero over being a musician; surprisingly, her parents accepted her decision by noting one big thing; both heroes and musicians look to bring joy to people, and Jiro finally understands that she doesn't have to choose between heroism and music. Using her music to make people smile is heroic in itself and can be a part of her hero identity just like her Quirk. The end result: her passionate performance spurs everyone on, contributing to its success.
    • The class cranked things up in the latter half in the performance, surprising the reader/viewer with additional elements such as birds being directed by Koda to manipulate the lights, dancing on the ice bridges produced by Todoroki, and Uraraka being swung around by Tsu so she can touch some of audience below with Zero Gravity and let them float in the air.^note The finale reveals they're safely tethered by Sero's Tape.

Pro Hero Arc (Chapter 184-192, Episodes 87-90)

• Everything about Hawks' Quirk "Fierce Wings". He is able to separate his wings into individual feathers and have complete control over each one. 186 shows him stop crimes and help people all while holding a conversation with Endeavor, and 187 has him rescue 76 civilians with ease.
• Endeavor's entire fight against the High-End Nomu would definitely qualify, especially as it's deliberately set up as a Call-Back to the All Might vs. All for One fight.
  • Endeavor starts strong as he hits the High End with everything, he's got in an attempt to incapacitate the creature as quickly as possible. Were it not for Super Regeneration, Endeavor would've won easily.
  • After getting beaten on by High-End to the point where he got a scar and can't even move his body, Endeavor still keeps fighting, propelling himself with nothing but the power of his flames. Hawks provides safe evacuation for civilians in the building he and Endeavor were in and some backup against the High-End Nomu, but it's still Endeavor's fight.
  • The end of the fight is also worth mentioning; Despite being half-blind and essentially running on pure adrenaline, Endeavor still has enough strength to propel himself and High-End upwards (with the help of Hawks' feathers) to the sky away from the public and pulls off his strongest move to completely incinerate him from the inside out. He tried this same move before only for High-End to easily dodge and counter, Endeavor made sure he wouldn't be able to dodge it this time. Bonus points for shouting U.A.'s motto of "Plus Ultra", a saying he's always hated, before doing so and striking the same pose as All Might did in the aftermath of his Kamino battle with All For One. His son Shoto realizes as he does this that this represents a turning point in his father, thus the title of the chapter/episode: "His Start", as in a new beginning for Endeavor.
  • Points to High-End, who showed that the Nomus have come a long way from the mindless drones they were before. It's capable of speech, comprised of multiple Quirks, and is intelligent enough to skillfully dodge Endeavor's fatal blows to its head and mount a counter-attack.
    • Hood, the High-End in question, almost killed Endeavor. It's a damn miracle that Enji Todoroki survived the duel, let alone won the fight. If that second Prominence Burn didn't work, it was over for Hero Society. Losing two Number #1 Heroes one after another would've been a death blow to public morale and faith in the system.

Joint Training Arc (Chapter 193-217, Episodes 91-102)

• Chapter 193 deals with All For One in his early days.
  • Midoriya has a dream where he meets the previous users of One For All. We clearly see their faces for the first time. Midoriya also watches the memory of the first user of One For All confronting All For One.
  • At that time the world was in chaos and All For One thought he could bring order by uniting people under him. He traded Quirks extensively in exchange for people's loyalty to him. Those who didn't cooperate were killed. Naturally, his brother was revolted.
  • After the Flashback ends, the first user of One For All speaks to Deku. He tells Deku he wanted to show a bit more of the past. The brother takes Deku's hand and assures him that he's not alone.
  • Midoriya is implied to be the first One For All user to unlock the ability to interact with his deceased predecessors of the Quirk.
• Chapter 195 has the first battle of the Joint Training exercise begin. Kirishima, Tsuyu, Kaminari, Koda, and Shinso vs Ibara, Jurota, Hiryu, and Kosei. Right off the bat, we have a number of awesome moments.
  • Class 1-B immediately take the initiative of the fight. Using Ibara as a lure Jurota and Kosei charges into the fight, using Jurota's amazing senses to pinpoint their location, to take on all five members of Class 1-A's team alone and do surprisingly well. Jurota flooring both Tsu and Kirishima in a surprise attack and Kosei trapping Koda in a soundproof box to prevent him from calling animals to help in an excellent display of how much his Quirk has developed since he was last seen using it in the Sports Festival.
  • The chapter also goes into a little bit more with Shinso, mainly his new costume which adds a mask and bandages like Aizawa. During Jurota and Kosei's ambush, we see the use for the mask, mimicking other voices, which allows him to use his brainwashing Quirk easily. He completely halts Jurota with this and brings the ambush to a sudden stop.
• Chapter 196:
  • The first joint training battle continues and it almost entirely serves as an example of how powerful Jurota Shishida is. After being woken up from his brainwashing by Kosei he proceeds to No-Sell a direct attack from Kaminari, someone who has incapacitated entire groups of people with his Quirk before and strikes him so hard he goes flying into a wall. When Kirishima and Koda try to stop his pursuit of Tsu, Jurota transforms back into his normal form to dodge their attacks before taking both of them out of the fight for good. Throwing Kirishima straight into the air, and directly towards the waiting Ibara, while completely locking down Koda with sheer strength and ferrying him straight to their team's prison cage.
  • The chapter isn't without wins for Class 1-A however. Tsuyu takes advantage of Kaminari's attacks separating the two attackers to grab Kosei and take him straight to their prison in a very similar way to Jurota's capture of Koda.
  • After the ambush, Kaminari provides the much-needed tools for their team to retaliate by revealing he attached a Point-and-Shooter disc to Jurota during the attack and can now track his exact location with his visor.
• With Chapter 197 comes victory for 1-A and the end of the first joint training battle, in a climax full of awesome moments.
  • Resident class idiot Kaminari ends up displaying some incredible tactical thinking. Knowing the enemy team see him as the biggest threat, he takes advantage of the fact that Tsuyu's mucus is disguising his scent from Jurota and lets Ibara capture him in order to get close enough to try and take out Jurota with the point-and-shooter disc still attached to him. When that part of the plan fails, Kaminari still comes out on top as his distraction allows his teammates to get in close and grant Shinso the opportunity to enthrall Ibara with his power and take out arguably the biggest threat to their team.
  • Rin's quick thinking ends up saving Jurota from Kaminari's attempt to electrocute him. With pinpoint accuracy he blasts Kaminari's disk off Jurota's costume to redirect the lightning and proceeds to take charge when everything goes to hell for class 1-B's team, immediately attempting to wake Ibara from her mind control and issuing a constant stream of orders to his remaining teammate.
  • Unfortunately for Rin and Class 1-B, Shinso's mere presence alone proves to be far too much of a hindrance to their teamwork. Unable to respond to Rin's commands or offer insight on where the enemy is due to risk of being mind-controlled, Jurota is forced to ignore Rin and go straight for Shinso. A plan which backfires spectacularly when Shinso's training with the capture cloth allows him to stay in the fight long enough for Tsu to throw Rin straight at Jurota's head with enough force to take them both out of the fight. Victory for 1-A.
