As the My Hero Academia story continues, the complexity of Quirks only seems to get more convoluted. Originally, MHA told fans that Quirks were like muscles and they had a hard-defined upper limit. Then, during the Forest Camp arc, the idea of breaking them down and building them back up was introduced to surpass that limit.
Next, during the Overhaul Arc, Aizawa introduced the concept of a “Quirk Factor” that directly controls each Quirk. And then, in season 5, the concept of “awakening” new aspects of Quirks was dropped into the story suddenly and completely surprised everyone watching. As Quirks have changed over the course of My Hero Academia, so have the villains using them, so let’s go over some of the strongest Quirks among them.
20 Soramitsu Tabe Of The Eight Bullets: Food
The first Quirk up is one held by a villain most MHA fans probably already forgot about, Soramitsu Tabe. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, he was one of the three villains Suneater went up against in the Shie Hassaikai Raid arc, and all three of them were part of the group’s “Eight Bullets”.
Tabe’s Quirk is called “Food” and it basically means that Tabe can eat anything he wants, seemingly with no repercussions. Sounds simple, right? But, there are three primary factors of this Quirk that make it particularly strong:
It’s one of the more vague villain Quirks in MHA, but it’s still pretty fearsome in the brief amount of time that it’s seen.
19 The League Of Villain’s Doctor, Kyudai Garaki: Life Force
Now, this next Quirk may not seem like one that should be anywhere comparable to a Quirk that steals other Quirks or one that can create infinite clones, but time is ultimately the final enemy for everyone. No one can beat time in the end, and even the strongest person alive will die of old age at some point.
So, a Quirk that literally doubles one’s lifespan, such as Kyudai Garaki’sLife Force, is of course going to be considered “strong”. With this Quirk, the user would have:
Of course, this Quirk’s major downside is that it has no combat applications and doesn’t do anything “superhuman” outside of just extending one’s life. Additionally, it also seems to limit ones physical abilities to a certain degree, but in the hands of All-for-One, that weakness doesn’t mean anything.
18 The Death-Row Inmate, Moonfish: Blade-Tooth
Next up is another villain Quirk held by someone that was insanely strong, but Tokoyami’s Dark Shadow sort of blew the guy away before he could show his Quirk off to the fullest. It’s Blade-Tooth, the Quirk used by Moonfish, a villain that shows up early in the series as part of the Forest Training Camp Arc villains. And, with his Quirk, Moonfish could control the growth of his teeth to absurd levels, essentially using them as limbs or tendrils. But, what really made this Quirk unpredictable and powerful was:
Basically, it was a Quirk that was only limited by Moonfish’s imagination, which is deadly when the Quirk wielder is imaginative in all the wrong ways.
17 The Polite Internet Villain, Gentle Criminal: Elasticity
For as silly of a criminal as Gentle Criminal (AKA Danjuro Tobita) is, it’s funny how deceptively powerful his equally silly Quirk is. This Quirk, named Elasticity, does one thing and one thing only, it gives things Elasticity based on touch. When touched, the objects are very elastic and able to be manipulated with that new elasticity in mind. To give a few examples of how this was used:
Now if this Quirk negated the weight of the object, it would be so much worse, but the sheer fact that the objects keep their mass is what makes this so scary.
Just imagine if Gentle wasn’t such a decent human being and was fine with dropping a bunch of elastic dynamite off of a building and watching them bounce around the city before randomly blowing up. And this is just one example of many where he could easily cause widespread mayhem if he wasn’t such a well-intentioned yet misunderstood criminal.
16 The “Skeptic” Of The Meta Liberation Army, Tomoyasu Chikazoku: Anthropomorph
Yet another Quirk that’s virtually useless when the user is caught unaware but almost unstoppable with enough prep time is the Anthropomorph Quirk used by Tomoyasu Chikazoku, otherwise known as Skeptic. This Quirk allows Skeptic to transform any object around the size of a human into a human-shaped puppet that he can determine the appearance of. These puppets are controlled both by verbal commands and some sort of program he uses on his laptop, and can even be controlled from a distance using earpieces.
