There are as many villains as there are heroes in the world of My Hero Academia. Some of those villains are crucial to the story, such as Shigaraki and All-for-One, and some are major antagonists that have their fair share of time under the spotlight, such as Dabi, Himiko Toga, and Overhaul, just to name a few. The rest, however, are mostly goons and petty criminals whose names are often forgotten once they’ve fulfilled their roles.
That being said, there is a small group of villains who are often treated as throwaway bad guys, even though they have quite remarkable quirks. Their skills, powers, and contributions are often overlooked because people pay more attention to the main antagonists. So with that in mind, here are the 7 most underrated villains in My Hero Academia, ranked based on their strength.
Shin Nemoto
The Most Dangerous Spy in the Series
- Affiliation: Shie Hassaikai
- Rank: B-Rank
- First Appearance: Episode 108
Shin Nemoto is a member of the infamous Eight Bullets, an elite squad within a Yakuza organization called the Shie Hassaikai. Unlike the other members of the group, Nemoto does not specialize in combat. His quirk is called Confession, and as the name suggests, this power allows him to force his target to answer truthfully to every question that he asks.
While it’s true that this quirk is utterly useless during combat, it is a superb power for intelligence gathering purposes. After all, no secret is safe from Confession. Even All-for-One will begrudgingly spill all of his nefarious plans if Nemoto uses Confession on him. As a fighter, Shin Nemoto can barely survive on his own. As a spy or a counterintelligence agent, however, he is an extremely effective and dangerous individual.
Dictator
The Unhinged Puppet Master
- Affiliation: Independent
- Rank: Unknown
- First Appearance: Episode 135
Dictator is one of the villains who escaped from Tartarus when All-For-One wreaked havoc in that super maximum prison. Dictator’s quirk is called the Despot. This quirk allows him to create thin threads and control anybody connected to the threads. The Dictator can use “Despot” to control dozens of people at the same time, but only their motoric functions. The victims still retain their consciousness.
Puppet master ability, like Despot, is easily one of the most versatile abilities in the world of fiction. From controlling an innocent bystander to do your evil bidding to a full-blown crowd control, there are so many things that Dictator can do with his quirk. Unfortunately, Dictator is not smart enough to fully realize the true potential of his own quirk. But if he acts under the guidance of a cunning leader, then Dictator can be a really powerful asset on the battlefield.
Trumpet
The Most Dangerous Politician
- Affiliation: Meta Liberation Army
- Rank: B-Rank
- First Appearance: Episode 108
Trumpet is not only one of the executives of the Meta Liberation Army, but he is also the leader of the Hearts and Minds Party. Forget his quirk, the fact that Trumpet is part of two influential organizations makes him more dangerous than most villains on this list. After all, while the other villains can only cause physical or mental pain, Trumpet can use his business and political influence to cause widespread damage to society at large.
And then there’s his quirk, Incite. As the name suggests, Incite allows Trumpet to use his voice to brainwash those who have favorable views of him as a person, such as the members of his political party, to do whatever he wants. Not only that, those who are affected by Incite will also experience a boost in physical strength, which makes them even harder to deal with. Imagine if Trumpet fully focuses on his political career and successfully reaches a high position in the government. The amount of material and immaterial damage he could inflict on the nation would be unimaginable.
Hari Kurono
The Master of Slow Motion
- Affiliation: Shie Hassaikai
- Rank: B-Rank
- First Appearance: Episode 62
Another member of the Shie Hassaikai that deserves to be on this list is Hari Kurono. And just like Shin Nemoto, he is also a member of the Eight Bullets. Unlike Nemoto, however, Kurono is a fairly capable fighter. He’s far from the strongest in his group, but he can certainly hold his own against your average hero. And it’s all thanks to his quirk, Chronostasis.
Chronostasis enables Kurono to use his arrow-like hair, which represents the hour and minute hands of a clock, to slow down the movement of his target. He can freely extend and move his hair to cut and stab his opponent, which immediately activates the slow-down effect. The minute hand will make the enemy move in slow motion for one minute, while the hour hand will slow them down for one hour. Whether you can punch as hard as All Might or move as fast as Ingenium, none of that matters if Chronotasis manages to stab you with his hour hand. At that point, even a regular person can take down those top heroes.
