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Katsuki Bakugo - Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/katsuki_bakugo_s4.png
"You'll regret making a fool of me! I'll freaking kill you!"
Click here to see him in uniform 

Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto (Japanese), Sachi Kokuryu (Japanese, Young), Clifford Chapin (English), Kate Oxley (English, Young), Rómulo Bernal (Latin American Spanish/TV series), Rafael Escalante (Latin American Spanish/movies), Judith Noguera (Latin American Spanish/TV series, Young), David Jenner (European Spanish)

Debut: Chapter 1 (Manga), Episode 1 (Anime)

Playable in: My Hero Academia: Battle for All, My Hero One's Justice, Jump Force, My Hero One's Justice 2, My Hero Academia: The Strongest Hero, My Hero Academia: Ultra Impact, Fortnite

Quirk: Explosion

"Can't stand morons like you who can't get to the damned point! Basically you're saying, 'we wanna cause trouble, be our pal!' What a joke! I've always admired All Might's triumphs. No matter what any of you jerks say... Nothing's ever gonna change that!"

A crude, unfriendly, violent and arrogant boy whose delinquent-like attitude is more fitting of a villain than a hero. His powerful Quirk, "Explosion", which allows him to secrete an explosive substance from his hands and ignite it at will, combined with his prodigious athleticism, has led him to develop a severe superiority complex and relentlessly bully his Quirkless former friend, Izuku Midoriya. He believes that a true hero should be the strongest and always win, which is why he hates being helped by others.


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    # - B 
  • The Ace: Deconstructed. At the start of the series, Bakugo was a skilled Quirk user who was good at just about anything he attempted, including having great grades. This, combined with him being praised by so many people for his luck and talent, meant Bakugo grew up knowing he was this — which made him into a massive jerkass who looked down on everyone else. He gets a bad wake-up call when he starts attending U.A., which is full of students who are just as talented and hardworking as he is, and his bad attitude from years of getting his ego inflated constantly gets in the way of his dream of being a real hero. He's one of the only two heroes in training from U.A. to fail in getting his hero license, all because of his terrible attitude despite his great performance at the actual task. Part of his Character Development over the series is coming to grips with not being the hot-shot he thinks he is, which ironically starts having him develop skills that make him the ace he once viewed himself as.
  • Actually Pretty Funny: He, of all people, bursts out laughing when Camie uses her Quirk to imitate Todoroki.
  • Adaptational Jerkass: While Bakugo is already a massive Jerkass, in the manga, he had a minor Pet the Dog moment with Todoroki during the remedial classes: when Todoroki suggested that there are ways other than violence to deal with the bratty kids they were to look after, Bakugo had a brief flasback to the sports festival, when he overheard Todoroki telling Midoriya how he was abused as a child by Endeavor, which hinted that despite his one-sided rivalry, he does have some sympathy for Todoroki's tragic backstory, and he asked him to go ahead and do what he is planning. The anime drops the flashback scene, making Bakugo look like his usual jerkass self challenging Todoroki to do what he plans to do, just to prove that his method won't work.
  • Affection-Hating Kid: Not very surprising given his usual Hair-Trigger Temper and his loner attitude in general. Even though he's slowly outgrowing this, Bakugo doesn't like receiving any form of affection/kindness at all (he equates it with being pitied, something he doesn't tolerate) nor does he like giving it, not even to his own parents since he calls his mother a "hag" and his father a "clown". He may show rare and far between bouts of sincere consideration for someone else, but only begrudgingly and unpleasantly. During the retake sessions in which he has to master a group of unruly kids, he actually lets it slip that this is how he was raised.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Midoriya calls him "Kacchan", which is a diminutive of Bakugo's first name "Katsuki". It's a particularly affectionate and familiar nickname, especially from a man to another man. While Bakugo hasn't exactly endeared the nickname, Midoriya is the only one to call him that and Bakugo has never told him not to. Flashbacks show that other kids used this nickname and in the present day, Kaminari occasionally uses it. He never asks anyone to not call him that. He calls himself "Kacchan Bakugo" during the final fight with All For One in Chapter 406, bringing it all full circle.
  • All Drummers Are Animals: Naturally, the most violent and aggressive student in U.A. ends up being the drummer in Class 1-A's band during the U.A. Cultural Festival Arc. Even his reason for agreeing to take part in is so he can "murder [1-A's detractors] with music!"
  • Always Second Best: In his eyes, the fact that Midoriya keeps getting the attention and praise from everybody makes him feel like this, particularly because his victories against others are meaningless to him. So far, he lost to Midoriya in the Heroes vs. Villains exercise, the Obstacle Race, getting a hero license, and others. The fact he won the U.A. Sports Festival is pointless to him, because The Ace, Todoroki, sees Bakugo as this as well since he believes the actual threat to the position of number one hero is Midoriya, not Bakugo. Bakugo sees this as being highlighted by the fact that Todoroki used his flames to defeat Midoriya but refused to use them against Bakugo.note 
  • Ambition Is Evil: Subverted. His ambition to be the number one hero is actually treated as one of his few positive points, despite him being a huge jerk about it. He also refuses to go down the path of a villain, even though his Quirk would be very suited for it. That said, in Chapter 120, All Might says that his drive to be the best is holding him back from being a hero and that he needs to work on also having an equal drive for rescuing people.
  • Anger Is Not Enough: He is known for his incredibly versatile "Explosion" Quirk and his even more volatile temper. He's proven to be both powerful and skilled enough to face against villains and other opponents but falters at nearly every other category due to his abrasive attitude. This is best illustrated in the entrance exam: he scored the highest amount of villain points (points earned from destroying attack robots) but scored absolutely zero rescue points (points scored from assisting other attendees and other acts of heroism). He's told repeatedly by various individuals from All Might to Best Jeanest that while he is incredibly talented, his Unstoppable Rage will make him fall short of becoming a hero. This is shown when he was one of the few students to fail the provisional hero license exam because the point of the exam was to not just rescue civilians, but show proper concern for them. While he did rescue plenty of people and even showed good judgement calls on who needed help more, he was docked massive points because he was constantly yelling at them and being generally the opposite of reassuring.
  • Animal Motif:
    • Tigers. Bakugo's main color palette in his Hero Costume consist of orange and black, the same colors as a tiger's fur. In several mythologies, tigers are often associated with fire, matching Bakugo's fiery Explosion Quirk. They're apex predators in their ecosystems and the strongest of the big cats, similar to how Bakugo is one of the strongest fighters in Class 1-A and is also quite ferocious in his fighting style. Tigers are also solitary creatures, which fits Bakugo's loner tendencies and initial preference to fight without help.
    • Dogs, especially the Shiba Inu. Bakugo's hair color matches the sandy blonde fur of the Shiba Inu, especially since most fan arts of him often depict him as a dog or with a dog. Bakugo's constant yelling and cursing can be compared to a dog's loud barking, especially since the Shiba Inu are known to be very loud and vocal dogs. Just like Bakugo, the Shiba Inu have a very dominant side that can become a problem when proper boundaries aren't set, just like Bakugo's temper and arrogance became a major problem because no one ever held him accountable for his actions growing up. Bakugo has a strong independent, stubborn streak, another thing he shares with the Shiba Inu. While he is noted several times to have a ferocious and animalistic-like nature, Bakugo, like the Shiba Inu, can form strong bonds with others and be deeply loyal to those who earn his respect and trust.
  • Anti-Hero:
    • An Unscrupulous Hero leaning towards Nominal Hero. This is the reason why the League of Villains kidnapped him. After the event, his violent attitude is even lampshaded by the media. It's often mentioned by others that his behavior is very un-heroic and more befitting of a villain. Though he is firmly on the side of good, rejecting the League's offer to join them straight to their face while held hostage in their base all alone.
    • Later deconstructed. His jerkish, irreverent behavior is exactly what everyone considers to be the only thing hampering him from becoming an amazing hero. To his peers, he has the skill, intelligence, and drive, but they can't find in themselves to respect him as a hero due to him acting like a villain. He fails the provisional hero license exam exactly because he couldn't show a more caring (or at least, less abrasive) side and despite winning the U.A. Sports Festival, heroes seem to be wary of working with such a temperamental person, though it didn't stop him from getting a lot of internship opportunities. In fact, Best Jeanist compared Bakugo to a wild animal that needed to be tamed, and thus the emphasis was on that for Bakugo during his internship. He failed utterly.
  • Arm Cannon: While he can easily pull off the traditional version and most of his techniques are named after cannon ordinances, the giant grenade gauntlets he has as part of his hero costume were specifically requested by him as the Arm-Mounted variant, which collect his explosive sweat and unleash a devastating blast when full and a pin trigger is pulled.
  • Asshole Victim:
    • It's hard to feel sorry for him when he gets assaulted by the Sludge Villain, considering he told Midoriya to kill himself earlier. Despite that, the fact that Midoriya is willing to risk his life save Bakugo in spite of the latter's bullying speaks volumes of how heroic he is.
    • Averted when he gets kidnapped by the League of Villains; the incident is treated as a serious emergency. In fact, the incident shows that for all of Bakugo's flaws, he isn't evil, which is why he refuses to join the League.
  • The Atoner: In Chapter 284, All Might guesses that Bakugo helping Midoriya with training is a way of atoning for bullying him. Bakugo doesn't confirm or deny this, but considering that he'd just said that his inability to notice his own weakness led him to bully Midoriya, All Might has good reason to believe this. Later in chapter 285, this becomes more apparent with him taking Shigaraki's potentially lethal strike meant for Midoriya.
    • Comes full circle in chapter 322 where he apologizes to Izuku for all his years of bullying him while acknowledging it's nowhere near enough to help him recover. But he'll stand with him all the same as his friend, showing he fully understands what being a hero is at last. He even does it in front of the entire class to demonstrate his newfound humility to everybody's surprise.
  • Atrocious Alias:
    • When Midnight instructs the students to come up with hero names, Bakugo's first choice is "King Explosion Murder"... and he is promptly told to come up with a new one. His next idea, either due to him not understanding the problem or not wanting to compromise, is "Lord Explosion Murder." Midnight shoots this down as well.
    • His actual hero name is even more egregious than the first two, and he announces it loudly and publicly in the middle of a fight after having gone without one for two hundred and forty-eight chapters, since the students first picked their hero name in Chapter 45. It is, drumroll please... Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight.
  • Attack! Attack! Attack!:
    • His usual strategy during combat, although he is perfectly capable of formulating more complex battle plans should this not work.
    • When he picks a fight with Midoriya after the Provisional Hero License Exam, this is Bakugo's battle plan, although he has an actual reason- Midoriya prefers to hang back and analyze opponents before really fighting, so Bakugo attacks continuously to keep him too busy defending to do so.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Ironically, he has this with Deku in later chapters, laying bare to All Might how worried for Deku he is.
    • If Bakugo jumping in front of a near fatal attack to save Izuku’s life proves anything, it’s that he cares much more for Izuku than he tries to let on. Later, upon waking up in the hospital, his first question is how Deku (and Todoroki) are doing and despite everyone trying to calm him down and telling him he shouldn't move due to his injuries, he starts marching down to Deku's room screaming "If he thinks he can die on me, he is dead meat." and "Why am I the one awake while you're still sound asleep." and looks thoroughly distraught about Deku still being in a coma.
    • Days after Deku leaves UA, he rounds up his classmates and questions Endeavor about Deku's whereabouts, noting that he is the one who knows Deku and Deku's self-sacrificial tendencies the best and claims Deku being out there running himself rugged as "the worst scenario he could think of". Funnily enough, Deku is the one character he shows most explicit worry about.
    • He may be a violent, antisocial Jerkass, but he is also shown being able to form bonds of friendship and give trust to others, best seen with his dynamic with Kirishima; not only is he one of the few exceptions to Bakugo's habit of calling people by their nicknames—a sign of indifference and lack of respect from Bakugo—but he is also among the select few whom Bakugo truly trusts. It’s best seen when Kirishima was the one to grab Bakugo’s hand while rescuing him from the League of Villains as Deku mentions if he himself reaches out to Bakugo at that point in their relationship, Bakugo wouldn't accept his hand, so it has to be Kirishima.
    • This also applies to Best Jeanist - while their relationship was initially rocky, it’s clear that Bakugo came to respect the pro hero, and he absolutely refuses to tell anyone his new Atrocious Alias because he wants to tell Best Jeanist first.
    • This can also be seen with Todoroki. They start as full-on hostile rivals but after spending time together during remedial courses, Todoroki starts calling Bakugo his friend. While Bakugo in usual Bakugo nature gets angry about this, it can be seen he cares about Todoroki. He knows Todoroki's childhood trauma from listening in on his conversation with Deku during the sports festival and later during the remedial course when Todoroki mentions how violence towards kids is not a solution, he thinks back on what he heard and immediately asks Todoroki what he thinks is a good solution. Later in the Todoroki house while he is being his loud self, he also observes Todoroki with his dad. After the war the first thing he asks about upon waking up is how Deku and Todoroki are doing.
