In My Hero Academia, the all-out war between the Pro Heroes and All For One, Tomura Shigaraki, and the many other villains is thrilling because we're treated to so many awesome characters along the way.
Ever since the overall story shifted into its do-or-die theme, the characters have regularly gone beyond their limits and exceeded their potentials, showing us who's truly the strongest of the strong.
Even characters who only appeared in the background during the early arcs have stepped up and started contributing significantly to the story, leading to all kinds of memorable and impactful scenes.
From the most effective heroes to the most overpowered villains, here are my picks for the strongest characters in My Hero Academia.
16. Anan Kurose (Thirteen)
Anan Kurose is a Pro Hero with a peculiar hero outfit. However, hidden underneath her spacesuit costume is a power that's so strong that it could even harm her own allies if it ever got out of control.
Known as Space Hero: Thirteen, Anan's Quirk allows her to create black holes at her fingertips—and these miniature black holes can suck in anything with ease to be disintegrated into atomic particles.
With this overpowered ability, you might think she should rank higher on this list. However, the risk of using this ability is so great that she's quite reserved in its use, primarily for rescue missions and protection, never for full-blown offensive assaults.
15. Eri
Eri might be a small child, but she possesses a terrifying Quirk called Rewind, which can make anyone return to any of their previous states of being—even back to before they existed.
Due to her Quirk, she becomes a guinea pig of Shie Hassaikai's dark experiments, who seeks the power to remove Quirks from people.
Her dangerous Quirk was also used by Izuku Midoriya during his fight against Overhaul in an attempt to "rewind" the drawbacks of One For All, making him able to use his Quirk to its full potential.
Eri may be physically and emotionally weak, but her powerful Quirk is what earns her a spot on this list.
14. Toya Todoroki (Dabi)
Toya Todoroki, more commonly known as Dabi, is a flame user like his father Enji and brother Shoto. However, his flames are way hotter than typical fire users, making him more dangerous.
His Quirk is called Blueflame and it allows him to create hellish blue flames that are far more destructive than the flames of his father's Hellflame and his brother's Half-Cold Half-Hot.
Unfortunately, Dabi only inherited his mother's cold resistance and none of his father's fire resistance, so his body can't handle his own flames. The result? He burns himself with every use.
It's just one of the many aspects that make Dabi so tragic, who doesn't care about his own well-being as long as he can wreak havoc and destruction, especially on his own family whom he now despises.
13. Gigantomachia
Equipped with several different Quirks—likely granted to him by All For One—Gigantomachia is an unstoppable brute.
He's a loyal servant of All For One, and that makes him one of the archvillain's primary puppets, one who will stop at nothing until his master's orders are satisfactorily fulfilled.
Adding him to the League of Villains's roster made the group far more dangerous than they were in the early arcs of the series.
12. Nomu
Nomu are the supersoldiers of the League of Villains. They're artificially enhanced individuals that were created from corpses and modified to host multiple powerful Quirks that they can use in battle.
Nomu are further classified into several grades, ranging from simple Nomu to High-End Nomu. While the simple ones are still a threat to the community, the High-Ends pose an even greater danger as they're capable of sentient thought, communication, and cooperation.
The first named High-End Nomu in the series is Kurogiri, whose body was created from the corpse of Oboro Shirakumo (who was a friend of Shota Aizawa and Hizashi Yamada).
Another notable Nomu featured early in the series is the one with the League of Villains during the USJ Incident. It was modified to match All Might's destructive punches, as seen when it was able to hold its ground in a battle of attrition against the iconic Pro Hero.
11. Kai Chisaki (Overhaul)
Kai Chisaki, known also as Overhaul, is the leader of Shie Hassaikai. He has the Quirk called Overhaul, which allows him to disintegrate anything he touches, then reassemble it any way he wants.
While his Quirk is really good as a destructive force, it's also useful as a way to manipulate his environments. We saw this in action when he reassembled the floor and produced spikes from it.
He can choose to destroy someone without ever reassembling them (like he did with Magnet), and he can even reassemble something into his own body to absorb its properties, attributes, and even Quirks (as he did with his fallen comrades).
10. Goto Imasuji (Muscular)
Why does Goto Imasuji earn a spot on this list? Well, because despite not having any body modifications like Nomu, he was still able to stand his ground and even outmatch One For All's 100% output.
His innate Quirk, called Muscle Augmentation, allows him to freely manipulate his muscles and strengthen his physical attributes. By covering his body with lots of built-up muscle mass, he was able to absorb the impact of Izuku Midoriya's Quirk-enhanced punches.
But his greatest feat? Surviving a One For All punch with 1,000,000% output... and still not backing down. That just made him crave even more of this kind of battle.
9. Shota Aizawa (Eraser Head)
Shota Aizawa, known also as Eraser Head, is a Pro Hero and a teacher at UA High School. His Quirk, called Erase, allows him to nullify Quirks (which can obviously be very crucial in battle).
However, Erase has a grave limitation: whenever he closes his eyes, even just to blink, the nullification instantly ends. That can give his opponents just enough time to break free and attack.
