After a dynamic season 7 conclusion, fans of My Hero Academia are assuredly excited to know that the smash-hit anime is expected to return for its 8th and final season in the fall of 2025. By now, the Quirk-based combat system of this anime is well-established, and dozens of My Hero Academia characters have used and combined Quirks in fascinating and powerful ways. However, in a story that features teenagers with the ability to defy the world’s known laws of physics, certain quirks stand out as especially powerful.
The most powerful Quirks on the heroes’ and villains’ sides were consequential during the Paranormal Liberation Front, while others such as One For All and its nemesis, the supervillain All For One have been shown to possess unlimited amounts of potential. Quirks of that caliber can turn a fighter into a battlefield legend, but power like that never comes easy. Even the most potent Quirks have downsides to them, minor or major, and their enemies might exploit that fact.
Update Mar 5th 2025 by Ari Night: With MHA returning for its 8th and final season this fall, fans have seen quite a few of the anime’s most powerful quirks. This list has been updated to include new heroes who can be considered exceptionally powerful. This list has been updated to meet CBR’s most recent editorial standards.
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20
Togata’s Permeation Quirk Takes Extreme Training To Master
With Skill, Permeation is a Hard Quirk to Beat
The UA student Mirio Togata is a total powerhouse, but it took extensive training for Mirio to become so effective in combat. At first, his Permation Quirk was difficult to control, and Mirio tended to phase through things improperly and get stuck. That made him one of UA’s worst students for a time, and Deku was shocked to hear about that.
Worse yet, Mirio cannot perceive anything while intangible, such as sight and sound. He is both blind and deaf while using Permeation, so he must use intuition and careful planning to find his opponent and attack them. Now Mirio has mastered his Quirk, transforming it from an awkward and messy ability into one of the strongest Quirks in My Hero Academia.
19
Explosion Makes Heavy Demands On Bakugo’s Body
Explosion Brings Devastating Power to The Palm of Its User’s Hands
Katsuki Bakugo’s explosion Quirk is powerful, the kind of flashy power fit for a pro. However, even this strong Quirk has serious flaws. The first weakness is that while Bakugo can easily fire off one explosion after another, it takes a while for him to store up enough nitroglycerin for more powerful blasts.
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Secondly, the more powerful the blast, the more damage it will incur on the user’s body. Bakugo can’t use too many huge blasts in quick succession, so he built some bracers on his hero costume to control that power and prevent his arms from breaking in combat. That said, Bakugo is willing to remove one or both of those bracers to fool his opponent, such as when he and Deku fought the symbol of peace All Might in a mock battle.
18
Endeavor’s Hellflame May Be Effective, But It’s Destruction Is Dangerous
Hellfire’s Immense Heat Can Destroy Anything, Including Its User
Endeavor’s Hellflame is powerful and destructive Quirk. Hellflame lets Endeavor perform remarkable feats like flying through the air, forging weapons of fire, and moving at blinding speeds. Endeavor can withstand the heat for a while because he is resistant to extremely hot temperatures.
However, Endeavor can only fight for so long before he starts to overheat. The extreme temperature of Hellflame prevents Endeavor from going all out for too long. So, Endeavor sought a wife whose ice-based Quirk could regulate the temperature of his heir, as shown in Shoto Todoroki’s Half-Cold Half-Hot Quirk. However, Endeavor’s first three children, Toya, Fuyumi, and Natsuo, did not inherit Hellflame and the ice Quirk in the ways Endeavor intended.
17
Shemage’s Mushroom Quirk is an Environmental Disaster Waiting to Happen
Incidentally, Shemage Might Have one of the Most Devastating Quirks in the World
Kinoki Komori, known to the hero community as “Shemage”, wields a Quirk that makes her the My Hero universe’s most unsuspecting bioweapon. By expelling fungal spores from her body, Shemage manifests any mushroom she desires, incapacitating adversaries with no ill effects on herself. During her scrimmage with Class 1-A in the Joint Training arc, she showcases the true and devastating versatility of her power by creating fungal growth in a variety of locations, including inside a person’s lungs. Considering her ability to destabilize entire ecosystems without much effort, Shemage’s quirk presents a major threat only tempered through careful work and control. Things she, like most heroes her age, has been known to struggle with in the past.
