My Hero Academia: Shigaraki Tomura, And 6 Other Villains From Kohei Horikoshi With Great Character Arcs

While My Hero Academia features a ton of highly intense action scenes and jaw-dropping manga artwork, arguably the biggest draw for many people is the vibrant cast of characters. Though the story primarily focuses on Deku and the heroes who accompany him along his journey, Kohei Horikoshi, the author of the story, also made sure to shed some light on the villains too, to the point where several of them receive some pretty compelling character arcs that make them a lot more interesting than the typical one-note antagonist.

Shigaraki is just one of many examples of villains like this in the series, as while he goes through his own compelling and honestly quite emotional personal journey, the same can be said for many of the other dangerous villains who surround him. With the My Hero Academia manga officially over and the anime approaching its final season, it feels like the perfect time to reflect on the villains in the series who have become known for their memorable and impactful character arcs and development throughout the series.

Gentle

Gentle Finally Earned A Chance To Live Out His Dream Of Becoming A Hero During The Final War

• Quirk: Elasticity
• First Appearance: Episode 84

In the world of My Hero Academia, it’s not often that someone will decide to become a villain just for the sake of causing chaos. Most of the time, there’s a much deeper reason why they decide to follow the dark path of villainy, and in the case of Gentle, it was because he decided to try and rescue a civilian from danger without actually having a Hero License. Not only that, he also got in the way of another Pro Hero who was already on the case, resulting in Gentle becoming an outcast who was more or less restricted from ever becoming an official hero.

As a result, when he shows up in the main story during the School Festival arc, he takes the form of a villain who enjoys nothing more than causing trouble around the city with his Elasticity quirk. Rather than just being a throwaway villain of the week though, Gentle actually shows up again in the Final War, where he is able to use his Quirk to rescue a bunch of students and teachers from plummeting to their deaths. Despite being a pretty minor character in the wider story, Gentle goes through a truly emotional character arc which allows him to live out his dream of becoming a hero, despite being a villain for much of the story.

Dabi

Dabi’s Burning Hatred For His Father Begins To Consume Him

• Quirk: Blueflame
• First Appearance: Episode 3

For a good chunk of My Hero Academia’s story, Dabi is portrayed as the stoic and moody loner of the League of Villains who doesn’t seem to be all that in touch with his own emotions. His persona begins to change though once he comes face-to-face Endeavor, who is later revealed to be his own father. Due to being harshly abused and neglected by his father when he was still young, Dabi starts to get more and more violent and aggressive once he sets his sights on taking down Endeavor, especially after he exposes his father’s sins to the entire world late in the story.

Dabi’s development doesn’t stop there though, as while he eventually drives himself to an emotional breaking point and threatens to destroy everything in sight with his Blueflame Quirk, he is thankfully stopped just in time by his whole family. By the end of the story, it’s implied that Dabi has finally started warming up not only Endeavor, but even his brother Shoto, but it certainly took a long while to get to that point.

Stain

Stain’s Views On Heroism Have Changed Drastically Over Time

• Quirk: Bloodcurdle
• First Appearance: Episode 29

Though Stain does play a pretty important role in the main story of My Hero Academia, his rise to infamy is actually explored in depth in the Vigilantes spin-off series. Stain, who once went by the name Stendhal, once wanted to become a hero, but decided to leave the academy after believing that everyone around him was only trying to earn the position to bolster their fame and reputation. This would lead him to become a vigilante who would take down the villains that the heroes had seemingly forgotten about, but after being pummeled by fellow vigilante Knuckleduster, who disagreed with Stain’s worldview, Stain’s outlook began to change.

Rather than working with the heroes from behind the scenes, Stain’s new philosophy prompted him to hunt down and kill heroes who he deemed as being unworthy of the title. Needless to say, this dangerous swordsman’s views on heroism have changed a lot throughout the series, and when he reappears for the last time in the Final War to cheer on All Might, it becomes clear to the audience that he’s a character who never stopped growing.