And, while they only seem to have the relative strength of a normal person or slightly above, their numbers and lack of any cognitive thought are what’s scary. The reason why this should be considered one of the most powerful is simply because of the different ways this Quirk can be utilized:
In a one-on-one fight this Quirk’s weaknesses are clear, as the main character poster child AKA Deku could likely blow every puppet away with a single punch, but when the situation has been prepared for ahead of time Skeptic’s danger potential is absurdly high.
15 The Former Pro-Hero Turned Villain, Lady Nagant: Rifle
Honestly, out of all the Quirks out there, Rifle seems like one of the most specialized. Sure, people with electricity-type Quirks are probably good for a lot of jobs in the power industry, but Lady Nagant’s Quirk feels like her own DNA was telling her to become a sniper, and she did, but now she’s gone from pro Hero to full-on Villain. Her Rifle ability and rifle itself are pretty simple as it’s stored inside her arm, comes out from her elbow, and is an organic sniper-like weapon. Now, this sniper has everything one might expect, including:
Though one thing that isn’t typical for snipers is how drastically she can adjust the power output, which can even cause her “sniper” to expand from the kickback.
But that’s not all! Nagant’s Quirk also has to do with her hair, as taking some strands out and twisting them together creates the ammo she uses. This hair hardens and becomes just as durable as standard ammo. And, depending on what ratio she mixes the different colored strands of her hair, Lady Nagant can make bullets that act like hollow points, armor-piercing, or even bullets that can curve. All-in-all, it’s an incredibly deadly Quirk for a villain to have and it’s one that puts Lady Nagant on par with someone like Snipe, another intelligent pro Hero.
14 One Of The Leaders Of The Meta Liberation Army, Chitose Kizuki: Landmine
MHA fans saw just how powerful this next Quirk was during the Meta Liberation Army Arc, and it’s Chitose Kizuki’s Quirk, Landmine. This Quirk, given the right circumstances and situation, literally allows the user to create an army of sentient bombs. And, the Quirk also lets the user bestow explosive properties at an extremely small scale, as Chitose even turned the blood of her followers into bombs so that they would explode if Toga ingested any.
Kizuki used this Quirk exceedingly well, especially given how weak each individual explosion is, but here are some alternative ways she could’ve used it that prove it’s one of the stronger Quirks:
It’s just a very versatile and very dangerous Quirk that was only beaten because Chitose was caught unaware by Toga’s Quirk awakening.
13 The Chimera, Chojuro Kon: Chimera
Chojuro Kon is a unique case, as he’s a villain from one of the MHA movies, particularly My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising. Now, because this film is canon, so is Kon, and so is his Quirk called Chimera. Quite honestly, this Quirk is never fully explained in the movie, but from what fans have pieced together, Chojuro is able to endow himself with the abilities of multiple animals at once, which is incredibly similar to Suneater’s Manifest Quirk. Just in his brief appearance in the movie, Kon:
If more was revealed about his Quirk, it’s likely there would be more restrictions to it that the audience doesn’t know about, but with the current information, it seems like one of the strongest in the franchise.
12 The Nomu Named Kurogiri: Warp Gate
Talking about Kurogiri as a character in regards to their backstory is difficult since a lot of his story is spoiler potential, but at the very least fans should know that Warp Gate is insanely strong in the right hands. Teleportation Quirks in MHA are exceedingly rare, and Warp Gate is much more versatile than Kurogiri displays.
Basically, AfO and Shigaraki use him as a teleportation taxi, but Warp Gate could easily be used in some truly horrifying ways if Kurogiri so desired, such as:
And those are just a few easy examples, there’s so much more Kurogiri could do. Thankfully, he’s not used as much more than a tool, and he can’t create a gate anywhere he doesn’t see currently, know of, or has coordinates for, but that’s still pretty versatile for something as overpowered as this.