Shemage may choose which mushroom she creates, but she is incapable of protecting anyone from their potentially poisonous attributes. This forces allies and innocents alike into a deadly position and requires strategic planning to prevent larger consequences. To mitigate this danger, Shemage equips two aersol pistols that allow her to control the output and direction of her spores. While this proves to be a boon to her hero work, its practicality doesn’t account for the risk to other people. Should Shemage be put into an unfamiliar environment, or give into her natural affinity for mushrooms, she runs the risk of permanently impacting the world for the worse
16
The Reflection Quirk Has Limits
Reflection Can Redirect Almost Any Attack
The ability to reflect any kind of attack thrown at someone is bound to cause problems every time. This has been the case in nearly every anime that has featured such a power. Flect Turn wields this ability in My Hero Academia‘s third movie, and he came very close to destroying Deku with it.
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This power is truly astounding, but the number of attacks it can withstand is limited. Deku realized this and kept unleashing one attack after another. With the right amount of power and a lot of persistence, the Reflection Quirk can be overcome. In a way, fans can interpret the battle of the Reflection Quirk and the One For All Quirk as a battle of wills to see which Quirk would give in first. Fortunately for the world, Reflection gave in first.
15
Dark Shadow is the Only Quirk Shown to Make One for All Afraid
Scaring One for All Is No Easy Task
Fumikage Tokoyami, professionally known as the Jet Black Hero: Tsukuyomi, is a mutant quirk user with the ability to manifest a sentient shadow called Dark Shadow. Highly versatile and difficult to pin down, Dark Shadow has proven to be a significant threat to most villains who encounter it. Through rigorous training, Tsukyuomi has extended the capabilities of his quirk by creating points of darkness by utilizing things such as his clothing. This technique has enabled him to fly and manifest stronger versions of his power. Despite mastering his abilities, there are still weaknesses that even Tsukuyomi cannot entirely mitigate.
As the name suggests, Dark Shadow is extremely susceptible to light. Light-based attacks cause it to lose its form and can even result in it being completely nullified. On the opposite end of the spectrum, extreme darkness has been known to overpower Tsukoyomi, causing it go berserk. Moreover, its sentience means that Tsukuyomi’s control over his quirk is based on mutual respect rather than traditional command. Lastly, as demonstrated against his fellow hero Shihai Kuroiro, any hero who can manipulate the color black can gaiin advantage over him.
14
The Electrification Quirk Fries Its User’s Brain
Electrification Discharges Large Amounts of Energy
Denki Kaminari has proven to be a great help many times with his Electrification Quirk, which ranks among MHA‘s strongest Quirks of all. With powers like his, he has the potential to be one of the greatest heroes of all time. He can communicate with his electricity, zap opponents, and even juice up batteries if he wishes.
The Quirk’s major problem is that it fries Denki’s brain anytime he uses too much power at once. He becomes a goofy, unfocused version of himself giving the thumbs-up, making him a total liability in battle when that happens. Fortunately, he can now use support items to focus his power to greater effect, and he has learned to control his Quirk better and respect its limits.
13
Shinso’s Brainwashing Quirk Can Easily Be Undone
Its Weaknesses Aside, Brainwashing is an Overpowered Ability
One of many people’s dreams is the power to command people to do anything. Hitoshi Shinso is already living the dream, as he can brainwash people into following his every command. The major drawback is that Shinso can only take control of someone when they verbally respond to something he says.
While it’s still very easy for unsuspecting targets to fall for it, people who know how his power works can simply remain silent. What is more, this Quirk can be undone easily if the victim is interrupted by an external force — even by something as simple as a tap on the shoulder.
12
Copy Allows for the Limited Use Of Borrowed Quirks
The Copy Quirk is both Powerful and Versatile
Neito Monoma of class 1-B can pose a real problem with his ability to copy almost any Quirk, as he showed in the UA sports festival arc. However, there are quite a few drawbacks to this otherwise impressive power. Neito can’t gain as much mastery over a Quirk as the original user if he just copies it for the first time.
Neito also must direct physical contact with his target, and cannot effectively copy Quirks with an accumulation attribute, like One For All or even Eri’s Rewind Quirk. Also, while he can copy more than one Quirk, Neito can’t use them simultaneously and has to actively switch from one to another. At least Neito has recently expanded his Copy Quirk so he can hold four Quirks and not just three.
11
Rewind is Extremely Risky for Eri To Use
The Rewind Quirk Controls the Cause and Effect of Objects
Eri’s power has several practical applications and has the potential for great good and great disasters. Eri can undo practically anything — even a human’s entire existence. She can undo Quirks, including the very strongest Quirks, an ability that Overhaul tried to exploit for his own gain.
