My Hero Academia: Which Villain Has The Most Heartbreaking Story

The characters of My Hero Academia are no strangers to emotional backstories, and the villains of the manga series are definitely no exception. Plenty of readers can relate to the feeling of having their heartstrings tugged at by Kohei Horikoshi’s writing and character development. The series excels in its ability to create sympathetic, multidimensional villains, but that creates a question: when it comes to tragedy, which villain has had the worst of it?

It’s a question that’s truly difficult to answer as the plot twists and turn, but as the manga’s latest arc has come to a close, it’s a good time to look back at these dynamic characters’ experiences and see which suffered most, and who has the most heartbreaking origin of them all.

All For One

The oldest villain on the list, All For One’s origin dates back to the first generation of quirk users. He was born into a world completely unfamiliar with the idea of quirks. His quirk allows him to single handedly take away and give out quirks. Of course, the trauma of being labeled as “other” in a world against your existence would be hard to process. However, All For One is not a villain because of mistreatment by society, but rather he used society’s hate as a way to gain power.

He thrived in the chaos, building an army of followers and becoming one of the most powerful quirk-users in the world. Throughout the series, All For One’s actions are inexcusable, and done only for the pursuit of power, from his devious formation of the League of Villains to his manipulation of Tomura Shigaraki. All For One exists to be a foil of anyone utilizing the One For All quirk, meaning he is the image of pure evil. His story is less tragic, and more shockingly cynical.

Toga

Moving on from League of Villains founder to League of Villains members, Himiko Toga is a highly popular character among fans, despite her status as a villain. Her seemingly bubbly demeanor directly contradicts her bloodthirsty quirk. By consuming the blood of other people, Toga can transform into them for a limited amount of time. The dark nature of this power was enough to isolate Toga from the people she loved growing up.

While still motivated by her love for others, this detachment from those around her led to an obsession with physically becoming the people she adored. Early on in the series, she finds herself infatuated with class 1-A student Ochaco Uraraka. Rather than act act on her feelings in a justifiable way, Toga turns to the only course of action she has ever known: fighting. Toga’s status as a villain is most likely a direct result of a traumatic upbringing, making her an understandably tragic character.

Twice

While he may not be the most central character within the series, Twice’s sympathetic backstory caught the hearts of readers pretty quickly. Twice’s tragic story begins with the development of his quirk. His ability, as his name suggests, allows him to make clones of himself. While it may seem harmless, this takes an incredible toll on him mentally. Invasive voices drive him to distraction and the detachment that comes along with duplicating leaves him isolated from the world at times (a feeling that Himiko Toga can relate to well).

This disparity of inner monologue created a split in his mind, forcing him to develop an entirely new personality. While he may have found some solace in the League of Villains, Twice ended up dying in the Paranormal Liberation War, ending his chances of living a life with some semblance of normalcy.

Dabi

During the Paranormal Liberation War, the manga confirmed what fans had long suspected; League of Villains member Dabi is actually Toya Todoroki, the son of popular pro-hero, Endeavor. Like others on this list, Dabi’s childhood was less than ideal. His father dreamed of raising a son to take on the role of number one hero. He married a woman with an ice quirk named Rei, which he believed would mesh well with his fire quirk, creating a child prodigy. His theory proved to be correct with Shoto Todoroki.

However, his obsession came with great consequence. Dabi (aka Toya) was born before Shoto. He disappointed his father, who expected him to be perfect, and was cast aside as a result. Abandoned by his family, Dabi turned to a life of villainy, eventually gaining his revenge on his father by publicly humiliating him. The pain of being shunned by one’s family is unimaginable, especially when everyone else venerates them, and makes Dabi one of MHA’s most sympathetic villains.

Shigaraki

Finally, first place for most tragic story goes to League of Villains leader, Tomura Shigaraki. Like Himiko Toga, his ability comes off as innately evil in an extreme manner. His quirk, properly named Decay, turns anyone who comes into full contact with the villain into dust. As a result, he was isolated from an incredibly early age. As All For One is meant to be a foil of All Might, Shigaraki acts as a foil to Izuku Midoriya. Midoriya grew up quirkless, seeing this as a curse, but Shigaraki felt having his quirk was the true tragedy. Midoriya’s lack of a quirk allowed him to lead a fairly privileged childhood, but Shigaraki never had this option, and as a result, fell into the hands of All For One.

Since then, All For One has been raising Shigaraki to become the ultimate villain, as All Might is doing with Midoriya as a hero. Initially, Shigaraki’s goal was lined up with the majority of villains in the manga: to reform the world they live in and rid it of the toxic hero system. Over time, his desires change, and he decides he would rather destroy everything, allowing him to rebuild society from the ground up in his own image. While his obsession is incredibly narrow and wicked, readers can sympathize with the tragedy of his upbringing. Even in his earliest years, it was unlikely Shigaraki was ever going to be accepted by society with such a devastating quirk. Thankfully, Izuku Midoriya, the face of goodness in the My Hero Academia series, sees Shigaraki as not just another bad guy, but a redeemable character desperately in need of saving.

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