Awesome / My Hero Academia - UA Beginnings

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

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Entrance Exam Arc (Chapters 1-4, Episodes 1-4)

• The video of All Might's debut as a hero. Saving a hundred people and continuing to save more while telling everyone around that now that he's there, everything's going to be fine. It's no wonder Midoriya and so many other children like him look up to All Might. The longer the series goes on and the more we see of the era before All Might, the more powerful his debut is.
• The first fight we see All Might in sees him one shot a supervillain. Not by punching him in the face, punching the air so hard the airwave does it.
• Midoriya attempting to save Bakugo from the sludge monster despite not having any powers. His bravery inspires All Might to go beyond his own limit and take it out, and his intervention saves Bakugo from dying of asphyxiation. This was so awesome that All Might took back what he said and offered Midoriya the chance to be a hero.
  • The whole scene shows how much of a hero Midoriya truly is. Midoriya is right off the heels of having All Might tell him he can't be a hero, watching Bakugo being killed by the same sludge monster that almost killed Midoriya, who is proving so tough that professional heroes can't do anything other than wait for All Might, all while Midoriya is having a Heroic BSoD over being responsible for the monster coming back. And yet just before the monster possesses Bakugo, Midoriya rushes to save him and manages to reach Bakugo thanks to the application of his studying all the heroes. All to the triumphant reveal of "You Say Run". Bad. Ass.
    • The final cherry on top? It utterly destroyed Bakugo's ego. Nobody but All Might cared about what Midoriya did. All everyone else saw was some idiot kid who got in way over his head and nearly got killed. And the heroes have nothing but praise for Bakugo for his demonstration of power and he’s showered with career offers. But it falls completely on deaf ears, and he drives himself to make a fool of himself in front of Midoriya later in an attempt to salvage his dignity. Why? Why would he feel that need when nobody else saw it that way? Because at that moment, Bakugo was given an extremely uncomfortable reality check in what true heroism is all about. He saw, in that exact moment, that the worthless, pathetic, Quirkless fanboy he’s bullied for more than half of his life is already a better hero than he’ll ever be.
• All Might giving Midoriya One-For-All. In everything he has seen, no doubt All Might has seen countless heroes and heroic individuals. Yet out of all of them, it was the meek Midoriya who proved himself worthy, the only one worthy that he knows to wield One-For-All, showing the strength of character Midoriya has. Only one other person was considered worthy and that was Mirio. While he definitely is just as heroic and worthy as Midoriya (if not more experienced), the fact that a Quirkless person like Midoriya was willing to risk his life after everything that happened to him was likely why he chose Izuku.
• Midoriya shows off his Determinator status by going above and beyond All Might's grueling exercise regimen (All Might had told Midoriya to clear trash from just one section of the beach; he cleared the whole beach). In ten months, he goes from a scrawny kid to having an impressive physique. His perseverance is such that All Might chooses him to be the one who inherits One For All.
  • For context to make this even more awesome: The beach wasn't filled with run-of-the-mill trash either, it had become what was basically a full-blow junkyard overflowing with big heavy garbage people were too lazy to take to a proper dump. The section All Might originally wanted him to clear was — at most — one third of the total garbage that had accumulated. Izuku's seen hauling things like fridges and car tires during the montage. By himself, without a Quirk. By the time he's done, he's got a Charles Atlas Superpower body on his small frame, the beach is spotless and All Might is speechless.
• The time has come for the actual exam — and Midoriya is woefully unprepared. The zero-point villain causes untold destruction upon its arrival. All of the students, Midoriya included, turn tail and run. But then Midoriya hears the whimper of the girl who was nice to him earlier — Ochako. She's trapped under rubble, struggling against the weight, and isn't going to be able to free herself before the villain runs her over. Midoriya rushes forward, One For All courses through his body, power overflowing in his legs and arm. The other examinees — and the judges — watch in awe as he soars into the air, all the way up to the robot's level, and punches the robot so hard, he caves in its face, bursts its head like a rotten melon, and knocks it over with explosions ripping down its spine. It doesn't matter that he broke his body; it doesn't matter if he passes the exam or not. In that moment, Midoriya already was a hero.
  • Crossing over with funny moments, if you look closely behind All Might, you can see that Principal Nezu is outright cheering for Izuku. That little creature has been running U.A. for years, seen countless of these exams, and undoubtedly watched the giant robot be destroyed dozens of times. And Midoriya was still able to induce that response in him.
  • Ochako deserves some credit, too: she must've used her Quirk to free herself, and then immediately after used it to float herself up towards Midoriya on some debris, then used it on Midoriya to save him. All in the space of seconds. And she did it in spite of being perfectly aware of her Quirk's side effects, which she suffers shortly after.
  • All the students are shocked and impressed by Midoriya's punch, but they assume he's still going to flunk. Iida is the only one who realizes that he passed the What You Are in the Dark portion of the exam (a part that Iida grudgingly admits he failed himself).
  • Midoriya does end up passing — not only that, he earned enough rescue points that he came in 7th place for the entire exam. Out of the 36 students who were accepted into the hero course from the public exams. Not only that, it's implied from the presentation that the judges for rescue points all gave him a perfect score. In other words, he couldn't be more heroic and selfless if he tried.
  • Ochako was so impressed with what Midoriya did, and felt so guilty about him not getting any combat points because of it, that she went to Present Mic and asked him to give Midoriya some of her points. Awesome for Midoriya, inspiring her like that, but also for her: she was willing to potentially give up what she desired most just to help someone else. And the judges took notice of her own heroism. While she had accumulated 28 combat points, she also garnered 45 rescue points. She qualified 3rd.

Quirk Apprehension Test Arc (Chapters 5-7, Episode 5)

• On the first day, Midoriya's homeroom teacher Shota Aizawa springs a Quirk Aptitude Test on the students of Class 1-A. He declares that the student who performs the worst will be expelled immediately. Midoriya is understandably panicked, since he can't control how much power he uses with One For All. After a montage of Midoriya trying (and failing) to stand out in the tests with just his normal strength, it's time for the softball throw — incidentally, the last of the tests that One For All would help with. Midoriya winds up, attempts to use One For All... and is surprised when the power fizzles out. It's then that Aizawa is revealed to be a Pro Hero named Eraser Head, with the power to temporarily erase Quirks.
  
  He proceeds to give Midoriya a brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech, highlighting that he only has two options: not use his Quirk, and fail; or use it, destroy his body, be unable to complete the other tests, and fail. Either way, Aizawa says, Midoriya shouldn't have been allowed into the school, as he would just be a liability in the field.
  
  He then releases Midoriya and tells him to take his final throw. Midoriya mulls over the two options in front of him — and takes a third.
  
  “You Say Run” roars in the background as All Might, who has been watching out of concern, gapes in shock. Midoriya winds up for his throw, and then channels 100% of One For All into the tip of one finger. That finger is shattered, but the ball rockets into the stratosphere, stunning everyone — from Bakugo, who was still unaware of Izuku's new Quirk, all the way to Aizawa. Midoriya slowly stands up straight, smiling, and clenches his fist in spite of the broken finger, letting Aizawa know that he isn't done yet. All Might is practically fanboying over how cool Midoriya has become, while Aizawa is so impressed that he reveals his heart of gold and decides to say the 'expulsion' thing was a motivational lie, keeping Midoriya in the class.
  • Oh, and as for Midoriya's score? 705.3 meters — .1 meters more than Bakugo. The only student who scored higher was Ochako on a technicality.