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This power can be used to solve a lot of problems, but if the user is as unstable as Eri, the consequences of a mishap could be staggering. Eri is under intensive care to make sure that she always has her power under control before she does irreparable damage. She has used this Quirk to restore Mirio Togata’s own Quirk in recent storylines, a risky use of Rewind that is paying off so far.
10
Shota Aizawa’s Erasure Quirk is Nullified By Blinking
Erasure is the Ultimate Trump Card Against Most Quirks
The Erasure Quirk can render even the strongest Quirks powerless. All he has to do is look at his target, and their Quirk will be inaccessible to them. There are two major problems with this awesome power, though. To begin with, Erasure gives Aizawa serious dry-eye, forcing him to blink, which deactivates his power.
Secondly, he is unable to erase heteromorphic-type quirks. This means his power is useless against opponents whose bodies have been permanently altered by their Quirk, such as Spinner and Tsuyu Asui. Recent injuries have lessened Aizawa’s usage of Erasure even more, but as a true pro hero, he will push himself to the limit to use whatever he has left of Erasure and help Deku defeat Tomura Shigaraki.
9
Without the Use of One’s Hands, the Overhaul Quirk is Pretty Useless
Manipulating Matter Can Be Devastating, But Only When It Can Actually Be Achieved
Kai Chisaki is a germophobic villain with the ability to manipulate matter. By touching an object, he can either disassemble it, effectively destroying it, or transmute it into something new. This power extends to both organic and inorganic materials and has even shown the capability to augment his own body. As a quirk with virtually no upper limit on its transmutive capabilities, overhaul is incredibly difficult to beat. Unless that is, one knows that the power is reliant on the user’s hands to activate.
Because of the location of Chisaki’s quirk factor, he is more vulnerable than many other kinds of quirk users. Should his hands be broken or severed, he would lose access to his quirk forever, and thus be left vulnerable to the whims of his adversaries. This was dramatically illustrated in his final confrontation with Shigaraki, where the sadistic villain destroyed his arms, resulting in Chisaki losing his abilities and his mind.
8
Tatsuma’s Dragon Quirk Gives Enemies a Larger Target to Hit
Dragon is a Versatile Quirk With Powerful Offensive Capabilities
Under normal circumstances, quirk users face limitations regarding the application of their powers. Fortunately for Ryuko Tatsuma, this is not a concern. Known as the Dragoon Hero: Ryukyu, she has the incredible ability to transform her entire body into that of a dragon. In this form, she grows in size, boasting enhanced durability, strength, and the ability to fly. Although she cannot breathe fire, Ryukyu’s transformations have made her one of the toughest characters to defeat in all of My Hero Academia.
While Ryukyu’s quirk offers solutions to a myriad of challenges, her primary weakness is the time it takes for the transformation to occur. As her power must be activated all at once, swift villains like All for One can exploit the interval between phases to gain an advantage. Additionally, any quirk, such as Erasure, that nullifies a person’s quirk factors would leave her vulnerable to damage. Lastly, her ability to grow -while presenting increased strength- makes her a larger target to hit.
7
Foresight’s Future Sight is Limited
If the Conditions Are Met, This Late Hero Can See Through Time
Foresight is the unique quirk possessed by the late Mirai Sasaki, granting him the extraordinary ability to glimpse a person’s future after satisfying specific conditions. By making physical and eye contact, Sasaki could perceive years into the future, observing another individual’s life as if watching a film. With his sharp intellect and adept heroic instincts, this ability allowed him to outmaneuver even the most formidable opponents, given enough luck and adaptability.
However, despite its uniqueness, Sasaki’s quirk has several significant limitations. Due to its conditions, he is at a disadvantage against quirk users with long-range abilities. Additionally, Foresight can only be activated once every 24 hours, rendering it unreliable in large-scale battles or against a series of unforeseen threats. Lastly, since Foresight is an eye-based quirk, Mirai is unable to discern sounds with his visions, leaving him vulnerable to missing crucial information.
6
Momo’s Creation Quirk Can’t Make Organic Materials
Creation Allows its User to Make Anything They Desire, But Only If They Know the Details
The gifted girl Momo Yaoyorozu has one of MHA‘s most flexible Quirks, known simply as Creation. With it, Momo can use the lipids in her body to generate an item from her bare skin, such as a working amplifier, tracking devices, gas masks, and night-vision goggles. Her Quirk cannot make organic things such as leather, which prevents her from making certain items, limiting her capabilities some.