  • Badass Boast: Declares before everyone at the U.A. Sports Festival that he is going to be first. He makes good on it, although he feels he wasn't able to properly follow through because Todoroki was too shaken to fight him properly.
  • Badass in Distress: In the first chapter, he is captured by the Sludge Villain. A year later, he ends up getting captured by villains at the summer training camp and needing rescue, much to his dismay.
  • Battle Cry: "SHINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!", which means and is translated as "DIEEEEEEEEE!!!"
  • The Berserker: He is reckless and very aggressive when he fights. This proves to be his weakness when he has to fight Midoriya during the Heroes vs. Villains exercise because he fights so aggressively and so frequently that Midoriya, who has witnessed and often been on the receiving end of his attacks, can easily predict his moves, such as the fact he always opens with a strong right hook.
  • Berserker Tears: Given how Bakugo's default emotion is Unstoppable Rage, whenever he breaks into tears falls comfortably into this trope.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Finally gets his moment to save the day in the Final Battle when he rises from the dead to rescue All Might from All For One. This is thanks to Edgeshot using his Dangerous Forbidden Technique on him after TomurAFO killed him. Even barely conscious or standing, he rises up with a new Power-Up ready to usher in a new age of heroes alongside Izuku.
  • Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Beneath Bakugo's boastful, trigger-happy and glory-hunting exterior is a genuinely insecure and worried heart. His sense of self-worth can easily be tied to his emotionally brittle ego, but his rant to Midoriya as they brawl for the second time indicates that, in spite of all the praise he was heaped on as a child, he has an unfulfilled need for validation and acceptance, which he realizes his battle prowess cannot earn him.
    "How?! How'd I end up chasing after a dweeb who was only playing catch-up?! Why'd a twerp like you get that kind of power?! You got All Might to recognize you... you got way stronger! So, why was it me... why was it me who put an end to All Might?!"
  • Big Fancy House: While the Bakugo residence isn't a mansion like the Yaoyorozu residence, it's still very large by Japanese standards, especially for a family of three.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: In the Winter Internship Arc, he's the Blond to Midoriya's Brunet and Todoroki's Redhead, as Endeavor's three interns.
  • Blood Knight: Bakugo is always ready for a good brawl, if not actively looking for one in order to prove his superiority. It's also shown in the Entrance Exam that he's having fun obliterating the robots as part of the exam.
  • Boom in the Hand: He's an interesting example thanks to his Quirk, which allows him to blow anything up in his hands as the explosions often form from there.
  • Born in the Wrong Century: Bakugo's belief of a true hero being measured by their great strength, deeds, victory, and independence isn't so surprising when compared to how heroes were usually portrayed in gold and dark age of comic books, or even ones from classical times and mythology. While the series does give validation to those traits, it also shows just how incredibly toxic and detrimental it can be to his growth as a hero, especially when he's born at a time of relative peace.
  • Born Winner: Subverted, but he sees himself like this. At the age of 4, he developed a very powerful combat-oriented Quirk, with everybody he ever met filling him with praise and admiration, added to the negligent behavior of his parents towards these attitude problems, he quickly developed the mentality that he is simply better than everybody else. However, it only takes one day of exercise at U.A. to force him to face the reality that he is liable to lose to someone he looked down to his whole life and that several people are even better than him. That said, it's still played straight in that multiple characters envy how absolutely ridiculous his Quirk is in terms of versatility and power. He's also one of the only characters in the entire series whose costume negates nearly all of the downsides of his ability.
  • Break the Haughty: Bakugo starts off as a mean, cocky and self-aggrandizing creep as well as a shameless bully. As the series goes on, he gets humiliated time and again, to the point of seeing the quirkless boy he once deemed worthless inherit the #1 Hero's quirk and being chosen as his rightful heir instead of him. Reconstructed later in the series, as these fat slices of Humble Pie eventually mould him into a much better person, as he learns from and tries, in his own way, to atone for his past mistakes.
  • Broken Ace: As a child, Bakugo was smart, strong, and brave even before he won the Superpower Lottery. The constant praise for this went to his head and gave him an Inferiority Superiority Complex to the point where he became a self-absorbed jerkass. Then he went to U.A., where no one feared him or held him in awe, and several other students were straight-up more powerful than him. His nasty personality, which people overlooked all his childhood, suddenly became a major stumbling block on his road to being a hero, and he continuously faced off against threats way above his level, handing him some brutal defeats.
  • Brutal Honesty: He does not hesitate in the slightest to bring up the elephant in the room when Midoriya and All Might have a meeting after the former starts gaining more Quirks. First, he blurts out that something had to have been a trigger, and that trigger is probably All For One. Additionally, he tells them that Midoriya's possession of a bunch of other people's Quirks makes him no different than All For One in that regard. All Might knew that was probably the case but was too shocked and afraid to say it outright. It's almost a form of kindness from him since shoving it in Midoriya's face helped him come to terms with this reality quickly instead of dragging it out.
  • The Bully: At the start of the story and before that, he was Izuku's childhood bully. He's growing out of it, especially since he's not as popular with his classmates as he was in middle school.
  • Bully and Wimp Pairing: A classic example with Midoriya and Bakugo. Midoriya is shorter, leaner and kinder than Bakugo, while Bakugo regularly manhandles and jeers at him. Initially, it was Played for Drama since Bakugo was downright cruel to Midoriya and ostracized him for his Quirklessness, but as the series progresses, it becomes more and more light-hearted, despite Bakugo remaining coarse with Midoriya but showing each time a bit more that he does care for him but in a worthy rival kind of way. Even when they work together against a villain, they tend to keep this dynamic.
  • Bully Turned Buddy: Inverted and then played straight. Initially, Midoriya and Bakugo were buddies as little kids, but that friendship turned sour as Bakugo's Quirk manifested while Midoriya's didn't. This animosity pervades their relationship even as Midoriya tries to mend the bridge and maintain their friendship. Only after they brawled after Bakugo deduces that Midoriya got his Quirk from All Might do they come to a mutual understanding and become closer to Friendly Rivals. Even then, Bakugo continues to call Midoriya "Deku" (not that he minds anymore) and remains coarse with him.
  • But Not Too Challenging: Bakugo is furious at the idea of losing to Deku but is also furious at the idea of Deku letting him win. This continues with other classmates, where he is enraged after Shoto throws his fight against Bakugo.
  • Butt-Monkey:
    • While he was a cocky, confident Big Man on Campus when attending middle school, he never really recovered from the utter assault on his dignity that Midoriya saving his life wound up being, and the kids at U.A. who don't regard him with contempt generally find the resulting Inferiority Superiority Complex, combined with his Hair-Trigger Temper and Comical Overreacting, to be hilarious.
    • He seconds only Midoriya to being the butt of the joke in the Smash!! comics. Some sequences are entirely dedicated to him getting screwed over.

    C - E 
  • Can't Catch Up: Deep down, this is Bakugo's greatest fear. He prides himself so much on being the alpha dog that he's unable to process there are other kinds of strength besides having an awesome Quirk, which is why he projects his weaknesses onto Izuku and bullies him. His character arc throughout the story is slowly coming to terms with this fear and realizing how much of a Jerkass he was. Up to flat out admitting to himself that Izuku pushing through the pain of using his Quirk showed he had the grit to be the best hero of them all.
  • Catchphrase Insult:
    • He has a very scary habit of repeatedly telling people to "DIE!" when fighting them or "I'll kill you" whenever he felt insulted.
    • He likes to call Midoriya "Deku" to mock him. However, it becomes an Insult Backfire when the latter realizes it can also mean "never giving up," leading to it becoming his hero name.
  • Celibate Hero: Unlike Todoroki, who sometimes interacts with the female members of Class 1-A, especially Momo, his partner for the practical portion of the finals, Bakugo is particularly notable for having manifested no interest at all in anything pertaining to the opposite sex. He usually either treats attractive girls with the same general disdain he shows everybody or complete indifference and outright avoids even talking to them, even Mina Ashido despite her being part of his "team" along with Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero. To wit, when Mineta tried to perv on the girls at the hot spring spa of the Wild Wild Pussycats estate, he's indeed the only one, along with Tokoyami, to not even flinch at the idea of all the girls being stark naked on the other side of the wooden wall.
  • Character Development: Goes from incredibly arrogant and rude at the beginning, then becomes much warier of the skills of those around him because of Midoriya outsmarting him in the Hero Trial. He also shows respect to people who earn it like Uraraka, where he takes her seriously as an opponent regardless of the audience's protests and how he doesn't view her as a "fragile girl" like his classmates say. He eventually accepts Midoriya as a friend again and continues mellowing out to the point his long-suppressed remorse for treating Midoriya so poorly burgeons to the surface and pushes him to become just as selfless of a hero. He apologizes for bullying him, begins calling him Izuku again, puts his life on the line for his friends, and even goes so far as to pull a Heroic Sacrifice that ends with Shigaraki punching a hole through his heart. After coming Back from the Dead Bakugo promises Izuku that he won't stand in his way anymore finally coming to terms with Always Being Second Best to his rival.
  • Character Tics:
    • He tends to stick his hands in his pockets and lumber around with an angry shuffle about him.
    • He hates wearing a tie. Bakugo instead keeps his dress shirt collar loose and unbuttoned (along with leaving his shirttail untucked when his suit jacket is unbuttoned/off). The only time he was ever seen with one on was for his student ID photo, where he was expected to have one on. Compare/contrast that to Midoriya, who also has tie issues but at least tries to wear his.
    • Bakugo prefers to wear his pants all baggy, like a street thug.
    • He has a tendency to bare his teeth a lot as a sign of aggression.
    • Midoriya has observed that he tends to start fights with a right hook, which Uraraka kept in mind when she fought him in the Sports Festival. He expects Bakugo to shake things up in their fight after the provisional license exam, only for Bakugo to do just that and chastise him for overthinking.
  • Characterization Marches On:
    • Bakugo was considerably more callous in the early stages of the manga, to the point he would look like a designated hero had his hidden depths not been explored. Particularly, telling Midoriya to go kill himself was as bad as his treatment of others got to. This type of behavior never comes back though. Mostly because in middle school, he got away with it and had a posse. At U.A., however, nobody's willing to put up with it and he's got more heroic friends now. Kōhei Horikoshi himself admitted that he went too far with Bakugo's personality during the start of the manga and he was not meant to be as mean as he came off as.
    • Bakugo was prone to very creepy Slasher Smiles at any opportunity to hurt others and having bizarre angered faces that made him look scary and deranged like a wild animal. He last shows one of these in the USJ Arc. Following that, his facial expressions evolved into usually cocky smiles, comical angry faces, and for the most part, a serious and slightly annoyed resting face.
    • His first appearance had him interested in becoming a hero to get rich. Wanting to become a hero for money is quickly dropped, with Bakugo showing more interest in being strong and proving his worth than making money. His family is also shown to be well-off in later chapters (enough to own a Big Fancy House), so making money shouldn't be an issue for him.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: While he may be naturally sturdy and heat resilient as part of the Required Secondary Powers for his Quirk, it still took 10+ years of self-training to get where he is today.
  • Chekhov's Gun: During the first stage of the Provisional Hero License Exam, it turns out the grenades Bakugo wears around his belt aren't just for show.
  • Color Motif: Bakugo is associated with a fiery, passionate and vibrant orange.
  • Combat Parkour: Bakugo jumps around a lot and performs acrobatic moves when he fights, using his explosions to better make sudden changes in direction in the air. He's so well-known for this that it doesn't take long for him and the others to notice that Midoriya's new moves with his new Full Cowl ability are an imitation of Bakugo's.
  • Combat Sadomasochist: After he's revived by Edgeshot via an emergency surgery, he's warned that his injuries haven't completely healed and his Quirk Awakening might cause further damage. Bakugo uses this regardless to time his explosions during his drive to atomize All For One and he's relishing in the pain because it cements his self-confidence in his victory.
    Bakugo: I've figured it out. It's the pain. The pain as the beads of sweat stored up on my palms... shoot through my whole body. The pain as they explode. The locations... The intervals! The pain gives me a handle on... the timing of those backup blasts!
  • Comical Angry Face: Pulls off a SPECTACULAR one in Chapter 44 after winning U.A.'s Sports Festival that even unnerves All Might.
  • The Comically Serious: He doesn't have much of a sense of humor, but he's just so dang... angry about everything that he manages to be hilarious anyway. At one point, his obsession with being number one along with his constant anger issues leads him to angrily shout at the bacteria in his mouth to die while brushing his teeth, causing his mom to tell him to pipe down.
  • Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Bakugo's specialty. Whenever someone tries to help or rescue him, his ridiculously inflated ego takes it as humiliation or as a mark of pity. And Bakugo doesn't tolerate being pitied or perceived as weak. He would rather be left to suffer a grim fate than having to count on someone else to help him out, even in a desperate situation. And if he has no choice but to accept help, expect him to gripe at length about it. Loudly.
  • Confusion Fu: When you can also create a bright flash akin to a flashbang, then expect Bakugo to do this to get an opening.
  • Crush the Keepsake: In the beginning, he uses his Quirk to scorch Midoriya's latest Hero Notes book before flinging it out of a window, which lands in a nearby fish pond.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle:
    • His fight against Uraraka in the U.A. Sports Festival Arc is completely one-sided. Despite devising a clever strategy, pushing herself to an absolute limit, and unleashing a freaking meteor shower, Uraraka literally fails to touch Bakugo, let alone damage him in any way. The only reason the fight lasted so long was that Bakugo had enough respect for his opponent not to take any chances with finishing her off quickly.
    • Happens again during the Joint Training Arc with Class 1-B. Bakugo leads the assault and captures all the members of Team 1-B in a ridiculously short amount of time with no members of Team 1-A being captured in turn. The other team fights required at least 3-4 chapters, but Bakugo's was completed in only two.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: His winter costume is mostly black. Combined with his abrasive personality and threatening, pointy Domino Mask, and it's easy to forget that he's one of the good guys.
  • Deconstructed Character Archetype: His overall appearance and personality are one to the shōnen hero archetype, but specifically to the Japanese Delinquents variety that is well-known in characters like Ichigo Kurosaki, Yusuke Urameshi, and Naruto Uzumaki (especially in the High School A.U.).
  • Dehumanizing Insult: Due to his superiority complex, seeing himself as the main character in the story of life, Bakugo dismisses everyone else that he doesn't consider worth his attention as "extras".
  • Determinator:
  • Deuteragonist: Shares this role with All Might and Bakugo's character arc, while not as showcased as Midoriya's, is still a very big part of the series regardless of whether Midoriya is involved or not.
  • Die, Chair, Die!: Non-video game example; Bakugo takes his frustrations out on inanimate objects a lot. That even includes his toothbrush. And yes, he loves telling them to "DIE!"
  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Bakugo's The Nicknamer traits don't desert him when facing villains, up to and including All For One himself, calling him "Nutsack Face" or even just "Dumbass" to his face.
  • Distressed Dude: Bakugo, ironically, requires a lot of saving throughout the series despite dreaming of becoming a hero who always wins. His frequent brushes with death eventually contribute to deflating his massive ego and subsequent Character Development, acknowledging that he needs other people, including Midoriya, to become the greatest hero possible. This eventually leads to him helping save everybody else with his Heroic Sacrifice, although his life hanging in the balance afterward still lands him in this category.
  • Does Not Know How to Say "Thanks": Seen a couple of times, like when he went to yell at Midoriya for trying to rescue him despite being (at the time) Quirkless, or when he paid Kirishima for the money he spent on the night vision camera after he lost it when they went to rescue him.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Whether it was intentional or not, Bakugo's character arc bears some similarities to "former gifted kid syndrome". At age 4, he manifested a highly powerful Quirk that caused everyone to praise him and tell him he was destined for greatness. He was The Ace in middle school, where no one else even came close to one-upping him, and was considered a prime candidate for U.A., Japan's number-one hero school and the alma mater of All Might himself. But when he actually entered U.A., he found himself competing with many other students who could match or even surpass him in terms of power and skill. For the first time in his life, being number one isn't coming easily to him, which frustrates him greatly even though he continues to work hard and strive toward his own goals.
  • Don't Think, Feel: His approach to combat is to rely on his instincts and natural aptitude. Logically, this allows him to overpower Midoriya who is Awesome by Analysis by not giving him any chance to analyze and strategize.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Bakugo strongly dislikes when others worry about him, or try to offer him help, seeing that as a bad reflection on his strength. This is the reason why he resents Midoriya for years, to the point of outright bullying, after he tried helping him one day.
  • Driven by Envy: One of Bakugo's gravest flaws is his jealousy towards others. Because of the immense praise he received growing up, Bakugo believed that the world revolved around him and that he was the only one who deserved to be praised and recognized by others. This would cause him to immediately become jealous of others when they received more recognition than he did. When Midoriya becomes praised and admired by Class 1-A for his personality and charisma, Bakugo becomes jealous of him for receiving the kind of validation he wants. To make it worse, not only is Bakugo disliked by his classmates, leaving him in the position he forced Midoriya into for years, but his role model, All Might, also pays lots of attention to Midoriya. This also extends to Todoroki for being called the strongest student in Class 1-A rather than him. Luckily, as he matures, he curbs his jealousy towards Midoriya and Todoroki.
  • Early Instalment Weirdness: Even for such a temperamental character, Bakugo is exceptionally callous in the early chapters, to the point of coming off as a Sociopathic Hero. In his first appearance he tells Midoriya to pitch himself off the school roof after blowing up his notebook, and comes close to killing him during their first practical exercise against each other. Later chapters scale this back to normal Jerkass levels, which can be chalked up to Character Development, but he becomes considerably less extreme by Sports Festival. Ensuing flashbacks throughout the series also show he's a lot fonder of Midoriya than he initially lets on.note 
  • Elemental Hair Colors: Wild blond hair in the shape of an explosion. It fits his Quirk and attitude quite nicely.
  • Elemental Motifs: Fire. Bakugo's Quirk allows him to create fiery explosions for offense, defense and mobility. His personality is also rather fiery: determined, passionate, emotional, but hotheaded, aggressive and prone to temper. In the Fantasy Ending Credits, Bakugo is shown riding a fire breathing dragon and lives in a volcanic area.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Bakugo is an over-competitive jerk who is not beyond the use of violence to win and be considered number one, but he is pretty appalled after finding out what Endeavor is willing to do to his family to achieve the same goals.
    • He loves using violence to win but when he finds out he beat Todoroki because the latter didn't give it his all. This causes him to become angry BECAUSE it was unfair, as seen when he gets his first place medal.
  • Evil Former Friend: Though he isn't evil by any means, his friendship with Midoriya ends up falling apart once his Quirk came and Midoriya's didn't, which resulted in him becoming more hostile and antagonistic to his former friend.
  • Explosive Overclocking: Quite literally. Upon devising his Cluster technique by storing beads of sweat on the palm of his hands, it caused Bakugo's sweat glands so much stress that he started sweating nitroglycerin all over his body. Bakugo uses this fact to try to fight Shigaraki by creating explosions all over his body to increase his mobility, even if each explosion hurts him like hell. Unfortunately, when one of Shigaraki's attacks strikes his heart, the built-up sweat causes it to explode from within.
  • Explosion Propulsion: Can use the explosions from his hands to launch himself into the air.
  • Explosive Punch: Bakugo often uses his quirk to get in close for nitro-fueled palm strikes.
  • Expy: Horikoshi revealed that he is one of Tetsuo Shima in an interview.

    F - I 
  • Face Death with Dignity: Realizing that Shigaraki/All For One have singled him out as a target to get to Midoriya, he decides to tackle them head on rather than run around waiting to get killed during the Final Battle. He does so while acknowledging he was the one trying to keep up with Midoriya all along, and after privately expressing his regret about not having his All Might trading card signed by his lifelong hero, gets his heart punched by Shigaraki and blown up by his own Quirk's drawbacks.
  • Fair-Weather Friend: With the exception of Deku, it's safe to say that anyone who hung out with Bakugo prior to attending U.A. High, who isn't either a False Friend or a sycophant is this by default.
  • Fatal Flaw:
    • Pride and wrath are his two big ones and they're well-connected to his unexpectedly fragile ego. Whenever he sees something that could be construed as pitying him or suggesting he's not the best, he will immediately lash out. This is the reason he has very few friends at school and it's a massive stumbling block when it comes to his career as a hero, as he can't properly accept the public service part of heroism and has an unfortunate tendency to be a Leeroy Jenkins.
    • Jealousy is another; as soon as he saw the slightest sliver of someone being more competent at his work than he was, or anything at all that he perceived as an advantage, he'd immediately become disconcerted. He feels this towards Midoriya more than anyone, because the latter was formerly Quirkless, but is now enrolled in his very school and receiving the kind of validation Bakugo never had, in spite of all the praise heaped on him as a child. Fortunately, he curbs this negative emotion as he continues to mature.
    • Selfishness. Growing up, Bakugo was always put on a pedestal and praised as a prodigy, so much so that he was never held accountable for his actions nor taught how to respect others. This would cause him to develop immense selfishness and arrogance, so much so that Bakugo focused on himself at the expense of others. This went on to the point that Bakugo didn't even bother to remember the names or Quirks of his classmates other than Todoroki and Midoriya and gave all of them unflattering nicknames. On a more practical note, this caused him to struggle in two areas: his poor teamwork and a Lack of Empathy. His arrogance and hatred for accepting help from others made Bakugo a very poor team player and react angrily when he felt others were giving him orders. During the Licensing Exam, because he wouldn't stop yelling at the people posing as injured civilians and couldn't show a more caring side, he ultimately failed the exam. Luckily, his time with Class 1-A is allowing him to slowly develop more empathy for others and be willing to put those he cares about ahead of himself.
    • His unchecked aggression. Bakugo has been noted several times for being a very aggressive person, rooted in his perfectionist mindset and his Hair-Trigger Temper. Best Jeanist points out that because he doesn't keep his aggression in check, Bakugo has made a very bad habit of not caring about how his actions reflect on himself or others. His aggression and temper initially leave him unable to properly communicate with others; rather than simply talking to people, he often yells at them and makes declarations of war, causing many people to be unable to work with him. Because he struggles with the public service of heroism and the importance of saving innocents, Bakugo is highly prone to acting in an aggressive manner with no regard for how villainous it causes him to appear. He gets a brutal reality check when it's his lack of controlling his aggression, combined with his disregard for the injured civilians, that causes him to fail the Licensing Exam. The Remedial Course and his time with Class 1-A help him to learn to temper his aggression.
    • His impatience to hear things out and tendency to frame things in his own way. Bakugo's Pride and Hair-Trigger Temper causes him to initially be unable to listen to others or consider viewpoints other than his own. He misconstrued Midoriya's earnest attempt to help him after he fell into the river as condescension and not once stopped to consider that he was just trying to be kind, leading Bakugo to ruthlessly bully Midoriya for years. This initially leaves him unable to listen to proper criticism, requiring several ego-crushing defeats and moments before he finally learns to hear people out and consider the viewpoints of others.
  • Fauxshadow: The early parts of the story love to emphasize Bakugo's antagonistic nature and how, often, he seems a single step away from becoming a villain, culminating in him being captured and given a sales pitch by the League of Villains, which he immediately and violently rejects with zero hesitation. The setup for his truly heroic potential under the surface was much subtler.
  • Final Boss: Obviously not the actual final boss of the series, but he declares himself the final boss of All For One's own personal story right as he's about to reach Shigaraki and make one last attempt at stealing One For All. Bakugo is able to give him payback for killing him earlier while possessing Shigaraki (before Edgeshot resuscitated him), while also denying All For One's dream of becoming an immortal Demon Lord. In the end, while powerful, the villain truly isn't better than anybody else like he believes, serving as an excellent mirror to Bakugo's own journey of overcoming his ego and accepting other people are just as valuable as he is, regardless of whatever Quirk they may or may not have been born with.
  • First-Name Basis: After calling him Deku for most of their lives, a derogatory nickname meant to belittle him, Bakugo finally addresses Izuku by his given name during his apology, something he hadn't done for 12 years by that point. It's an emotional moment for both young men.
  • Fluffy the Terrible: You probably wouldn't expect a violent, explosive hero with a legendary Hair-Trigger Temper to be nicknamed "Kacchan."
  • Freudian Excuse: Played With. On the one hand, his colossal pride primarily stems from a very strong sense of self-entitlement from his peers showering praise on him for being naturally gifted, which became twisted in his head to "I am better than everyone else and therefore everyone else sucks, and don't deserve respect from me" though he is slowly learning humility. On the other hand, his wrath, inability to say thanks, and inability to handle affection or soft feelings appear to be the result of his upbringing (his mother is basically an Older and Wiser female version of him and the two yell at one another while his father tends to meekly remain in the background unable to rein either of them in).