Battle Trial Arc (Chapters 8-11, Episodes 6-8)

• Midoriya, on the second day of school, is required to undergo a two on two training exercise... at a time when he can't risk using One For All because he might kill someone. Said exercise has Bakugo on the opposing side:
  • In the opening rounds of the battle, Midoriya combines Badass Bookworm with Awesome by Analysis, using everything he knows about Bakugo along with all of the lessons in school that Bakugo never really paid attention to, and he not only evades Bakugo's first attack but also predicts his opponent's next move, gets inside of his guard, and judo throws Bakugo. Bear in mind, this is without using any powers whatsoever.
  • Iida has a small moment against Uraraka, while playing the hammy villain, he had the foresight of getting rid of literally everything in the room that wasn't nailed down before she arrived, leaving her with nothing to use as makeshift weapons and allowing him to simply use his speed to move the bomb so it can't be claimed.
  • How Izuku and Uraraka win against Iida and Bakugo is downright insane. Iida is too fast for Uraraka to reach the bomb before he can grab it, and Izuku isn't able to put a scratch on Bakugo, who's become much less wild in his usage of his Quirk. After Bakugo runs Izuku into a corner, taunting him over "hiding his Quirk" and suggesting it means Midoriya was underestimating Bakugo, Izuku explains how he does look up to Bakugo, and that's why he wants to beat him and calls him an idiot. Bakugo and Midoriya rush towards each other, both charging up, but right as All Might tells them to stop, Izuku redirects his Smash up, blocks Bakugo's explosive punch, and unleashes the mother of all Shoryukens, utterly eradicating the rest of the building, and sending enough shrapnel for Uraraka to bat towards Iida with a pillar, securing the win.
  • What's even more impressive about the above feat is that Izuku and Uraraka had never worked together as a team before, and yet in the span of minutes, while both were under fire, were able to perfectly coordinate a recklessly high-risk, over-the-top plan that would be utterly impossible to counter simply because of how insane it was without either one missing a beat. Talk about perfect teammates.
• Shoji and Todoroki's performance against Ojiro and Hagakure has to be seen to be believed. First, Shoji uses his superhuman hearing to perform a thorough intelligence gathering about the nature and location of their foe, and thanks to the fact that he's so detailed that he mentions the seemingly-innocuous fact that both of them are barefoot, Todoroki manges to, within five seconds, as if it had been his plan the entire time, realize he can just freeze the entire building and completely incapacitate both of his barefoot opponents by freezing their feet to the floor. While most of the story focus is on Todoroki, and while it would have most likely been a Curb-Stomp Battle even if Todoroki were on his own, with Shoji's help Todoroki completely humiliated them.

Unforeseen Simulation Joint Arc (Chapters 12-21, Episodes 9-13)

• Iida's calming of all the students during an emergency evacuation. Bonus point because this inspires Midoriya to make him class president.
• The anime adaptation makes the League of Villains' entrance a form of Creepy Awesome, mainly due to "Uncontrollable Evil" playing as they step through the portal.
• Eraser Head taking the fight to the villains. Words do not do him justice, but we can try:
  • First off, Eraser Head has nothing protecting him from damage; if he's hit he's down. This doesn't matter because he's too damn fast to be tagged.
  • Secondly, his cool glasses keep the bad guys from seeing who he's looking at so they don't know who's Quirkless.
  • Add his cool scarf to the equation, and you get an incredibly epic Curb-Stomp Battle.
• One has to give Tomura credit; while he's not The Chessmaster he'll later become by any means here, a brief sign of it shows when he uses Awesomeness by Analysis to deduce the specifics of Aizawa's abilities and pose a genuine threat to the teacher that had previously wiped the floor with his forces.
• The teamwork used by Midoriya, Tsuyu, and Mineta when they're surrounded by aquatic villains and seem to have no means of escape. This is the first time they've worked together before and yet they manage to escape:
  • First is the analysis and planning: Midoriya determines that the invasion was carefully orchestrated, and Tsuyu points out that if they were so confident, they'd probably have a way to threaten All Might, which means they can't just sit tight. Midoriya then realizes that due to the way Kurogiri warped the students, the villains probably don't know their Quirks,^note The hint was that Tsu was sent to an aquatic environment where her Frog Quirk works best instead of a hot or cold environment where she'd be at a disadvantage. which gives the heroes the advantage of surprise.
  • Midoriya uses his knowledge of physics and Delaware Smash to spread out the water villains.
  • Mineta overcomes his fear enough to use his Quirk to help restrain the villains. When the wave brings back the water from Midoriya's impact, the villains wind up getting stuck together because of Mineta's sticky balls and launched into the air from the water sprout.
  • And as all this goes on, Tsuyu grabs Midoriya and Mineta to make their getaway.
• A villainous example, Kurogiri's nearly killing No. 13 with Weaponized Teleportation.
• Denki Kaminari takes out a whole group of villains as well, once his teammates protect themselves from his lightning Quirk with an insulating sheet.
• In an amazing display of teamwork, Sero attaches his tape to Kurogiri's armor while Sato throws the guy aside thanks to a mix of his strength and Uraraka's anti-gravity powers. Plus give Tenya some credit for being able to outrun this smokey freak.
• Bakugo's showing Character Development when he says he won't kill Kurogiri for revenge but to cut off the villains escape plans. He even points out that even if they let the villains escape, Kurogiri can bring more now or at another time when they are ill-prepared.
• After Kurogiri scatters the students across the USJ dome and sends hordes of villains after all the individual groups, the various students are shown using teamwork and clever use of their Quirks to overcome their lacking numbers. Then the scene cuts to Todoroki, who is effortlessly curb-stomping an entire group of opponents singlehandedly, all the while not even changing his usual bored expression, including casually interrogating one of them while mentioning the effects of frostbite if he leaves them there. It just goes to show how many leagues above everyone else his Quirk stands in power.
  • It's later revealed that Hagakure got teleported to the same area as Todoroki. Instead of trying to fight the villains alongside him, she just hid, knowing that not getting in his way and allowing him to fight at full power would be more effective than working together.
• Ojiro was fighting alone, with no classmates to back him up, and yet he was able to survive using only hit-and-run-tactics and his Bare-Fisted Monk skills. Hagakure even points out just how good at fighting he is, considering his only Quirk is a tail. Though he's hardly the flashiest hero and doesn't have a ton of screentime, thanks to this scene, there's no denying that he's strong in his own right.
• Beaten to within an inch of his life, Eraser Head still has the strength to use his Quirk to save Tsuyu from Tomura. Even Tomura has to admit Eraser Head is "so cool" for that.
• When Nomu tries to kill Midoriya, and Tsuyu is faced with Tomura, Tsuyu still makes a last-ditch effort to save Midoriya, even as Tomura tries to kill her. That's the mark of a hero.
• All Might's Big Damn Heroes, where he proudly proclaims "HAVE NO FEAR, FOR I HAVE COME.". He is such a Hope Bringer that just his arrival instantly boosts the morale of everyone who was fighting for their lives against the villains. Izuku even notices that in sheer contrast to his earlier appearances where he's always literally smiling even in the face of danger while using his powers, All Might is very clearly scowling akin to his depowered form. Do not harm his co-workers or especially students.
• Nomu and Kurogiri execute a combo attack that not only nullifies All Might's pile drive but immobilizes him. For all his strength, he can't fight back against a Portal Cut. Midoriya's interference meant nothing against a warp gate. If not for Bakugo and Todoroki, All Might would have died.
• Bakugo and Todoroki save All Might from being killed by Kurogiri and Nomu's sneak attack. Just when Kurogiri is about to Portal Cut the Symbol of Peace in half and teleports Midoriya away from the battle, Bakugo jumps in out of nowhere and brings down the warp gate, while Todoroki effortlessly covers Nomu in just enough ice for All Might to escape.
• All Might's fight with Nomu, when he goes beyond the limits of his powers to protect his students. First, he deduces that since Nomu has the power of shock ABSORPTION, not NULLIFICATION, it means that there's a limit to how much he can absorb. All Might then Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs him until he reaches that limit, hitting faster than even Nomu can keep up with. Then, when Nomu reaches the limit for how much impact he can absorb, All Might punches him through trees, bashes him up into the air before slamming him down into the ground, and then wrapping the fight up with the Megaton Punch to end all Megaton Punches. The fight is even better in the Anime, where All Might hurls Nomu all over the USJ, causing gale-force shockwaves with every punch and causing the ground to shatter from the sheer force of the impacts before hitting him with an uppercut so powerful it glows and then sends the monster crashing through the dome of the USJ so hard that the impact can be felt throughout the entire complex. All with a great quote to cap it all off.
  All Might: Now for a lesson. You may have heard these words before... but I'll teach you what they really mean! Go beyond! PLUS! ULTRAAAAAAAAA!!
  • And what's more, Nomu was created to withstand All Might at 100% of his power, and at a stronger version than All Might was at the time. All Might's solution? GO BEYOND 100%! And all of this while All Might had less than a minute in powered up form! Bonus points for Plus Ultra roughly meaning "further beyond" in Latin.
  • A minor one, but a commenter pointed out All Might being able to count how many punches he used is impressive in its own right, given how fast he and the Nomu were going.
  • Oh, and did we mention that "You Say Run" is blasting throughout the whole fight?
• After All Might is disabled due to his fight with Nomu and the villains the students had previously defeated start to regroup, Iida returns with a group of professional heroes to help combat the remaining villains. All of them make impressive displays of their respective Quirks. Specifically...
  • Snipe using his Improbable Aiming Skills to blow a hole in Shigaraki's hand to save Izuku and shooting another villain in the shoulder when he was about to kill Kaminari.
  • Present Mic using a Big "YES!" to push back a group of villains approaching the heroes.
  • Ectoplasm using his Self-Duplication Quirk to clone himself and kick another villain in the face.
  • And to top it off, as Shigaraki is making his escape, Snipe proceeds to shoot him through both arms and legs.

