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. In season 5, the concept of "awakening" new aspects of Quirks was dropped into the story suddenly and completely surprised everyone watching. Lastly, in Season 6, the concept of 'consciousness' being stored in Quirk Factors was introduced as well. 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.
Updated April 12th, 2023 by Jacob Buchalter: As of the time of writing this, the sixth season of My Hero Academia has just wrapped up, and it's safe to say that the tone of the show has changed quite a bit. Not to spoil too much, but villains are sort of in the lead right now in the battle between good and evil. And, a big factor of this is the fact that a lot of villains have powered up or have brought in new villains with brand new absurd Quirks. So, let's take another look through all the villains in this series, their Quirks, and which ones are the cream of the crop.
24 Soramitsu Tabe: 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, AKA Season 4 of the anime, and all three of them were part of the group's 'Eight Bullets' division. This name, by the way is representative of the fact that all eight bullets are disposable pawns who will sacrifice themselves for Overhaul while doing as much damage as possible in the process.
Tabe’s Quirk is called 'Food' and it basically means that Tabe can eat anything he wants, in any quantity that he desires. Sounds pretty basic, right? Well, while this Quirk may sound like it isn't capable of much, there are three primary factors of this Quirk that make it deceptively strong
- The process of 'eating' when using this Quirk is immediate. To be more specific, Soramitsu simply takes a bite of what he determines to be food, and it's gone, At least from what was shown it doesn't seem like he needs to chew or even swallow.
- Next, the actual 'capacity' of his stomach is seemingly endless, or at least the upper limit hasn't been found. While this seems to defy reality, it's likely that his Quirk involves some process of immediately breaking down whatever enters his stomach.
- While the Quirk has a pretty clear downside in that Tabe seems to be always irrationally hungry, the fact that he can eat anything at all, be it metal or concrete, is pretty absurd.
It's one of the more 'vague' villain Quirks in MHA, due to how little Tabe is involved in the story, but from what was shown the Quirk is pretty scary.
23 Kyudai 'Dr. Tsubasa' Garaki: Life Force
Next up is a Quirk that has absolutely zero combat applications, so why is it on here? Well, fight as they might, no one is able to escape time in the end. Even All for One is a shadow of his former self due to his age. But, if his lifespan was doubled, how much more destruction could he cause?
Well, with Life Force, that's exactly what AfO now has. It's a Quirk that literally doubles one's lifespan, Kyudai has seemingly used this extra time to build this 'double life' for himself so that he can fully immerse himself in his studies and Quirk-based experiments. But, if this Quirk was in the hands of someone different, they could use it to:
- Spend twice as long training in Martial Arts or studying all sorts of different subjects.
- Come up with long con-type schemes that would almost assuredly work if they waited until anyone with a normal lifespan that knew about said plans passed away.
- Create multiple lives for themselves, creating new identities around the time a normal person would pass away from natural causes.
Of course, a Quirk that doubles one's lifespan is going to have downsides. There's the obvious flaw in that Life Force has no combat applications, but that's not all. Apparently, this Quirk also reduces the user's physical abilities in exchange for the extra time, but in the hands of AfO that flaw can easily be mitigated using other Quirks.
22 Moonfish: Blade-Tooth
The funny thing is, this is a Quirk held by someone shockingly 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. And, with his Quirk, Moonfish could control the growth of his teeth in ways no one could ever imagine, essentially using them as limbs or tendrils. But, what really made this Quirk unpredictable and powerful was:
- Moonfish had full control of the scale and shape of his teeth growth, which allowed him to surprise enemies by extending his tooth in seemingly random directions, similar to the Rivet Stab Quirk All for One uses.
- Each tooth could also sprout out into more 'branches', acting like tree roots that could grow in any direction they wanted.
- The durability of these teeth. Moonfish is shown cutting through solid ice with ease while fighting Shoto Todoroki (this was long before his series of power-ups).
Basically, it was a Quirk with a lot of versatility, and that's dangerous in the hands (or mouth) of someone as twisted as Moonfish.