• Chapter 201:
  • Class 1-B's victory over 1-A proves that the time they spent training offscreen wasn't for nothing. Being a group of Ensemble Dark Horses that often get ignored and forgotten, seeing them come out on top is very satisfying to their fans. Made especially awesome in that the 1-B team did not have a single one of their members captured.
  • Komori deserves a special mention. Appearing to be a mere Joke Character at first, with her Quirk seeming more like an annoying hindrance, she manages to singlehandedly take out one of the most powerful students in Class 1-A, Tokoyami, with one move and saves herself as well as Kuroiro from capture. Who knew that being able to grow mushrooms on any surface nearby included inside a person's throat.
• Chapter 203:
  • For those who were worried that Endeavor was Easily Forgiven for being a spectacularly shitty dad, the opening of the chapter shows that Shoto's been completely ignoring his attempts to contact him.
  • Honenuki finally gets a chance to demonstrate why he got into UA with recommendations. He melts Todoroki's ice wall, essentially a small glacier, in a matter of seconds, giving himself and his teammates an overwhelming advantage and almost capturing Iida.
  • Later on, Tetsutetsu barrels his way through Todoroki's ice barrier (with the help of Pony's projectiles) and knocks him through a pipe. It goes to show that in spite of all the raw power he has at his disposal, Todoroki is still no match for the Dumb Muscle in close combat.
• Chapter 204: Iida unveils his new move, Recipro Turbo. His brother recommended Iida to pull out his mufflers (an excruciating process) and train harder so that a stronger, more efficient set of mufflers would grow. For ten minutes, Iida is given Super-Speed and Deku deems it to be on par with Gran Torino.
• Chapter 205:
  • At the end of the previous chapter, Todoroki had decided to listen to Endeavor's advice about going 'Plus Ultra' with his flames. Unfortunately for him, Tetsutetsu manages to tank everything thrown at him and ultimately come out on top against one of 1-A's most powerful Quirks. Granted, Todoroki was immobilised by Juzo and taken out with a metal beam to the back of the head before his final desperate attack, but it doesn't change the fact that Tetsutetsu went hand-to-hand against a bloke burning so hot the effect was felt throughout the arena, began melting the cameras and tiring out the user more than anything previously had, and still managed to match him blow-for-blow. Turns out Tetsutetsu had trained himself to be heat-tolerant by literally baking himself in an oven. Bad Quirk match-ups were mentioned all the way back in the Sports Festival arc, but it seems we might have finally found one where Shoto ends up with the disadvantage; Tetsutetsu can tolerate cold and heat.
  • The sheer tenacity shown by Juzo Honenuki. It's been shown that he's more of a tactical combatant than a front-line fighter, yet after taking a direct hit to the head from Iida, who is currently moving at speeds never before seen from him, he's stubborn enough to pull one last trick with the thought that even though he 'failed', his allies might not have to suffer from his mistake. With the help from Tetsutetsu and the knowledge that if he passes out then everything he's softened will revert to its previous state, his last trick incapacitates Iida, burying him beneath a steel tower before succumbing to unconsciousness.
• Chapter 206: Pony singlehandedly manages to send Ojiro to jail and keep herself and her unconscious teammates out of Shoji's reach, thus running down the time limit, ensuring a tie instead of a loss, and showing that stalling for time while staying out of opponent's reach can be a viable strategy.
• Chapter 207:
  • Setsuna showcases from the get-go why she got into U.A. through recommendations, displaying a Quirk (Lizard Tail Splitter) that's perfect for scouting, spying and distracting (and we've yet to see the offensive capabilities of her Quirk) which, combined with some brilliant strategics from her, her team takes the 1-A team by surprise with an ambush, putting the 1-A team at an immediate disadvantage.
  • By the end of the chapter, it looks like Kyoka's about to be taken out of commission by Togaru, when out of nowhere, Bakugo jumps in front of her and blasts Togaru away. Throughout the whole chapter, it looked like Bakugo was doing what he usually does, just charging straight in without a care for who's with him because he believes he can handle things mostly by himself and just needs simple support from his teammates, but by jumping in front of Kyoka to save her, Bakugo, for the first time, displays two things he had been lacking since the beginning of the story: proper teamwork, and going out of his way to save someone else. Character Development in spades.
• Chapter 208:
  • The Badass Boast Bakugo delivers when giving chase to the opposing team really shows how far he's advanced in working with others, especially when compared to his previous declaration at the sports festival.
    Bakugo: I've decided! We're gonna win this match with a perfect victory! 4-0, with everyone unscathed! That's the only kind of victory there is for the strongest guys out there!
  • The coordination team 1-A shows throughout the fight is phenomenal. When the rest of team 1-B retreats in an effort to regroup after their initial ambush attempt failed, Bakugo immediately gives chase. Awase tries to cover the retreat by welding Bakugo in place, only for Sato to immediately free him. Awase then covers himself in solid steel plates in an effort to tank Bakugo's explosions, only for the other boy to bypass him entirely, leaving Awase open to a sonic attack and capture by Jiro and Sero. Dazed and disorganized, Bondo and Kamakiri are swiftly dealt with while Tokage is forced to watch on helplessly. When she tries to reassemble herself to assist her teammates we learn that Sero anticipated her actions and the limitations of her Quirk, and attached one of Bakugo's grenades to one of her detached segments. The explosion it produces is all the opportunity Bakugo needs to take her down. Class A wins 4-0, a completely overwhelming victory.
  • What makes their victory especially awesome is that their team 1-A's strategizing wasn't particularly superior to that of team 1-B, but their teamwork was just so perfect that team 1-B just couldn't match up.
• Chapter 210:
  • After 3 years and 180 chapters of being the Butt-Monkey, we finally get to see the return of Monoma as a formidable opponent and it is glorious.
  • Both Monoma and Midoriya guess each other's strategies accurately. Monoma taunts Midoriya, but the latter does not take the bait, suspecting that Monoma may brainwash him.
• Chapter 211:
  • Upon noticing that Midoriya is in trouble, Uraraka immediately rushes in to help him.
  • Carrying on from the previous chapter, Monoma continues to showcase his competency as a hero in training, managing to nimbly dodge the rampaging effects on an out of control One For All.
  • While horrific (and painful) for the characters, it's quite an awesome spectacle to see Midoriya's new tentacle goo ability rampage around and cause destruction.
• Chapter 212: Uraraka and Shinso's combined efforts of stopping the rampaging Deku succeeds in a grand display of teamwork, improvisation, and trust between them, two complete strangers, in the heat of the moment.
• Chapter 213: Daigoro Banjo, the fifth user of One For All, explains to Deku that One For All doesn't just empower his body; the Quirk also carries with it all of the previous holders' Quirks. Before it was passed on to Deku, One For All was only used to empower the user's physical body, but now it's grown strong enough to grant him access to six Quirks that are stronger than their previous holders in addition to the raw power that surpasses All Might's.