U.A. Sports Festival Arc (Chapters 22-44, Episodes 14-25)

• Season 2 of the anime starts with a preview of what kind of hero Midoriya will eventually become — single-handedly defending the city from an army of villains, throwing a punch so powerful that it lights up half the Earth.
• During the Obstacle Race preliminary of the Sports Festival, Midoriya can't rely on One For All to get him through, so he picks up a large piece of metal plating from a demolished obstacle-robot. He then spends the rest of the race using it to smash another attacking robot, shield himself from other attacks, and when he reaches the minefield at the end of the race, he digs up a bunch of mines and piles them up, then jumps onto them while using the plate to shield himself from the blast and use the explosion to launch himself over the minefield and take first place.
  • Then it goes into funny territory when he realizes he did not account for how he should land and that he would lose acceleration quickly with Todoroki and Bakugo stopping their fight to go after him. Then it gets awesome again when Midoriya steps on their backs while falling, using them as propulsion to throw himself and the plate in the ground to gain another Explosion Propulsion while pushing Bakugo and Todoroki aside.
• Iida's secret weapon; Overclocking the engines in his legs to Flash Step speed at the expense of them stalling afterward made it a risky all-or-nothing gambit. Before that moment, Team Todoroki and Team Midoriya had been in a stalemate, so it isn't an exaggeration to say that Iida's contribution was the tipping point that allowed his team to steal the 10,000,000 point headband from Midoriya, securing his position as both a Friendly Rival and Worthy Opponent to Midoriya.
  • After Monoma steals Bakugo's headband, Bakugo rages for like five seconds before he immediately comes up with a plan: Have Sero shoot some tape in the direction they want to go, Mina put dissolving solution on the ground and then blasts towards them. He then smashes through the air bubble the team were using to protect themselves and steals all of Monoma's headbands.
    Bakugo: Kirishima, we have a change of plans.
• Mei's performance in the first elimination round of the tournament. She goes to Iida before the game and offers him special gear to complement his super-speed abilities, claiming she wants to help make the fight fairer and bring out his true potential. And Iida trusts her completely. But rather than this turning out to be what you'd expect, a dirty underhanded trick to sabotage him, in reality she was completely genuine about what she said the gear could do... and she still manages to kick his ass, utterly humiliate him with her gadgets, turn him into a walking advertisement, show off her gear for ten whole minutes, and then intentionally resign with a shit-eating grin on her face, having already flawlessly accomplished everything she came to the festival to do. Doubles as a Funny Moment.
• After Todoroki gets the 10,000,000 point headband thanks to Iida's secret acceleration technique, Midoriya charges him and uses "One for All" for the first time in the games. Todoroki panics and activates his flame powers to defend himself. Todoroki swore that he would never use his flame powers in battle, and so far he's kept that vow. Midoriya just accomplished what actual supervillains couldn't.
• Tokoyami stealing Todoroki's headband at literally the last second, allowing Team Midoriya to win enough points to advance to the next round.
• Izuku's match with Shinso. After Izuku escapes the mind control, he quickly overcomes Shinso in hand-to-hand. He shrugs off a punch strong enough to bloody his nose and judo throws him out of the ring. He did this with two broken fingers!
  • Shinso being there at all. He has a seemingly useless Quirk (why he failed the Hero Course entrance test), he has an average high schooler's physique while his opponents are all extremely fit, and yet, by being creative and cunning, he arrived all the way to the final event, and would have likely won the whole thing had One For All not come with a Mind Hive.
• During their fight, Sero manages to grab Todoroki with his tape and prepares to inflict a Ring Out. Todoroki's countermove? Trap him inside of a gigantic ice wall twice as tall and half as long as the stadium. Even the pro heroes are impressed.
  • It's implied that Todoroki allowed Sero to snare him in order to use the tap as a conduit.
  • Just before this battle, Endeavor scolded him for not using the flame Quirk and said that his ice Quirk is too limited for him to succeed. Thus, the giant ice wall is even bigger "screw you, dad!" — more like a great big "fuck you, dad!", in fact.
• Tokoyami uses Dark Shadow to strike hard and fast, keeping Yaoyorozu on the defensive, then pushes her out of bounds by repeatedly attacking her shield.
• Uraraka's impressive gambit against Bakugo, who has huge combat and even environmental advantages, goading him into making a lot of debris. Debris which she launches into the air before sending it right at him. He counters this by unleashing a huge explosion that takes out every single speck of debris at once. Bakugo's arm trembles due to the overexertion and he almost sounds rattled. Even after her all or nothing attack fails Uraraka keeps fighting, and it's not Bakugo who defeats her but her own body giving out after going far beyond her limits. After the fight, Bakugo accuses Midoriya of coaching her, but he counters that he didn't; Uraraka developed the plan all on her own, and if Bakugo had a hard time with her, credit her for it. Realizing this, Bakugo himself acknowledges the level of fight Uraraka brought to the ring when Kaminari chastises him for going full power against "a frail girl":
  Bakugo: I definitely wouldn't call her "frail."
• Endeavor crosses paths with Midoriya and compares his power to All Might's before telling him to give his son a good fight. Knowing of Todoroki's issues with his father pressuring him to surpass All Might, Midoriya delivers a powerful comeback with just eight words.
  Midoriya: I'm not All Might. And Todoroki isn't you.
• Midoriya vs Todoroki is one of the show's most famous scenes, with Midoriya clashing with one of the top performers of the entire tournament, it's a given something awesome would happen. And awesome it was.
  • The fight starts with Midoriya on the defensive. Midoriya counters Todoroki's attempts to freeze him by using One For All to flick his fingers hard enough to create shockwaves that stop the ice from reaching him, even as this breaks his fingers one by one. Eventually, Todoroki sends out an ice blast that forces Midoriya to break his hand to stop it. Todoroki goes for the kill, only for Midoriya to use One for All again with his broken fingers, shattering them further. By the end of the chapter, Todoroki is starting to feel the effects of overusing his ice powers, but Midoriya has broken both of his arms playing defense. Even so, he points out that as much damage as he's done to himself, Todoroki hasn't been able to touch him using only half of his power, then clenches a fist with his broken fingers and loudly challenges Todoroki to Bring It.
  • Midoriya calling Todoroki pathetic for holding himself back, and delivering a heavy blow to him with his broken arm. Aizawa notes how disturbing it is for Midoriya to keep fighting with broken limbs, and wonders how he can even stand to go that far during a match.
  • Midoriya also shows signs that he's starting to figure out "One For All" since he consciously manages to hold back enough to avoid punching a hole through Todoroki, which Aizawa notices.
  • In order to keep fighting despite having crippled his hands, Midoriya did a super-powered thumb-flick while using his own mouth to enable said thumb-flick. That takes at least some thinking outside of the box.
  • Aizawa repeatedly proves to have greater insight than the vast majority of the pro heroes, even those employed by the school; while the other teachers are criticizing Midoriya for his needlessly self-destructive tendencies, Aizawa (who once threatened to expel Midoriya over the same issue) recognizes that Midoriya's actually doing the best he can with what he's got.
  • After Midoriya lands his hit on Todoroki, he lays into Todoroki for only using half of his total power just to spite his father. This speech causes Todoroki to flashback to an interview with All Might, talking about how even if a person's powers were given by their parents, it's still their own. This finally allows Todoroki to let loose his fire-side in a gargantuan tower of flame.
  • A small moment that is in many ways awesome in the older sense of the word, that which inspires awe. In the final clash between Midoriya and Todoroki, both Cementoss and Midnight are trying to stop them and neither of them even noticed. Midnight was too far away and the conflicting hot and cold areas around Todoroki caused enough chaotic wind to blow her pheromone mist away. But Cementoss? He raised multiple cement walls between the two combatants and both of them blew through them like they weren't even there. Their combined power rendered the efforts of two pro heroes irrelevant.
  • The fight is also a CMOA for Todoroki. After having been unable to land a single good hit on Midoriya for the entire fight, once he activates his left side he ends it within seconds, meeting Midoriya's full power head-on and overpowering One For All with a gargantuan beam of heat.
  • Lastly, it shows more what a truly heroic person Midoriya was. While he could've probably saved the pep-talk for another time and definitely could've made it easier on himself to win, he chooses not to. Why? Not just to further test himself, not just in order to get Todoroki to accept his true power to be the best hero, but mainly because he saw someone in trouble and wanted to help. He may have lost a match, but he earned a victory in helping Todoroki become a better hero while doing the heroic act of saving someone, including from themselves.

Vs. Hero Killer Arc (Chapters 45-59, Episodes 26-33)

