The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Chapter 387, “Congealing,” by Kohei Horikoshi, Caleb Cook and John Hunt, available in English from Viz Media.
The culmination of the Todoroki family saga has been one of My Hero Academia’s most anticipated plot points moving into the final act. Dabi and Shoto have already clashed once before at Kamino Ward, but Toya Todoroki’s final stand is still in the making. Dabi has effectively transformed himself into a time-bomb that will indiscriminately destroy everything within a five-mile radius upon his death and Endeavor means to mitigate the damage — even at the cost of his life.
Since Dabi revealed to the entire world that he was actually Toya Todoroki, Endeavor has taken the responsibility of dealing with his son himself. He reluctantly agreed to share this burden with the rest of his family, but fate seems to have dictated the terms of their final match. Dabi’s mere presence has brought all the Pro Heroes’ activities to a standstill with Endeavor being the only one capable of approaching him. If they are to win the war, Endeavor will have to face his son head-on once and for all.
Endeavor Finally Faces Dabi in My Hero Academia 387
A large part of Dabi’s grudge against Endeavor stems from how quickly he was cast away as a child as soon as Shoto was born. After being made to believe he was special and would one day surpass All Might, Endeavor’s sudden rejection was quite disturbing to the young Toya, and he never really got over it. Now matter how often Toya begged his father to acknowledge his growth or supervise his training, Endeavor refused to pay him any mind. The final request Toya made was for his father to join him in training at Sekoto Peak. Endeavor ignored him as usual, but paid the price for his aloofness when Toya disappeared in a fiery blaze that night.
Chapter 387 of My Hero Academia has Endeavor being forced to do nothing but focus on his son, but it’s far from a touching full-circle moment. All that remains of Dabi is a skeletal human torch whose only purpose appears to be thwarting Endeavor by any means. Any traces of sanity or awareness are king gone, replaced instead by the base instincts of a young son who just wanted his father’s attention. Dabi’s savage pleas to his father to watch what he’s capable of are quite similar to the provocative taunts he often hurls at opponents, but his immediate follow-up with a request to play with Natsuo proves he genuinely has no idea what is going on anymore.
Dabi’s Ice Power Isn’t a Quirk Awakening
Unfortunately for Endeavor, the opportunity to observe his son’s full strength couldn’t have come at a worse moment. Even as he marvels at Dabi’s latent Ice abilities and the copied Phosphor super-move, he has to keep in mind that the strength he once ignored is now threatening to destabilize everything he and the other heroes are working toward. Since Dabi’s explosion was inevitable, Endeavor’s solution to this problem has been to force his son to fly with him into the sky until the battlefield is no longer within his blast zone.
While Dabi’s latent abilities are quite similar to a Quirk awakening, My Hero Academia clarified that this sudden manifestation was a one-time occurrence brought about by both his proximity to death and the strength of his Himura blood. That same strength was exemplified by his mother’s surprise appearance on the battlefield. Without hesitation, Rei Todoroki entered the thick of Endeavor and Dabi’s flames, partially insulated by her own Ice Quirk. Perhaps the presence of both his parents — and Shoto who’s only a few minutes away — might be exactly what Dabi needs to regain presence of mind.
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