  • Midoriya used to be Quirkless and had always wanted a Quirk. Now in a world where the norm is One Person, One Power, Midoriya has a total of SEVEN super-strong Quirks and he has the potential to wield them all without suffering from Quirk overload. Deku, after everything he has endured and suffered in life, finally struck the Karmic Jackpot at last.
    • Even better, remember his fight with Overhaul, when he managed to use One For All at 100% thanks to Eri. That was with just the 'Power Stockpiling' part of One For All. Before he was able to tap into the other Quirks. That fight is no longer even close to his true potential.
• Chapter 214: Surprisingly, Mineta is putting a solid fight with three opponents stronger than him. Mineta uses Mina's Quirk to increase his speed and his sticky balls to jump around like Gran Torino, holding Shoda, Yanagi, and Kodai at bay. Monoma copies One For All but is defeated by Ochaco. Deku decides to go Quirkless against Shinso out of fear that One For All might rampage. At the last moment, he remembers what the bald user had told him. Deku activates Black Whip and this time the new Quirk obeys him. The last panel with Deku using Black Whip looks badass. Later revealed that Deku needs a higher percentage of One For All to naturally control Black Whip.
  • Despite his attempt ultimately ending in failure, Monoma's internal monologue during his attempt to steal One For All is pretty badass.
    Monoma: I can't get stronger on my own. I don't possess the right stuff to be the main character. I can't walk down that straight, noble path like you people. Still, I don't resent what I've been given. Because it's necessary to pull off these kinds of masterful performances — The ones in which the supporting role upstages the lead!"
• Chapter 215 ends with victory for Class 1-A, 4-0 with each team member contributing to the victory.
  • Props to Monoma as well for just how far ahead he planned. He has a limit to how many copied Quirks he can store, and he keeps three pocket watches to track how long he uses each. Based on this, you'd think his limit is three stored Quirks, as he has a pocket watch for each. However, you'd be wrong. He can actually store at least four and only keeps three pocket watches as a way to mislead opponents about his limits. That's an incredible amount of forethought and planning to put into a costume design that most enemies wouldn't read into that much. Not only that, he's trained himself to be able to Copy quirks for longer than five minutes. He shows this off by using the secret fourth Quirk, Shoda's Twin Impact, at least five minutes after a point he'd have touched Shoda, to throw Deku off his balance and nearly give Shinso the opportunity to capture him.
  • Deku quickly recovers from Monoma's Twin Impact and draws out One for All again to immobilize Shinso by dragging him in with his own capture weapon.
  • Uraraka proves herself one of the strongest combatants by taking down Monoma and bringing him back to the jail on her own. She then doesn't fall for Monoma's goading about Deku. She trusts his word that he can handle himself and instead returns to back up her teammates, knocking Yanagi out cold and then taking advantage of Mineta's Pop Offs to pin Kodai's arms behind her back against a pole.
  • With Poltergeist and Size neutralized, Ashido then takes advantage of Uraraka's attack to take out Shoda with an uppercut reminiscent of how she beat Aoyama in the Sports Festival. Bonus points because Shoda is the best melee combatant on the enemy team, both because of his Quirk and his boxing hobby.
  • The 4-0 win is also noteworthy because of Bakugo's Badass Boast in his match. With this victory, in a four-on-five, Midoriya basically sends the message, "I'm still keeping up with you!"
• Chapter 216: Despite losing the fifth match, Shinso's performance in both matches he participated in was enough to land him a spot in the Hero Course at the beginning of his second year.
• Chapter 217: In a funny, karmic way, seeing Mina subject Mineta to the Ludovico Technique is a satisfying sight.
  • There's also the fact that, for all intents and purposes, Bakugo is now helping Izuku and All-Might keep the full secret of One For All. He quickly proves he can make meaningful contributions going forth by not just helping Izuku test any of his new abilities but also through providing his personal insight, making the observation that perhaps Izuku's blossoming new Quirks may have something to do with All For One.

Meta Liberation Army Arc (Chapter 218-240, Episode 100, Episodes 108-112)

• Chapter 218-219: Bakugo and Todoroki suddenly teaming up to capture a gang of purse-snatchers barely half an hour after earning their provisional licenses.
  • To elaborate, Todoroki uses his famous move from the Sports Festival in order to neutralize the robber's Seltzer Quirk, while Bakugo not only does a flying explosion combo in midair but also manages to keep the stolen wallets and jewelry intact before doing so.
  • All Might safely evacuating civilians from the area and managing to run in his weakened form to save a woman from a falling lamppost. Even if he doesn't have One For All anymore, he still has the heart of a hero.
  • The Meta Liberation Army deserves a couple of points for being Genre Savvy as to monitor their black-market equipment and Destroy the Evidence the moment the situation goes south. That, and managing to track, capture, and beat up the hard-to-find Giran.
  • Which then leads to Giran refusing to sell out his League brethren even as he's captured (destroying all his client lists in the process), even going as far as to say that the CEO should, quote, "crawl back up in his daddy's ballsack." Now that's loyalty — and outright savagery!
  • And of course, Gigantomachina being so powerful as to swat the new League members aside and outright dismiss them.
• Chapter 220: Even Evil Has Standards as the League of Villains confronts what's essentially the MHA-verse's KKK and takes them out.
• Chapter 223:
  • In the interim between the previous chapter and this one, the League spent a month and a half fighting Gigantomachia. Particularly impressive in Shigaraki's case, because Gigantomachia has been focused on him the entire time while the other members were able to tap in or out in shifts. Meanwhile, Shigaraki has been relentlessly hunted by Gigantomachia whenever the giant is awake, giving him only a three-hour window every two days in which he can rest. Despite this, not only has Shigaraki not been deterred at all, he's kept his smile throughout the whole ordeal!
  • In an Offscreen Moment of Awesome, Giran stays completely silent throughout the torture despite having five of his fingers cut off.
  • Credit to the MLA, they tracked down the League's location thanks to their members' IT firm tracing their phone call, threatening to tip off the heroes if they refuse to accept their challenge. And they wasted Giran's sacrifice thanks to easily recovering the data. And they have 116,000 loyal adherents for their cause and over 100,000 copies of their manifesto published.
• Chapter 224: Shigaraki comes up with a pretty good plan to solve two of his problems by pitting them against each other. Knowing Gigantomachia will keep hunting him down no matter what, he simply accepts MLA's challenge so that they're between him and the giant when the next attack comes. Then once the MLA's decimated by Gigantomachia's rampage, he plans to attack Gigantomachia, hoping the MLA weakened him enough to finally take him down. Whether or not it ends up working, it takes guts to have two different threats to your life and make it work for you.
• Chapter 226: Toga’s Quirk has a surprising level up: If she really wants to be the person she's copying, she can copy that person down to the Quirk: in this case, Uraraka's Zero Gravity; recall, it was her inability to use Zero Gravity that clued in Deku during the licensing exam—not anymore. She uses her abilities to lift the enemies into the air... and then releasing her Quirk, turning the enemies into a giant collective stain on the pavement.
• Chapter 227: Shigaraki gets a moment to shine by killing an entire crowd of MLA followers IN ONE MOVE!