• Training with Gran Torino proves extremely enlightening for Midoriya. Oddball as he is, the old hero's lessons actually put Midoriya thinking in the right direction. In just 24 hours, he figures out a way to use One For All without breaking himself each time, and when he puts it to the test, Gran Torino actually has to dodge like he means it, and Midoriya still draws blood.
  Gran Torino: This kid could turn out to be a real monster...
• The third anime ending is based on the cover from the second popularity poll results with the characters dressed like they were in an RPG. Only it expands to feature even more of Class 1-A and Izuku on a full heroic quest, just like in the series, where he leaves home, then recruits allies, and Bakugo is a dragon rider who reluctantly teams up with him. And then they all gather to take down the Big Bad. As they get ready for the Final Battle, Izuku's power aura as a swordsman is the giant golden figure of All Might. It's supposed to be a storybook play on the stage of UA's performance hall, but still, amazing amaze-balls to the core.
• Deku putting what he learned from Gran Torino into practice to punch Stain right in the face, saving Iida in the process.
  • The buildup to that. After Stain gives Iida a "The Reason You Suck" Speech for how unheroic and blinded by revenge he's being, and prepares to kill him in the name of purging the unworthy, Iida, despite being shaken at the fact that the Villain Has a Point, refuses to go quietly to his death, and uses what he thinks are his last moments alive calling Stain out on his horseshit by telling him that whatever delusions he has about himself, he'll never be anything more than the monster who crippled a good man for an unbelievably petty reason.
    Iida: Say whatever you want about me! YOU'RE STILL JUST A CRIMINAL WHO HURT MY BROTHER!
• Deku shows his training with the "Full Cowl", a technique which cloaks his body in One For All and lets him actively gauge how much force he's using. This, combined with his sheer cleverness in battle as well as his truly heroic outlook and motivations actually convinces Stain to not kill him. He is the first hero seen able to actually satisfy Stain's outlook on what kind of heroes deserve to live.
• Iida recovers from the Stain's paralysis just in time to protect Todoroki from being cut in half by using his Recipro-burst to break Stain's katana. He then gets Todoroki to cool his engines so that he and Midoriya can catch Stain in the middle of a Combination Attack.
• In the anime, Endeavor shows why he is the second-ranked Hero. Not only does he casually take down two Nomus with little effort (while every other pro hero sans Gran Torino had trouble fighting them), his beatdown of them includes fire-based Super-Strength sending one Nomu flying, flames so hot they turn blue and carbonize cells and when the other Nomu was carrying someone away, he proceeded to toss a fireball before giving chase by heating up his feet, ran up nearby walls, melting them so he can stick on them for leverage, jumped at the Nomu and struck it down with a spear made out of fire before catching the victim and using his flames directed downward to slow their descent. Say what you will about the guy, but there is no denying that he is a badass.
• In spite of being being severely injured from his fight with Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki, Stain uses a hidden knife to cut the rope binding his wrists, lick up a drop of blood from the Nomu that captured Midoriya, and strikes it down midair, saving Midoriya.
• When Stain sees Endeavor, the power of his bloodlust towards him and the other "false" heroes is so great and palpable that it causes everyone, including Gran Torino and Endeavor, to freeze in their tracks. The killer then delivers a scathing ultimatum that only a true Hero like All-Might has the right to kill him, a moral high-ground that none of the pretenders present possesses. Every Hero present, even Endeavor (who is ranked as just behind All Might in terms of power), is frozen in terror by the sheer fury of Stain's "righteous" rage, knowing his accusation of their unworthiness to be all too true. It only stops when the murderer passes out, still standing, from a perforated lung.
• The anime exclusive episode "Everyone's Internships":
  • Tsuyu interns under Captain Selkie and his sidekick Sirius, following their pursuit of stowaway criminals. Sirius emphasizes to her the importance of following and believing in the captain and each other. When Tsuyu and Sirius encounter the villain Innsmouth without the captain or the rest of the crew, Innsmouth takes Sirius hostage and tries to force Tsuyu to tell the rest of the crew through the radio that they could not find the stowaways. Sirius tells her not to but is silenced by Innsmouth. Tsu takes Sirius' words to heart, and...
    Tsuyu: The stowaways are at Double Rock!
  • Furious, Innsmouth attacks Tsuyu, who skillfully dodges and is only caught when she tries to rescue Sirius. Then Selkie shows up, having already caught the other two stowaways, and hits Innsmouth with them! Innsmouth then blinds Selkie with ink, but the captain uses echolocation that comes with his Quirk to skillfully evade, overpower, and slam the villain into the water. As a show of how powerful he is, the splash that forms is several times larger than Double Rock! Tsuyu is amazed by the captain, who later, in turn, praises her as an excellent hero.
• Several students get to show off what they learned from their week of training and apprenticeship in an exercise. The goal is a race from start to finish, and as everyone lines up everyone thinks Sero has got a perfect advantage until they see Deku leaping over buildings easily, amazing everyone.
  • Made all the better by their conversation right before the exercise started. While they can't agree on which of the first 5 competing will win, they unanimously agree Deku will finish last by virtue of having a power that injures him when used and doesn't boost mobility anyway (whereas the other 4 have all demonstrated the ability to move faster via their Quirks). Full Cowl represents the first of Deku's major Levels in Badass. Because he can now control how much of One For All he uses, he can now use it practically without ruining himself every time; at just five percent power, he is legitimately keeping up with the class and standing with them as equals.
• Chapter 59 has a retroactive one for All Might. In spite of the fight leaving him with a crippling wound that's all but stated outright to be slowly killing him, All Might managed to injure All For One — a man who has God only knows how many Quirks at his disposal and who basically ruled Japan in the shadows for a good long while — so badly that even now he's hooked up to several medical machines and what we see of his body is almost entirely scar tissue.

Final Exam Arc (Chapters 60-69, Episodes 34-38)