11 Chizome Akaguro AKA Stain: Bloodcurdle
While MHA did its best to paint Stain AKA Chizome Akaguro as a vigilante whose insane physical skills and an obsessive dedication to his ideals compensated for his lackluster Quirk, that just simply isn’t true. Bloodcurdle is honestly one of the most powerful Quirks out there, as shown by how hard Deku, Ilda, and Todoroki had to fight to beat him. But, to be more specific:
If Chizome only had more unique support items that helped him steal blood easier, as Himiko Toga does, he could have easily become a top-three contender for the strongest villain in the franchise. At the very least, he’s one of the coolest inclusions in the spinoff Vigilantes series.
10 The High-Speed Hero O’Clock & His Biggest Fan Number 6: Overclock
While the MHA: Vigilantes series is a completely individual story within the MHA universe, it does connect to the events in the mainlines series in a lot of ways. And one of them is the fact that AfO appears in it and is shown “bestowing” what was originally the pro-Hero O’ Clocks Quirk, Overclock, to the series’s main antagonist, Number 6. In any case, Overclock is essentially a super-speed Quirk but not to the same absurd levels as something like the DC Hero Flash’s superpowers.
Essentially, this is what Overclock does:
All-in-all it’s a Quirk with a lot of drawbacks considering that the user is restricting oxygen from reaching their brain while using it, but the benefits more than makeup for it. And, if it was in the hands of anyone at UA, this Quirk would be worthy of instantly promoting them to the Hero course, no questions asked.
9 The League Of Villain’s Himiko Toga: Transform
By default, Toga’s Quirk is almost too powerful in terms of assassination or espionage, but as far as a combat Quirk, it used to be pretty weak. Himiko Toga’s Quirk is called Transform, and it allows her to fully morph into whoever’s blood she drinks. Now, the amount of time Toga can stay transformed ranges depending on how much blood she drinks, but she needs a full cup to last a day or so.
And, the strife during season 5 led to a lot of new developments with Toga’s Quirk. For example, in it, Toga’s Quirk “awakens” and she’s now able to mimic the Quirk of the person she’s transformed into as well. So what was previously a very lackluster Quirk in terms of combat, just became a lot stronger. Think about it:
With all that in mind, there’s no question that Toga has the potential to rival some of the strongest heroes and villains out there, but her eccentric nature and personality usually lead to her trying to Transform into her love interests or potential gal pals, rather than ones that are just simply the strongest.
8 Geten AKA Iceman: Ice Manipulation
Geten is one of the few examples of a side character in MHA whose Quirk (which is currently unnamed but is tentatively called Ice Manipulation) has undergone the “Awakening” that Shigaraki, Twice, Toga, and even a character from Vigilantes went through. By default, Ice Manipulation allows Geten to:
After awakening this Quirk, Geten is now able to freeze liquids around him, giving him more ice to manipulate. That said, if there’s no liquid nearby at all, Geten is pretty much Quirkless, so at least that’s one weakness.
7 The Man With The Alias “Dabi”: Cremation
Spoilers: Dabi’s identity and backstory aren’t revealed yet in the anime, but they are in the manga, so spoilers for his actual name and origin are below.
Let’s talk about Dabi’s Cremation Quirk. Unlike another strong fire-based Quirk, AKA Endeavor’s Hellflame Quirk, Toya “Dabi” Todoroki can’t control the shape of his flames almost at all, and he can’t really get too creative with it as well. But, in return, his flames are naturally much hotter than either Todoroki’s Half-Hot-Half-Cold or Hellflame’s which is why they’re blue. This allows Dabi to:
That said, the time Dabi can use his Quirk in one instance in comparison to his brother or father is laughable, as his flames start to sear and damage his own body over time and cause him to go numb. Cremation is still an unimaginably destructive Quirk, even if it isn’t as versatile as any of the other fire-based Quirks seen in the series, because of how intelligent and twisted Dabi is, he is able to utilize Cremation in some truly unique ways.