• Chapter 229: The MLA gets hit by a massive Nice Job Fixing It, Villain, when they use puppets modeled after Twice to hold him down, and force him to watch as they kill Toga. They expected that being uncovered and surrounded by his own copies, would trigger his trauma, and let them do it, but because Toga was nice to him, he fights back, forcing them to break both his arms. This backfires spectacularly, because it proves to Twice that he is, in fact, the real one all along, and not just a copy he created of himself as he always feared. This knowledge allowed him to instead overcome his trauma and fear of disappearing, and create an entire army of himself once again.
  Twice: My Quirk is "Double", and you're about to learn just how scary it can be, Liberation Army!
• Chapter 230:
  • Twice makes good on his threat and becomes a swarm. This is not an exaggeration, the word "horde" simply isn't good enough for how he overwhelms the Liberation Army mooks through sheer weight of numbers and proceeds to spread out like a bloodthirsty army of ants. Even Re-Destro seems dumbstruck by this turn of events, even if only for a single panel. Made even more awesome in the anime adaptation, where "Uncontrollable Evil" plays for the first time since the second season.
  • Not to be outdone, Geten proves that they're one of the strongest members of the MLA so far. Being able to clash with Dabi on even footing a few chapters ago was but a brief indication of his full power, as here they use their Quirk to manipulate the entire water supply of the city by being able to freeze it with ice they had previously sent down there. This lets them reduce entire chunks of the city to rubble in the span of moments, and they manage to cut swathes in the clone army that Twice produced.
• Chapter 232:
  • One of Twice's clones manages to get past the Liberation Army and into the room with Re-Destro. That's all he needs to confront him with a half-dozen of himself and clones of Mr. Compress, Dabi, and Shigaraki. Re-Destro then gets one of his own by demolishing almost all of them in one attack.
  • A group of Twice's clones gets confronted with the "all of them think they're the original" hangup, only to almost immediately shake it off because it's not important compared to completing their mission. It is remarkable determination from a man who was terrified by that very conundrum for years and shows just how much he's put that barrier behind him.
  • Shigaraki's Quirk has been shown to make short work of people and smaller objects before, but here we get a glimpse at its full power when he disintegrates an entire skyscraper in seconds with a single touch.
• Chapter 233:
  • Spinner during his fight with Trumpet gets flanked by the politician's flunkies and mocked for his life as a hikikomori and is told flat out that he doesn't have the power to change anything. Spinner, however, is well aware of his life and gives an awesome speech both showcasing his new resolve to see Shigaraki's world come to fruition and calling the Meta Liberation army out as being no different than him.
    Spinner: I've got nothing I love as Toga does. Nothing I really wanna do. But back then, I just know… Something lit a fire in my heart. All I could think was how I wanted a glimpse of the future he was imagining! Sure… I’m just a nobody who jumped on a bandwagon but what’s wrong with that!? Nothing, right!? And you people ain’t much better!!! Ain’t that right, politician?"
  • After Shigaraki destroys the main tower he faces off against Re-Destro, it goes badly for him and he loses a part of his hand and one of his family hands. We also find out that Re-Destro's meta ability is the ability to accumulate stress and use it to grow more powerful.
  • As Slidin' Go is directing traffic to hide the Meta Liberation Army's crimes a familiar rumbling can be heard in the distance...
• Chapter 234:
  • Shigaraki's crippled left hand is being held between Re-Destro's bulked up fingers who then proceeds to crush it. Shigaraki, whose mind in breaking from the trauma of losing one of his family hands, puts his remaining two fingers on Re-Destro's finger and breaks it. Re-Destro quickly realizes that Shigaraki is in the process of fully awakening his powers. Shigaraki then dashes towards Re-Destro who realizes that he is far more nimble and quick then he was back at Kamino Ward and as such far more dangerous.
  • Re-Destro decides he's done playing around and proceeds to bulk up his body at 80% Liberation and proceeds to fire a blast that sends Shigaraki flying and tears the adjacent building apart.
  • Re-Destro gets a panicked call from Skeptic who tells him to be wary the League hadn't played all of their cards yet, they have a true monster at their call. Gigantomachia has arrived. Absolutely none of the Meta Liberation Army saw this coming, under the correct assumption they had a finite amount of Nomu, but never could predict that they had their own Doomsday.
• Chapter 235: After seeing how unaffected Shigaraki was from his attack Re-Destro is shocked to realize that before the attack could hit him Shigaraki touched and destroyed it. The realization that Shigaraki destroyed his strongest attack causes Re-Destro to have the beginning of a Villainous Breakdown as he ignores Skeptic's warning that Gigantomachia is coming and bulks up, even more, all so he can destroy his enemy.
  Re-Destro: Burden. I extract my own stress, make it corporeal and blast it over a wide range. The pinnacle of my Meta Ability honed since childhood! An attack that cannot be evaded! But he touched it! In that instant! He moved into it! And ignored the instinct to defend. Moving only to destroy!
• Chapter 237: After remembering his past Shigaraki destroys his father's hand, saying that it is no longer necessary for him. Up until now, the hands served to bottle up Shigaraki's emotions so that he could harness his anger for destruction. With the hand destroyed Shigaraki has effectively "liberated" himself from his past and now fully accepted himself for who he is. Bonus points are that Shigaraki's word bubbles, which are usually drawn in a rough, bumpy style, to indicate his mental instability, become normal word bubbles, showing that his new mental fortitude has improved his sanity. In the anime, this is shown by his voice losing some of the mad raspiness.
• Chapter 238:
  • With his newfound resolve the "liberated" Shigaraki proceeds to completely Curb Stomp Re-Destro without even trying. Despite charging at him at 100% and firing his Burden attack at point-blank, a move whose shockwave destroys about half of Deika city by itself, Re-Destro's move is immediately destroyed by Shigaraki before it can fully leave his hands. A flustered Re-Destro then proceeds to put on a set of Powered Armor to increase the output of his Stress to 150%. Shigaraki's response? To casually observe how stiff Re-Destro looks and comment on how cool his new powerup is. All the while Re-Destro is left with an unknown feeling in his chest that how it seems to be making his powers weaker. While we don't get to see exactly what Shigaraki does by the end of the chapter, it's enough to put Re-Destro in his place as he comments on how Shigaraki seems liberated from everything.
  • Bonus points for what Shigaraki's new presence does to Gigantomachia. With his arrival on the battlefield the giant has done exactly what Shigaraki promised he would do; sow chaos amongst the Liberation Army. However, the rest of the League is completely terrified and are worried that they will be too weak to stop him. All the while Gigantomachia is tearing through Deika city screaming for his master's successor. Suddenly he arrives at the site of Shigaraki and Re-Destro's battle and he sees something that leaves him completely gobsmacked with him trembling and his eyes now visible. Whatever Shigaraki is doing it was enough to spook Gigantomachia. Looks like his boasts about being the future king weren't unfounded after all.
