My Hero Academia‘s epic superhero story is divided into quite a few story arcs that fit neatly into three major sagas to tell the story of Deku’s rise to power. Major plot twists like Yuga Aoyama’s reluctant betrayal and Bakugo’s near-death helped define the story and provided some powerful emotional stakes, but of course, fans care about fights and power levels, too. That’s why it’s fun to review all of the major arcs and determine who the strongest characters are.
Minor arcs might not be counted, since they don’t have much action and can easily be lumped together with the bigger arcs around them, while the major arcs have a clear hierarchy of power levels. It’s also interesting how some characters in My Hero Academia rank modestly in some arcs and grow up to become total powerhouses in others, while other characters get the opposite experience. All of these arc-defining characters may be ranked according to how strong each is in their respective story arcs.
UA Sports Festival Arc: Katsuki Bakugo
Funnily Enough, Bakugo Didn’t Feel Like He Earned It
During the tournament phase of the UA Sports Festival Arc, Katsuki Bakugo clearly emerged as the most [powerful contestant. In the bigger world of heroes and villains, other characters were much stronger than any UA student, but the anime wasn’t focusing on them at the time. In that school-wide competition, Bakugo was #1, though he had some stiff competition in the form of Shoto, Deku, and Fumikage, and even Tenya Iida. It’s no wonder most of those characters made it to the tournament’s final four.
Shoto might have won if he made full use of his Half-Cold Half-Hot Quirk, but his personal barriers blocked him from reaching his full potential hence the final match’s outcome. Bakugo, by contrast, was eager to use 100% of his Explosion Quirk’s power at the time, including the overwhelming fury of the Howitzer Impact move. With such fierce resolve and advanced moves, it’s no wonder Bakugo blitzed his way through Ochaco, Eijiro, Fumikage, and Shoto to claim a gold medal that he didn’t feel he fully deserved. That was the first real hint that power alone would not make Bakugo feel happy or fulfilled as a burgeoning hero.
Joint Training Arc: Shoto Todoroki
Shoto Learned How to Go Plus Ultra
Plot-wise, the Joint Training Arc was important only in the sense that it welcomed Hitoshi Shinso to the ranks of student heroes and showed Deku awakening the Quirks embedded in One For All. But another key element of his arc is how the power rankings of classes 1-A and 1-B had shifted a great deal by this point. Some students proved to be far stronger than expected, while others performed roughly as expected and others disappointed their classmates. It was a time of reassessing what all first-years at UA were capable of.
6 My Hero Academia Characters Who Deserved Better Endings
These My Hero Academia characters really got the short end of the stick when it came to how their stories ended.
Familiar powerhouses like Deku, Shoto, and Fumikage all had some impressive moves to show off, though Fumikage fell victim to Kinoko’s mushrooms at the last second, and Deku wasn’t fully in control of Blackwhip when it emerged. Thus, Shoto Todoroki emerged as the top fighter of that particular arc, finally surpassing Bakugo as a student who was comfortable with his own power. Critically, Shoto had fully embraced his Quirk’s fire side, and he even managed to go Plus Ultra after coasting on his Quirk’s ice powers for so long. Shoto still had a ways to go, but his progress was astonishing as of this arc.
Hideout Raid Arc: All Might
United States of Smash Was All Might’s Swan Song
The Hideout Raid Arc directly followed the Forest Training Camp Arc, and My Hero Academia fans can lump them together as the saga of Bakugo’s capture and rescue with the League of Villains. The cast’s power levels were the same in these two connected arcs, so viewers may focus on the Hideout Raid Arc to decide who the strongest character is. The symbol of evil, All For One, threatened to be #1 as he massacred the pro heroes, but then the symbol of hope eclipsed him.
All Might was a true hero not just because of his strength, but his unbreakable courage and his willingness to sacrifice everything for one last punch to save the day. By scraping together One For All’s remaining embers, All Might delivered a United States of Smash to win as the top fighter in the Hideout Raid Arc, but it was an uncomfortable victory. The bulwark against villainy was gone, and no one was yet ready to replace him as other villains rose to power in the wake of All For One’s latest defeat.
