Highlights
- All For One is My Hero Academia’s most powerful and evil villain, with the ability to steal and grant quirks.
- Born evil and a master manipulator, All For One has a twisted mentorship with Tomura Shigaraki and always stays one step ahead.
- All For One’s rivalry with All Might is one of the best in the series, with both characters being well-matched and causing significant damage to each other.
My Hero Academia has a lot of villains, but one of them stands head and shoulders above the rest. No, not Tomura Shigaraki (although some might argue he’s My Hero Academia‘s best villain) – All For One, the only villain strong enough to end All Might’s career and bring hero society to its knees.
My Hero Academia is full of great, well-written characters, both heroes and villains, but All For One is easily one of the best. He’s a deliciously evil bad guy capable of running circles around the world’s best heroes. Unlike many characters, he entered the series fully formed and has seen very little character growth – fans still don’t know that much about him. Everything viewers do know, however, makes him stand out.
1 His Overpowered Quirk
Stealing And Granting Quirks
In the world of My Hero Academia, nearly everyone has a quirk. Some of them are incredibly powerful, while others are next to useless. All For One’s quirk, the aptly named All For One (he’s not great at naming things) is perhaps the strongest there is. Just by touching a person, he can steal their quirk, making them quirkless. He can then either keep it for himself or pass it on to someone else.
This means that, unlike the vast majority of characters in My Hero Academia, All For One can use several quirks all at once. That’s a problem because the best quirks in All For One are seriously powerful just on their own. Used in combination, they make him almost unstoppable. His ability to pass on quirks to others makes it easy for him to recruit lackeys to his cause by tempting them with a serious upgrade, even former heroes like Lady Nagant. The ability to steal quirks means even the greatest heroes think twice before engaging him, as all it takes is one slip-up for All For One to win.
2 His Villainous Backstory
Born Evil
My Hero Academia likes to give its villains tragic backstories. Himiko Toga is an outcast because of her gruesome power, Endeavor abused Dabi, Twice was driven crazy by his quirk, etc. These stories help make the villains more relatable and highlight the flaws in hero society. All For One’s backstory is a little different though. He was born evil.
In the womb, he stole nutrients from his twin, Yoichi, causing him to be born weak. From a young age, One For All only saw others as puppets and possessions, including his brother. When Yoichi ran away and took his quirk, One For All, with him, One For All flew into a rage. He’s a greedy psychopath, obsessed with getting his hands on One For All because his brother dared to disobey him. Ever since childhood and throughout all his different forms, All For One has never shown a shred of empathy or compassion, and he feels nothing for others. Unlike most other villains in the series (and much of modern pop culture), there’s no redeeming One For All; he’s simply evil through and through.
3 He’s A Ruthless Leader
The Master Manipulator
All For One might be a grade-A jerk, but he’s perfect at getting others to do his bidding. Despite being locked up in Tartarus for much of the series, it was revealed to be All For One pulling the League of Villains’ strings and he who orchestrated pivotal events like the first attack on U.A. and the Nomu crisis.
This is even more impressive because, unlike All For One, many of his followers have morals and values, even if they’re villains. While All For One only cares about getting One For All and becoming the Demon Lord, many of the league’s members are fighting for societal change (even if they’re going about it in the wrong way). As one of My Hero Academia‘s darkest characters, All For One manipulates others either by tempting them with their greatest desires or by pretending to care about them. Without his leadership, it’s likely the villains would never have united, and almost certain they would never have been so successful.
4 His Mentorship Of Tomura Shigaraki
A Twisted Relationship
My Hero Academia has plenty of villains but relatively few characters who are genuinely evil. All For One’s twisted mentorship of Tomura Shigaraki highlights just how evil the villain is. All For One chooses Shigaraki because he has one of My Hero Academia‘s most overpowered quirks, and he knows how easily he can manipulate the troubled youth. Initially, he similarly guides Tomura to how All Might does Midoriya. It seemed like he might care for his protégé.
In reality, One For All uses Tomura. He wants to mentor the young villain until he’s powerful enough to defeat Midoriya and take One For All. Then All For One plans on taking over Tomura’s body so that he can rule over the world. Even worse, All For One is the reason Tomura’s life was tragic in the first place. He killed Tomura’s grandmother, Nana Shimura (a former wielder of One For All), the event that led to Tomura’s less-than-pleasant upbringing. He also knew that when Tomura Shigaraki’s heritage was revealed to All Might, which it was at Kamino, it would break All Might’s spirit.
5 He’s Always One Step Ahead
A Master Tactician Like Moriarty
A big problem in superhero media is how often the villains get defeated. It’s difficult to be afraid of the likes of Lex Luthor or the Joker when their plans are getting foiled every five minutes. That’s not the case with All For One, because he’s the kind of villain who always has an ace up his sleeve. All For One was the number one villain in Japan for decades, killing several One For All users and evading the authorities constantly.
All For One is a lot like the Sherlock Holmes villain Moriarty. He prefers to pull the strings from the shadows and always has several plans in motion. When one plan fails, it’s likely just setting up one of his others. Even when he loses, like in his battles with All Might, the victor doesn’t walk away unscathed. Even though he lost to All Might, it was All Might who ended up having to retire. He’s almost impossible to trick, and despite being one of the most arrogant characters in My Hero Academia, he’s rarely overconfident. In his final battle, just as the heroes thought they’d won, he used the rewind drug (something from much earlier on in the series) to give himself a major power boost, showing how he’s always prepared.
6 His Rivalry With All Might
Enemies To The End
Every good superhero needs a nemesis and All Might’s is All For One. They’re two sides of the same coin and their rivalry is one of the best in My Hero Academia. While the two have fought many times, fans have only really been told about two of their battles. Both were epic.
At their peak, All Might and All For One were incredibly well-matched. In the two battles fans have seen, All Might technically won, but at great cost. In their first battle, All Might was so badly injured that his ability to use One For All was seriously diminished. This led to him seeking out Midoriya. In their second battle, the one at Kamino, All For One humiliated All Might. Not only did he trick him into punching Gran Torino, but he also forced All Might to reveal his true form to the world. All Might technically came out on top, but he was left almost completely unable to use his powered-up form. All For One is the rare villain who not only put his rival down, but he made sure All Might would stay down.
7 Character Design
A Face Not Even A Mother Could Love
All For One is a bad guy with a sense of style. My Hero Academia has a lot of cool character designs but many of them verge on the cheesy/wacky. Whatever form he’s in, All For One just drips menace.
From what we’ve seen of him in his prime, All For One was pretty good-looking and suave with a penchant for nice suits. After being defeated by All Might, his body was badly damaged and All For One’s face became a mass of scarred tissue. But All For One isn’t the sort to let a little facial disfigurement slow him down. He went the Darth Vader route and started wearing a menacing black mask, with a suit. Without his mask, All For One’s scarred face is deeply unsettling. With it, he looks ready for business.
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