  • Freudian Trio: Of the main trio interning under Endeavor together, Bakugo is the aggressive, brash, and short-tempered Id to Midoriya's Ego and Todoroki's Superego.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Other than Midoriya and Kirishima, nobody in the class seems to particularly like Bakugo at first. They constantly rib him for his attitude, questioning how he can even be a hero with his violent and rude personality. In fact, he's more disliked than Mineta, who also dislikes Bakugo. They do respect his skill and Quirk, however, as well as his drive to be a hero. At the end of the day, they still consider him part of the class. For an added twist of irony, he was popular at his and Midoriya's middle school, while the latter was the least popular kid in school. In high school, however, his childish personality actually drives people away, while Midoriya's personality quickly makes him popular in his class. As his Character Development continues, he's shown to have developed a friend group with Kaminari, Sero, Tokoyami, and Jiro as well. Kaminari even goes so far as to tell a student from another hero school to not "diss his mate" during the Provisional Hero License Exam Arc. The only student who not only has any problem with him and actually sees him as a genuine friend is Shoto Todoroki, who Bakugo hates, while he doesn't even notice. On more than one occasion, he called Bakugo a genuine friend, while Bakugo angrily rebuked him.
  • Friendship Denial: During an interview, Shoto stated that he considered Bakugo a friend from all the work they do and time they spend together but Bakugo angrily denied it on the spot.
  • Generation Xerox: He and his mother look exactly the same, and even behave exactly the same, though while he is explosive with everyone, she is explosive only with him. In counterpart, his father takes the role of Only Sane Man in the family.
  • Genius Bruiser: Although having the exterior of a dumb brute, he's far smarter than he looks, as he has the third-highest grades of his class, surpassing even Midoriya. Even when Midoriya studied vigorously for his exams, he was still trying very hard and sweating on the actual tests, while Bakugo is shown clicking his pen in boredom, showing the difference in the effort the two put in.note  He was also Mr. Exposition during the U.A. Sports Festival Arc, explaining how a Quirk is nothing more than a biological function.
  • The Gift: Though he is a jerk, his completely absurd amount of talent at various things (aside from social interaction) is frequently highlighted by the teachers and his classmates.
  • Glory Hound: Reconstructed. At first, Bakugo was actually all about the glory and the fame that come with being a hero, wanting to be recognized and worshiped as the best of the best by everyone. It takes quite some Character Development for his more upstanding self to show but he eventually demonstrates that he seeks to deserve glory and fame through high achievement and doesn't accept having it handed to him if he feels it's not up to his high standards.
  • Goal in Life: He's competing with Midoriya at every step of the way to become the number-one hero.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Bakugo is a raging Jerkass, but at the end of the day, he still aspires to be a hero, not a villain.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Bakugo craves recognition and just can't stand it if someone he deems unworthy (i.e. anyone who isn't him) gets said recognition instead, even for the slightest thing. When Todoroki, one of the strongest in class 1-A, declared Midoriya as his rival in front of the whole class, Bakugo was fuming with jealousy, to the point of going as far as eavesdropping on Todoroki and Midoriya's private conversation during the U.A. Sports Festival and telling Todoroki that he should have chosen him as a rival instead of Midoriya during their match.
  • Grin of Audacity: Does this a lot, though it can occasionally look like a Slasher Smile because of how aggressive he is.
  • Grumpy Growler: In the anime, he speaks with a coarse, raspy voice that gets especially gruff when he's bellowing at the top of his lungs. Quite fitting for his angry, rageful personality.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: One of Bakugo's major character flaws is his temperamental personality. He can be pretty smart, but in the heat of the moment during fights, especially if he's on the losing end, he'll cast aside all reasoning just to crush his target. Also, this is his main personality as he always has to show off his extreme anger issues.
  • Hand Blast: His explosions come from his palms, which makes them useful for things like close-range combat or flight.
  • Hard Work Hardly Works: Bakugo is obsessively hard-working and never gives anything he's interested in less than 100% of his all. This is the reason why he's able to constantly improve, develop new techniques, and cement himself as one of the strongest students in his class. But at the same time, his primary rival Midoriya was given One For All, one of the strongest Quirk in the world. After Midoriya manages to catch up to him, Bakugo finds it harder and harder to avoid being left behind. By the winter before their second year at U.A., his training makes it so he's still able to keep up with Midoriya at 30%, but secretly admits that it's becoming more and more difficult to stay ahead.
  • Hates Everyone Equally: For the most part. He does hold some people to a higher regard than others, but he openly dislikes most people overall.
  • Having a Blast: His Quirk allows him to create explosions with the sweat from his palms; more specifically, his sweat is very nitroglycerin-like and he can ignite it as he pleases. As a result, the more he sweats, the stronger the explosions become. Luckily for him though, unlike his father who has a similar Quirk but can only sweat normally, Bakugo can also forcibly excrete his sweat at any time so he doesn't need to wait until he sweats to create explosions. As of the end of his first year at UA, his explosions can range in power from tiny, firecracker-like annoyances to enormous, building-destroying fire bombs- though at the cost of damaging his own arms, at least without his equipment on. To bypass this, his costume comes with oversized cuffs to collect his sweat, which he can then either pour into portable grenades or release at once for massive explosions without drawback.
  • Heel Realization: Takes him a while to fully understand how much he wronged Izuku, but when he does it's clear he deeply regrets it.
  • Hero Antagonist: Bakugo is the main threat and challenge of the Battle Trial Arc, with much of it being devoted to his and Midoriya's past and their budding rivalry.
  • The Hero Dies: One of the main heroes in My Hero Academia, he dies when he commits a Heroic Sacrifice during his battle with Shigaraki. A few chapters later, Edgeshot swears he won't let Bakugo die and attempts to revive him. And as of Chapter 403, he finally came Back from the Dead, just in time to save All Might (albeit with Izuku's help) and beat up All For One.
  • Heroic Build: As seen in the second popularity poll, the boy is muscular all over. You can see it when he's in his hero costume, too.
  • Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Bakugo is the kind of person who thinks beating up people, hanging them up from a rope and forcing their friends to stone them is a perfectly acceptable suggestion for handling preschoolers. When questioned on treating kids like that, Bakugo states that's how he was raised.
  • Heroic RRoD: It is shown in Chapter 65 that particularly powerful explosions cause his hands to stun. This drawback is usually mitigated by his costume's cuffs being able to fire equally powerful explosions through absorbed sweat without harming his hands.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: A major aspect of his character arc is learning that being a hero isn't about satisfying your own desires for glory or fame, it's about giving yourself to the cause for the sake of somebody else or the greater good. He demonstrates this twice, first by pushing Midoriya out of the way when All For One was about to stab him with his Combat Tentacles, and then once again in the following battle at U.A. where he throws himself at All For One again in the hopes he can wear him down enough to give the other heroes some breathing room.
    Bakugo: At that moment, there were no thoughts in my head. My body just moved on its own.
  • Hero with an F in Good: Bakugo lives by the belief that being a hero is defeating bad guys. As a result, his mindset prioritizes his strength in a battle over any other aspect of himself, including his personality. This has been much to his detriment, despite being an undeniable Genius Bruiser near the top of his class; aspiring heroes are, essentially, graded on Good, and Bakugo's F in the subject has dragged down his overall score to the point where he fails the Provisional License Exam because he just couldn't stop insulting the people he was supposed to rescue.
  • Hero-Worshipper: Like Midoriya, he is a big admirer of All Might, albeit for different reasons.
  • Hey, You!: As a sign of his general disrespect for everyone that isn't him, he hardly ever calls anyone by their real name, instead of using rude nicknames like "Deku" for Midoriya, "Icy-Hot Bastard" for Todoroki, "Dumbass" for Kaminari, "Soy-face" for Sero (which is quite the insult in Asian countries), "Tail" for Ojiro and "Raccoon Eyes" for Ashido, but very rarely calls Kirishima "Dumb/Weird-Hair". If he actually calls someone by their real name, it's a sign of respect.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • You wouldn't think that the incredibly disrespectful and arrogant Bakugo has incredibly high expectations of what a hero needs to be. To Bakugo a hero must always be victorious, and he applies those standards to himself instead of just doing it for the fame, glory, and fortune that come with being a renowned hero. He also wishes to be admired the same way he does All Might. Unfortunately, it takes a while before these qualities shine through, due to his incredible ego, self-centeredness, and temper.
    • His Odd Friendship with Kirishima implies that he can get along with people that he doesn't feel judge or criticize him. The problem comes from how he was raised and his brittle ego.
    • His battle with Uraraka indicates that he is willing to at least give grudging respect to those that prove their drive and determination to him. It takes him a while longer to apply this towards Midoriya.
    • He truly respects All Might to the point where he cites the latter as the example he's following when he flatly turns down the villains' offer to join them and tries to work out a plan to talk them all down while captured in their hideout. Later, he thanks All Might for saving him from them.
    • He secretly harbors a lot of guilt over All Might losing his powers, because the mission he lost them in was to save Bakugo from the League of Villains. He even starts crying over it, surprising Midoriya.
    • There are some implications he might be starting to acknowledge Midoriya's potential as a hero. By their rematch, he is implied to have always known that the latter had the potential to be a far better hero than him and the reason for his anger towards Midoriya was exactly that combined with his Inferiority Superiority Complex. In an extra chapter, Uraraka actually calls him out on the fact that the real thing he feels for Midoriya is fear because Midoriya poses an actual threat to his victory, being more worthy of a hero than he is.
    • While he is initially annoyed when Mirio says he thinks his hero name is funny, when he wakes up in the hospital later, he refers to him as "Senpai", implying that he has respect for Mirio, and by extension, may be the big three as well.
    • Given his aggressive and reckless attitude, it isn't so obviously apparent that he actually gets quite good grades even on written exams - in one instance, he was even better than Midoriya!
    • A flashback during the school festival shows that at one point in the distant past he really wanted to be in a band. However, his usual selfishness and pride caused him to be kicked out of every single one because he kept trying to be an Attention Whore and wouldn't follow the songs. Because of this, he gave up his side dream of becoming a musician despite loving the drums. His first time accepting that to be a great drummer he needs to be a supportive pillar to Jiro, Tokoyami, and Yaoyorozu even if it means he doesn't end up the star is what causes the most important part of his CharacterDevelopment in his hero training. This small detail of his past and what kind of great things can happen by relying on his bandmates this time around gives him the "Eureka!" Moment that applying this attitude to his hero career was what All Might be trying to get him to do the night he learned of One for All. Kirishima even mentions that his improvement in the team mock battles was because of all the things he learned working on the concert allowed him to make such a drastic change in fighting style.
    • According to Smash!!, he's also an excellent cook. Sero and Kaminari eat his food all the time but don't consider it "homemade" because it's restaurant-quality. Even in the main series, he cuts meat and vegetables perfectly at lightning speed and gets prissy when he sees the awful job Todoroki did at cutting onions.
      Uraraka: Whoa! Bakugo, you're so good with a knife! How unexpected.
      Bakugo: Whaddaya mean, unexpected?! How can you be so bad at using a knife!
  • His Own Worst Enemy: Blessed with an incredibly powerful and versatile Quirk, highly intelligent, single-mindedly ambitious, and filled with determination, Katsuki has everything it takes to become the #1 pro hero—if only he would let go of some of his arrogance and learn to stop viewing literally everyone as beneath him.
  • Horrifying the Horror: In chapter 410 Bakugo has the honor of doing this to All For One of all people after he confronts the "demon lord" after he's been left at his most vulnerable as a literal baby and manages to stand his ground despite the injuries he received over the course of the war. The usually unflappable All For One is so freaked out that Bakugo is still standing that he instinctively fires a Spearlike Bone from his mouth in a desperate attempt to kill Bakugo while internally yelling at him to go away. All For One's last thoughts as he begins rewinding out of existence is disbelief that he let his emotions get the better of him after he had suppressed them for so long.
  • Hot-Blooded: A somewhat less heroic version of this than usual. Often shown being the most hot-headed character in the show as his overwhelming tenacity and animalistic like temper is actually his greatest asset as Aizawa states. But these same traits initially alienate him from his classmates until they see his more likable traits.
  • Hybrid Power:
    • The explosive sweat is an ability that comes from his father, whose sweat is combustible and apparently made of nitric acid. However, Bakugo is only able to produce explosive sweat at will because of his mother's Quirk, which is willing production of glycerin, thus nitric acid + glycerin = nitroglycerin.
    • My Hero Academia: Two Heroes shows that besides using his natural Quirk process to cause the chemical reaction, he can use the sweat in a similar manner to splashing a bunch of gasoline on his opponent, which can be ignited by other heat sources like Todoroki.
  • Hypocrite: Bakugo has a very bad habit of getting angry at people or calling them out on things that he himself is guilty of, though his egotism and pride keeps him from seeing how much of a hypocrite he's being.
    • Bakugo was notorious for looking down and belittling others, but he was prone to getting angry when people looked down on him (or when he thinks they looked down on him). The most frequent victim of this was Izuku, who he angrily accused of looking down on him, even though Bakugo was the one always looking down on Izuku.
