The strongest characters in ‘My Hero Academia,’ ranked

Over the course of several action-packed seasons, My Hero Academia has introduced viewers to dozens of incredible characters, all of whom boast a variety of different powerful abilities.

The superpowers in My Hero Academia are diverse and creative, injecting fresh energy into the rather formulaic superhero genre. Rather than sticking to super strength or super speed, the heroes in this fresh take on a coming-of-age story boast strange and unpredictable powers. While a few of this series’ heroes are more commonplace and recognizable, some wield powers that are truly devastating. Here are some of the strongest.

My Hero Academia’s strongest characters

The characters in My Hero Academia wield strange and powerful “quirks,” or superpowers, which the vast majority of them are born with. These quirks vary widely in strength and style, but when wielded properly can be utterly devastating. No two people are likely to agree on who the most powerful characters in this packed series are, but here are our choices for the top 15.

15. Eri

Hero name: N/A
Quirk: Rewind

She might not look like much, but this gray-haired little girl is one of the most powerful characters in My Hero Academia’s lineup. Eri has the rewind ability, which enables her to revert any living entity back to a specific state. That means that she can de-age people or reverse damage to a body. Her power is strong enough that she accidentally reversed her father out of existence when it first manifested, however, we can’t forget that she’s still young, untrained, and has no combat skills. For these reasons, we can’t place her higher on the list, despite her jaw-dropping quirk.

14. Keigo Takami

Hero name: Hawks
Quirk: Fierce Wings

Hawks may not be one of the most physically strong characters in the series, but that doesn’t mean he’s not powerful. With the ability to fly at great speeds and control his feathers at will, Hawks is the No. 2 Hero in Japan and the youngest person to achieve such a feat. By hardening his feathers and using them as blades or projectiles, Hawks can easily defeat most opponents, but there are weaknesses to his power. The feathers take a while to grow back and, despite their strength, cannot withstand fire, which leads to his downfall later in the story.

13. Rikiya Yotsubashi

Villain name: Re-Destro
Quirk: Stress

Stressed people should not be messed with, and Re-Destro is proof of that. With his quirk, this character is able to store negative emotions like frustration, stress, and anger, and transform them into raw power. In his powered-up form, with increased size, strength, and speed, he was able to stand against Shigaraki in the Meta Liberation Army Arc, but the loss of his legs spelled doom for Re-Destro. His prosthetic legs are unable to withstand the weight of his powered-up form, making the character more vulnerable than he would’ve liked. Still, his strength is something to be reckoned with.

12. Gigantomachia

Villain name: Gigantomachia
Quirk: Endurance

This villainous character was powerful even before he received several additional quirks. His incredible endurance can carry Gigantomachia through pretty much any fight, allowing him to essentially wait out his enemies. On top of his enviable endurance, the character also boasts incredible strength, speed, durability, and stamina, along with enhanced senses. He also has the ability to grow in size during battles, which feels a bit unfair on top of all of his other powers.

11. Kai Chisaki

Villain name: Overhaul
Quirk: Overhaul

Another of My Hero Academia’s villains, Overhaul combines his intimidating quirk — which allows him to disassemble and reassemble anything within his range — with a ruthless cruelty that makes him deadly in battle. He has a tendency to rely on dismemberment in combat, destroying his opponents’ limbs and sometimes their entire bodies with a single touch. It seems that his ability could be used for good if he so chose — he’s even capable of bringing people back to life — but he chooses instead to use it for evil.

10. Enji Todoroki

Hero name: Endeavor
Quirk: Hellflame

Endeavor may become the No. 1 Hero in Japan after All Might’s retirement, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he is the strongest character around. With the power to create and manipulate fire, there is no question about how strong he is; besides, his obsession with surpassing All Might has fueled him to hone his skills over the years. This makes him a serious threat in battle, however, even he knows that there are limits to what he can accomplish. Endeavor’s body cannot withstand the heat from his own quirk for too long, and the new generation of quirk-users eventually surpasses him.

9. Katsuki Bakugo

Hero name: Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight
Quirk: Explosion

One of the most important characters in My Hero Academia, Bakugo is a naturally gifted fighter. He may not be quite as good as he thinks he is near the beginning of the series, but Bakugo’s ability to create explosions is more versatile than it may seem. He utilizes the ability in a number of clever ways, using explosions to propel himself through the air, add power to his punches, blind opponents, and attack from long-range. Bakugo stops at nothing to improve his combat skills, and later in the story, the young hero’s Quirk Awakening gives him an impressive boost in power. Not only does his speed increase, but his explosions get stronger and more condensed, allowing him to go toe-to-toe with a young version of All for One.

