Summary
In Kohei Horikoshi’sMy Hero Academia, most of the population can wield superhuman abilities calledquirks that allow them to do all sorts of powerful, practical, and/or unbelievable things. Naturally, most people utilize their quirks to help make the world a better place, either by using them in their regular job or by becoming a Pro Hero.
But sadly, not everybody can be so lucky, as many quirks seem to be specifically designed for a villain, giving their users no other option than to turn to a life of crime. Of course, one of the main themes ofMy Hero Academiais that nobody should be defined by their quirks, but some people have it harder than others, and the following eight characters are a perfect example of this unfortunate phenomenon.
1Gas
Mustard
Not much is known about the juvenile villain known asMustardother than the fact that he seems to resent the students of U.A. High School. This philosophy was most likely caused by his deadly quirk,Gas, which allows him to generate enormous clouds of poisonous gas with toxic properties that can put anybody into a deep sleep.
Curiously enough,Midnight is a popular Pro Hero with a similar quirk named Somnambulist, but Mustard’s Gas is very different and a lot more dangerous for both its user and everybody around him. Its toxicity is a lot more harmful, and it can even affect Mustard himself, which explains why he has to fight while wearing a gas mask. Needless to say, it would be very hard to use this quirk for anything other than knocking innocent people out.
2Day Dream
Deborah Gollini
TheMy Hero Academiamovies have introduced multiple original characters with fascinating quirks, but one of the cruelest ones isDeborah Gollinifrom the fourth and most recent film,My Hero Academia: You’re Next. Her quirk isDay Dream, which allows her to hypnotize her victims and make them live out their deepest desires inside a dream.
At first, this may seem somewhat nice, but it’s important to point out that Deborah’s quirk puts her victims in a comatose state that is almost impossible to break out from. And to make things even worse, Deborah was able to hypnotize entire crowds of people at the same time after her quirk was boosted by Anna Scervino’s Overmodification. Putting innocent people to sleep is already quite malicious, but putting them in a deep coma where they are forced to live out their most desired fantasies is extremely cruel.
3Despot
Dictator
The villain known asDictatormay be a minor character, but he is still quite disturbing, mainly due to his creepy design and his cruel quirk,Despot. With this power, he can summon threads from his body that he can use to puppeteer other people, and it seems to work with entire crowds of civilians that he can control at the same time.
The most ruthless aspect of Despot is that his victims still retain their free will while they’re being controlled, but they can’t do anything about it, meaning that Dictator can force them to attack his opponents, even if they don’t want to. Curiously enough, this quirk is very similar to the Ito Ito no Mi fromOne Piece,a Devil Fruit that was eaten by an infamously cruel and ruthless anime villain, Donquixote Doflamingo.
4Bloodcurdle
Chizome Akaguro (Stain)
Bloodcurdleallows its user,the infamous Hero Killer:Stain, to paralyze anyone whose blood he ingests. The gruesome nature of this quirk means that its user needs to have a more violent approach to combat and always carry around sharp weapons, like knives or swords, to use it effectively.
This horrifying quirk, coupled with Stain’s philosophy and view on Pro Heroes, forced him to become a ruthless vigilante that hunted and killed villains, only to later become a villain himself that did the same to any Pro Hero that wasn’t All Might. Lastly, even the infamous All For One decided to steal Bloodcurdle for himself in the Final War Arc.
5Queen Bee
Kuin Hachisuka
Bees are not inherently evil, and they are very important for the environment. But what about a swarm of evil bees that share a hive mind and transport dangerous drugs that turn innocents into rampaging monsters? That’s exactly whatKuin HachisukafromMy Hero Academia: Vigilantescan do with her quirk,Queen Bee, which can also turn the swarm of bees into destructive, remote-controlled explosives.
It’s also important to keep in mind that Kuin is an actual sentient bee-like creature that needs a host to properly function, and thus, she has manipulated the bodies of more than one innocent girl throughout the plot ofVigilantes. Even Pop☆Step, who is usually a kind and friendly person, was turned into an incredibly cruel villain named Bee☆Pop when she was possessed by Queen Bee.
6Double
Jin Bubaigawara (Twice)
At first glance, there’s nothing inherently malicious aboutTwice’s quirk,Double, since it allows himto create a perfect copy of anything or anybody he touches, to the point that he can even replicate other people’s quirks. After all, many famous superheroes from other comics and movies can use very similar abilities to fight crime and save civilians.
But what makes Double stand out is the psychological effect it can have on its user, since any clones that Twice makes of himself quickly gain free will and begin killing each other (and even attack their original user) for dominance. Because of this unique but disturbing factor, Twice’s mental health greatly deteriorated, and he was sadly forced to become a villain. There’s a reason his Ultimate Move, Sad Man’s Parade, was such an important part of All For One’s plan during the Final War Arc, as it flooded the battlefield with countless clones of Twice that overwhelmed all the Pro Heroes.
7All For One
All For One
All For Oneis the main antagonist ofMy Hero Academia, so it makes sense that his quirk seems to be specifically designed for an evil villain like him.Simply namedAll For One, it allows him to steal, copy, and transfer other people’s quirks, and he used these fascinating abilities for hundreds of years to build a large following and eventually become the Symbol of Evil.
All For One could be technically used for good, but the fact that it can steal quirks (and thus, leave its targets quirkless) makes it feel like something that only a cold and ruthless manipulator with complete disregard for other people’s lives can use efficiently. This quirk is so naturally cruel that another similar one, named One For All, was accidentally created and used exclusively to take down All For One himself.
8Decay
Tomura Shigaraki
WhenTomura Shigarakiseemingly unlocked his quirk,Decay, he had no control over it, and he accidentally killed his entire family by disintegrating them in an instant (except for his father, whom he intentionally murdered). Shortly after, Shigaraki became a villain under the tutelage of All For One, and he had one major goal in mind:to use his new quirk to destroy the world that had abandoned and mistreated him.
The destructive nature of Decay - especially after Shigaraki awakened it during the Meta Liberation Army Arc - makes it seem like a cruel superpower that can only be used by a malicious villain. But there’s another important detail about this quirk: in reality, All For One created it by copying Kai Chisaki’s Overhaul and removing its restoration ability, only to later give this altered copy to Shigaraki. This means that, within the story ofMy Hero Academia,Decay was specifically made as the quirk of a powerful villain that could become All For One’s successor.