• Tokoyami and Tsuyu's teamwork in Chapter 61. Opting to flee when Ectoplasm comes at them the instant the exercise starts, they combine her ability to stick to walls and a long tongue with his dark shadow to launch each other away.
  • Of special note is how they win — Tsuyu reacts within a split-second of seeing Ectoplasm's giant clone to snatch the detaining cuffs from Tokoyami with her tongue, so they can be given to Dark Shadow while the giant clone has her and Tokoyami trapped. Again, she came up with this strategy with less than a second to react. Recovery Girl had earlier given an assessment that Tsuyu had no clear weakness, and it's evident that wasn't an exaggeration.
  • At the end of the same chapter, All Might's demonstration of strength. With just the air pressure created from the shockwave of a single punch, he causes serious damage to a whole row of buildings.
• Deku & Bakugo vs. All Might:
  • Deku has finally had enough of Bakugo acting up and punches him square in the face after he gets grabbed by All Might and goes on about how he'd rather lose than get help. Deku then proceeds to carry Bakugo away while yelling at him about how insulting it sounds for the guy who won't shut up about winning to talk about wanting to lose.
  • Bakugo decides to finally, begrudgingly get help from Deku by lending him one of his exploding gauntlets to tag-team against All Might. And Deku grudgingly gives Bakugo credit; that blast has quite a kick: "My shoulder! He really uses this thing?!"
  • Deku and Bakugo are able to hurt All Might using Bakugo's stored sweat with a massive explosion, all the while avoiding collateral damage by firing it in the direction All Might destroyed earlier. All Might takes a moment to reflect on how proud he is of them for teamwork and remembering his first lesson.
  • All Might shatters Bakugo's gauntlets but Bakugo reveals that he doesn't actually need them; they're a safety feature. He starts damaging his arms with each major blast but he continues with nary a flinch.
    Bakugo: If I don't take any risks, there's no way I can beat you. Right, All Might?!
  • Bakugo faints while trying to buy Deku enough time to escape and complete the trial. All Might is prepared to chase after him. He is not prepared for what Deku does instead: ignore all common sense and punch All Might in the face, grab Bakugo, and run for the exit so they can win together. Deku was actually struggling toward the exit with an injured back, but seeing Kacchan in trouble gives him the Heroic Second Wind he needs to activate Full Cowl and pull his crazy stunt, all in the name of rescuing him.
  • Also mixed with Heartwarming, but All Might looks on this mix of pure pride on his face as Izuku goes to overcome his fears and punch his idol, all to save someone. Why? Because that's how Izuku always was. It's a wonderful Call-Back to his growth yet also a reminder of why he was already a hero before getting One-For-All.
  • Bakugo managed to take multiple punches from the number 1 hero in the world, and get back up to continue fighting! Granted All Might was fighting with weights and still winning, but the fact that this child still in his first year of high school was capable of taking so much damage before fainting is worth noting. Even All Might looks surprised every time Bakugo comes back before finally being knocked unconscious.
• Principal Nedzu schooling Ashido and Kaminari, all without either being able to see him. Due to his quirk, High Specs, he's able to precisely knock down areas of buildings with a crane to cause chain reactions:
  Nedzu: Such calculations are as easy for me to make as a simple cup of tea!
• Todoroki and Yaoyorozu vs. Eraser Head.
  • Momo reveals her plan: those matryoshka dolls she created? They all have FLASHBANGS hidden in them, and a handful of them go off right in Aizawa-sensei's face.
  • Todoroki and Yaoyorozu manage to be the first to defeat their teacher outright through strategy, though he was taking it a bit easier on them.
• Mineta singlehandedly enacts a Batman Gambit to defeat Midnight, one in which he actually works off their similarities^note That is, both being perverts.... For starters, his whining and fearful blubbering were all part of a ruse to appeal to Midnight's sadistic streak, luring her away from the exit. When she caught up to him, he used some of Sero's tape to keep himself from breathing in her Knockout Gas and used his sticky balls to keep her there so he could carry Sero out without being caught in her area of effect.
  • Mineta downright asphyxiates himself so he can take out Midnight and rush past her. By the time he gets out of range, Mineta actually hurls from the lack of oxygen, yet still manages to carry Sero through the Exit Gate. Give the little perv due props, that's badass.
  • Finally, the rules of the test stipulate only one member need escape via the gate, which is how Iida passes even though he didn't get out himself. Mineta makes a point of going back for Sero when, strictly speaking, he didn't have to.
• Aoyama and Uraraka are clinging to a railing as No. 13 uses their black hole power on them and nothing they do is having any effect. As a panicking Uraraka starts pondering on what Midoriya would do, a calm Aoyama knows she's thinking of that and teases her by asking her if she loves Midoriya. Uraraka gets so flustered that she panics and lets go of the railing without noticing and goes flying towards No. 13 thanks to their power. No. 13 didn't expect this and shuts their power off, while Uraraka reacts by slamming into No. 13 and slapping the handcuffs on them, taking advantage of their lack of fighting skills.
• Credit goes to Uraraka again when she catches up to Midoriya at the shopping mall and finds him being held hostage by Shigaraki. She immediately figures out what's happening, and despite her obvious terror, tells the villain in no uncertain terms to get away from her friend. And it works, though Shigaraki had gotten what he wanted out of Midoriya by that point.
  • Midoriya getting held hostage is mainly nerve-wracking, and he reflexively panics when Shigaraki goes into an enlightened rant (which then results in Shigaraki coming that close to activating his Quirk), but despite his evident terror, the former manages to remain relatively level-headed enough to give Shigaraki his honest opinion without much changes in his voice when answering Shigaraki's question about himself and Stain.
    Midoriya: What's the difference between you two? ... I neither understand you nor accept you... Whereas for the Hero Killer, I don't accept him either but I do understand him. For both me and the Hero Killer, we started out by watching All Might. And back then, I was saved by him. At the very least, he didn't destroy because he wanted to. And he didn't give up so fickly. His methods were wrong, but he tried to live according to an ideal... That's what I think.

