Over 200 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The 15 Best Power-Ups In ‘My Hero Academia,’ Ranked
One of the coolest moments in any shonen anime is when a character shows off how strong they've become after training. Sometimes, it's because they've learned to use a whole new set of abilities. Sometimes, it's an amped-up version of a move they already knew, or a creative new application for it.
My Hero Academia is all about heroes-in-training who are learning how to harness their powers. Naturally, they have quite a few power-ups. Izuku starts off being totally unable to use One For All without breaking all of his bones, but is ultimately able to access a whole suite of new abilities. Meanwhile, his frenemy Bakugo has learned how to blow things up with far more power than before.
But the heroes aren't the only ones with awesome power-ups. Shigaraki undergoes a months-long surgery in order to exceed his previous limits, while Toga figures out how to not only copy other peoples' appearances, but their quirks as well.
Which My Hero Academia power-up do you think is the coolest?
It turns out that One For All isn't just a strength-enhancing quirk. It also provides access to the quirks of every person who ever used it in the past. Izuku is still getting used to his cadres of new quirks, but his current fight against the villains is forcing him to figure it out on the go.
One of his most noteworthy new moves is Blackwhip, which lets him create and control tendrils of energy that can be used for offensive purposes, as well as to grab onto things. Another one is Float, which he obtained from Nana Shimura. It's exactly what it says it is, but it's really increased his range of motion.
By consuming someone else's blood, Toga can transform into them. At first, she can only mimic their appearance, which was useful for subterfuge but had significant limits. After awakening her quirk, she gains the ability to replicate other peoples' quirks, too. She can't do this with everyone - she has to feel some level of emotional closeness with them.
She was able to imitate Twice's quirk, Double, because the two of them are fellow members of the League of Villains as well as close friends. But she also managed to copy Uraraka's quirk, proving that the target doesn't have to feel close to Toga for it to work - one-way feelings are fine.
While fighting a seemingly hopeless battle against Rappa, Kirishima unleashed an enhanced version of his hardening quirk that he would end up calling Red Riot Unbreakable. This move makes his skin so hard that it's nearly impossible to penetrate, and grants him significantly greater attack power.
This is the first time he's able to truly shine in battle, which makes the whole thing even cooler.
Because Eri's Rewind quirk is potentially life-threatening if used incorrectly, she's been afraid to actually use it in any way. But after she uses it to help Izuku defeat Overhaul, she realizes that it does have some potential. After some training with Aizawa, she's able to realize some of it.
With better control over her quirk, she's able to restore Mirio's body to the point before his Permeation quirk was destroyed by a quirk-erasing bullet. This also restored Mirio's ability to function as a hero.
Todoroki enters U.A. planning to never use the fire half of his quirk. His father wants to raise him to be the kind of hero who can surpass All Might. Todoroki doesn't want any part of it because his father isn't just ambitious, he's also abusive to his wife and children. So Todoroki vows to only use his ice half, which he inherited from his mother.
This causes him some major problems during the Sports Festival. His body can't handle relying exclusively on ice, so he struggles. Izuku talks him into seeing the fire as part of his own abilities, not his father's. Actually using his fire half allows Shoto to finally fight to his full potential.
Shigaraki's Decay quirk was already pretty terrifying, but he became far more formidable after going through an excruciatingly painful four-month process to amp up his powers and prepare his body to receive All For One.
The amped-up version of Decay allows him to destroy a lot more at once - for example, he wrecks a whole hospital in one second and easily destroys nearly a third of Jaku City. He also gains significant control over his quirk - he can specifically decide what exact thing he wants to decay, and by how much.
But that's not the only power-up Shigaraki gets. He also receives All For One, which allows him to steal a ton of new quirks for himself. We won't get into which ones, since not all of them have been covered in the anime, but we will say that he's been elevated to nearly godlike levels.