    • During the Remedial Course, he advises the leader of the delinquent children to not look down on others. However, during the Joint Training, he refers to his teammates as 'underlings' and calls Midoriya and All Might 'nobodies' because he feels their Quirks are inferior to him.
    • Bakugo often gets angry when people give him orders (or he feels like people are giving him orders), making him respond by saying to not tell him what to do. However, he has no issue telling others what to do and initially only works well with his classmates when he's in charge.
    • He tells Endeavor to his face that he hates him because he is a jerk. The saint-like nice guy Bakugo calling anyone a jerk is an example of this. For what it's worth, the feeling is mutual and Endeavor doesn't like Bakugo either.
    • Despite greatly admiring All Might and considering him a role model for his heroic ideals, Bakugo shows no qualms or regret about ignoring his advice, disregarding his authority, demeaning him after he loses One For All, and even outright insulting him.
    • Bakugo initially has a very bad habit of not hearing people out and ignoring them if he feels they're not worth his attention. However, he gets angry when he feels people are ignoring him and yelling at them to listen to him.
    • During his internship with Endeavor, he outright calls him a petty and short-tempered jerk...Bakugo is basically describing himself.
    • Bakugo hates being told that he has a very bad temper...and he responds by immediately angry at the person who brought it up. And despite hating being told he has a temper, he does little to nothing to control it.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Bakugo has no problem calling other people nerds, especially Midoriya. Ironically, he is one of Class 1-A's smartest students.
  • I'll Kill You!: He's prone to screaming death threats. Not only is this not a very heroic thing to do, but he's also doing this even when there's nobody he's trying to kill, making it somewhat of a Kiai.
  • Incorruptible Pure Pureness: An odd variant, as this comes more from stubbornness than any sort of pure intent. When Bakugo gets kidnapped by the League of Villains, they try to convince him to join them, to no response. When Shigaraki makes the foolish decision to release him from his restraints, Bakugo immediately goes on the offensive, and calls them idiots for ever thinking he'd join them when his dream is to be the number one hero.
  • Ineffectual Loner: Zigzagged. Because he wants to do everything by himself and because he believes that nothing exists in the world but him initially, Bakugo often ends up humiliated or in need of help, despite being clearly a particularly powerful fighter, a decent strategist and a total Determinator who can do a lot by himself and without help indeed. He gradually learns to be better at teamwork throughout the story.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: Comes as a result of constantly being showered with praise for his abilities and never being taught how his actions affect others. His insensitivity towards Midoriya turned into downright animosity when he helped him up after a bit of a fall. He found it insulting that the person he'd deemed to be the "weakest" would want to help him. In Chapter 119, it is revealed that a lot of Bakugo's hostility towards Midoriya stems from Bakugo's idea that Midoriya was, in fact, looking down on him from a position of superiority despite being Quirkless. Despite it being, ya know, Izuku.
    • However, with the revelation of how his upbringing was, it's possible that Izuku's signs of affection were something he was unfamiliar with handling and he combined this with his projecting his issues over his Quirk.
  • Insistent Terminology: He really wants you to say his hero name in full, no matter what the situation.
  • Ironic Nickname: Midoriya's nickname for him, Kacchan, on multiple levels. First, the "-chan" part of it is an honorific used to refer to things the speaker finds cute and is generally the equivalent of Baby Talk. Likewise, when used on a man, even a teenage boy, "-chan" is also very familiar and a term of endearment or at least close friendship. Keep in mind that this is referring to a Blood Knight whose first pick for a hero name included both "explosion" and "murder." Second, the "Ka" part of it is from his first name, Katsuki. In Japanese, only people who are very close refer to each other by their first names, and Bakugo's made it very clear he sees a significant gap between himself and Midoriya.
  • I Resemble That Remark!: If you say or imply that Bakugo has an explosive temper, be prepared for him to be angry at you.
  • Ironic Echo: Early on in the series, he dismisses Midoriya as a "pebble in his shoe" that he shouldn't let trouble him so much. As Dynamite battles All For One, the evil mastermind wonders why he's letting "a pebble in his shoe" get him so worked up in the midst of his Villainous Breakdown.
  • Irony: For someone who hates being pitied by others, he acts like a victim of circumstances when things don't go his way.
  • It's All About Me:
    • He gets angry easily when things don't go his way, reacts to losing by throwing tantrums and anger fits, sometimes even to the point of crying, has no patience for anything or anyone, and assumes the world owes him things.
    • He has a deep-rooted belief that everything Midoriya does is to piss him off, despite Midoriya keeping his distance from him and actually being far more interested in other things than just Bakugo during the entire time they know each other. He also believes that Midoriya had deliberately hidden his Quirk from him.
    • During the U.A. Sports Festival, it's revealed that he never bothered to learn the names or powers of any of his classmates except Midoriya and Todoroki, who he considers to be his personal rivals.
    • Even his "friendship" with Midoriya when they were kids mostly just consisted of Midoriya following him around praising him for being so smart and cool, with Bakugo seeing Midoriya as just another groupie to fawn over him to feed his own ego.
    • His pride was also a result of being venerated and appraised as a kid, his Quirk was the most powerful and advanced among his peers, and people saw him as the next big hero because of it. By the time he joins the academy; he's blindsided by the fact that everyone is just as powerful, if not, more so than him, and that he's no longer the de-facto prodigy who can push everyone around without facing the consequences. As such, Bakugo feels besmirched and supplanted when Deku receives the One For All Quirk and becomes more popular than him.
  • It's All My Fault:
    • During his off-hours fight against Midoriya, he reveals that he blames himself for causing All Might to retire, since he tried to rescue him after he was captured during the Forest Trip.
    • It's implied he blames himself for Izuku's self-destructive mindset after having a slow Jerkass Realization over the course of the series. Part of his motivation in bringing Izuku back to U.A. during his time as Dark Deku is to apologize to him properly and make sure he doesn't keep hurting himself more than necessary.
  • I Work Alone: As soon as the Provisional Hero License Exam starts, he drifts away from the group. This is played with as even with him gone, Kirishima and Kaminari follow him, much to his annoyance.

    J - P 
  • Japanese Delinquent: An unlikely heroic example of one; he's spent a lot of time being The Bully, he comes to class without a tie and his shirt collar unbuttoned, and his pants sagging down, always has messy hair and gets very angry when you try to neaten it, doesn't speak Keigo even when he very much should and he's the first person who wants to kick your ass at the slightest provocation. In spite of all this, however, he wants to do good. His character sheet lampshades this, calling him "the rare delinquent with a bright future".
  • Jerkass Has a Point: He's actually quite intelligent and insightful, but most of the things he says get put through the "Bakugo" filter. For example, during a rescue exercise, he comes upon some victim actors who have only minor "injuries," and should be able to make their way to safety on their own while he continues searching for victims in more desperate need of help. However, what he actually tells them is to shut up and rescue themselves.
    • When he beats Tododoki in a fight and gets first place, he realizes that the latter didn't give it his all. It says that even when he loses, AT LEAST the person who beats him gives it his all. He is angry and says he doesn't deserve the medal because:
    "Winning first place in this way doesn't prove I'm the best one here even if the world considers me the winner! I refuse to accept it like that."
  • Jerk Jock: With his athleticism and battle prowess, lean musculature, aggressive behavior, and propensity for pushing meek people around, he certainly qualifies.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
    • While it takes a lot of Character Development to get there, Bakugo starts to show that he is capable of caring for his friends and companions when situations get rough. He has a particular soft spot for Kirishima, who is still his best friend, and, after their rematch, he starts also growing one for Midoriya.
    • His most notable instance is how he pumps up the whole 1-A class about the school festival.
    • Another earlier example is when the students are moving into the dorms, Aizawa warns the students to be model students or be expelled, he forces Kaminari to go in his idiot mode to cheer everyone up. Note that, out of all the students who were threatened with expulsion, Bakugo, along with Jiro and Hagakure were excluded from the warning (Bakugo, because he was kidnapped by the League of Villains, Jiro and Hagakure because they were unconscious the whole time, unaware of Midoriya, Kirishima and Todoroki's rescue plan, while the rest of the class received warnings because they knew of said plan and did nothing to report it to the teachers). So, he really didn't have to cheer everyone up and that was an uncharacteristic selfless move on Bakugo's part.
    • Finally comes full circle in the Paranormal Liberation War arc, and then the subsequent Villain Hunt arc. Firstly, he repays Deku entirely for saving him at the beginning of the series by pushing him out of the way of an attack from Shigaraki/All for One. To hammer the point home, the series narration even repeats what was said about Midoriya back then, that his body simply moved on its own. Then, if that wasn't enough after Deku becomes a vigilante and runs ragged searching for All For One, Bakugo spells out to the pro heroes just how self-destructive Deku's mentality of 'the hero who saves everyone' really is. He even does so with the implicit statement that he understands Deku better than anyone else.
      Bakugo: You don't understand anything about Deku. That damned nerd is insane, he doesn't take himself into account. He always just insists he's fine. It's the same way All Might became the symbol of peace. We can't stop him.
  • Kids Are Cruel: Becomes a far more nasty individual once his Quirk came in and Midoriya's didn't, with him going out of his way to needlessly bully the latter up until adolescence just because he lacked a Quirk. He gets even worse when he becomes a teenager as he burns Midoriya's notebook, casually tells him to go jump off a roof to get a Quirk in his next life, and on their second day at U.A., tried to kill Midoriya in a last-ditch effort to win the Battle Trials. Thankfully, he is slowly getting better.
  • Killing in Self-Defense: His sole confirmed kill was this, where he blocks an infant All For One's desperate Spearlike Bone attack with his teeth and crunches the spear into bits for good measure, which finally exhausted All For One's remaining time which devolved him past an egg cell.
  • Lack of Empathy: Downplayed and later Subverted. After years of being praised by others with little to no punishments have left him unable to properly empathize with others. He's slowly but surely growing out of it but he still can't deal with emotional situations that don't involve him. Dozens of chapters later, he's putting his life on the line to protect his friends.
    • However, this is played straight when during the Provisional Licensing Exam, instead of actively helping the endangered civilians, Bakugo mostly throws insults and acts very viciously toward them. This would ultimately cause him to fail the Licensing Exam along with Todoroki.
  • The Lancer: Steadily becomes this to Midoriya once he properly acknowledges him as an equal and, in some ways, his superior. That doesn't mean he won't still be shooting for the position of number one hero.
  • Large Ham: An enormous one. Whatever emotions he has, he expresses them with 100% sincerity. And 100% volume.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: From nearly getting eaten by the Sludge Villain to becoming the least likely to become a hero at U.A., as well as the target of his bullying being the shiny example of what being a hero is, karma has Bakugo repay his horrendous bullying of Midoriya with interest. He also ironically becomes the ostracized one after starting at U.A. following years of getting his old class to single-out Midoriya for being Quirkless.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: He's not dumb by any means and he can certainly think tactically when he so wishes, but he has a Hair-Trigger Temper, and in middle school, he was a Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond who could overwhelm anyone he faced with sheer power. He gets over it with Character Development, and later battles show him actually trusting his teammates and sticking to plans.
  • Leitmotif: "Bombing King!!", an energetic, hardcore rock song befitting an action movie.
  • Lightning Bruiser: The sheer power of his Quirk is insane not only as an offensive measure but also as a means of fast movement. Also, Bakugo has extraordinary reflexes, which can mean a great deal during combat. This is downplayed a bit in terms of toughness; he doesn't have any ability that would make him more resilient to damage, but he can take quite a lot of punishment regardless.
  • Like Parent, Like Child: He definitely takes after his mother; rude, aggressive and violent. They even have the same spiky ash-blond hair.
  • Logical Weakness:
    • It's mentioned in his character notes that because his power is based on his sweat, his attacks are weaker in cold environments. This is why he has a winter version of his costume designed to keep him warm even when it's cold out, allowing him to continue sweating and producing explosions.
    • Newton's Third Law still applies to him, so he's forced to take the recoil of his more powerful explosions, meaning if he fires off his most powerful attacks without being careful of where or how he does so, his hands essentially "cramp up" and he ends up hurting himself. This is why his hero costume includes the gauntlets, which allow him to fire his more powerful attacks without hurting himself.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Although he finds out less than a week later, he didn't know about Midoriya's new power displayed at the Entrance Exam because they were in separate facilities at the time.
  • Loners Are Freaks: As the most anti-social member of Class 1-A, Bakugo gets this reaction from the rest of his classmates, who frequently mocked his ego. Even Todoroki is willing to go outside his comfort zone to hang out with his classmates. But as the story goes on, he becomes more open to taking help from others and working with them, building up a rapport with the members of the Band Team for the Culture Festival (even if he'd loathe to admit it).