  • The Doctor deserves some appreciation too. When Compress calls him and tells him to warp the League out of Deika city before Gigantomachia starts attacking them the Doctor flat out refuses and tells him that he won't help out people who allowed themselves to fall for such an obvious trap. When Compress asks him is he is okay with allowing All For One's successor to die the Doctor replies that this is exactly why Shigaraki needed to be driven into a corner. Considering what Shigaraki is now capable of, it seems the Doctor was right.
• Chapter 239: As of now, in Re-Destro's own words:
  Re-Destro: The Metahuman Liberation Army is yours to command.
  • In other words: Shigaraki has essentially just gained control of a Quirk support company that has recently ventured into hero support, an IT company that just traced his group with no real effort, a political party and (pending the fallout of Curious's death) a publishing company — both of which have been used as propaganda arms! — and, most importantly to Shigaraki, all the money that comes with such entities. In the same fell swoop, he also manages to prove to Gigantomachia that he's a worthy successor to All For One, which by extension wins him the loyalty of Dr. Ujiko and the use of the High End Noumu. The League of Villains just went from nobodies to nightmares all in the span of a few hours, and the heroes don't even know it!
• Just as with the League's first appearance and Twice's rampage, the anime's music amplifies the moment of Shigaraki being coronated as the leader of the Liberation Front... instead of just playing "Uncontrollable Evil" this time, instead the anime plays "Paranormal Liberation Front," an epic remix of "Uncontrollable Evil," as Shigaraki dons his mantle.

Endeavor Internship Arc (Chapter 241-252, Episodes 101-106)

• Chapter 245: Hawks, in spite of the heavy surveillance placed on him by the PLF, managed to communicate about the merging of the MLA and the LoV to the Public Safety Committee, as well to Endeavor. How? By highlighting certain sections in Destro's own book!
  • Props need to be given to Endeavor as well. He realized something was off from the way Hawks was acting compared to before, and figured out Hawks' Covert Distress Code from the few clues he gave, something even Hawks wasn't sure Endeavor could do.
• Chapter 247: Shoto telling his father that he may seem to conform to his wishes when in actuality he's learning to be a hero on his own terms and he has not forgotten what he's done to his mother.
• Chapter 248: Endeavor demonstrates his methods to the interns while concurrently resolving incidents quickly. He is surprisingly good at mentoring people if he wants to.
• Chapter 251: Deku, Bakugo, and Shoto get a chance to show off just how much they improved on their Quirks in just one week of internship training by working together with Endeavor to save Natsuo. The way they each helped was also surprising:
  • Bakugo was first, having rocketed forward by concentrating the explosions in his palms to outspeed even Endeavor, snatching Natsuo from Ending's clutches and choosing to "save a person" over "winning a fight" in this case.
  • Deku follows in close behind, using Air Force to give himself a Recoil Boost before whipping out Blackwhip to safely catch and lower the thrown cars to the ground with his downward momentum. This is significant as it's the first time he successfully used Blackwhip without it cutting out on him, meaning his burst capacity with One For All has reached the 30% needed to pull it off.
  • Finally, Shoto shows how he's come to terms with the fire-side of his Quirk when he uses his father's technique to finish off Ending with a rocket-powered punch and then capturing him in ice. It shows he's learned how to switch more rapidly between his two sides, giving him a better handle on his powers by using both sides in turn to regulate his body temperature.
• The anime-only Episode 103, once again showcasing Captain Selkie. Facing a bunch of drugged-up Quirk-using smugglers, Selkie requests a team-up with Ryukyu's agency. This means Tsu (who's interning with Ryukyu along with Uraraka and Hado) gets to link up with Selkie again to bust the smugglers. With Ryukyu and Hado providing air cover and Selkie running the search underwater, they team soon locate and confront the smugglers. But they prove sneaky, able to evade Selkie by employing a seaplane. Which gives the highlight moment to Uraraka (also providing a showcase of her new hero costume). She gets launched into the air by Sirius's harpoon and Zero-G's herself in position to use the biggest change to her new costume: the grappling hook inspired by Midoriya's Blackwhip. She latches onto the plane, reels herself aboard, and neutralizes the pilot. But then the plane starts losing control and is about to crash. Spurred on by Ryukyu and assisted by Hado, Uraraka grits herself and zero-G's the huge, heavy cargo plane for just long enough for Ryukyu to get a hold of it and help it to a safe landing, saving the environment from contamination by the toxic Trigger precursors (and paying the price afterwards).

Paranormal Liberation War Arc (Chapter 253-306, Episodes 113-131)

• In Chapter 255, Aizawa briefly manages to get through Kurogiri to Shirakumo. Though Kuroguri goes catatonic not long after, Shirakumo managed to mutter out "hospital" as the place where he was turned into a Nomu.
• Chapter 256: The main cast class has a chance to show how far they've come. Not one of them disappoints. The highlight has to be Deku, who's mastered Black Whip — think back to how he had no control over this power when it first emerged. Look what he's doing with it now.
• Chapter 259: Endeavour confronts Doctor Maruta and declares him under arrest.
• Chapter 260:
  • The Doctor reveals that Endeavour confronted his clone, but then, Mirko finally gets the chance to show off why she's the 5th ranked hero in Japan — she singlehandedly tears through an entire hallway of Noumu without breaking a sweat, and demolishes a wall with one move, grinning the entire time.
    Mirko: What a rush!
  • Eraser Head and Present Mic have some very choice words for the good doctor who turned their friend into a monster.
    Yamada: Wow...neat. You could apply all that to regenerative medical care. Basically, it's like using cheat codes. Yet...why use it the way you did?! WHY'D YOU DO IT, YOU OLD PIECE OF TRASH?!
    Aizawa: The people who you experimented on and tossed aside, they're all crying out: "This is our payback!"
• Chapter 262: Mirko fighting against four High-End Nomu at the same time. Especially once she gets her arm ripped off at the bicep. Besides a brief acknowledgment of the pain, Mirko only focuses on her arm after killing one of the Nomu, at which point she makes a tourniquet out of her own hair. Bad. Ass.
• Chapter 263:
  • Kaminari overcoming his fear and absorbing the electricity of one of the PLF advisors, who was confident his attack could take out all the heroes there.
  • Cementoss shows off what he really is capable of when on the offense by ripping open an entire mansion for the heroes to invade.
• Chapter 265:
  • Tsukuyomi vs Re-Destro: Tokoyami unleashes the full might of Dark Shadow with his new move Ragnarok, crushing an entire hallway to seal off the villain's escape route. Re-Destro immediately goes to 100% Stress and meets it head-on. The only things stopping Re-Destro is the fact that his Quirk doesn't extend to his new cybernetic legs, which rip apart under the force of Dark Shadow, who promptly throws him clean through a wall!
  • Hawks vs Twice: as powerful a Quirk as Double is, Hawks has the advantage in speed, and shows why he's the Number Two ranked hero, shredding apart the Twice clones before they even have the chance to attack. Even when Twice summons up copies of all his friends in the League, Hawks destroys them in the time it takes to shift from one panel to the next! Twice gets props for being Defiant to the End and just straight up charging at Hawks, but that just ends with him getting slashed in the chest and pinned to the ground. It looks like Hawks has come out on top... until Dabi blows through the wall with a truly massive gout of fire, coming to Twice's rescue.
