Warning: The following article contains spoilers for My Hero Academia‘s anime and manga.
In the world of My Hero Academia, having a Quirk is a standard met by most, which makes for a wide variety of incredible powers. Granted, some abilities are more powerful and useful than others, but Izuku Midoriya’s One for All is undoubtedly among the best Quirks in the series; so much so, that two of the most powerful villains are hell-bent on stealing it from the protagonist.
Part of what makes One for All so powerful is its ability to accumulate and strengthen Quirks from previous users. Because of this, in truth, Deku has not one, but seven Quirks, stored in One for All’s core and passed down from user to user. As the series goes on, the hero in training begins manifesting all these abilities one by one, being forced to adapt to and train each of them, in order to control them and use them in battle. Since seven is a lot for a single person, and some fans might have trouble keeping track of all the details, here we present all of Deku’s Quirks, explained and listed in order of appearance.
Warning: Spoilers to follow.
One for All
We all know One for All well enough by now. The Quirk has been passed down for generations, entrusted to certain individuals by its previous wielder. Essentially, the Quirk gives Deku the ability to stockpile raw power; an insane amount of it, actually. One for All enhances physical abilities like speed, strength, durability, agility, and stamina, making Deku one of the most powerful characters in the series. Unfortunately, the raw power is too much for its current wielder to handle at 100 percent, provoking severe damage to his body. Alas, Deku has to make do with smaller percentages of power, which is usually enough.
At One for All’s core, vestiges of the previous users are also stored, along with each of their Quirks. These additional abilities have been evolving and accumulating power throughout the years, being now stronger than ever. This allows Deku to access more refined versions of the Quirks, and use them in combination with each other.
Blackwhip
The first additional Quirk to manifest itself, this is also one of the most commonly used by Deku. It originally belonged to Daigoro Banjo, the fifth wielder of One for All. Blackwhip allows its user to manifest tendrils from their body and command them as they please. The tendrils are created from energy and appear black with a teal outline. They are mostly used externally, to restrain opponents, protect allies, and even as a mode of transportation, as Deku swings from building to building, Spider-man style. It’s possible, however, to use Blackwhip internally, as demonstrated when Deku reinforces his own bones with the tendrils, to reduce the damage dealt to them during battle.
While Deku does learn to manifest Blackwhip at will, the Quirk can also be triggered by powerful emotions. When Deku is overwhelmed by emotion, be it rage, hatred, or grief, Blackwhip manifests spontaneously and with greater strength. In those situations, it’s nearly impossible for the user to control it or the damage it causes. Hence, to stay in control of this Quirk, the user must be emotionally stable.
Float
This one is pretty straightforward. As its name indicates, Float gives Deku the ability to — you guessed it — float. The Quirk belonged to Nana Shimura, One for All’s seventh user and Shigaraki Tomura’s grandma. While it sounds like a very simple ability, Float can be used for more than simply levitating, giving Deku the power to fly at high speeds. Not only is this the best mode of transportation ever, but it can also be very useful in combat, allowing for an above-view of the battlegrounds. Airborne attacks are also advantageous against most enemies, especially floor-bound ones.
Danger Sense
You’ve heard of Spidey Sense, that ability Spiderman has to sense danger in time to avoid it. Deku’s Danger Sense is pretty much the same thing, just going by a different name. This Quirk belonged to Hikage Shinomori, One for All’s fourth wielder, and it gives Deku the ability to detect potential danger in his surroundings. Unlike many other Quirks, it manifests spontaneously as a sudden, splitting headache whenever a threat is nearby, giving Deku a chance to promptly react to it. If the attack is too fast for Deku, though, he might still not be able to dodge it in time.
When it comes to human threats, the Quirk works by sensing negative emotions in others, like malice, anger, or hatred. This means that it is a fallible Quirk, as it cannot detect threats when those actions come from a place of misguided love or affection — this is the case with Himiko Toga. Danger Sense can also be incredibly overwhelming for Deku, especially when it is not responding to a threat, but simply being passively triggered by negative emotions found in a crowd.
Smokescreen
Smokescreen was En’s Quirk, the sixth user of One for All. This ability grants Deku the power to create a dense cloud of smoke around him, which can extend to a wide range of his surroundings. Due to its characteristics, Smokescreen is considered a defensive power, used only to cloud the opponent’s vision. However, while the smoke itself has no potential to inflict damage, it can be used in the offensive during battle, by helping its user to attack the enemy by surprise. Additionally, it’s the perfect Quirk to use when you need to leave a bad situation undetected.
Smokescreen’s downside is that if its user is inexperienced — which is Deku’s case — and too much smoke is released, it can end up obscuring the vision of its own wielder. Its usefulness also decreases in the rain, since the smoke cannot spread very far in those conditions.
Fa Jin
Fa Jin belonged to the unnamed third wielder of One for All. It grants Deku the ability to store and accumulate kinetic energy and release it at a later time. When he allows the energy to release from his body, it does so explosively, giving its user an immense burst of power or speed. It’s also possible for the user to release several bursts of energy, by choosing to release the energy in smaller increments, instead of going all out at once.
Because it takes time for the energy to build up, if the wielder releases Fa Jin before it reaches full potential, the burst will be much lower than usual. When used properly, however, it can significantly increase the power of Deku’s attacks, without needing to use One for All at 100 percent. He can also use the Quirk to become exponentially faster than a bullet.
Gearshift
Originally belonging to One for All’s unnamed second user, Gearshift is one of the oldest known Quirks in My Hero Academia. It gives its wielder the ability to determine the speed at which objects travel through space. More accurately, Deku can apply four different stages — gears — of acceleration to objects. While at first this Quirk could only be used to control small objects, after it merged with One for All, its power increased exponentially. With Gearshift, Deku is able to control the speed of a wide range of things, himself included. Now, this power also serves to increase the speed of attacks on the opponent, making it too fast to predict or react to them.
Currently, Gearshift is so powerful that it can reshape the laws of the universe, like breaking the sound barrier and breaking Newton’s law of inertia. On the downside, the Quirk takes a heavy toll on its user’s body, which could leave them too vulnerable to fight after a few minutes.
At the moment, not all of these Quirks have manifested in the anime, but it shouldn’t take too long for it to happen. My Hero Academia’s sixth season is currently being aired on Crunchyroll, with new episodes being released every Saturday.
