The eagerly anticipated comeback of Mob Psycho 100 occurred during the Fall 2022 anime season. Although several series last year had sequels, Mob Psycho 100 was perhaps one of the largest shows to get a new season, taking the plot in new directions. The antagonistic group Claw was the focus of the show's first two seasons, but after Mob defeated both the gang's leader and the whole organization, the plot had to change.
The Mob has actually taken on a more antagonistic role over the previous few episodes as a result of this new orientation. When Mob was hit by a car while attempting to save a child, he lost control of his abilities, which let them to run wild and take over his body. He has since destroyed large chunks of Seasoning City and beaten Terumi as well as destroying his hairline again. In order to stop him, the government has seemingly decided to send in criminal espers as a means of bringing Mob down, an idea that is straight out of the Suicide Squad playbook.
The Evil Gathers In Mob Psycho 100
Only one of the several, apparently powerful espers chosen by the government to face Mob actually made it out of the chopper. Toichiro Suzuki, the former Leader of Claw, was the prisoner. He not only beat up all of the other convicts in the chopper, but he also jumped out of it and landed right in front of Mob. When he arrived, he saw two of his former subordinates also present, unsuccessfully attempting to prevent the mob from burning their current place of employment.
Though his former underlings ran off after he arrived, it was interesting to see Claw's members working to help save the world instead of dominate it. This was further elaborated on when Toichiro teams up with his son, Sho Suzuki, in order to defeat the out-of-control Mob. Their plan was to force Mob to expend all of his power through fighting them, which would hopefully end the entire conflict. Unfortunately, throughout their battle, the father/son duo is consistently shown to be outmatched when going up against Mob. The situation becomes even worse when they realize that even together they're not strong enough to even stall Mob.
Ultimately, Mob is able to reassert enough control over his body to give the Toichiro an opening to defeat him. The only method he could think of was to absorb all the excess psychic energy Mob had, becoming a vessel for all that power. However, as Toichiro wouldn't be strong enough to contain it all, this would end up killing him in the process. While his decision to do so was fueled by his gratitude to Mob for saving his life at the end of the last season as well as a desire to protect Sho, he couldn't bring himself to die in front of his son, wanting instead to become the father that Sho deserved and wanted. This leads him to escaping with Sho at the last minute, choosing life over death.
Regular villains become heroes
While Mob Psycho 100 has redeemed villains in the past, this might have been the biggest example of the series doing so. Interestingly enough, the series pushed this concept by taking the premise of Suicide Squad and incorporating it into itself. Toichiro wasn't the only ex-villain used in this manner, though.
Yusuke Sakurai and Megumu Koyama, two of his former enforcers, made an attempt to stop Mob before he came, as was previously reported. Even though they were far from as powerful as the Mob or their old Boss, they were motivated by a need to defend the business they now worked at and their tranquil existence. This is significant because it demonstrates how much their prior efforts to be kind have improved them as individuals, just like how fighting the mob improved their former employer.
Terumi is another great example of this as when he was first introduced he was an antagonist. It was only thanks to Mob that he ever managed to overcome his own ego and become a good person. He might not be able to actually rival Mob in terms of power, but during their fight showed he could when it came to overall kindness, as he chose to use his power to save everyone from Mob instead using it to protect himself -- or his hair -- from Mob.
In DC Comics, the Suicide Squad was never a project really meant to redeem the bad guys on the team as much as it was meant to use their powers and villainy to fight fire with fire, it still did have that effect in regard to at least a few of the villains who served. Harley Quinn is the most notable example, with her time on the team helping her transition into the role of an actual hero, something just now emulated by Toichiro. In the past, he didn't seem to care too much about his son, but now was willing to die and let the world be destroyed just to make Sho happy. There might not be much left of the series, but Mob Psycho 100 III has at least managed to set up a happy ending for even its most despicable characters.