6 Rikiya “Re-Destro” Yotsubashi: Stress
Rikiya Yotsubashi was one of the standout terrifying-yet-hilarious characters of last season, thanks to his jovial facade but destructively renegade true goals.
Rikiya’s Quirk is Stress, which is the ability to convert frustration, anger, and of course the emotion of stress into raw power. Now, this isn’t just a normal super-strength conversion similar to how Rikido Sato’s Sugar Rush works. No, Yosubashi, can:
Essentially, Rikiya is the Hulk but with full control of his state of mind, size, strength, and output. That said, if Rikiya isn’t able to stockpile enough Stress for a battle, he’s basically Quirkless.
5 Jin “Twice” Bubaigawara: Double
There are a couple of reasons why Double, the Quirk used by Jin Bubaigawa, otherwise known as “Twice”, is shockingly powerful. For one, it allows him to create a perfect copy of anything or anyone as long as he knows their exact measurements. And two, the clone has its own free will, memories, personality, and a copy of the Quirk of the original.
Now, the main downside is that Jin can only clone a person one at a time, and the clone has relatively low durability, turning into this mud-like substance after taking any sizeable amount of damage. But remember the awakening he had in season 5 because this unlocked the ability to create infinite clones of himself as every clone would be able to create another in an endless loop.
The only reason he didn’t utilize Sad Man Parade until this point was because of his mental trauma, but he gets over that trauma in an incredible way during the final section of the “Meta Liberation Army Arc”. This development lets Jin:
The only weakness this Quirk has is that Double can only copy other people a maximum of twice, but two Shigarakis instead of one is still a huge difference.
4 A Nameless Villain Who Went By “Nine”: Weather Manipulation
Here’s another one of the movie villains, Nine, from the Heroes Rising movie. Now, in the film, Nine is “technically” part of the League of Villains and was gifted by their own specialist Kyudai Garaki with a couple of Quirks, such as:
However, the one he was born with was Weather Manipulation. Think of it like Storm’s Mutant power in the X-Men series. It allows Nine to create tornadoes and high winds that allow him to essentially fly, summon lightning, storms, and any other type of “weather”.
It is by far one of the most widely destructive Quirks seen in the series to date, with the only drawback being the Cellular Degeneration it causes the user with extended use of the Quirk.
3 Kai “Overhaul” Chisaki: Overhaul
Quite honestly, Kai Chisaki’s Quirk Overhaul is an upgrade to Tomura’s Decay in almost every way, at least in the beginning. Think about it:
The only downside is Chisaki’s germaphobia. Truly, no one expected the stereotypical anime Yakuza character to be such a clean freak. Now, it’s a bit unfair to Tomura, but the villain known as Overhaul really has him beaten in most departments until the events of the “Meta Liberation Army Arc” that is. After that, Chisaki’s Quirk suddenly found itself quite a bit weaker in terms of power than Shigaraki’s.
2 Protege Of All For One, Tomura Shigaraki: Decay
Obviously, Tomura Shigaraki, the leader of the League of Villains, was going to be somewhere on here. Tomura’s Quirk is an interesting one that, like the adorable Eri, doesn’t come from either of his parents. His Quirk, Decay, allows him:
That alone is a terrifying ability, for sure, but that’s not all. Just like with Twice and Toga, Shigaraki’s Quirk also goes through an awakening during the “Meta Liberation Army Arc” which let his Quirk spread from what he originally touched to any objects that were touching it, spreading the decay like a tidal wave.
But his instance of awakening was different from the others. To put it simply, it wasn’t an “awakening”, but rather Shigaraki remembered a repressed memory that told him he always had his ability, so it became unlocked once again. Even before Tomura unlocked the “domino effect” of his Quirk, it was still one of the scariest in all of MHA. And after he upgraded it, it finally became truly horrifying.
1 AfO AKA “Master” Shigaraki: All For One
Was there any other choice but this one? AfO with his Quirk All for One is the only criminal who:
At the end of the day, All for One is the Quirk that beats every other Quirk out there, simply because it technically is every other Quirk out there.
