Midoriya’s Toughest Opponents In MHA

The road to becoming a great hero has been far from an easy one for Midoriya, the plucky young protagonist of My Hero Academia. While the exams may already be stressful enough, Midoriya has also been forced to fend off a ton of powerful villains, and though he always has the trusty power of One For All to back him up, being able to control its immense power has been a whole different story for the aspiring hero.

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As a result, Midoriya struggles to take down several foes across the course of My Hero Academia’s story, forcing him to dig deep into his fiery spirit to push through and score the victory by any means necessary. It’s time to reflect on Midoriya’s fights throughout the series to see which proved to be the biggest tests for the protagonist, along with how he managed to come out on top despite the overwhelming odds.

Contains spoilers for the entire story of My Hero Academia, including the end of the original manga!

8

Hitsohi Shinso

Midoriya Got Extremely Lucky To Win His Fight Against Shinso

People in the world of My Hero have often looked down on Shinso because his Quirk, which allows him to hypnotize people, seems like an ability more fitting for a villain than a hero. However, regardless of how it should be used, one thing that becomes clear when facing Midoriya is that it’s an incredibly powerful ability for one-on-one fights.

Though Midoriya does manage to get a few hits, it’s not long before Shinso manages to creep his influence into Midoriya’s mind. The only way Midoriya can break out from this is thanks to the previous uses of One For All, who randomly show up to snap him out of his sudden daze, and though it’s a pretty short fight overall, Shinso still had Midoriya on the ropes for the majority of their scuffle.

7

Katsuki Bakugo

Midoriya Spots The Perfect Opportunity To Prove His Worth Against His Rival And Childhood Bully

Midoriya’s clash with Bakugo at the end of the Provisional License Exam is essentially the two acting out their emotions toward one another in the form of a battle. For Bakugo, this would be where his guilt for taking All Might out of action would start to show itself, alongside his acknowledgment of Midoriya’s power. For Midoriya, this battle would be his opportunity to prove how strong he’s become after all his training with One For All, and though the fight isn’t easy for him, he does still manage to hold his own.

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Bakugo uses his speed and strength to keep up with Midoriya and manages to land quite a few hits on his longtime rival. Bakugo’s explosive Quirk proved difficult for Midoriya to handle, though the fight did still serve as a much-needed bit of practical experience for Midoriya to start getting the hang of his own Quirk.

6

Shoto Todoroki

Todoroki’s Fast And Lethal Ice Attacks Force Midoriya To Go All-Out

Midoriya was still in the middle of figuring out the limitations of One For All by the time he encountered Todoroki in the Sports Festival, though he soon realized he would need to put it to good use to protect himself from his opponent’s deadly ice attacks. Todoroki effortlessly shoots massive stretches of ice toward Midoriya during this fight, with the protagonist being forced to break his own fingers to blast away the attacks with his underlying power.

While Midoriya could have easily accepted defeat and thrown in the towel, considering his entire arm was crushed during this fight, he decided to keep going until the bitter end. This was one of Midoriya’s first real tests as a hero, and it proved to be a crucial stepping stone for him when it came to understanding One For All.

5

Gentle Criminal

Gentle’s Speed Forced Midoriya To Get Creative With His Attacks

It’s a good thing Midoriya learned his mid-air Air Force technique right before his encounter with Gentle, as he relies on it a lot during this fight. Gentle’s Quirk allows him to turn thin air into elastic, meaning he is capable of bouncing around an area at lightning speed. At first, Midoriya struggles to keep up with him, but once he starts flicking shots of air at Gentle to throw him off, things start to turn the hero’s way.

Though this was a tricky fight for Midoriya, especially from a hand-to-hand perspective, he did still manage to overcome Gentle without breaking his body to shreds in the process. However, he would still need to bring out the devastating St. Louis Smash, proving that Gentle was no walk in the park.

4

Lady Nagant

The Vestige’s Quirks Save Midoriya Numerous Times During His Fight With Nagant

Considering Lady Nagant is recognized as the most skilled marksman in the world of My Hero Academia, trying to fight her at range is always going to end badly – something Midoriya quickly comes to find out during the Dark Hero arc. With Nagant’s bullets traveling at lightning speed and even curving around buildings, Midoriya is only able to stay alive by relying on the Fourth’s Danger Sense Quirk and by zig-zagging his way around the city as quickly as possible.

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Midoriya would need to pull out the immensely fast Faux 100% to get past Nagant’s defenses, though getting to that point was far from easy for him. Once Midoriya began utilizing all of his Quirks at once to boost his mobility and strength, he was able to navigate his way around Nagant’s firepower, but she still proved to be a very dangerous opponent with plenty of tricks up her sleeve.

3

Overhaul

Midoriya Needed To Rely On Eri To Keep His Body Stable While Facing Overhaul

Though Overhaul is a villain who comes across as more of a strategist than a fighter, he’s shown that he’s certainly not afraid to get his hands dirty if anyone threatens his evil plans. By the time Midoriya reaches him during his mission to save Eri, Overhaul has already taken a beating from Mirio, so in a last effort to eliminate the heroes for good, he fuses with his lackey, Shin, to become a grotesque giant monster.

Overhaul’s overwhelming strength and surprising mobility in this form made it difficult for Midoriya to get in close, so much so that he would decide the only way to deal damage was to go 100% with One For All. By utilizing Eri’s rewind Quirk though, he was able to keep his body from tearing itself apart, despite the absurd levels of power that he would need to pull out to take Overhaul down for good.

2

Muscular

A Severely Under-Prepared Midoriya Faces Off Against A Menacing Killing Machine

Midoriya’s fight with Muscular takes place pretty early on in the series, during the Forest Training Camp arc. This wasn’t long after Midoriya had first acquired One For All from All Might, but while he was still getting used to his newfound power, a gigantic villain by the name of Muscular decided to pick a fight with him, and to say Midoriya struggled in this one would be putting it mildly.

Muscular’s Quirk, which allows him to grow and expand his muscles to an absurd degree, makes him incredibly durable and more or less invulnerable to physical damage. To protect Kota and stop Muscular’s murder spree, Midoriya seemingly goes even further beyond 100%. This fight would be so grueling that it would destroy Midoriya’s body and give him a brutal reminder of the dangers that come with using One For All too loosely.

1

Shigaraki

Midoriya Was Forced To Use All Seven Quirks At Once To Even Get Close To Shigaraki

Midoriya wouldn’t get to fight Shigaraki one-on-one until the very end of the series, but it’s fair to say their epic duel is one of the most exciting and intense in the entire show. Once it became clear that no other heroes were capable of even damaging Shigaraki’s body due to his regenerative abilities, evolving body, and deadly Decay Quirk, Midoriya realized he would need to push One For All to its limit to stop the madness once and for all.

During the battle, Midoriya uses all 7 of the Vestige’s Quirks to evade Shigaraki’s attacks, but even then, it is clear the notorious villain wouldn’t go down from raw strength alone. Even the devastating Gear attack, which put a huge strain on Midoriya’s body, couldn’t do the trick. Shigaraki would prove so difficult as an opponent that Midoriya would be forced to transfer One For All into Shigaraki’s body to extinguish his anger and hatred, thereby killing him, but not before receiving one hell of a beating.