The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Season 6, Episode 5, “The Thrill of Destruction,” now streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu.
My Hero Academia isn’t lacking in supervillains. It is, after all, an anime about superheroes and their roles in society. With almost every denizen of their world being blessed with powers called Quirks, the criminals are just as strong as the heroes — if not stronger. The anime has introduced and brought down a few exceptionally destructive ones, including Stain and Overhaul. However, with his latest upgrade, Tomura Shigaraki finally earns the right to become the series’ worst villain.
Shigaraki has long been pre-determined to be My Hero Academia’s main antagonist. However, his power seems puny compared to the other veteran criminals. Even his ragtag League of Villains pales in comparison to Overhaul’s Yakuza and Re-Destro’s Meta Liberation Army. What Shigaraki is good at is survival. He manages to participate in every big villain event and escape unscathed, and interestingly, he always emerges stronger.
After gaining Dr. Garaki’s allegiance, Shigaraki wasted no time in realizing his goal and asked the doctor to give him an upgrade. That’s exactly what the doctor did, using the knowledge he accrued from creating the Nomus to make Shigaraki his greatest creation. However, since Hawks already infiltrated the Paranormal Liberation Front at that point, the heroes were tipped off about Shigaraki’s supposed secret level-up. Endeavor and a bunch of professional heroes raided the Jaku Hospital to stop Shigaraki’s survival, and they almost succeeded. Mirko went ahead of everyone and located Dr. Garaki’s laboratory.
Despite the High-End Nomus’ interference, the Rabbit Hero managed to crack the vat containing Shigaraki. Present Mic then dealt the final blow, completely destroying the vat. Since the upgrade was still incomplete, Shigaraki’s lifeless body simply flopped to the ground. The hero X-Less was tasked with looking after Shigaraki. While doing so, the hero noticed a suspicious device and decided to destroy it. By doing so, a broken electric tube reached the fluid Shigaraki was drenched with, and it only took a single shock to revive the villain.
The first thing Shigaraki did was touch X-Less, turning the poor hero into dust. Shigaraki stole the hero’s cape, claiming the temperature was too cold for him. The newly-awoken villain then proceeded to unleash his new power. He used his Decay to destroy the entire hospital, as well as the buildings near it. It came out as a creeping cloud of destruction that consumed everything on its path. Even Midoriya’s St. Louis Smash Air Force failed to leave a dent in it. Once the commission was over, a huge chunk of the town was already razed to the ground.
In his debut in My Hero Academia, Tomura Shigaraki looked nothing more than a common thug with a lot of angst. The only reason he is the main villain is that he is All For One’s chosen vessel. While his Decay quirk is undeniably powerful, he couldn’t even bring its full potential back then. However, that is nothing more than a memory now. The newly-awakened Shigaraki can undeniably give any professional hero a run for their money. He is, after all, now capable of razing an entire town with a single attack — and worse he hasn’t yet reached his peak.