Anime fans, like a lot of fanbases, have a tendency to faun over the bad guys in their favorite stories, often more than the main characters. Among shonen anime, perhaps the greatest rogues gallery around today is the cast of supervillains who terrorize the world of My Hero Academia.
My Hero Academia is one of the hottest anime in the world right now, currently on a break after the very well-received fifth season. The manga, written by Kohei Horikoshi, has been running since 2014 and has remained extremely popular and influential. The franchise has also spawned a trilogy of full-length anime films, each of which has been a hit at the box office. Some of the most beloved characters in anime came out of Horikoshi's comic-inspired world of superheroes and supervillains.
The Villains' Perspective
The villains of My Hero Academia include thieves, organized crime bosses, serial murderers, thugs, monsters, and more traditional comic book-esque scoundrels. The primary antagonistic force is the League of Villains, a nefarious organization composed of a diverse swath of superpowered criminals who seek to overthrow society and seize power for themselves. But not all major enemies are affiliated with the League, others appear suddenly and work only for themselves.
The villains' motivations are as varied as the heroes'; some operate on ideology, others do their work simply for-profit and still, others are motivated by personal grudges. The sheer variety of villains is impressive, especially in a series that has so much fun with the heroes' personal lives. Even more impressive is the unique way in which this series' villains interact.
The League of Villains is a loose collective of dozens of characters, each with their own reasons to pursue villainy who develop some fantastic team dynamics. Most good shonen series spend plenty of screen time on the protagonist's interplay, there's a reason the "power of friendship" trope is such a regular joke in the medium. My Hero Academia is unique in the way it gives its villains a similar level of personal investment.
Fans see them hang out together, form friendships and rivalries within their ranks, struggle against each other for power, and work as a team at varying degrees of competency. Letting the baddies bounce their colorful personalities off one another gives these villains a chance to develop and display full personalities separate from their relationship with the heroes. Many antagonists are defined exclusively by their battles with their respective protagonists, My Hero Academia earns strong villains by brilliantly subverting this issue.
Breaking Down The Villains
The single villain with the most screen time is Tomura Shigaraki, the second leader of the League of Villains. Shigaraki is a classic type of villain; the dark reflection of the protagonist. Shigaraki is the first big bad introduced, leading the grand invasion of UA back in season one, and he has only grown in importance since then. Much like series protagonist Izuku Midoriya is the protege of All-Might and the newest hero to inherit One For All, Shigaraki is All For One's heir apparent.
Shigaraki is not a likable character; he's petulant, cruel, self-absorbed, and immature. Shigaraki is childish, but as he is gradually thrust into the role of leadership, he is forced to grow up, learn restraint and even care for his fellow League members. Shigaraki's backstory is grim, and he struggles with pretty severe mental illness. Perhaps the most straightforward antagonist of the series, Shigaraki has grown in popularity as his past has been unveiled and his role as a leader has evolved.
Despite his brief appearance, one of the most important villains in the franchise is Chizome Akaguro, better known as The Hero Killer: Stain. Stain is a serial murderer with the highest body count of any villain since All-Might's rise to prominence. He has slain several Pro Heroes and left many others permanently crippled. Stain's ideology motivated him to hunt and kill both heroes and villains; he claims to see all those that use their quirks for selfish purposes as evil and deserving of death. His extremist devotion to his beliefs makes him intriguing, and though his methods are abhorrent, he does occasionally point out real problems with the world around him. In the anime, Stain is only around for one extremely intense fight, but his influence remains long after his capture. Many fan-favorite members of the League, like Himiko Toga and Dabi, began their villain careers as members of the Vanguard Action Squad, an elite team inspired by Stain's message.
Perhaps the biggest outliers when it comes to My Hero Academia's villains are the lovable thieves, Gentle Criminal and La Brava. The pair bring an element of whimsy, while still remaining a reasonable threat. In addition, their motivation is personal, Gentle's desire to secure his legacy and be remembered forever drives him to acts of well-publicized, but petty crimes. Gentle and La Brava are made interesting by their relationship, they work as a duo and live as a couple. La Brava is totally motivated by her love for Gentle, and at the end of Gentle's story, he tries to return the favor. Despite their illicit actions, this duo is fun in a way that most of the other villains aren't while being intelligently written and emotionally driven.
My Hero Academia's villains deserve all of the praise they get; built around identifiable moral codes, motivated by unique drives, and allowed to grow as full people. The clever trick behind Horikoshi's baddies is simply giving them the same complex interplay and rich personal lives that the heroes enjoy.