Summary
InMy Hero Academia, where fights between heroes and villains are always breaking out, size certainly matters. Determining how big or small someone can become is an extremely powerful ability to have, especially with how versatile it can be, allowing characters to excel in both infiltration missions, and those which involve getting large and causing a little more destruction with big hard-hitting attacks.
In the same vein, Quirks that affect size can be handy to have on standby for heroes and villains alike, since they can both make great use of them for their own purposes, meaning there have been several individuals within theMy Hero Academiastory who have come to inherit and show them off in battle. When stacking each of these manipulative abilities up against one another, this is how they rank in terms of their effectiveness and reliability in the heat of battle.
8Telescopic
Tatami’s Quirk Makes It Easy For Her To Avoid Incoming Attacks By Making Herself A Smaller Target
Though Telescopic can only really be used as adefensive tool, it can still be useful for keeping a villain distracted and throwing them off their game. The way it works is, Tatami can retract her limbs into her body, sort of like a turtle retreating into its shell. It’s fast enough for Tatami to essentially remove one of her limbs in the blink of an eye if a villain goes for a deadly attack, but getting out of it can take a bit more time and effort.
Since Tatami becomes much smaller when fully activating her Quirk, she can easily hide away from a swarm of villains or enter into small places as part of a sneaking mission. It’s definitely one of the more bizarre abilities Horikoshi has come up with, but also one of the best when it comes to overall survivability.
7Size
Yui Catches Her Opponents By Surprise By Enlarging Her Deadly Projectiles
Yui only shows up in the series very briefly during theJoint Training arc, but her Quirk, Size, proves to be quite powerful, especially in its offensive potential. After touching an object, Yui can then either shrink or enlarge it by pressing her fingers together. In her debut arc, Yui used this to rain down a collection of heavy objects, which almost flattened Mina in their battle.
Unfortunately, Size can’t be used on real people, since this would essentially make it the same as Mr. Compress’s ability. Despite that, it’s an ability that excels at breaking through an opponent’s guard by hurling heavy items or machinery their way to open them up for Yui’s allies to deal with.
6Big Fist
No Target Is Too Big For Itsuka To Take Down
On the surface, it may seem like Big Fist is only good for punching villains into dust, and while it’s certainly pretty good for doing that, Itsuka has been able to utilize the size advantage in some pretty unique ways. For example, if she grows her hands large enough, Itsuka can create a small whirlwind to knock away projectiles or to sweep up a group of villains to take them out in one massive attack.
Admittedly, though, the best use of Big Fist is to simply knock down anyone who gets in Itsuka’s way, and with essentially no drawbacks to speak of, it’s a Quirk that many heroes, and especially villains, would be lucky to have, considering the amount of carnage it can cause.
5Stress
The Meta Liberation Army Leader Becomes A Hulking Behemoth When He Starts Getting Worked Up
Stress is somewhat of a double-edged sword for Re-Destro. This more specifically refers to the fact that the leader of the Meta Liberation Army will grow into a giant, ferocious behemoth when he starts to get worried, which can be awkward during a business meeting, but ideal when he’s going one-on-one with a critic or fellow villain. As he provedagainst Shigaraki, Re-Destro is capable of tanking some pretty heavy hits when fully stressed out.
Despite his size, Re-Destro also receives a staggering speed boost while entering this form, allowing him to get the jump on a foe before pummeling them into the earth with a gigantic haymaker. Re-Destro was capable of causing significant damage when stressed, though the source of his power isn’t exactly all that healthy for him in general.
4Fat Absorption
Fat Gum Becomes A Giant Damage Sponge By Bulking Up His Size And Overall Durability
Wiping Fat Gum off his feet is no easy task, considering the insane durability he receives from his Quirk. Fat Gum’s body can absorb and shrug off attacks without breaking a sweat, allowing him to hold his own against bullets, punches, and slashes that would otherwise wipe out most other heroes in mere seconds.
However, there is a limit to Fat Gum’s barrier, as once it takes too much damage, he will gradually revert to his usual self, where he’s a lot slimmer and smaller in height. Still, this doesn’t take anything away fromhis strength, as shown in his fight with Rappa where he was able to unleash deadly punches while in his smaller form, though his durability does still take a massive hit.
3Compress
Atsuhiro Can Zip The League Out Of A Fight In Mere Seconds Thanks To His Quirk
Though Compress is a very simple and straightforward ability, Atsuhiro has been able to utilize it in some pretty creative ways, making it a very versatile Quirk for theLeague of Villainsto have around. The most basic usage of Compress is being able to shrink people down into small blue capsules, which makes it easy for Shigaraki and the others to escape a dangerous situation in one piece, so long as Atsuhiro is around to help, that is.
The villainous magician has also been able to use the balls as projectiles, and he can even set them down as traps which can spring off when the enemy least expects it. Simply put, there’s an unlimited number of ways that Compress can be used, and considering the drawbacks are kept to a minimum, it’s a very underrated quirk which has been used to great effect by its user on numerous occasions.
2Gigantification
Mt. Lady Can Overpower Literal Giants When She Fully Transforms
It’s no surprise thatPro-HeroMt. Lady has accidentally destroyed her Hero Agency multiple times in her career, considering she can grow to the size of a giant in the blink of an eye, sometimes without even meaning to. Mt. Lady’s size gives her a huge advantage over her opponents in combat, being more than capable of flattening even the biggest of villains. Gigantomachia, for example, who had previously trampled everyone he came across, struggled to get past Mt. Lady, who was holding the giant mutant off single-handedly.
She’s also honed her abilities to the point where she can dish out plenty of heavy attacks without losing her balance, making her the go-to Pro Hero for stomping out larger villains who can be found roaming the streets. Simply put, not many individuals in the world ofMy Hero Academiacan go toe-to-toe with Mt. Lady after she reaches her maximum size.
1Muscle Augmentation
Muscular’s Quirk Turns The Villain Into A Giant And Relentless Killing Machine
By the time Midoriya meets Muscular midway through theForest Training story arc, the villain has already killed countless heroes and innocent civilians, including the Pro-Hero duo known as Water Hose, who were the parents of Kota. Muscular’s connection to Kota is what eventually puts him at odds with Midoriya, who finds it more or less impossible to break through Muscular’s natural defenses, which are complemented by his enormous size.
As Midoriya would quickly find out, each of Muscular’s attacks hit like a ton of bricks when he reaches his maximum size, but it’s the sturdiness of his muscle armor that makes him such a terrifying threat. Midoriya would be forced to go 100% with his power just to deal any significant damage to Muscular, highlighting just how insanely strong this size and strength-centered Quirk truly is in battle.