• Chapter 266:
  • Dabi and Twice tag-teaming to try and outmaneuver Hawks is a sight to behold. Especially when you consider Dabi's usual status as the League's resident Aloof Ally. All of which is capped off by the two sharing a high-five for luck as Dabi creates an opening for Twice to make a break for it.
    • Dabi gets another one by shouting out Hawks' real name, actually making the the level-headed #2 hero freeze up for a crucial second.
  • Hawks takes Twice down before he can release another Sad Man's Parade and overwhelm the Heroes. He does this while burning from one of Dabi's attacks.
• Chapter 267:
  • Villainous example: even though he's completely selfish in his motivations, Dabi's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Hawks and the accompanying Hannibal Lecture make it clear just why he's such a terrifying foe.
    Dabi: More than Twice... more than anyone... you should've been keeping both eyes on me. The League? Shigaraki? I never gave a crap about them. A single person with a single conviction has the power to change the world. There are no true heroes. I plan to make Stain's will a reality. See ya, Hawks. Your life's another thing I don't care about.
  • Tokoyami saving Hawks from Dabi despite being taken earlier to the back by Fatgum along with the other students.
  • Endeavor arriving and defeating one of the High-Ends to save Mirko.
    • Heck, the sheer unrelenting nature of Mirko by this point is something astounding. To elaborate: She's down one arm less, has a chunk of her ear torn off, slashed at her waist, and gets stabbed in her leg. All of this while she's very clearly suffering blood loss...and she just keeps going.
• Chapter 268:
  • We see just how far Mirko got into the doctor's lair: she actually came this close to busting Shigaraki's tank with a kick. Even after she gets pulled away, the glass has a noticeable crack on it.
    • Shigaraki's presence alone is enough for Mirko's rabbit senses to scream at her not to let him wake up.
  • Eraser Head and Present Mic hold their own very nicely against the Nomu. Another reminder that the teachers at UA know how to be heroes.
• Chapter 269:
  • Aizawa manages to keep track and suppress the Quirks of at least three different Nomu, urging the others to go on and finish the job. Looks like his students aren't the only ones who've gotten stronger since that attack at USJ.
  • Present Mic finds Shigaraki's tank and blasts it to pieces with Loud Voice. Then he goes and slugs the doctor right in the mouth. You could tell both of those contained at least 3 months' worth of pent-up anger, just waiting to blow.
    Present Mic: That one's for making my friend cry!
• Chapter 271: The Liberation Front starts pushing back.
  • Dabi effortlessly pressures Tokoyami and Dark Shadow while they're trying to save Hawks, even taking a page out of Azula's book where he uses his flames to hover in midair.
    • Props to Tokoyami for successfully evading him and saving Hawks' life.
  • Geten launches Mt. Lady with a literal iceberg out of the mansion and rallies the others into concentrating on one point each and taking the Heroes down.
  • At the end of the chapter, Gigantomachia gets off his butt and sniffs the air...
    Gigantomachia: Master's scent!
• Chapter 272:
  • Shigaraki uses Decay to successfully kill multiple heroes, including the No. 6 ranked hero, within seconds of waking up from a coma. If not for Ryukyu, Gran Torino, and Endeavor's quick response, it's safe to say 95% of the hospital team would have died on the spot.
  • Crust performs a Heroic Sacrifice to save Aizawa from Shigaraki by slicing off the arm of the High-End Nomu that was clinging to Aizawa, then says goodbye with a silent thumbs-up and a smile, even as his body is disintegrating.
  • Pixie-Bob covering her teammates' retreat by facing Shigaraki's wave of destruction head-on with a rockslide.
  • Midoriya sets a new record by letting off a St. Louis Smash at 45 percent, showing how much he's grown in the past few months.
• Chapter 273:
  • Todoroki throws up a wall of ice to buy time for them to evacuate.
  • Even though his St.Louis Smash doesn't really stop the wave of decay, Midoriya still proves his growth by pulling along vehicles with Blackwhip.
  • Post-humous example: Even though he accidently triggered Shigaraki's resuscitation, X-Less blasted the machine housing replicated Quirk-destroying bullets, damaging most of them. At least one less thing to worry about.
  • Toga cuts down a number of heroes Heroes in her Roaring Rampage of Revenge as Gigantomachia burst out of the ground behind her.
  • The last page of the chapter: Endeavor launching himself like a rocket at Shigaraki, who greets him almost casually.
• Chapter 274:
  • The high-pitched battle between Endeavor and Shigaraki, where the latter displays Super Regeneration and Air Cannon to hold off the No. 1 hero. Then he uses Search to hone in on the current One for All user: Midoriya.
    • Endeavor for his part avoids Shigaraki's Touch of Death and shows impressive power and versatility with his flames before Shigaraki takes off.
  • The second he overhears the words "One For All," Midoriya figures out Shigaraki's coming after him now. Which means that the civilians, heroes and his classmates/friends are in danger just by being near him. So what does Deku do? He immediately starts leaping away from them and calls Endeavor on the private channel to explain what he's up to.
  • And Bakugo goes along with him, having come to the same conclusion and deciding to provide his rival backup.
• Chapter 275:
  • A sign of how far they've both come: Midoriya can use 30% of One for All in Full Cowl and briefly bring out 45% for quick bursts without trouble. And Bakugo can still keep up with Midoriya with just his explosions.
  • Shigaraki catches up to them, shows them a terrifying vision of rotting away from his touch... and Gran Torino swoops in and pulls away the two youngsters. He then scolds them, telling there are Heroes still standing.
  • Ryukyu then shows up and swats Shigaraki away with one swipe of her claw.
  • And the reason Shigaraki's Decay didn't work when he touched her? Because further away, a certain teacher is glaring down at him.
    Aizawa: Shigaraki... don't you dare lay a rotten finger on my students.
    Shigaraki: ...You really are pretty cool, Eraser Head.
• Chapter 276:
  • Shigaraki proves how successful his enhancements are by being able to overpower both Endeavor and Ryukyu with just his natural strength as Eraser Head was currently erasing his Quirks. He's so strong that Endeavor compares his strength with All Might. To add insult to injury, Shigaraki mocks their signature pose while standing over Endeavor.
  • Izuku and Bakugo's Big Damn Heroes moment at the end when they save Eraser Head from being killed by Shigaraki, and note that it's their turn to save him.
    • Izuku is much faster than Gran Torino, tackling Shigaraki when Gran Torino was inches away from the villain. Gran Torino had a large headstart, and still Izuku outpaced him, with Bakugo following him.
• Chapter 277:
  • A villainous one for Shigaraki: once he realized All For One still has some lingering mental power over him, he casually shreds the mental image of his former master and declares his intention to forge his own path, independent of AFO's wishes. The Liberation Army arc saw him prove himself as All For One's equal, but this is the chapter where he truly surpasses the villainous overlord and steps fully out of his shadow.