21 Danjuro 'Gentle Criminal' Tobita: Elasticity
For as silly of a criminal as Gentle Criminal (AKA Danjuro Tobita) is, his equally silly Quirk, 'Elasticity' is shockingly strong. This Quirk does one thing and one thing only, endow whatever Danjuro touches with elastic properties. When touched, the objects suddenly become exceptionally elastic and able to be manipulated with that new elasticity in mind. Because it's such an odd Quirk, it can be difficult for people to imagine its upper limits. With that in mind, let's go over just a few of the ways Gentle uses his Quirk:
- Turning a construction crane elastic so that he can 'fling' himself through the air.
- Creating pockets of elastic 'air' that both function as invisible barriers to stop people approaching him and also as footholds so that Gentle can basically 'bounce' through the air as if he's flying.
- Imbue an entire building that was under construction with elasticity, making it incredibly dangerous for anyone to be anywhere nearby.
But, the primary reason this Quirk is so scary is simply that the objects that Gentle Criminal imbues with elasticity keep their weight. For example, if Gentle made a 1-ton block of metal elastic and then pushed it off a building, that block would absolutely still destroy anything or anyone it lands on, but it would also bounce after landing, adding to the total overall damage it could cause.
20 Tomoyasu 'Skeptic' Chikazoku: Anthropomorph
Here is an example of a Quirk that, with enough prep time has the potential to overthrow entire countries. Of course, this is in reference to the Anthropomorph Quirk used by Tomoyasu Chikazoku, otherwise known as 'Skeptic'. This Quirk allows Skeptic to transform any object around the size of an average person (such as a bike or a large mailbox) into a human-shaped puppet that he can determine the appearance of and command at will.
And, while these puppets only seem to have the relative strength of a normal person or maybe someone slightly stronger than that, the real scary 'aspect' of them is the fact that they're mindless. What this means is that if Skeptic tells them to break someone's arm, they'll do it and they'll do it with a completely emotionless expression on their faces. To give a few more short reasons as to why Skeptic's Quirk is worth mentioning:
- There doesn't seem to be a 'limit' to the number of dolls he can create.
- While it's dependent on prep time, Skeptic can literally make his own army.
- Because he can individually determine the appearance of each puppet, his Quirk is perfect for espionage.
19 Kaina 'Lady Nagant' Tsutsumi: Rifle
Honestly, out of all the Quirks out there, Rifle seems the one that almost 'forces' it's wielder into a certain profession. 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, after understanding how unfair the world is, she sort of went off the deep end, quit the Hero life, and became a villain (and can still be considered one) up until her fight with Deku.
Her Rifle Quirk is simple, Nagant has a literal rifle in her elbow that comes out when she bends it. The Rifle is organic and is able to fire bullets made from her epoxy-like hair at a similar speed to actual snipers. In fact, her sniper has all the modifications one could want, such as a scope, a bipod, rifling in the barrel, a power output option, and it doesn't even require gunpowder.
Funny thing is, the Rifle is only 'half' of Lady Nagant's Quirk. The other half comes from the pink and purple hair strands that she can twist together and pull out to create different ammo types, such as:
- Hollow Point Rounds
- Curving Rounds
- Radio Transmission Rounds
After pulling the hair out, it quickly hardens and becomes as hardy as regular ammunition. So, with all this combined, it's no wonder that Lady Nagant's Quirk is this high up.
18 Chitose 'Curious' Kizuki: Landmine
MHA fans saw just how powerful this next Quirk was during the Meta Liberation Army Arc in Season 5. The Quirk in question is Chitose Kizuki's Quirk, Landmine. It's simple, with this Quirk, Chitose can turn anything she touches into an explosive. This could be a teacup, a massive boulder, or even a person, with the explosion radius and power being dependent on both Chitose's will and the size of the object/individual. This goes the other way too, as Chitose, the evil villain that she is, can even grant something as microscopic as blood cells an explosive attribute so that she can cause her faithful follower to explode with the snap of her fingers.