School Trip Arc (Chapters 70-83, Episodes 39-45)

• The class is dropped into a "forest of magical beasts" for testing purposes. When confronted by large stone monsters, most of the class freak out, before cutting to a panel of Midoriya, Iida, Todoroki, and Bakugo all smashing it to pieces simultaneously.
  • The anime adapts this in an amazing manner — we see an expanded version of this fight, with everyone in Class 1-A getting involved in some way. Sero grounds a flying beast by taping up its wings, Uraraka and Asui team up to slam a rock beast into the ground, Kirishima and Sato smash one to bits, Mineta traps another so that Kaminari can shock it apart, Hagakure lures some so that Ashido's acid can melt their legs, Yaoyorozu creates a cannon to blast them, Shoji and Jiro use their Quirks for surveillance, and Koda — whose Quirk was portrayed as useless against the beasts in the manga — calls up a swarm of birds to distract them.
• Deku scaling the side of a sheer cliff by foot by using OfA to save Kota. His phone ends up being destroyed, and that combined with everyone being scattered and dealing with the other villains means Midoriya has to take on the villain singlehandedly.
  • Tetsutetsu ignoring his orders to flee so that he can help his peers.
• Deku vs Muscular, especially in the Anime adaptation.
  • Deku being able to realize Kota was at his hideout after witnessing Pixie-Bob's assault shows how much his analytical skills help. This is what helps Deku manage to make it and rescue Kota at the last second.
  • Despite spending the first part getting thrown around like a ragdoll, Deku still manages to find the strength to attack Muscular after Kota tries to fight back.
  • Muscular gets a villainous moment when he predicted Midoriya would attack after Kota's confrontation. However, despite this, Midoriya manages to get himself attached to Muscular and manages his first-ever 100% One for All smash. Then he catches Kota with his teeth after that flings him off.
  • Another villainous moment for Muscular for being able to tank that one.
  • The entire ending of the fight. After Muscular decides to seriously go after Midoriya, Midoriya decides to counter his attack with a smash, and buy time for Kota to escape. It's awesome enough that he manages to keep Muscular off.
  • Then, as Midoriya is about to be flattened, Kota uses his own Quirk to distract Muscular, which gives Midoriya the opening he needs. With that opening, Midoriya goes beyond and unleashes a 1,000,000% Delaware Detroit Smash! This one cuts right through Muscular and sends him right into the nearby cliff. It's so awesome even Kota is inspired by Deku's heroism.^note Word of God say that while Midoriya didn't actually use one million percent of his power, he did legitimately go beyond his limits to get Muscular off of him and knock him out cold at the same time, all with one hit from a very badly-damaged arm to an opponent who was clearly stronger than him. So it's still awesome. For the first time, Deku acted the ideal he so much aspired, and in so doing drew out two simple but powerful words that are the title of the chapter/episode:
    Kota: (in the Japanese dub) My... My hero!
    (in the English dub) A hero... My hero!
    • To drive home just how an incredible feat the victory over Muscular is, the moment Magne realizes it she decides that killing Midoriya is more urgent than her fight with Tiger.
• Aizawa-sensei completely avoiding the blast from Dabi and quickly taking him down, even if it turned out to just be a Quirk-based duplicate of him.
  • After mangling both his arms in the fight with the Water Hose murderer, what does Deku do immediately after the fight? He gets Kota to safety and then jumps back into the fray, shattering Spinner's weapon, and relaying important news for Mandalay to spread, doing all this just with the use of his legs.
• Tetsutetsu and Kendo knocking out Mustard and stopping the poisonous gas. Props to Kendo for coming up with an idea to use her enlarged hands to blow away the gas and thus give Tetsutetsu the opening for the final hit, where he shows some smarts by going for Mustard's mask; wearing a mask means Mustard's not immune to his own gas, so even if the blow didn't KO him, it would prevent him using his Quirk.
• Tokoyami shows just how powerful his shadow can be, by one-shotting a villain giving Bakugo and Todoroki a lot of trouble, it looks like even All Might would have trouble with a fully powered shadow. And then Bakugo shows his tactical savvy again: he waits until after the shadow mauls the villain before shining some light to get it back under Tokoyami's control again.
  Dark Shadow: You don't matter, INSIGNIFICANT BUG!
• Ochaco gets to show off some of the martial arts she learned from Machine Gun Head, singlehandedly disarming and pinning Toga after Tsuyu gets immobilized.
  • In the long run, Toga one-upped Ochaco in the moment by managing to take enough of her blood.
• Midoriya coming up with a spur-of-the-moment plan to make use of the abilities of everyone present in order to catch up to Mr. Compress before he could get away with Tokoyami and Bakugo, once again showing that his mind is his greatest strength.
• Before Mr. Compress could escape with Tokoyami and Bakugo, Aoyama lets out a blast from his Quirk that allows the others to at least rescue Tokoyami. Made even more awesome when you consider the fact that for most of the attack Aoyama was cowering behind a nearby bush scared out of his mind praying that the League didn't find him.
• Awase shielding Momo from the Chainsaw Nomu's attack.
• One that's easily overlooked, and carries over to the next arc: Momo, with a bad gash on her head, after only a moment of assessing the situation, realizes that the Nomu retreating must mean, that the villains succeeded in capturing Bakugo. So in order to have a chance of finding him, she creates a bug and gives it to a member of Class-B to plant it on the Nomu. As this YouTuber pointed out, the bug and the tracker she later creates are incredibly complex devices, and for them to work, Momo (among other things) has to be able to write a computer program in electric charges! And she did it, in a matter of seconds!