Shie Hassaikai Arc: Overhaul
Overhaul’s Quirk Boasts Endless Possible Uses
It was in the Shie Hassaikai Arc when Izuku Midoriya truly felt like a bona fide hero called Deku. It’s true Deku rescued Izumi Kota from Muscular in Season 3, but Season 4’s Shie Hassaikai hit different. Deku was in costume and vowed to rescue Eri no matter what, making him feel less like a cornered student and more like a pro hero with a duty. That called for an incredible villain to test Deku’s resolve, and that villain arrived in the form of Overhaul.
Find all 10 pairs
Find all 10 pairs
Mirio Togata and Deku were both impressively powerful in the Shie Hassaikai Arc, but alone, neither of them can top Overhaul’s fearsome power. Deku did win in the end, but that was only because of Eri’s risky Rewind tactics to heal his body as One For All’s full power was used. In a 1v1 battle, Overhaul couldn’t be beat in the Shie Hassaikai Arc, making it all the more miraculous how Deku and the other heroes managed to take down Overhaul’s criminal empire in the end. At the last second, Tomura did destroy Overhaul’s arms to render him powerless, but as a whole, Overhaul is still the strongest fighter in this arc, even with Tomura around.
Paranormal Liberation War Arc: Tomura Shigaraki
Bakugo Nearly Died Shielding Deku From Tomura’s Wrath
In My Hero Academia‘s 6th anime season, the explosive Paranormal Liberation War Arc erupted to kick off the final showdown between the heroes and villains. Or rather, this arc ushered in an era of war where the heroes and villains would keep fighting until one side claimed dominion over Japanese society once and for all. In the first major phase, the Paranormal Liberation War Arc, the most powerful fighter was Tomura Shigaraki himself, thanks to Dr. Garaki’s twisted science.
My Hero Academia: 6 Anime Moments That Were Better in the Manga
These iconic My Hero Academia moments were done way better in the manga than in the anime.
Top pro heroes like Endeavor, Hawks, and Best Jeanist provided stiff competition for Tomura, but by wielding several Quirks at once, Tomura proved to be the strongest of all. He even had the might of his awakened Decay Quirk, an apocalyptic weapon that forced the pro heroes to reshape their entire battle strategy around it after a certain point. This powered-up, multi-Quirk Tomura even tried to kill Deku and nearly killed Bakugo as the latter to serve as a human shield for Deku.
Final War Arc: All For One
The Symbol of Evil Refused to Fade Away
The supervillain All For One kept rising and falling in the ranks of My Hero Academia‘s most powerful characters due to his various power-ups and defeats. Off-screen, he was once an unbeatable juggernaut of evil, but after his defeat in Kamino Ward, he exited the ranks of My Hero Academia‘s strongest fighters. Only in the epic Final War Arc did All For One return to the upper echelons of power to become the Final War Arc’s #1 cast member.
Other heroes and villains also wielded titanic power at the time, such as Tomura and Deku, but All For One has the lead, if a narrow one. He once again brought many Quirks to bear at once on the battlefield as a one-man army, using Dragon Ball-caliber attacks to blast away huge chunks of the terrain as he fought. This villain even used Eri’s Rewind Quirk to buy himself some extra time, a twisted version of Eri lending her Quirk to Deku a few seasons ago to fight Overhaul.
My Hero Academia
- Release Date
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2016 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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TBS, MBS, Nippon TV
- Directors
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Shouji Ikeno, Tsuyoshi Tobita, Ikuro Sato, Takudai Kakuchi, Masashi Abe, Tetsuya Miyanishi, Kazuma Komatsu, Yoshifumi Sasahara, Masayuki Otsuki, Daisuke Tsukushi, Takayuki Yamamoto, Yohei Fukui, Takuro Tsukada, Masatoyo Takada, Naomi Nakayama, Sayaka Morikawa, Takanori Yano
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Daiki Yamashita
Izuku Midoriya (voice)
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Kaito Ishikawa
Manga Fukidashi (voice)