Lady Nagant

From All For One’s Loyal Accomplice To Deku’s Savior

• Quirk: Rifle / Air Walk
• First Appearance: Episode 134

Despite technically being a villain in the main story when she first shows up, Lady Nagant was actually once a professional hero who worked within the Public Safety Commission. While most people would consider this a dream job, Nagant was forced to assassinate a countless number of villains in cold blood by her higher-ups, which eventually started to take a heavy toll on her psyche. In an attempt to get away from all the mindless killing, she abandoned her position and ended up in the clutches of All For One, who granted her a brand Quirk in exchange for her cooperation.

While this would have already been enough to make her a compelling villain, Horikoshi decided to go even further with her character by bringing her back in the Final War, where she manages to stop Shigaraki from destroying everything in sight by shooting his hand before he can make contact with the ground. From a merciless villain to the hero’s very own savior, Nagant has come a very long way since she decided to leave the Public Safety Commission.

Twice

A Tragic Villain Who Managed To Find True Friends And Overcome His Trauma

• Quirk: Double
• First Appearance: Episode 3

The ability to create a double of anything a person touches is a Quirk that most characters would love to get their hands on, but for Twice, it’s been a lot more of a curse than a blessing. Before the main story, Twice decided to create multiple copies of himself to help him out in daily life, but once they started turning on each other, resulting in a giant bloodbath, Twice’s mind began to warp as he wondered whether he was the real Twice, or simply just another clone who would eventually disappear.

While he may therefore appear very jolly and comical in the main story, this is secretly hiding the trauma that Twice has been carrying with him for much of his life. In what has to be one of the most emotional scenes in the story though, Twice finally admits in the Paranormal Liberation War that he has found a group of people that he can truly call his friends, and has also come to embrace his Quirk, and who he truly is. Nobody could have expected that someone as goofy as Twice would have such a heartbreaking character arc, but that’s a testament to just how talented Horikoshi is at creating compelling characters, despite what they might look like on the surface.

Re-Destro

Re-Destro Finally Realized The True Meaning Of Quirk Liberation

• Quirk: Stress
• First Appearance: Episode 108

It’s made pretty clear in Re-Destro’s introductory scene that he’s a man who firmly believes in the idea of Quirk liberation, or, in other words, the belief that every citizen should be able to use their Quirk without restrictions being put on them by heroes. While he’s firmly dedicated to making this dream a reality, he initially has trouble trying to actually put this into practice, but his answer would come to him once he finally takes on Shigaraki in battle.

Upon seeing the overwhelmingly powerful villain using his Decay quirk without a second thought, Re-Destro quickly realized that this is the man he had been searching for all along. In fact, he would even go as far as to make Shigaraki the leader of the Paranormal Liberation Front due to being so inspired by his actions. While Re-Destro’s character development is fairly short compared to many of the other villains, it still helps to present him as more of a well-rounded antagonist who’s a little more complex than some fans might have initially thought.

Tomura Shigaraki

Shigaraki Is An Immensely Powerful Villain Who Still Holds Onto The Memories Of His Childhood

• Quirk: Decay / All For One
• First Appearance: Episode 3

To Shigaraki had a rough upbringing would be putting it lightly. Because his father, the son of legendary hero Nana, was abandoned as a boy, he would come to develop a seething hatred for anything related to heroes, a hatred which he would eventually take out physically on a young Shigaraki, who once wanted to be a hero himself. After Shigaraki accidentally kills his entire family using his recently activated Decay quirk, the young boy is found and groomed into an immensely powerful villain by All For One, so it’s understandable why his main goal would be to destroy everything and everyone in sight.

As the story has gone on though, Shigaraki has grown a lot, not just in terms of his powers, but also his mentality. During his fight with Star and Stripe, Shigaraki begins to realize that All For One is trying to take over his body, hinting that he will eventually start to break free. Once he finally takes on Midoriya in the Final War, it’s shown that Shigaraki still thinks about his traumatic past, indicating that he’s not quite as far down the dark villainous rabbit hole as he might have once thought, and that he could still be brought back with enough support from others. Considering he’s a villain who has been in this series since the very beginning, it makes sense that Shigaraki would feel like an entirely different person by the end, which has made him an incredible villain to follow as a result.