Hideout Raid Arc (Chapters 84-97, Episodes 46-50)

• One reporter correctly deduces that the League are trying to recruit Bakugo; when he questions the UA teachers about it at a press conference, Aizawa acknowledges that he's done a poor job at curbing Bakugo's temper — but temper or not, Bakugo wants to be the Number 1 Hero. As far as Aizawa is concerned, the villains don't have a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding.
  • Aizawa's right. Shigaraki and the League have given Bakugo a whole lecture on what their villainous alliance stands for, and tempted him with his desire to win above almost all else. Shigaraki tells Dabi to undo Bakugo's restraints as a test of faith — though he's sure Bakugo's smart enough to realize he can't fight all of them. Bakugo doesn't even hesitate — the moment he's free and sure he's intact, he BLASTS Shigaraki in the face and tells them to fuck off. He calls out the villains for making so many excuses for what they want to do, and says he'll never join them, rejecting Shigaraki's "Not So Different" Remark.

Chapters 87 and 88/Episodes 47 and 48:

• In order to get Bakugo and Ragdoll back, the pro heroes have the story's first Avengers Assemble moment, gathering quite the all-star team: Endeavor; Best Jeanist; the No. 5 Hero, Edgeshot; the No. 10 Hero, Gang Orca; Gran Torino; Tiger from the Wild Wild Pussycats; Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady; and of course, All Might himself. They, along with the entire police force, create a plan to safely recover the abductees, capture the members of the League of Villains, and even stop the League from using their Nomu as back up. On top of that, they stage the press conference with Aizawa, Vlad, and Nezu in order to lull the villains into thinking the heroes are clueless. When the raid happens, it's the villains who are caught completely flat footed.
  • Edgeshot pretends to be a pizza delivery guy to distract the League — so All Might can SMASH!! through the wall behind them!
  • An instant later, Kamui Woods finally gets to put his special move from Episode 1 to good use.
    Kamui Woods: Preemptive! Binding! Laquer Chain Prison!
  • When Shigaraki calls for Kurogiri to warp in their backup, it cuts back across town to the warehouse where the Nomu are kept. Midoriya and the others watch in awe as Mt. Lady uses a truck as a boot and brings down half the building with one kick, disrupting Kurogiri's coordinates. She and Best Jeanist then secure the Nomu While Tiger finds Ragdoll.
  • Edgeshot uses his ability to fold himself in order to pass through Kurogiri's body and knock him unconscious.
  • In a very surprising turn, Gran Torino shows how the Police of this world aren't useless after all, because they managed to figure out the civilian names of almost all the League members. Even if they escape, they'll never be able to live normal lives again.
  • That would have been the end of it, were it not for one unresolved thread. The Man Behind the Man. All For One.
    • Before he even appears in person, he uses his own warp Quirk to send dozens of Nomu to the bar for the heroes to fight, then pulls the League members and Bukugo to his location. Speaking of...
    • He appears in the darkness of the ruined warehouse, and is promptly restrained by Best Jeanist's Fiber Master Quirk. The manga then shows a single black bar before immediately cutting to All for One levitating over a completely devastated and ruined Kamino Ward; the anime achieves the same effect by cutting to the end credits as soon as he attacks, cutting back to the devastation afterward. In a split second, he lives up to his status as The Dreaded and The Big Bad of the series by taking out an entire team of pro heroes, and causing so much destruction that it looks like a natural disaster. With one attack. The result is incredibly jarring and a perfect way to demonstrate how utterly powerful All for One is compared to any villains introduced before; the perfect antithesis of All Might. He's so ruthlessly efficient that Midoriya initially mistakes him as Death itself. All of the students are reduced to shivers and cowering behind a wall, looking like they're about to vomit. And they're haunted by visions of their own deaths...
    • Credit to Best Jeanist: he managed to get everyone else out of the way of that attack so that they were only knocked out instead of killed. His incredible reflexes earn him sincere praise from All For One. And even though he's already injured and terrified, Jeanist figures out who All For One is and tries to stop him, earning himself a hole in his guts for the trouble. Which he survives.
• Chapter 89: The gang of would-be rescuers is paralyzed by the sheer terror of All for One's presence, but Midoriya works himself out of it by focusing on how to rescue Bakugo. The instant he sees it happening, Iida works himself out of it to protect Midoriya.
• All Might makes his second Dynamic Entry in as many episodes by falling out of the sky and punching All For One. But the villain manages to catch and stop the blows; the resulting clash nearly blows everyone away, even the students in hiding.
  • All for One giving life advice to his protege, just before calmly twirling around and clashing with All Might is one for the villains. It's not every day you get a Villain Mentor fighting the strong, implacable Hero to buy time for the other villains to escape.
• All For One countering All Might's second attack sends the hero flying through several buildings, nearly doubling the damage zone. He lists off the Quirks he used (Air Cannon, Spring-Like Limbs, Kinetic Booster Times Four ^note It's unclear whether that's how much the Quirk enhances him compared to a normal human, or the number of Quirks with that power he's accumulated, Strength Enhancer Times Three ^note Same thing), then says he'll add more next time.
• One particularly twisted moment occurs early on in the confrontation, when All Might tries to reach Bakugo only to be impaled by All For One's Combat Tentacles and flung into a building, while the villain perverts All Might's Catchphrase. Dub only, unforunately.
  All Might: (to Bakugo) I'm coming for you!
  All For One: I don't think so! Because I am here!
• After a minute, Midoriya manages to overcome his fear and figure out a plan to rescue Bakugo without fighting the villains or getting in All Might's way. The students use Midoriya, Iida, and Kirishima's Quirks to provide enough momentum and defense to break through the wall they were hiding behind, while Todoroki uses his ice to launch them into the air, out of the villains' reach. The key to success, however, is having Kirishima be the one to reach out to Bakugo; Midoriya knows that Bakugo would never listen to him, or even Todoroki or Iida. But him and Kirishima have built up respect and possibly even friendship over the school year. It works; Bakugo sees Kirishima and blasts himself up to grab his hand.
  • The villains attempt to pursue by having Magne launch Compress into the air. Mt. Lady gets one more chance to shine though, growing to her colossal form with a shout of "TITAN CLASS!" and bodily intercepting. She had only just recovered from All For One's initial attack, and fell unconscious again after.
  • Further attempts are halted by Gran Torino arriving, and All For One sending the younger League members away via Kurogiri's portal.
  • Bakugo deserves a little credit — he mainly dodged while confronting the League, knowing they had the advantage and that he needed to leave so All Might could fight unimpeded. He was aware of his enemies' strengths and the lay of the battlefield, and was looking for a way to strategically retreat even before his classmates appeared.
  • And the final icing on this cake: Iida only agreed to Midoriya's plan because it was a way for them to rescue Bakugo without getting involved in the fight. Taking to the sky kept them out of the villains' reach, exposed them for only the brief moment they'd need to snatch Bakugo, and simuntaneously provided their escape route, as by the time they touched back down, they were well away from the fight, and even with the other heroes arriving, they were all already making tracks.