    • In the process, he actually looks down on All For One for being brought low by the will of All Might, a single person. A far cry from the man who once fixated on All Might as the person he had to kill and relied on his master's patronage to be any more of a threat than a single petulant madman.
  • Bakugo's making good on his wish to cut loose, unleashing multiple high-level explosions in rapid succession.
  • The end of the chapter shows why Shigaraki's backup still hasn't arrived: Mt. Lady is singlehandedly holding Gigantomachia in place, struggling with the monster that had been called a walking natural disaster and utterly refusing to give a single inch — a far cry from the glory-seeking rookie back in Chapter 1.
• Chapter 278 gives us multiple moments from both sides:
  • Re-Destro and Geten are going all out back at the mansion, with Edgeshot and Cementoss, respectively, facing off against them.
  • Gigantomachia goes into total Juggernaut mode, tossing Mt. Lady aside and heading straight for Shigaraki's location with little pause.
  • Kamui Woods and Midnight match pace with the big lug so the latter can use her Quirk to put him to sleep, only for Dabi to blast the current No. 7 hero out of the air and Mr. Compress to intercept the teacher with debris. The heroes didn't notice Shigaraki's lieutenants clustered on top of Gigantomachia, and it cost them.
  • Even with her falling hundreds of feet, along with the aforementioned rubble, Midnight is still conscious and coherent enough to call Yaoyorozu. She instructs her student to make an anesthetic.
  • Meanwhile, Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods latch onto Gigantomacia's foot, trying to slow him down even in their battered states.
  • Yaoyorozu is worried, of course, having another moment of self-doubt, but then she rallies, making the anesthetic and beginning to formulate a plan with her classmates.
    • Even with what's going on, not a single one of the students makes a break for it. Like Kaminari says, they're supposed to be heroes.
• Chapter 279 gives us Yaoyorozu’s well thought out strategy to take Gigantomachia down, getting Mudman to trap the titan in a massive pit full of explosives while the strength Quirk people try to force his jaw open to feed him the sedative.
  • One for the villains, for how effectively they’re able to counter each part of Yaoyorozu’s strategy.
  • Mt.Lady getting up and immediately forcing Gigantomachia’s jaw open, squashing him down into the pit. She hasn't heard the plan, but has seen enough to figure out the basics, and what she can do to ensure they succeed.
• Chapter 280 gives us a retroactive one for Ashido. The villain who was looking for his master that she tricked by giving false directions? None other than Gigantomachia!
  • After hope seems lost, who finally gets the sedative into Gigantomachia’s mouth? Red Riot: Kirishima! Grabbing Ashido’s sedative as well as his own and going into his Unbreakable form, he climbs up the Rocky giant’s arm^note yes, that means he's gotten harder than Gigantomachia, as he's forcing handholds with his fingers to fling the bottles in. Keep in mind that it was only a couple of years ago that he was paralyzed at the mere sight of Gigantomachia, so it feels that much more rewarding to finally see him come full circle!
    • He also pushes Mina out from under Gigantomachia's hand right before she's about to be crushed, which contrasts beautifully with the shame he had over her having to stand up to that monster alone.
  • We also cutaway to the fight between Endeavor and Shigaraki, and it seems that against all odds, Endeavor has him on the ropes!
  • By the same token, Shigaraki's Shut Up, Kirk! response to Endeavor.
    Shigaraki: You... Heroes... Hurt your own families... Just to help complete strangers! Dad told me that. You want ideals..? I've got 'em! I've had 'em.'''
• As of Chapter 281, Shigaraki demonstrates how far has come since the Psychopathic Manchild he was at the start of the series by laying out a coherent and perceptive ideology for the first time: that heroes simply pretend to promote justice, when they actually ignore too many societal issues instead of addressing them, which has resulted in creating the current Crapsaccharine World of the series.
  Shigaraki: You heroes pretend to be society's guardians. For generations, you pretended not to see those you couldn't protect and swept their pain under the rug. It's tainted everything you've built. That means your system's all rotten from the inside with maggots crawling out. It all builds up, little by little, over time. You've got the common trash, all too dependent on being protected. And the brave guardians who created the trash that need coddling. It's a corrupt, vicious cycle. Everything I've witnessed... this whole system you've built has always rejected me. Now I'm ready to reject it. That's why I destroy. That's why I took this power for myself. Simple enough, yeah? I don't care if you don't understand. That's what makes us... heroes and villains.
• Chapter 282 begins with Deku shattering Shigaraki's jaw with a 100% smash, fully intending to kill him. Shigaraki prevents further damage by grabbing Deku's arm with his teeth. He hurls a Quirk erasing bullet at Aizawa, who amputates his own leg to prevent his Quirk from being destroyed. Shoto arrives and staves off Shigaraki's rampage while Deku takes the opportunity to punch the villain in the stomach. He quickly saves Aizawa and Rock Lock.
• In Chapter 283, Midoriya manages to use Blackwhip in conjunction with Nana Shimura's Float Quirk, saving the other heroes from Shigaraki's Decay and taking his first step toward mastering the multiple Quirks contained in One For All.
• Chapters 284 and 285: Midoriya unleashes devastating attacks against Shigaraki, with no intention of sparing his arms or the villain. The scope is so great that massive blasts emanate from the blows, strongly reminiscent of All Might's most powerful attacks. And given how he still hasn't tapped into One For All's full power, that's saying a lot!
• Chapter 286: Midoriya is so enraged that he resorts to chomping Shigaraki's Forcible Quirk tentacles and snaps them, while sporting a monstrous pair of eyes that resemble those of the Nomu Hood. Tomura/All For One attempts to steal One For All but him and Midoriya are transported to the vestige world. The chapter ends with a Wham Shot of Nana Shimura arriving to help Midoriya. And judging by her words, she's not alone, either.
• Chapter 287: Midoriya is not only saved by Nana but also All For One's brother. When All For One tries to take One For All, he resorts to his usual underhanded methods — he insults and derides Midoriya, claiming that his brother made a mistake in selecting him. The latter has none of it, and repels his big brother.
  "No. It wasn't [a mistake]. Someone who exploits people, like you, could never understand what drives this boy to shed blood. He rages for the sake of others. For them, he does his best until he can do no more. This young man is possessed by a drive to save others that eclipses all common understanding. Our power is his, and we shall follow him."
• Chapter 290:
  • As Gigantomachia approaches, All For One comments inside Shigaraki's head that despite minimising the damage inflicted by Midoriya and Endeavor with a 'mutant' Quirk, Shigaraki is unable to move and the only way to achieve victory is to retreat.
  • After five years and 133 chapters of speculation and build-up, we finally get the long-anticipated revelation many fans have long suspected:
    Dabi: I have a great name. Call me Toya.
    • The fact that this revelation still manages to pack an emotional wallop despite being an immensely popular fan theory really does speak volumes about how far Horikoshi has come as a writer since the series first began.