  • Lost in Translation: In the Japanese version, verbally, his proposed hero name, Bakusatsuou, is a case of Steven Ulysses Perhero since it sounds like his surname, but with the Japanese word for murder replacing the G in Bakugo. In the English translations, with no other way around it, they just literally translate it as King Explosion Murder.
  • Meaningful Appearance: Given his Quirk, Bakugo's hero costume is appropriately explosive-themed, with his two grenade gauntlets and two accessories shaped like cartoon explosions, which clip onto his mask. Not to mention his hairstyle.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • His last name, Bakugo, means "strong explosion" in Japanese. Given his explosive powers and personality, it is certainly fitting. Meanwhile, his first name, "Katsuki", contains Japanese characters for "win" and "self" in it. Also, the "o" sound in his last name sounds like the word for king in Japanese, reflecting his drive to be on top, with him later trying to make it part of his hero name.
    • The "Dynamight" part of his hero name is a meaningful portmanteau. On, the one hand, it incorporates his Quirk (exploding like dynamite); on the other hand, it's a heartfelt homage to the Symbol of Peace.
  • Might Makes Right: What his beliefs of a true hero amount to in contrast to Midoriya; being the strongest and always victorious. However, as shown in his battle against All Might in the Final Exams Arc and his complete rejection of Shigaraki's attempt to join the League of Villains (despite the hint that All for One may be stronger than All Might), it's more of his own version of Right Makes Might, especially as he states that he always admires All Might's triumphs and that nothing will ever change that.
  • Mr. Fanservice: His hero costume (both the regular and winter version) show off his ripped physique very nicely. He's also seen wearing a tank top as casual wear, and the Fantasy AU end credits depict him as a Walking Shirtless Scene.
  • My Friends... and Zoidberg: For a time with Midoriya. He and Midoriya were once Childhood Friends before the seeds of pride were planted in him due to the constant praise and attention he received for his explosive Quirk. When Midoriya's Quirk failed to materialize, Bakugo made him the outcast of the group by constantly mocking him. This changed for the worse when Bakugo fell and Midoriya wanted to help him up. With his pride wounded, Bakugo became consumed with hatred for his former friend.
  • My Greatest Second Chance: For much of the series Bakugo blames himself for All Might's retirement when the latter is forced to save Bakugo from the League of Villains and burns out One for All fighting All For One. In the final battle, when All for One is about to kill All Might, Bakugo is finally able to redeem himself by saving All Might with the help of Midoriya.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: In case his surname wasn't enough, his first proposed hero name was "King Explosion Murder". When that was shot down, he "toned it down" to "Lord Explosion Murder". Much later, it's revealed that he ended up going with "Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight".
  • Neat Freak: Implied. When class 1-A brings Midoriya back to the dorms after his time on his own, the boys thoroughly shower and scour Midoriya before chucking him in the collective tub to rinse. Bakugo is angry because now that means there's residual dirt on the bathroom floor and they must clean it.
  • Never My Fault: Bakugo initially has a hard time recognizing his wrongdoings and frequently blame others.
    • He blames Midoriya for his bullying because he thinks Midoriya is delusional, even though Midoriya did nothing to provoke Bakugo. Even worse, Bakugo cruelly told Midoriya to go kill himself. Bakugo simply bullied Midoriya unprovoked.
    • He blames Todoroki for him not getting the victory he wanted during the Sports Festival. However, Bakugo had overheard Todoroki and Midoriya talking earlier about his troubled family life, so he knew Todoroki was struggling with using his flames. Sadly, Bakugo was too focused on his ego and desire to win to consider that when he went up against Todoroki, so his anger towards him was uncalled for.
    • When Sero points out that the reason Bakugo got less internship offers than Todoroki is because many Pros were disturbed by Bakugo's unchecked aggression, Bakugo instead says the Pros are just weak for being scared. Bakugo's not considering the fact that after he beat Todoroki, he behaved very poorly and acted with such aggression that the teachers muzzled him.
    • Bakugo constantly accuses Midoriya of doing whatever he can to demonize him to Class 1-A, all the while blatantly ignoring that his own poor behavior, arrogance, short temper and violent tendencies alienate him from their classmates. He's initially too caught up in his ego to recognize this and simply resorts to blaming Midoriya.
  • Nice Mean And In Between: In Endevaour Agency arc, Bakugo gets paired with Midorya and Todoroki, he serves as the mean one in the trio.
  • The Nicknamer: He's so self-centered that he doesn't even bother remembering his own classmates' names at first. Instead, he refers to them by a distinct physical feature they might have. That said, actually referring to them by their names is usually a show of respect on his end. In his match with Uraraka, he begins it by calling her "Pink Cheeks" (or "Round Face" or "Angelface" depending on the translation) but calls her by her last name after her Death or Glory Attack.
  • No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Enforced. Bakugo refuses victory if it doesn't mean him overcoming his opponent at full strength. He already invoked it against Izuku and was enraged to see him trying to win without his Quirk in the preliminary matches. Doubly so against Todoroki when he couldn't get Todoroki to use his flames against him, despite Shoto having used them against Midoriya, which Bakugo took as a personal insult. Upon vanquishing Todoroki, Bakugo raged like unholy hell because Todoroki hadn't used his flame Quirk to win. He went so berserk afterward that he had to be restrained like a villain for the award ceremony, and refused to accept a gold medal around his neck, so All Might had to put it in his mouth. Later chapters show he hasn't gotten over it either, with one chapter he internally calls Shoto "Holding Back guy".
  • No Indoor Voice: Tends to yell out anything that pops up in his mind at the top of his voice.
  • Non-Fatal Explosions: He hasn't killed anyone with his Quirk, leaving most people unconscious with singed clothes and light burns rather than serious injuries.
  • No Listening Skills: Bakugo often tunes out anything that isn't related to his interests, which is something that often brings him trouble. He doesn't even have the slightest patience to listen until they are finished, telling anyone he comes across to STFU. When Izuku, who he demonizes, tries to have any say and/or swear he isn't anyone who wouldn't look down on there and genuinely wants to help people, he ignores it, accusing him of looking down on him and either tell him to drop dead or go away, rather than hearing him out. When he tells him he got his Quirk from All Might, he turns a deaf ear to his explanation, accusing him of mocking him. In the fifth season opened, he didn't listen to Suneater telling him the drill is over, insisting he is a villain he has to defeat.
  • Non-Uniform Uniform: He doesn't wear a tie with his school uniform and always keeps his shirt partially unbuttoned, showing his disdain for authority.
  • No Sense of Direction: In Two Heroes, he and Kirishima can't find the reception hall of the tower and end up 80 floors high. Luckily for everyone, this puts them right where they needed to be to save the rest of the group from the Elite Mooks.
  • No Sense of Humor: Downplayed. While he can make others laugh in rather roundabout ways, he absolutely can't take a joke at his expense.
  • No Social Skills: He has a rather hard time communicating with others due to his Hot-Blooded tendencies, often making declarations of war instead of actually conversing with someone. This actually ends up giving Class 1-A as a whole a bad reputation. Even discounting the Early-Installment Weirdness of his Suicide Dare to Midoriya in chapter 1, Bakugou probably sees it as no different than just another insult that he would usually say to the latter rather than telling him to actually do it, and considering how he views the timid Izuku at that point in time, the latter wouldn't have the guts to do it either.
  • Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Part of the reason why he's such a jerkass at the beginning of the series; Bakugo had an especially powerful Quirk that outclassed everyone else around him in his nursery school, and was the only student at his "crappy public middle school" who had a realistic chance at getting into U.A. High School. While not brainless, he's able to coast by on raw talent until he gets into U.A. Much to his dismay, he soon finds out that he's now surrounded by intelligent, strategic, and powerful students. As a result, he struggles to remain at the head of the pack. The fact he makes the effort to do so and able to is a testament that he isn't all talk.
  • Not Quite Flight: He's capable of pushing himself through the air via powerful Hand Blasts.
  • Not So Above It All:
    • Try as hard as he might to present himself as a cantankerous grouch, it's very obvious he's having fun during the music performance at the U.A. School Festival, cracking a heartfelt smile while drumming.
    • In the My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising movie, getting his first fan in the person of little Mahoro actually hit a cord within him to the point of smiling back at her as she cheers him on to be the best. And like above, it's no Grin of Audacity, it's a genuine smile.
  • Odd Friendship:
    • Granted, any friendship he could have is strange, but he can be friends with Kirishima, whose easy-going Nice Guy personality is the exact opposite of his.
    • In My Hero Academia Smash!!, he bonds with Aizawa over sleeping sacks.
    • During the provisional hero license exam retest, he gets along surprisingly well with Camie, though that seems to stem from her making fun of Todoroki accidentally.
    • He seems to get along with Todoroki's sister, Fuyumi, as he likes her cooking enough for him to ask for the recipe, and later on, he criticizes Todoroki's cooking by stating that Fuyumi would be embarrassed.
    • And of course, there's his complicated relationship with Izuku as despite how bitter it became, one gets the feeling that it never really went away. Heck, the fact that Bakugo never stopped Izuku from calling him by the Affectionate Nickname of Kacchan says something about their bond.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: His relationship with Midoriya is slowly but surely shaping into this. Bakugo's drive to defeat his opponents at their strongest and Deku's fast progress only further motivates him to one-up Midoriya, and get the distinction to be the only one capable of doing this. This ultimately becomes subverted as Midoriya grows in strength well beyond what Bakugo could ever hope to surpass. While his determination to be his equal doesn't abate, it's implied he silently acknowledges One For All as a power greater than what any one person can hope to match. Hence his Character Development makes him a strong team player instead of a glory-obsessed lone wolf.
  • Outgrowing the Childish Name: Played with. Midoriya still calls him by the same nickname as when they were little kids, but no one else saves Kaminari (who does it to tease him) does.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If Bakugo's not yelling, cursing, blowing things up, or being mean to Midoriya, something is really wrong:
    • After All Might's true form is revealed, Midoriya notes how strangely quiet Bakugo was, even though others were relatively fine, though shaken.
    • After not getting the answer he wanted from All Might following the latter's retirement while All Might and Aizawa are going around asking for permission to let the students stay at the dorms, Bakugo doesn't explode with anger, and merely goes back inside his house with a simple "okay".
    • Even after he beats Midoriya in a fair fight not long after the provisional hero license exam, Bakugo doesn't gloat or brag. He instead shows frustration and confusion. This is especially notable since this the same person who bullied the latter ruthlessly. At the onset of said fight, instead of ordering Midoriya to answer the question mentioned above, he asks him simply to confirm whether or not the conclusions he came up with are correct or not, remaining calm and losing his usual annoyed expression upon getting the answer.
    • After the Paranormal Liberation War arc, Bakugo wakes up in the hospital and while still his usual aggressive self, his immediate concern is whether Deku and Todoroki are okay. Without saying anything insulting about them, and actually using Todoroki's real name rather than "Icy-Hot Bastard" or even just "Icy-Hot".
    • Bakugo actually wears his school uniform properly when he and Class A confront Endeavor about Midoriya's reckless war against the League of Villains.
    • When he falls in the ultimate battle against Tomura Shigaraki, Bakugo sees All Might's essence, and he again has his school uniform on neatly with a tie on and pants on snug, and exhibits zero hostility, merely asking for an autograph. This is all in line with the author's original character for Bakugo, mild-mannered and unintentionally inconsiderate. He even smiles while genuinely and innocently happy, holding up an All Might trading card and asking for an autograph with childlike glee. This happens after Shigaraki attacks and accidentally detonates his heart, and he begins to slip away.
  • Out of Focus:
    • He does not take part in the Internship Arc, due to not getting a license. Instead, he's off with Todoroki in remedial training to have a second shot at being accepted. Kirishima and Mirio share the Deuteragonist role through the arc.
    • Together with the rest of the students, he is irrelevant during the time of the Pro Hero Arc. Unlike Todoroki and Midoriya, though, he doesn't even show up.
    • All in all, his role is fairly minor in the time from his fight with Midoriya until the Joint Training Arc where he comes back into full focus, outside of the mini-arc where he gets his hero license and being the drummer for Class 1-A's rock band.
  • Overly Long Name: His hero name, Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight, is so long that Ida points out that it's a mouthful. And yet, he's insistent that people say the whole thing, and he will yell at you if you shorten it to just "Dynamight".
  • The Paragon: In a strange way. Aizawa believes Bakugo, along with Midoriya, are the ones who help move the class forward. However, their methods are completely different; Midoriya inspires people to be better through his actions, personality, and charisma, while Bakugo makes people work harder to compete with him through his competitiveness and determination.