To compensate for this weakness, he wears eye gear that conceals his eyes, making it harder for his opponents to see his blinks and discern whom he's targeting for nullification.
Eraser Head is also proficient in hand-to-hand combat, especially with the specialized scarf he uses to grab onto his opponents.
8. Izuku Midoriya (Deku)
Izuku Midoriya, known by his nickname Deku, is the ninth wielder of the One For All Quirk. He inherited this Quirk from All Might after undergoing rigorous training and body conditioning.
Though he still experiences drawbacks when he uses the full potential of his Quirk, he devised techniques that allow him to use a limited percent of his power to avoid being damaged by the Quirk's blowback.
Izuku was born Quirkless, and that's why he's the perfect vessel for the One For All Quirk. He can tap into and use the powers of the stored Quirk factors within, and he's increasingly skilled at battle because of it.
7. Kaina Tsutsumi (Lady Nagant)
When it comes to combat, long-ranged fighters usually have the upper hand—especially if they have great accuracy like Kaina Tsutsumi.
Also known as Lady Nagant, Kaina is a former Pro Hero known for her incredible shooting skills. She's so skilled that even Snipe, a sharpshooter Pro Hero, gets jealous of her capabilities.
Not only that, but she doesn't need any special weapons because she is already the weapon she needs in combat. Her Quirk, called Rifle, allows her to turn her right arm into a rifle. Kaina can modify this rifle-arm to exhibit varying degrees of power and trajectories.
And after she acquires the Air Walk Quirk from All For One, she becomes even stronger and more lethal than ever before.
6. Enji Todoroki (Endeavor)
Enji Todoroki, more commonly known as Endeavor, is the current Number One Hero after All Might's retirement. His Quirk, called Hellflame, allows him to generate intensely majestic flames.
He's physically strong, too, so his punches aren't just extremely hot but also equally explosive. We saw him go full power during his fight against a Nomu, when he needed to be far above the city in order to perform his destructive Prominence Burn: Plus Ultra.
5. Rumi Usagiyama (Mirko)
Rumi Usagiyama, whose hero name is Mirko, holds the fifth spot in the Pro Heroes ranking. Despite having a mutation-type Quirk based on a seemingly harmless animal, you shouldn't underestimate her.
Her Rabbit Quirk grants her superhuman leg strength, which allows her to move fast and deliver lethal blows and ground-crushing kicks. She also has rabbit ears, which grant her an enhanced sense of hearing.
Rumi is a fierce and aggressive combatant, as seen when she charged into the lab and fought several of Garaki's High-End Nomu on her own with a smile on her face. She might be a rabbit, but she's undeniably a beast!
4. Keigo Takami (Hawks)
At first glance, you'd think Keigo Takami, whose hero name is Hawks, possesses a mutation-type Quirk that gives him a pair of wings.
However, unlike other mutation-type Quirks, which allow their users to manifest animal-like traits (based on their particular Quirks), Keigo's wings offer more than just mobility and flight.
For starters, Keigo's wings can become swords. Not only that, the feathers of his wings can be individually controlled, which provides an advantage in long-ranged combat and also allows him to use his feathers to transport people during emergencies.
As if that weren't enough, Keigo can also sense his detached feathers, allowing him to eavesdrop on conversations where his feathers have been hidden and left behind.
All in all, Keigo may not be strong in physical terms, but he's a jack of all trades who can provide support during combat, rescue people in need, and even spy on his enemies.
3. Tenko Shimura (Tomura Shigaraki)
Tenko Shimura, now known as the villain Tomura Shigaraki, was once a young kid who admired heroes. However, the tragic story of his Quirk awakening made him vulnerable to manipulation by All For One.
His Quirk, called Decay, is one of pure destruction. With just a touch, he can disintegrate anything to dust, making it possible to kill any living entity. It's a lot like Overhaul but without the reassembling.
To make matters worse, Tenko Shimura received several body modifications that pushed his capabilities even further, and he also possesses the original All For One Quirk, which allows him to manifest the terrifying abilities of his master on demand.
2. Toshinori Yagi (All Might)
Toshinori Yagi, best known by his hero name All Might and nickname Symbol of Peace, is the eighth wielder of the One For All Quirk.
Though he was gravely injured to the point of forced retirement, he still works as a hero and assures the public that everything is safe and sound as long as he's around.
In battle, he relies on the One For All Quirk's enhancement capabilities, which grant him brute force and explosive punches. Even without using the other stored Quirk factors from previous owners of the Quirk, All Might still managed to defeat All For One—twice!
1. All For One
In terms of battle prowess, All For One tops every single character in the My Hero Academia series. His Quirk, also called All For One, can steal Quirks from others for himself—and he's really good at it.
He has tons of stolen Quirks in his arsenal, all ready to be used at a moment's notice. For example, he can use the Impact Recoil Quirk to counter One For All's destructive punch and send the damage right back to whoever is attacking him.
All For One is also incredibly cunning and manipulative, able to sway people so that his plans come to fruition—even while he's chained up in prison. Most notably, he relies on Tomura Shigaraki, whom he nurtured from youth into his best and most effective pawn.