Now, Kizuki already used this Quirk pretty well in the show, but there are so many more ways to use it that are even scarier:
- Instead of making humans into bombs, she could've used pheromones and 'bomb-ified' insects to cause much more damage with less of a consequence.
- If the wielder of Landmine was a close combat specialist, they could use weapons that are meant to flake off and slowly break apart while using them so that the wielder could fight someone and then detonate the 'flakes' that landed on or near their opponent.
- Like Skeptic, it's another Quirk that grows exponentially in strength the more time the user has to prepare. With enough time, Chitose could turn an entire city, including all its residents and every single individual object, into ticking time bombs.
All-in-all, Landmine is just a very versatile and very dangerous Quirk that was only beaten because Chitose was caught unaware by Toga's sudden 'Quirk Awakening'.
17 Chojuro 'Chimera' 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. Quite honestly, Kon's Quirk, named Chimera, 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. That said, it works a bit differently, as it doesn't seem dependent on anything like Suneater's is with ingesting food, and it seems like Chojuro can even go into the realm of fantasy creatures. Just in his brief appearance in the movie, Kon:
- Grew wings, horns, and a lizard tail.
- Turned his hands and feet into talons.
- Transformed into a monster twice his normal size.
- And even fired multiple devastating fiery beams as if he was trying to imitate Kaido's Blast Breath from One Piece.
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.
16 Kurogiri: Warp Gate
Kurogiri is such a tragic character for a multitude of reasons. For one, Kurogiri only became like this because All for One stole the corpse of Oboro Shirakumo and let Garaki Kyudai experiment on it. Two, it's obvious that there are some vestiges of Oboro in there, implying that he's somewhat sentient still and is suffering. And three, he's forced to be a villain and protect the very same person who has caused such pain and suffering to his closest friends.
Technically, Warp Gate isn't the original Quirk of this body, Cloud Manipulation is, but through experimentation, Cloud was turned into Warp Gate by fusing multiple other Quirks with it. As a Quirk, Warp Gate is terrifyingly powerful, and it's only because Kurogiri is constantly sidelined as Shigaraki's bodyguard that fans haven't seen the full power of it. Just to give a few examples of how it could be used more creatively:
- Kurogiri could create a gate at the bottom of the sea and then open another gate facing his opponent. The sudden change in depth, pressure, and environment as the water came through would basically turn the water into a Jet Cutter, slicing anyone in front of the portal in two.
- He could simply create portals underneath opponents that lead to another gate miles in the air.
- He could push someone backward, create a gate behind them so that half of their body goes through and then close said gate, effectively cutting that person in half.
And these are just a few of the many ways this Quirk could be used to almost instantly win a fight, so the Heroes are lucky that Kurogiri isn't used more proactively in the story.
15 Chizome 'Stain' Akaguro: Bloodcurdle
While MHA did its best to paint Stain AKA Chizome Akaguro as a vigilante whose superhuman physical skills and obsessive personality are what 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. It's a Quirk that, by definition, completely stops an opponent in their tracks if Stain simply tastes their blood. Not many Quirks have a 'win condition' as Bloodcurdle does. But, to be more specific on the benefits of this Quirk:
- It completely incapacitates anyone it’s used on, no matter how strong they are.
- The amount of blood Stain tastes seems to have no impact on the length of the disabling effect, which means he only needs a drop. Compare this to Himiko Toga's Quirk where the amount of blood directly correlates to the amount of time she can stay transformed.
- There doesn’t seem to have a limit to how many opponents it can infect at once, or an upper limit of 'power' it can restrict.
- The only weaknesses are that Stain has to somehow draw blood from his opponent as well as the weakness of the blood type of the opponent having an impact on the 'duration'.
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. To make it a bit more clear how much of an advantage this Quirk gives, imagine if one of the previous One for All users had this Quirk and then passed it down to the Crybaby Hero that is Deku, it would make him nigh unstoppable.