  • Parental Neglect: Downplayed, but his mother admits to All Might that she believes his behavior is partly her and his father's fault, mainly in not curbing his growing ego. Additionally, one could say that another example of their neglect was in regard to his social skills (specifically, having him deal with his temper since his mother shares it and her way of dealing with it just seemed to reinforce aggression to solve problems.)
  • Parental Title Characterization: He's just as rude to his parents as he is to most other people, calling them "hag" and "clown" respectively, and other insulting terms rather than "Mom" and "Dad". Not that his mother lets it slide.
  • The Perfectionist:
    • Bakugo's Hot-Blooded desire to be number one at everything means that he's obsessed with getting the perfect result every time, driving him to constantly practice and study to improve his skills. During the Sports Festival, his victory over Todoroki felt hollow because the latter didn't go all out against him the way he had with Midoriya. This is also why he's insistent on always winning, as, in his eyes, a hero is someone who never loses. During the Joint Training exercise with 1-B, he declares that his team must win 4-0 and that he won't take any outcome other than a complete and utter victory sitting down. Sure enough, he gets it done thanks to Character Development allowing him to better lead a team.
    • It also means that Bakugo is surprisingly skilled in a number of disciplines his peers don't expect. He's an amazingly fast and skilled cook for his age and an excellent drummer that Jiro, whose parents are professional musicians, praises. Even then, Bakugo feels that his performance was below par despite the thunderous applause he and the rest of his class received from the audience.
  • Personality Powers: His temper is as explosive as his powers. But he also has full control of how powerful the explosions he emits and can use them for both offense and defense, showing that he isn't just Dumb Muscle, turning a one-trick-pony superpower into a surprisingly versatile one.
  • Perpetual Frowner: His constant facial expression, which he loses so rarely that when he does, it's always when something unusually important is happening.
  • Playing with Fire: With a Quirk that creates explosions by sweating out nitroglycerin, he's also capable of burning things as well.
  • Post-Victory Collapse: After forcefully de-aging All For One from existence in Chapter 410, Bakugo attempts to strike All Might's Victory Pose... only for his body to finally give out.
  • Pretty Boy: Parodied in Smash!!. A chapter revolves around him becoming an over the top example of this, full-on with changing his clothes to have a impossibly low v-neck and hitting on several characters, including Midoriya, Kirishima, Yaoyorozu, and even Aizawa. He switches between his normal personality and that.
  • Pride:
    • His biggest weakness is his refusal to accept help from people whom he views as obstacles, as well as his refusal to run away from battles that he can't win.
    • In general, he despises losing, but what really sets him off is if he wins only because his opponent didn't fight at full strength since that implies to him they didn't take him seriously.
  • Privileged Rival: He has rich parents, lives in a giant house, and was born with an incredibly powerful Quirk that he's spent the last 14 years mastering. Midoriya lives in a tiny apartment, was born Quirkless, and had no time to practice with One For All because he literally got it on the day of the U.A. entrance exam.
  • Psychological Projection:
    • Hates it when people look down at him (or when he thinks people look down at him), but will always belittle and insult everyone else around him.
    • Derisively refers to Midoriya as a nerd, despite having better grades than him.
  • Punny Name: Not only is the "Dynamight" part of his hero name an obvious reference to his explosion powers by being so close to "Dynamite", but the "might" is a clear and cut reference to the "Might" in All Might's name.

    R - S 
  • Real Men Cook: According to the Smash!! comics, his cooking is so delicious that Sero and Kaminari consider it to be restaurant-quality. At training camp, he slices up vegetables at incredible speed and later chews out Todoroki for doing a horrible job at cutting onions. He can also tell three different types of pepper apart as well as the companies that manufactured them through taste alone.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: In the first movie, his formal suit is decorated with white roses.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Got this twice. One during the Heroes vs. Villains exercise, from Yaoyorozu, pointed out all the reasons why he lost to Midoriya. Then during the Final Exams Arc, Midoriya points out how idiotic Bakugo's ideals of never getting help from anyone even against enemies he can't defeat are.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Played With. His irises are bloody red, and they help in showing how aggressive he is but his eye color isn't unique and is just another part of the Amazing Technicolor Population in the series.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni:
    • The red to his childhood frenemy Midoriya's blue. Midoriya is meeker and more unassuming than the angrier and meaner Bakugo; their costumes and appearances also contrast as Bakugo's incorporates warmer colors, while Midoriya's makes use of cooler ones.
    • Zigzags this with Kirishima; both are hot-headed, but Kirishima favors defensive fighting style while Bakugo goes on the offense at all times, but Kirishima is very open while Bakugo is The Aloner.
  • Reformed Bully: Played with. He starts the series as a Smug Super who takes pleasure in bullying and picking on the much weaker Midoriya. A few chapters in and Midoriya has gained his own superpower and starts standing up to him at the same time that the two join a prestigious Hero Academy, where that kind of behavior isn't tolerated, and their classmates are not intimidated by him, with many being just as skilled and powerful as he is, if not moreso. So he stops being a bully, but he maintains the same personality, except that he can't bully anyone anymore. He later starts befriending some of his classmates and even Midoriya, leading to him playing this trope straight, while still having quite the unpleasant personality. By the Paranormal Liberation War arc, he finally becomes a full fledged example: he was willing to put his life on the line to save Midoriya's.
  • Reformed, but Not Tamed: Even though Bakugo goes through Character Development where he learns to be more respectful of others and winning isn't everything about being a hero, Bakugo keeps most of his Hair-Trigger Temper, remains prone to angry outbursts, and is still arrogant and cocky.
  • Renaissance Man: Bakugo is not just a dumb brute whose only talent is blowing things up. He can blow up villains, outscore his classmates on tests, cook delicious food, climb mountains, babysit rowdy kids, and play the drums.
  • Required Secondary Powers: For the most part, his explosions don't affect him much, but particularly big explosions cause his hands to be stunned for a while.
  • The Rival: His rivalry with Midoriya has a very interesting dynamic. On the one hand, you have Bakugo, who automatically assumes everything Midoriya does is to spite him, while on the other hand, Midoriya actually thinks Bakugo is really awesome and is only competitive with him because he wants to reach that level as well. As of Chapter 121, it seems that it starts to become a more healthy rivalry, though it's still far from the Friendly Rivalry Midoriya has with the other characters.
  • Rival Turned Evil: Defied. Despite how villainous he might seem, when Shigaraki offered Bakugo a chance to join the League of Villains, he flat-out refused.
  • Running Gag:
  • Sacrificial Lion: His death at the hands of Shigaraki in Chapter 362 takes a drastic toll in the mental states of its witnesses (especially Aizawa), heralds the Darkest Hour of the series, and conclusively proves that not every hero is going to leave the Final Battle alive.
  • Sadist: He used to be a Barbaric Bully towards Midoriya because he was unnerved by Midoriya's selflesness and inability to think about himself when helping others. Also during their first fight, he only cares about keeping Midoriya below him and just wants to crush him just for good measure to keep the victim down. He tones down a lot afterward but is depicted as this because of his anger issues.
  • Screaming Warrior: He can be counted on to be yelling at someone or roaring in battle in all his appearances.
  • Secret-Keeper: Double subverted. After the Heroes vs. Villains exercise, Midoriya tells Bakugo that his Quirk was given to him by someone else. Much to All Might's relief, Bakugo simply thinks that Midoriya is lying to pity him and doesn't believe it. Later on, however, Bakugo puts two and two together and figures out where Midoriya's Quirk came from. He is not happy about it, to say the least. At the end of their confrontation in Chapter 120, Bakugo agrees that he'll keep All Might's secret between himself, Midoriya and All Might. However, it comes at the cost of pissing off Aizawa and going on house arrest for the better portion of a week apiece.
  • Selective Obliviousness: It really comes in line with his usual beliefs and the fact that despite numerous times that Midoriya is genuine about his kindness, Bakugo will always interpret it as a hidden insult.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The brash, aggressive Manly Man to Midoriya's adorkable Sensitive Guy.
  • Serious Business: A bit of a Running Gag in Smash!! is that Bakugo turns any minor competition or inconvenience into a huge thing and faces everything with the seriousness he had in the U.A. Sports Festival.
  • Shadow Archetype: Subtle, but there. Midoriya tied his worth to his Quirk (or lack thereof) and craved the recognition from others that he felt his Quirklessness had made unattainable. Bakugo's self-esteem is so dependent on his Quirk that he feels like he is under attack when he encounters someone like Todoroki, and his inability to separate a person's worth from their natural ability made him so anti-social that he can barely function in a civilized society.
  • Shonen Hair: Extremely spiky-looking hair that resembles a comic book starburst effect. Best Jeanist's efforts to tame it always backfire, implying that it's natural.
  • Shout-Out: His power is actually one to Boom-Boom aka Tabitha Smith, with whom he shares the ability to generate explosions of variable intensity, complete with the similarly unfriendly and crude personality, the constant swearing, the swagger and the overall obnoxious attitude, despite being a hero and not a villain.
  • Showing Off Your Powers: Bakugo is especially prone to this since he is very proud of his explosive quirk. In an early flashback, Bakugo shows the class his quirk by expelling small fireworks from his hands, impressing everyone.
  • Signature Move: The right hook he always opens with, as Midoriya pointed out.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: His language is considered incredibly crass and loud by Japanese standards. Even in the Viz translation, Bakugo consistently peppers his language with "freakin'", "crap", and "hell".
  • Slasher Smile: His Grin of Audacity is combined with this since he has violent tendencies.
  • Sleeves Are for Wimps: His hero costume includes a black tank top. His casual non-winter outfits generally consist of tight T-shirts that show off his muscular arms and some times he just wears tank tops, like when he fought Midoriya a second time.
  • Smarter Than You Look: Because of his hot temper, smugness, vulgar vocabulary, and overall jerkassery, it's easy to forget that Bakugo is actually a genius student who strives to be number one at everything, which includes his schoolwork. His grades are the third-best of the class, surpassing both Midoriya and Todoroki and being behind only the Class Representatives Yaoyorozu and Ida. In Chapter 285, he comes up with a pretty smart plan to take down Shigaraki: using his explosions, he would carry Endeavor and Shoto into the air while Shoto uses his ice to keep Endeavor cool so he can conserve his firepower. Once they were in range and Midoriya was out of harm's way, Endeavor would fire a Prominence Burn at point-blank range. His plan would've worked... were it not for All For One's lingering consciousness taking control of Shigaraki's body.
  • Smug Super: More at the beginning, he is a little more humble now.
  • Sore Loser: Bakugo almost never takes kindly to either defeat or failure, perceiving them as a bad reflection on his ego. Especially if Midoriya succeeds and he doesn't.
  • Spectacular Spinning: Howitzer Impact. He uses his most powerful Hand Blast and spins in the air before unleashing it.
  • Spell My Name With An S:
    • His last name can be romanized as "Bakugo", "Bakugō", or "Bakugou". Official materials translate it as "Bakugo", but fans use "Bakugou" just as often.
    • The last part of official hero name, "Dynamight", is pronounced the same way as "Dynamite", and the katakana used doesn't lend itself to one spelling over the other. Initially, "Dynamite" was used for the official translations, but it was later updated to use "Dynamight".
  • Spoiled Brat: Downplayed. While he doesn't go around demanding for people to give him what he wants, he ticks all the boxes otherwise with his massive but brittle ego, his constant bravado, yelling and roaring in absolute rage, and destroying property whenever things don't go his way or when he feels he's being denied the attention and recognition he deserves. That said, Bakugo always works hard for what he has, never flaunts his wealth, and refuses to ever accept anything he sees as an easy victory.
  • Starter Villain: More specifically starter antagonist, as he despises villains. While the Sludge Villain is the first active obstacle encountered at the start of the story, Bakugo has been Midoriya's bully for many years and the first dozen chapters deal with him having to accept Midoriya is his peer at school. Once Midoriya defeats him in their first training exercise, he slowly simmers down and starts the long road to repairing their friendship by assessing his own weaknesses.
  • Stealth Pun: His hair color appears to be ash blond, which is appropriate for his fiery, destructive Quirk.
  • Stock Shōnen Hero: Deconstructed. Despite not being the main character of the series, he has all of the stereotypical traits (i.e. Hot-Blooded, Shonen Hair, fire-related powers, warmer colors in his attire, etc.) that associate with the archetype, with the exception of being incredibly intelligent (he actually has the third highest grades in his class). However, he plays these traits much more negatively; namely, his hot-blooded personality and determination to be the best hero make him incredibly aggressive, impulsive, and egotistical, and he doesn't get along well with his classmates as a result.
  • Stock Shōnen Rival: Played With. He has many traits of the Stock Shōnen Hero (being a spiky-haired, arrogant, Hot-Blooded, red-wearing young man), but also having many story beats of the Rival at the same time:
    • He is introduced as Midoriya's childhood friend turned bully. He initially looked down on the Quirkless Midoriya, then when Midoriya gained a Quirk (thanks to All Might Passing the Torch onto him), Bakugo was understandably bewildered and outraged that Midoriya suddenly had a great power he never knew about and had become the protégé to their childhood hero, to boot.
