The Pro Heroes had to go all out and give their all to gain the upper hand by an edge and turn the tide in the final war of My Hero Academia. From Dabi’s final dance to every hero’s battle against AFO, the final war was full of exhilarating battle sequences. Now that the long-awaited Final War between the superheroes and villains has finally come to a close in the anime, after we witnessed it in the manga for the first time. It’s time we compare both media to determine which final fights were translated better to the screen and shone brightly in the My Hero Academia anime here.
Spoilers Warning: This article contains spoilers about the fights in the final war of My Hero Academia. Proceed with caution.
5. Endeavor Vs. All For One
The final war began with the Pro Heroes cleverly luring out the villains and splitting them to take them on with different groups. The ultimate villain, AFO, was cornered by a large number of Pro Heroes, including Endeavor, Hawks, Earphone Jack, Tsukyomi, etc. While they were able to hold off against the monstrous AFO pretty well, Endeavor, as the no.1 pro hero, had to step up to solo him at the end.
Even after losing his hand, Endeavor, with his ever-burning spirit, stood up against AFO and did everything in his firepower to stop AFO right here. Tetsu Inada’s phenomenal performance embodied Endeavor’s unwavering will. The anime perfectly captured Endeavor’s final duty to put an end to AFO. However, despite all the incineration, AFO came back to life in his prime form with the new rewind drug. Nevertheless, it was enthralling to watch Endeavor go against AFO, and it is one of his best moments up to his fight against the Nomus.
4. Shoto Todoroki Vs. Dabi
The Todoroki family was haunted by their eldest son, whom they failed to raise better. The duty of stopping Dabi fell into the hands of the youngest, Shoto Todoroki. After their brief clash, the fiery brothers came for the showdown at Kamino. Dabi was ready to lose himself to exact revenge against his family, as seen when his blue flames burned brighter than ever. Dabi’s hatred and the intensity of his blue flames were so high that they felt tangible across the screens, thanks to the wonderful animation from Bones and Hiro Shimono’s unhinged voice acting performance.
As many fans may have already noted, this was more of an emotional fight between brothers rather than a display of strength. Bones Film was able to pull off both the emotional flashback sequences and Shoto’s ultimate moves (Flashfire Fist: Phosphor, Icebound Crash – Coldflame’s Pale Blade, and Great Glacial Aegir). Even after Dabi escaped, Bones adapted the final Todoroki family coming together to save Dabi from blasting off in the final war. As a result, the whole Todoroki saga had us in tears at the end of the final war.
3. Armored All Might Vs. All For One
All Might was the first hero in history to defeat All For One. Even though All Might emerged as the winner after their epic clash at the Kamino Ward, the embers of One For All vanished after the fight. A quirkless All Might couldn’t enter a battle scene after that until his final confrontation with his archnemesis in the final war. He was awarded a specially designed mechanical suit whose abilities were based on the quirks of his students from Class 1-A.
All Might’s final confrontation against AFO, who was in his prime form. Nevertheless, All Might put everything on line and became all out insane to hold off AFO. All Might’s utilization of all his students’ quirks to push AFO into a corner, and Hero Killer Stain helping his idol, everything played out on a great note in the anime with a Plus Ultra performance from the voice actors. Without a doubt, this battle went straight into the history books as one of the best fights in MHA.
2. Bakugo Vs. All For One
It wasn’t only Deku’s chance to shine in the final war, as his rival Katsuki Bakugo stole the spotlight by coming back from the dead and obliterating the ultimate villain in the final war. Deku was busy fighting Shigaraki, and his idol, All Might, was about to be murdered by AFO. That was when Katsuki Bakugo resurrected and rushed in to save his idol without any hesitation.
Katsuki Bakugo’s explosive fight against AFO is not just one of the best MHA episodes of all time, but also one of the best animated episodes of all time in anime history. Numerous veterans from the anime industry joined hands to set ablaze our screens as Bakugo annihilated AFO, and the villain was humiliated in his final moments. It would have been the best episode of the final season if not for the one that clinched the victory recently.
1. Deku vs. All For One and Shigaraki
Deku gave up his quirks one by one to put an end to the undying monster full of hatred that Shigaraki has become. But to everyone’s shock, All For One exploited this moment to come back into life by taking over Shigaraki’s body. It was he who had been puppeteering Shigaraki’s life right from his birth. Izuku, who had lost both his hands, was helpless at this point until all his friends, teachers, and heroes stepped in from the portal (very reminiscent of Avengers: End Game) to help Izuku for one last time.
Both the fans and characters in the series, basically everyone, were cheering, “You can do it, Izuku!” as Izuku finally defeated the ultimate evil with the help of his nakama. This winning moment was the culmination of a 10-year superhero journey of Deku in the MHA anime, and couldn’t have been done any better than this. With the staff releasing a special promo for the episode and every fan coming together to cheer for Deku, the final battle of MHA was undeniably a cultural event in the history of the series.
There is no denying that Kohei Horikoshi’s art in the MHA manga is one of the finest artworks you will ever see in a manga. Alongside it, the anime has effectively adapted the excellent source material and ingeniously expanded it in the final season. These are our picks for the best fights in MHA’s final war, and let us know your top 5 battles in the comments below.