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Momo must also know the detailed inner workings and material composition of an item before making it, but fortunately, her formidable intelligence largely negates that flaw. The Creation Quirk also has the minor drawback of requiring the user to have some skin exposed, since the created items appear right through the user’s skin. That explains the design of Momo’s hero costume.
5
The New Order Quirk Only Allows for Two Rules At Once
Star and Stripe Change Reality Itself
The #1 American pro hero, Star and Stripe, has one of the most powerful Quirks in the entire world: New Order. Star and Stripe is a powerful melee fighter on her own, but she is nigh-unbeatable with the use of New Order. This Quirk alters how the people and items around her behave, allowing her to dictate the rules and shape reality to her whim.
Star can verbally declare a new rule for a specified target, and it will take effect. With this incredible Quirk, Star can reshape reality itself, but she can only have up to two items or people under her Quirk’s control at a time. And if she doesn’t know her target’s true name, she cannot affect it.
4
Shoto’s Half-Cold Half-Hot Quirk Requires Careful Temperature Regulation
When Balanced Correctly, This Quirk Presents an Unstoppable Threat to Enemies
Shoto Todoroki bears one of the strongest Quirks in MHA, since it’s really two Quirks in one. By design, Shoto inherited his mother’s icy powers and his father’s fire-based talents, all so these elements can balance each other and not overload Shoto’s body with extreme heat or frostbite.
In theory, this is the ultimate Quirk, but balancing these two temperature extremes is a formidable challenge. Shoto is getting the hang of it, but even so, he’s a long way from using his fire half’s full power because the heat might overwhelm him. Still, Shoto is ready and willing to go Plus Ultra to control his Quirk’s fire half better, as his battle in the joint training exercise showed.
3
Fierce Wings Makes Hawks Vulnerable To Fire Damage
Fierce Wings’ Power is Second Only to Its Style
The new #2 pro hero, the youthful Hawks, is likely modeled on the character Angel from the X-Men comics. Like Angel, Hawks sports a pair of feathery wings on his back, allowing him to fly with extreme speed and grace. He can also use his sharp feathers remotely to move items around or attack his enemies.
Fierce Wings has a limited supply of feathers, though, so it’s possible for Fierce Wings to be overtaxed. Worst of all, Hawks’ Quirk was badly damaged when Dabi/Toya Todoroki blasted him with fire, doing irreversible damage that has permanently restricted Hawks’ combat prowess. Still, Hawks is determined to use whatever he has left of Fierce Wings to keep fighting the villains until the bitter end.
2
All For One Requires Physical Touch With Hands
Against All for One, The Best Course of Action May Be to Run
The Quirk called All For One is one of the oldest and most effective Quirks to ever appear in My Hero Academia. Its user, also calling himself All For One, can steal other people’s Quirks and collect them. He can also give other people some Quirks from his collection, such as when he gave one to Lady Nagant.
All For One is enormously powerful, effectively being many Quirks in one. Aside from being unable to steal One For All, All For One’s only real flaw is the fact that its user must touch someone barehanded to obtain their Quirk. This means All For One cannot send his minions to simply go steal the most interesting and strongest Quirks for him – he must do it personally.
1
One For All Overloads Unprepared Users
One For All Stockpiles Power to Devastate Its Enemies
One For All is a truly phenomenal power to the point it feels like plot armor for Deku, its current wielder. It’s so powerful that whoever wields this legendary Quirk has to be physically prepared to handle its sheer energy. When used carelessly, this hurricane of force leaves the user with severe injuries, like smashed extremities. By stockpiling the energy of its previous users, One for All allows a person to manifest large amounts of energy. In special cases, like Deku’s, this power has even been shown to provide users with the stored quirks of previous users, augmented with its infinite energy.
In order to use the power to its fullest capabilities, the user has to be in top physical form; otherwise, the backlash of using One For All will be deadly. Deku has had firsthand experience with this power, and he knows all too well what can happen to him if he’s careless. He can only use small amounts of power at a time, but using support items do help. Another drawback, if fans can call it that, is the fact that the built-in Quirks will only activate when the previous users’ vestiges will it. Thus, All Might never accessed the likes of Blackwhip and Danger Sense, but Deku has access to them.
My Hero Academia
- Release Date
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April 3, 2016