---

• It's after this that the true battle begins. All Might vs All For One, their final and ultimate battle.
  • All For One taunts All Might by talking about how the hero defeated all of the other villains, or sent them into hiding, and that his success as the Symbol of Peace only came about because of those "sacrifices". He continues, mocking All Might for not going all out because of the innocent people that might be nearby. But All Might calls him out spectacularly.
    All Might: "Shut up! That's what you do... you toy with people's very lives! You break them! You steal from them! You take advantage and manipulate them! You sneer at them, when they're just trying to live everyday lives! And for that, I can't forgive you!!!"
  • With that, All Might pins All For One with a mighty blow that would've taken out a lesser villain. However...
  • All Might's time is up. He's barely holding on to his muscle form. All For One continues to taunt him, this time over the death of his predecessor. The villain then blasts All Might into the air when he's distracted, and Gran Torino is just barely able to intercept him before he hits a news helicopter. In spite of it all, All Might stands up. But then All For One readies another, even stronger attack. He abuses his opponent's need to defend innocent people by forcing him to take the blast head-on so a trapped civilian won't be killed. The blast, which is just air, carves massive troughs in the ground. When the dust clears, All Might is still standing... in his true form, revealed to all the world as an emaciated skeleton of a man.
    All For One: I want you to suffer until your last breath, and die broken and disgraced, for all the world to see! ... I will obliterate everything you've protected! First to go will be your self-respect and ridiculous public image. Show the world how pitiful you really are, Symbol of Peace.
  • Even so, All Might clenches his fist and does his best to smile, stating that in his heart, he remains a hero and the Symbol of Peace!
  • All For One then reveals that Tomura is the grandson of All Might's mentor, Nana Shimura. He purposefully groomed the boy into becoming a villain that hates heroes, and All Might especially, hoping to break All Might's spirit. For a moment, it works... until All Might hears a civilian trapped nearby calling for help. At which point he is reminded of his duties as a hero, snaps himself out of the Heroic BSoD, smiles, powers up one arm for an attack, and gives All For One a short but awesome Shut Up, Hannibal! speech.
    All Might: You're right, All For One. There's so much... so much we heroes have to protect. And that's why we don't lose!
  • However, All For One recognizes that this is the last of All Might's strength, and prepares to attack him again. That's when the other pro heroes arrive!
    Endeavor and Edgeshot distract All For One, while Tiger and Kamui Woods finish evacuating the trapped civilians and unconscious heroes.
  • As Tiger tells him, and Gran Torino reiterates for the audience, in spite of everything All For One has done, the entire WORLD is currently, literally cheering All Might on. The citizens, the pros, his students — every one of them is shouting his name to the heavens. And you probably are, too.
    
    
  • As the other heroes disperse, All For One loses his patience and fulfills his earlier promise...
    All For One: Spring-Like Limbs! Kinetic Booster Times Four! Strength Enhancer Times Three! Multiplier! Hypertrophy! Rivets! Airwalk! Spear-Like Bones! ... In order to put you down for good, I'm going to punch you with the ultimate combination of Quirks I have stored up inside of me right now! This will end you.
    • To be clear: after mutating to express those Quirks, All For One's left "arm" is almost as big as the entire rest of his body, and looks like rocks and metal spikes sticking out of a pile of stitched-together flesh. It's an abomination that wouldn't look out of place on the likes of Doomsday, and looks even more monstrous attached to the relatively human All For One. As he attacks All Might, he makes it clear — One For All isn't inside All Might at all, anymore; he's just been coasting on the embers. Not only that, but AFO is aware that Midoriya is the one who has inherited the power. He chastises All Might for not being able to control the child, and mockingly says that he'll die full of regrets — as a hero, and a teacher.
  • When the big punch lands and their fists meet, the air between All Might and All For One warps, before exploding back outward. Then AFO adds one more Quirk: Impact Recoil. All Might's arm ripples, cracking and crunching, and blood sprays everywhere. He's pushed back through wall after wall, and AFO continues to taunt him about his weakened state. It really looks like this might be another case of The Bad Guy Wins...
    
    
  • And then All Might digs in his heel.
    
    All For One's taunting and thinly veiled threat against Midoriya was a bad move.
    All Might: Not just as a "symbol"... Just like what my master did for me... I, too, until I'm done bringing him up...
    All For One: To go to such unsightly lengths to fight against it... I miscalculated.
    All Might: I WILL NOT DIE!!!
  • All Might transfers the power he has left from his right arm to his left, allowing the right to be hit with the force of All For One's blow — then uses his left arm to Smash AFO in the face with a blow that creates a windstorm.
    All For One: Trickery?! This is so unlike you... but it's weak!
  • All for One is utterly baffled, since he never expected his honorable opponent to use such a deceitful trick, but he dismisses it, as the punch wasn't hard enough to damage him. It did, however, leave AFO off balance and unable to reorient himself in time. He then has the mother of all Oh, Crap! moments when he realizes it was a feint.
    
    At that point, All Might transfers the power out of his left arm, and back into his wrecked right arm, a move just as insane as anything Midoriya has done. All Might has learned a fair bit from his student as well.
    All Might: That's because... I didn't put my back into it!
  • He reaches deep within and goes beyond, calling on the memory of his beloved mentor.
    Nana Shimura: This power has been passed down from hero to hero, each praying that it will bring joy and peace to humanity. That One For All would give the world hope. And now it is your turn. Do your best, Toshinori!
  • He grabs hold of that power in his fist, dodges All For One's desperate counterstrike, and then puts his whole body into delivering one. Final. Blow. For a moment, the flickering embers of power in his heart grow into a raging inferno, as he punches his nemesis into the dirt so hard it creates a tornado that lifts entire buildings:
    
    All Might: Good bye, All For One!
    
    Toshinori Yagi: UNITED! STATES OF! SMAAAAAASH!!
    
    
    • He basically destroyed his own various Death Flags that have been scattered everywhere throughout the series.
    • This scene is set to the absolutely gorgeously triumphant All Might with U.A. Students.
      
      
  • Afterwards, he stands up, raises his fist to the sky, and flexes into his buff form, all while his normally goofy and over-the-top theme music is playing in the background like a victory march. Everyone watching cheers, many of them crying. Edgeshot says that All Might shouldn't overexert himself, but Gran Torino halts him, insisting that All Might is still doing his duty. His final act as the Symbol of Peace and No. 1 hero.

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• Midoriya's mother putting her foot down and refusing to let her son continue being in harm's way at U.A.
• In response, Midoriya runs out of the room, leaving his mother and Toshinori to think that it's because his mom refused to let him continue attending U.A. On the contrary, Midoriya comes back and shows both All Might and his mother the Thank You letter Kota gave him for rescuing him at the camp, and how he called Midoriya his hero. It culminates in him stating that he's fine with having to attend another Hero school if it puts his mother's mind at ease, and is more than willing to take other paths into becoming a Hero, as long as he can still become one.
  • All Might is once again inspired by Midoriya's courage and determination, musters up the strength to go into his Power form, and kneels before Midoriya's mother to convince her to let Midoriya continue his studies at U.A, even going as far to admit that Midoriya is a fitting "Symbol of Peace".

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