  • Furthermore Dabi, with Sceptic's help, hacked the video airwaves and shared his life story all across Japan. Most likely ensuring that regardless of whether or not he wins his fight with Endeavor, his father's hero career will be forever tarnished.
• Chapter 291:
  • Dabi proves he's put a lot of work into taking down not just Endeavor, but the entire Hero system: in his recording, he shows a DNA test result that proves a 99.9% match between them, a sample taken from the battle with Hood, and while acknowledging that a villain telling them this undermines credibility, he goes on to show edited footage of Hawks killing Twice. Dabi even tacks on his (alleged) murder of Best Jeanist and the covered-up fact that the #2 Hero is the son of a notorious criminal. The finale is a Hannibal Lecture to the masses that their Heroes aren't the purehearted paragons the country sees them as.
  • As Dabi prepares to kill Endeavor, both he and Gigantomachia are restrained by several automated cable drums falling from the sky, all controlled by Best Jeanist in a Big Damn Heroes moment. And to top it off, a stylish Pre Ass Kicking One Liner.
    Best Jeanist: Apologies for the delay! As of today, Best Jeanist is back on duty!
    • Even without his actions, Best Jeanist's perfectly-timed arrival acts as a massive Shut Up, Hannibal! to Dabi's entire speech, casting doubt on everything he just said and protecting or salvaging the heroes' reputation. He's top three for a reason.
• Chapter 292:
  • To further cement why he's the No. 3 Hero in Japan, Best Jeanist is able to use his Quirk, which All for One had dismissed as weak, to restrain Gigantomachia. Even if Machia has fallen back into standby mode, his sheer size makes that no small feat. And even after Shigaraki momentarily wakes up and orders Machia to break free, Jeanist does his best to keep the giant in place.
  • As the Nomus race toward the battlefield to engage Jeanist so that Gigantomachia can break free and escape with Shigaraki, things once again seem to have turned in the villains' favor. But just before the Nomus reach the preoccupied No. 3 Hero, Lemillion triumphantly returns, effortlessly knocking out the attacking Nomu while shouting PO-WERRR!. The look on Midoriya's face helps sell just how significant this turn is.
• Chapter 293:
  • A flashback shows how hard Eri was training to make her Quirk useful. Small wonder she was able to restore Lemillion's Quirk.
  • Bakugo's Big Damn Heroes moment, saving Jeanist from a horde of Nomus with a chain reaction of explosions alongside Ingenium and Nejire Chan.
    • Worth mentioning is how Nejire was able to get back up from being hit with Dabi's fire with little worse for wear. She wasn't part of the Big 3 for nothing.
  • Dabi's got Shoto in a chokehold and preparing to incinerate him with a suicide attack, all to twist the knife in front of a powerless Endeavor. But who comes to the rescue? None other than Deku himself, employing a Quirk in a creative fashion despite their present condition.
    Deku: Who cares if my arms and legs are done? Froppy style!!
  • As Dabi rants about everything Endeavor's done, Deku decides to chime in with his own two cents:
    Deku: Sure, the past never dies! And that's why I'm watching Endeavor real hard as he tries to be better! And guess what?! You aren't Endeavor!!
  • Just as Gigantomachia starts to tear loose from Jeanist's bindings, Endeavor hits his Heroic Second Wind and rockets into the giant, sending him crashing back down.
  • And the final kicker? Gigantomachia feels his strength sapping away...because the sedative that the rest of the team applied earlier finally kicked in! Who says the rest of the gang can't make a difference?
• Chapter 294:
  • Best Jeanist keeps Gigantomachia restrained as the sedative begins to take effect, even while he starts coughing blood. This moment is made even better as he praises the efforts of every other hero and student who fought in the war, with their combined efforts presenting this opportunity at victory.
  • Lemillion, Nejire, and Iida hold the line against Nomus to prevent them from attacking Best Jeanist. If Lemillion is correct, then he guesses that each one of the attacking Nomu are just as strong as the Nomu, Hood, who almost defeated Endeavor.
  • Dabi decides to fall back with the others seeing as Endeavor isn't fully broken in spirit yet. When Shoto tries to stop him, the older brother blasts him unconscious with his own version of Jet Burn. Goes to show that even if Shoto is Endeavor's "masterpiece", Toya isn't some pushover in comparison.
  • This chapter is nothing short of a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Mr Compress as he reaffirms his ambitions and dedication to his comrades in the League of Villains by pulling off a lethal and risky plan to free himself, Spinner, and Shigaraki from Best Jeanist's bindings.
    • First, he uses his Quirk to compress part of his lower body to untangle himself from his bindings, then uses it on Shigaraki and Spinner to free them. He then leaps up Gigantomachia's back effortlessly, despite his injury.
    • When Best Jeanist uses his Quirk to restrain Compress using his clothes, Compress uses his free hand to repeatedly tear at his clothing to remain free while still bleeding out.
    • With the last few chapters being epic reveals and turning points, Horikoshi still hasn't run out of surprises with another big reveal no one saw coming. As Compress reaches the top of Gigantomachia, he reveals that he is the descendant of legendary villain, Oji Harima, The Peerless Thief. He then unmasks himself properly for the first time in the series, then uncompresses Shigaraki and Spinner with Lemillion charging to stop them as Gigantomachia's bindings start breaking off.
• Chapter 296:
  • Even with all the destruction and despair, it should be noted that the bulk of the Paranormal Liberation Front has been arrested (16,929 members to be exact). Edgeshot, the #4 Hero, singlehandedly defeated Re-Destro while Cementoss managed to trap Geten for good before collapsing.
  • Honestly, All For One hijacking Shigaraki's unconscious body after he collapses from the sheer beating he took is one for him, simply because has effectively cloned himself (the AFO in Shigaraki's body seems to be independent of the AFO currently in prison) and now that both the villains and heroes have wiped each other out, he's free to plan his own prison break.
• The prison break itself: Most people thought it'd be it's own arc, but All For One breaks out of prison literally just one chapter later (Chapter 297), brings as many villains as physically possible with him (including returning ones), and then orchestrates prison breaks across Japan to throw the now very weak Heroes off his trail.
• Chapter 304: The Fourth User of One For All, Hikage Shinomori, gets a moment for realizing he wasn’t strong enough to defeat All For One and going into hiding to train and strengthen One For All. In fact, he is likely the only user of One For All to not have died at the hands of All For One, only dying due to an unknown side effect of One For All. The eighteen years he lived holding One For All gave his successors a far better chance at fighting back against All For One, as it's mentioned Daigoro and En faced All For One multiple times before he finally did them in.
• Chapter 305:
  • Despite being reminded that Tomura Shigaraki was molded by All for One into a vile, hateful young man even before the latter possessed him, and that there may not be any saving him, Midoriya admits that while it may yet come to kill or be killed, he's still going to try and save Shigaraki. Despite all he's been through up till now, Deku's still the embodiment of hope and a worthy successor of One For All.
  • Even more awesome? Despite this series not shying away from how harsh reality could be in a world of super-powers, all of One For All's previous wielders — at least, the ones apart from the two who've remained silent up till now — agree with Midoriya's line of thinking.

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