    • He seems to be blatantly set to follow the "Rival Turned Evil" path a la Sasuke Uchiha from the get-go (to the point even the people In-Universe point this out and treat him like a ticking time bomb). In a surprising twist, he completely defies it when the League of Villains offers him membership early on.
    • The "big fight" between him and Deku is also a showcase. Although it follows all Shonen rules for this kind of confrontation, even having Deku telling Bakugo that he's not afraid of him anymore, it is happening because Bakugo blames himself for his role in the Disaster Dominoes that ended with All Might retiring (which wasn't actually his fault). Due to the lack of any kind of emotional support from anyone and being incapable of expressing himself properly, Bakugo instead attacks Midoriya out of self-hatred and rage, while Deku — also emotionally devastated by the loss of his idol's career — fights back because it's the only way they understand how to communicate.
  • Strong and Skilled: Bakugo has no real weakness when it comes to fighting. His Quirk is incredibly powerful on its own, but he is also fully capable of using it creatively, and he's a fairly good tactician. The only way you can consider him Unskilled, but Strong is in his personality and inability to control his Hair-Trigger Temper.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: He's a lot like his mother, in both appearance and personality. Contrasts with Bakugo's dad being a rather mild gentleman.
  • Stubborn Hair: After Best Jeanist forced his Shonen Hair into a comb-over, Bakugo exploded it back to normal.
  • Suddenly Always Knew That:
    • Smash!! shows that he likes mountain climbing, and knows a lot about sleeping sacks.
    • Around the time of the U.A. Cultural Festival, it's revealed that he was apparently forced to take drumming lessons as a kid and that he retained those skills through high school.
  • Suicide Dare: A moment of particular malevolence even by his standards was, after burning Midoriya's notebook and warning him not to enroll in U.A., telling the boy that maybe he could get his own quirk by taking a swan dive off the roof of the school and crossing his fingers that he'd be reincarnated with one. Kohei Horikoshi later mentioned he deeply regretted including the scene, and doesn't consider a part of Bakugo's later characterization.
  • Super-Toughness: The "Explosion" Quirk seems to have made Bakugo's body more resistant to impacts over time. As of the present day, he's durable enough to be kneed through a building and take a two-story Facepalm of Doom from the World's Strongest Man and keep fighting afterward.
  • Surrounded by Idiots: A non-villainous example. Despite Bakugo's extreme anger issues and arrogant behavior, he is one of Class 1-A's smartest students and had the 3rd highest midterm grade, surpassed only by Iida and Yaoyorozu. The members of the fan-dubbed Bakusquad had some of the lowest scores on the midterm (Eijiro Kirishima was 15th, Denki Kaminari was 20th, the lowest, Mina Ashido was 19th and Hanta Sero was 17th). All of them would end up failing the Final Exams and spending their time at the Summer Camp doing improvement.

    T - Z 
  • Tame His Anger: Best Jeanist attempts to do this to Bakugo. He utterly failed, but he did have a point. It's only through his night duel with Midoriya that he starts to at least try to overcome it (and even then it is a very slow process).
  • Tantrum Throwing: Bakugo's version is to make something explode instead of throwing it directly, but the effect remains the same. Happens whenever he doesn't get his way or whenever he feels underestimated. Which is quite often, to the point of getting comical with weird angry faces and him screaming "die!" at the source of his anger.
  • Team Dad: Surprisingly enough, he tends to take up this role on any team he's placed on. His Brutal Honesty allows him to speak the harsh but necessary truths and keep everyone on task, as shown during the Culture Festival when he turns down the prospect of hosting a dance party for the Culture Festival because of the building resentment towards 1-A among the student body. His ambition and perfectionism also make him responsible when push comes to shove, as he and Jirou are the only ones to look for actually useful things for the after-concert party (Yaoyorozu was too busy being fascinated by discounted drinks, Kaminari was looking for toys, and Tokoyami wanted sweets). Jirou even lampshades it, saying that he's like a surprisingly good mom.
  • Technician Versus Performer: The technician to Midoriya's performer. He's one of the best fighters in the class and trains longer and harder than any of his classmates. He's quick-witted, has good battle knowledge and technique of his Quirk, whereas Midoriya relies on prior knowledge and pretty much has no technique of his own aside from copying All Might. It becomes apparent following the U.A. Sports Festival Arc when it's revealed that Bakugo got the second-highest offers from the hero agencies, while Midoriya received none due to his crazed way of fighting. Best Jeanist even remarks that Bakugo's good enough to be a sidekick and the only thing that's holding him back is his piss poor attitude.
  • Teen Genius: He's repeatedly pointed out to be a genius in every sense of the word. He's near the top of his class academically, incredibly athletic, and quickly masters anything he puts his mind to. His sheer talent at virtually everything is what caused his ego to swell to make him the cantankerous teenager he is in the present.
  • Throw Down the Bomblet: His hero costume features actual hand grenades that can be filled with his explosive sweat. He doesn't really use them much though, probably because he prefers exploding people with his own hands. He hands one to Kaminari during the Provisional Hero License Exam, which proves essential when Bakugo is incapacitated.
  • Tiger Versus Dragon: Although they're both fast, hard-hitting bruisers, the hyper-aggressive and unrelenting Bakugo is the tiger to Midoriya's analytical and patient dragon.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Deconstructed. While Bakugo is firmly on the side of good and wants to be a Pro Hero, his behavior for a while mimics a villain rather than a hero. When he's first introduced, he is extremely arrogant, selfish, egotistical, prone to violence over the smallest things and a bully to almost everyone he comes across. His attitude alienates most of his classmates to the point where only a few of them consider him a friend and are willing to tolerate his poor behavior. He believes that he alone deserves praise and glory and becomes jealous whenever someone else gets said praise and glory, like Midoriya and Todoroki. Come Season 3, Bakugo finally starts making an effort to address his shortcomings and become more respectful of his classmates. He still struggles with pride, selfishness and wrath, but he's making an effort to address his piss poor personality.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: He's slowly getting better at this, as it has to do with his Character Development. He is quite caring towards Kirishima. Kirishima is the only classmate Bakugo is willing to be rescued by without hurting his pride, and Bakugo has been shown multiple times giving Kirishima good advice without insulting him. After Bakugo and Midoriya's rematch, he seems to be taking steps towards this again, offering a genuine critique of Midoriya's Shoot Style and generally being a much better team player.
    All Might: Unlike before, the two of them have become proper rivals.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Downplayed. While he isn't shown to have a favorite food, he has a strong preference for anything spicy. After eating over at the Todoroki house, he demands Fuyumi give him her mapo tofu recipe. In Smash!!, Midoriya also says that Bakugo goes for the spiciest curry packets he can find.
  • Tranquil Fury: Surprising considering Bakugo is easily the most aggressively angry person in the story, yet when he confronts Midoriya after realizing he got his Quirk from All Might, the look on his face and his quiet tone of speech are very unnerving, much more than his regular explosive anger.
  • Tricked-Out Gloves: His gauntlets store his sweat so that he can release powerful blasts. He can make these blasts on his own, but the gloves lower the risk of hurting himself.
  • Tsurime Eyes: He inherited it from his mother.
  • The Unchosen One: In the sense that he considers Midoriya to be The Chosen One due to receiving One For All. As a result, Bakugo decides that even if he wasn't chosen by All Might, he still will be the one to take over his mantle, and even makes this challenge to Midoriya once the truth is out.
  • Underestimating Badassery: It happens to rather often since people see his violent personality and assume that he's Dumb Muscle. Bakugo himself did this with Midoriya once, and ever since has been very careful never to do it again.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Midoriya risks his life to save Bakugo thrice, once against the Sludge Villain, again in the training camp and lastly in the hideout raid, but he refuses to thank him or to apologize for his years of bullying. Though as noted above, it appears that he may not actually know how to express gratitude.
  • Unknown Rival: Towards Todoroki during the U.A. Sports Festival Arc. Despite being the top two combatants from Class 1-A, Todoroki actually feels more compelled to defeat Midoriya than Bakugo. This drives Bakugo absolutely nuts.
  • Unscrupulous Hero: Despite his angry and ruthless personality, when Shigaraki gives him a We Can Rule Together speech, he rejects the idea of becoming a villain without a second thought. This has no real moral standards behind it, Bakugo just wants to be a winner and is savvy enough to know that villains aren't winners.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Kacchan is always angry. Once pissed off, which is very easy to achieve, he'll fly into a rage nonstop, unless something manages to stop him or calm him down. But even that is incredibly difficult. Every problem, every slight, even brushing his teeth- all approached with violence, swearing, yelling, hatefulness, explosions, and destruction. Even one of the top heroes in the nation, Best Jeanist, sees him as a volatile beast who must be groomed if he ever hopes to have a shot at being accepted as a hero. His wrath is so bad that it alone killed his chances of getting a hero license when he yelled at the people he's supposed to save and got his points docked for it. We later see that he inherited his temper from his mother. Furthermore, she disciplined his bad behavior with a similar level of force, which may have reinforced the mentality of solving issues with violence.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: For a given definition of "sweet." Bakugo was always prideful, but flashbacks show that as a child he was more sociable, less temperamental, and willing to stand up to bullies. Then he got his Quirk, and then his Inferiority Superiority Complex.
  • Villain Killer: After numerous times he shouted death threats towards anyone, he out of all heroes finally finishes off a real villain - All For One, in Chapter 410, while being in his infant form.
  • Waistcoat of Style: His formal attire in Two Heroes consists of a blue-gray one worn with a matching pair of pants, over a red shirt.
  • Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization: His clothes are rumpled and ill-fitting to show how he doesn't really like playing by the rules. He also refuses to wear a tie and have his collar buttoned, showing his inherent disdain for authority. Later, when Best Jeanist tries to groom him to look crispier, it really pisses Bakugo off.
  • Weaponized Headgear: The edges of the explosion-shaped accessories on his mask are detachable and apparently sharp and pointy enough to pierce bone, going by how during a comedic moment one of them lodged itself in Izuku's skull and causes massive bleeding after Bakugo threw it at him.
  • We Used to Be Friends: This is the basic dynamic of his relationship with Midoriya. Though Bakugo still seems to hold grudges against him, Midoriya seems interested in being friends again, seemingly not angry at him for the bullying.
  • What You Are in the Dark: After he’s kidnapped by the League of Villains from UA’s summer training camp, Bakugo is tied up in their headquarters, forced to watch as the press tear into UA’s faculty for allowing the attack to happen, and suggesting that Bakugo himself is a prime candidate to become a villain, due to his attitude and behavior during the Sports Festival. All the while, Shigaraki and the other League members try to cajole him into joining them, offering the temptation of being able to do whatever he wants. Nobody who matters is watching or can judge him at the moment. Yet Bakugo doesn’t hesitate to blast Shigaraki with his Quirk at the very first opportunity, turning the League down flat. Even when one of them suggests that he could have simply faked cooperation to get them to lower their guard, Bakugo makes it clear that he has no intention of becoming anything other than a hero, even as a deception.
  • Worthy Opponent: One of his nobler aspects is that he respects opponents who go all out in a fight.
  • Would Hit a Girl: In terms of how he treats his female opponents, Bakugo is quite the egalitarian and doesn't care about your sex. At all. If you're posing yourself as an adversary, you're getting the brunt of his explosion Quirk just as hard as a male would.
    • He doesn't hold back in his match with Uraraka. While some of the crowd members boo him for this, Aizawa claims this is a sign of respect: Bakugo knows he can't let his guard down against an opponent who has made it this far.
    • He blasts Setsuna with a Stun Grenade so hard at point-blank range that she's instantly smashed out of the air and unconscious. She ends up crumpled on the ground and is badly injured, just like the rest of her team. This is justified, as Setsuna is implied to have a slight healing factor and Tokoyami's hesitation to hurt Kinoko in his round, as well as Todoroki's holding back at first against Tetsutetsu both, cost their teams the win (Class 1-A lost the second round and the third ended in a draw), so no way in hell was Bakugo planning on losing in such a pathetic fashion by not giving it his all.
  • Would Hurt a Child: He doesn't get along much with kids, and it's implied few times he would give some of them "a lesson", although it's never trully showcased. Ironically, he's the one who finishes off All For One in his baby form, reverting him back to an egg cell and ceasing to exist. Granted, All For One still had the mind of a one-hundred-year-old man.
  • "X" Makes Anything Cool: His hero costume's top is emblazoned with a big orange "X".

Alternative Title(s): My Hero Academia Katsuki Bakugou

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