Mr. Compress
The Least Famous Member of the League of Villains
- Affiliation: League of Villains
- Rank: B-Rank
- First Appearance: Episode 44
Despite their relatively small size, the League of Villains gained notoriety thanks to their bloodthirsty leader, Shigaraki. Soon after, each of the League members also received their fair share of infamy. Dabi, Twice, Himeko Toga, and even Spinner each became famous as dangerous villains. The only one who seems to stay under the radar is Mr. Compress. He may not be a frontline fighter like Dabi or Twice, but he is still a formidable villain in his own right.
Mr. Compress may not be a fighter who will jump headfirst into danger like Dabi or Twice, but he is still a formidable villain in his own right. Not only that, his quirk, Compress, is actually the most versatile quirk in the group. With his quirk, Mr. Compress can instantly shrink anything within a certain spherical space and turn it into a little marble. It doesn’t matter how many things are trapped within the sphere and how much they weigh. They all will turn into little marbles of the same size and weight. This means from capturing a target to transporting valuable objects to butchering the enemy by compressing only part of their body, Mr. Compress can do it all.
Skeptic
The Second-Best Hacker in the World
- Affiliation: Meta Liberation Army
- Rank: B-Rank
- First Appearance: Episode 108
As a hacker, Skeptic is often underappreciated because La Brave defeated him in his own game fair and square. But people often forgot that Skeptic was the one who single-handedly built and operated the security and intelligence system for the Paranormal Liberation Front. He was also the one who edited and distributed Dabi’s propaganda video all over Japan, which turned the public opinion against Endeavor. And he did that in a matter of minutes while in the middle of a chaotic battlefield. So while it’s true that La Brave is the better hacker, Skeptic is no slouch either.
Another thing that puts Skeptic ahead of La Brava is his quirk, Anthropomorph. This quirk enables Skeptic to create dozens of mindless goons out of human-sized objects, such as refrigerators, desks, cupboards, and many others. Skeptic can give simple directives to these goons, such as doing manual labor or overpowering the enemy with their great number. Compared to La Brave’s fairly useless quirk, Skeptic’s Anthropomorph is way more versatile. He is basically a one-man army that possesses both the brain and the brawn. With his hacking skills and his quirk, he could easily rob a bank or commit other serious crimes without ever leaving his bedroom.
Gentle Criminal
A Gentle Villain with a Powerful Quirk
- Affiliation: Independent
- Rank: Unknown
- First Appearance: Episode 81
Gentle Criminal, also known simply as Gentle, is often underestimated due to his flamboyant nature and the fact that he never commits a serious crime. That’s why the public, the heroes, and even fellow villains think of him as a petty criminal and a joke of a villain. What they don’t understand, however, is the fact that Gentle has an incredibly powerful quirk.
Gentle’s quirk is called Elasticity. This quirk allows Gentle to temporarily turn anything he touches elastic. This means turning a car into a giant rubber toy and massive steel beams into rubber sticks. But that’s not the full extent of Gentle’s power. The man can turn the ground that he stands on into a massive trampoline. He can even give the property of elasticity to the air around him, which is precisely how he manages to single-handedly prevent the U.A.’s flying fortress from free-falling to the ground. Gentle transforms the air within hundreds of yards into a colossal trampoline, capable of holding the gargantuan flying fortress in place.
The more you think about different ways to use Gentle’s Elasticity, the more impressive it becomes. He can use it to bounce from one building to the next, soften his landing when he falls, defend against enemies’ physical attacks while launching a counterattack at the same time, and so many other cool applications. The only thing that prevents Gentle from becoming a menace to society and a threat to the heroes is his kind-hearted nature. He should’ve been up there among the dangerous and high-profile criminals, but he refused to do so because he didn’t want to hurt innocent people. That’s why Gentle Criminal is the most underrated villain in My Hero Academia.
My Hero Academia
- Release Date
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April 2, 2016
- Network
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TBS, MBS, Nippon TV
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Daiki Yamashita
Izuku Midoriya (voice)
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Kaito Ishikawa
Manga Fukidashi (voice)
#Underrated #Villains #Ranked