8. Shoto Todoroki

Hero Name: Shoto
Quirk: Half-Cold Half-Hot

Unlike most single-quirk characters in My Hero Academia, Shoto has the ability to wield two separate elements. His quirk gives the character the ability to control both fire and ice, though he has a tendency to gravitate toward ice at the beginning of the series. He wields enviable control over his quirk, using it in creative and nontraditional ways to overcome opponents. He’s been known to use his ice ability to freeze opponents, create unstable footing, and to move around on. Initially, Shoto has less control over his flame ability — due to years of neglect — but he decides to work on conquering the bad memories attached to this power. Once the Final War begins, he is able to wield both abilities to their fullest extent and to stand his ground against Dabi.

7. Toya Todoroki

Villain name: Dabi
Quirk: Blueflame

With flames hotter than Endeavor’s and the ability to raise its temperatures faster than Shoto, there’s no doubt that Dabi is the strongest Todoroki. Sure, his hatred for his family, murderous tendencies, and fraying sanity make him dangerous, but it’s his quirk that cements this villain as one of the most powerful characters in My Hero Academia. In the Final War, Dabi is able to resist Shoto’s Phosphor technique by replicating it and canceling out his ice, which increases his firepower. It also takes all of his siblings and his mother using their quirks to extinguish his flames, driving home just how much stronger he is than them. If only he had unlocked the icy part of his quirk earlier in life, Dabi’s life could’ve been very different.

6. Nine

Villain name: Nine
Quirk: Weather Manipulation

Having weather manipulation as a quirk doesn’t sound like much in My Hero Academia‘s superhuman society, but it’s a more useful power than one may think. Besides, with a little help from All for One, who granted him a copy of his quirk, Nine became a serious threat in Heroes Rising. The villain boasted numerous abilities in the movie, enough to overwhelm Bakugo and Deku. Thankfully, he was defeated by the students, but it took them both using One for All at full power to make it happen.

5. Cathleen Bate

Hero name: Star and Stripe
Quirk: New Order

Not only is Cathleen Bate strong, but she also has one of the best quirks in the entire series. After being saved by All Might as a child, this character goes on to become the No. 1 Hero in the U.S. and the strongest woman in the world. With the power to bend reality to her will, Cathleen is nearly unstoppable, which drives All for One to try to steal her quirk despite fearing her arrival in Japan. Despite not managing to reach All Might’s level of strength, she was one of the biggest threats to All for One’s plan and put up an amazing fight against Shigaraki in the Star and Stripe Arc.

4. Toshinori Yagi

Hero name: All Might
Quirk: One for All

At the beginning of the series, All Might is not as strong as he once was, and his power only declines as the story goes on. In his prime, though, there is no doubt that All Might was among the strongest characters in My Hero Academia, which makes him deserving of being on this list. After inheriting One for All from Nana Shimura, the hero faced off against All for One thrice — once before the series’ start, then in Kamino, and again during the Final War — and despite the struggle, he managed to defeat the villain in two of those encounters.

3. Shigaraki

Villain name: All for One
Quirk: All for One

All for One is the most powerful villain in the series for most of the story and has a quirk that makes him essentially immortal. This not only gives him a massive advantage in battle but also provides him with an immensely long life. He is a master strategist and has the power to steal quirks, an ability that makes All for One an utterly devastating villain.

Despite his defeats against All Might, this character remains a threat to the world, grooming Shigaraki into the perfect vessel for his power and mind. When the Final War comes around, All for One reaches a new level of strength thanks to his successor’s hate, manifesting the latent potential of his quirks and surpassing even the power of All Might in his prime.

2. Izuku Midoriya

Hero name: Deku
Quirk: One For All

As the protagonist, it’s only natural for the youthful and geeky Izuku to become one of the strongest characters in My Hero Academia. Izuku wields One For All, a thoroughly unique quirk passed from one person to the next, accumulating the powers of its wielders. This results in Deku manifesting several different abilities.

With so many powers in his wheelhouse, it makes sense for Izuku to be near the top of this list, especially when we consider how strong he becomes toward the end of the series. Despite being only a hero student, Deku can go toe-to-toe with an AFO-possessed Shigaraki, and that’s saying something.

1. Tenko Shimura

Villain name: Tomura Shigaraki
Quirk: Decay

Shigaraki’s powers have only grown throughout My Hero Academia. With the ability to disintegrate everything he touches, it makes sense that Shigaraki is an intimidating foe, but his hatred and urge to destroy make him all the more dangerous. His power, which was already intimidating at the outset of the series, grew immensely after he obtained All For One, gaining an unknown number of strong quirks, including regeneration.

Not even being attacked by several heroes in the Final War was enough to defeat Shigaraki, and Deku only managed to do it by transferring One for All’s quirk factors and dealing damage to his core. Had the protagonist not given up his quirk, Shigaraki would’ve come out of the war victorious, and if that doesn’t convince you he’s the most powerful character around, I don’t know what will.