And it makes sense. They have the most screen time and are more or less the most powerful characters in the show. However, there are quite a few MHA characters that go under the radar despite having a lot of potential. And that’s what we’re looking into here: the most underrated characters in the show.
10. Ryuko Tsuchikawa
I’m going to start things off with Pixie-Bob as she does get some credit in the show. But I honestly think that she should be in the uppermost echelon of hero society. After all, her Quirk is way more powerful than people realize. Being that she can precisely control the earth over quite a long-range – Pixie-Bob has the destructive power of a one-woman army. We’ve seen the students battle her earth beasts for hours on end, with Pixie appearing to barely lose any breath over the ordeal. So, I think it’s safe to say that she wasn’t even close to using her full potential. And since she controlled so many creatures and covered an entire forest, what’s stopping her from laying siege to entire towns in this way? Sure, the earth beasts aren’t all that sturdy – but we’ve seen what Twice was able to accomplish with a remarkably similar setup.
9. Shihai Kuroiro
If there was no honor code and heroes were allowed to play dirty, Shihai would be quite the threat. After all, (since he isn’t walking around naked after using his Quirk) I’m pretty sure he can carry some extra equipment while sneaking around. To be more precise, he can just carry a gun and shoot people from the shadows. Not only is he hard to spot but he’s also really fast – so retaliation would be rather difficult. Plus, we’ve seen him possess things that are dark in color (Dark Shadow) so he hypothetically could also just control black cars or other vehicles to become even more elusive. And even if all that failed, he’s so useful for gathering information that he’d be a valuable asset anyway.
8. Emi Fukukado
Ms. Joke is heavily underutilized if you ask me. After all, she can basically hard CC entire groups of villains with little to no counterplay. We already know that most Quirks demand a certain amount of concentration – but that immediately goes out the window if you’re laughing your butt off. And considering she has to wear a special mask when in public (at least most of the time) so that she doesn’t affect everyone around her – it’s safe to assume her Quirk has a decent range and can’t be easily avoided. All of this is to say that combining Ms. Joke with any hero (or even policeman) would be enough to take out 90% of villains. We live in a society.
7. Geten
Okay, in the show Geten definitely comes off as pretty strong. However, I still think they didn’t do him justice. This is because this dude is extremely busted – especially if you give him some prep time. For example, if any hero ever goes on a boat and Geten decides to attack it – there’s no way anyone aside from Geten is getting out alive. We’ve already seen him control ice on a huge scale as well as turn thousands of gallons of water into ice immediately. So, if there’s enough water to go around, he easily outscales someone like Todoroki (who’s a bit above building level). And don’t even get me started on the concept of Geten simply freezing the water that’s inside of you – because he basically becomes a god at that point. Overall, the show does acknowledge his power but realistically he should easily crack the top-three category for the entire show (and be a main villain).
6. Sludge Villain
This guy is so underrated that he doesn’t even have a name. However, I think he could’ve easily been a powerful and relevant villain. Let me walk you through my reasoning. We already know two things about this guy. We know that he can fit entirely inside of a water bottle. And we know that he can force his sludge into your body and control it from within. All I’m saying is that he’d make for quite the assassin. Hide a bit of sludge in a bottle or a faucet, get into the target’s mouth, and immediately crush the lungs from within. Bada bim, bada boom. And realistically 99% of heroes don’t have a way of defending themselves once the sludge is already inside of them. Not to mention that most of them can’t even hit the villain because he’s entirely made up of liquid.
5. Soramitsu Tabe
If this guy ever faced Kirishima, the show would lose its PG rating really quickly. After all, from everything we’ve seen in the show, he should be able to just bite his head off with little to no difficulty. In fact, I think he could do in quite a few heroes – as no one really expects you to go for their head with a bite. Especially when you take into account for quick Soramitsu is. Because if you can keep up with the Big Three, you’re probably outperforming most everyday heroes. Not to mention that he could probably eat through the ground and just build a tunnel in which he can wait until an unsuspecting victim walks overhead. I’m not saying that he’s the most powerful villain in the show – but I think he’s way more powerful than the show gives him credit for.
4. Ken Ishiyama
Cementoss should be called for every major fight. I say that because his Quirk is just oppressive when fighting in a city. He can create giant cement walls within a second (as we’ve seen in the Deku vs Todoroki fight) and can keep going for quite a while (as seen when he’s training Sato and Kirishima). And realistically speaking, aside from Todoroki and maybe Overhaul, most villains wouldn’t be able to deal with Cementoss. All he has to do is stand a safe distance away and just spam giant cement walls until the enemy either passes out from exhaustion or gets smushed. Not to mention that he could also just create a hole underneath the enemy and stop their movements instantly (at least I don’t see why he couldn’t do such a thing). When everything’s said and done, Cementoss should easily body a huge majority of villains.
3. Mustard
Realistically speaking, Mustard could end quite a few life subscriptions if he put a bit more thought into his plans. For example, why gas up an entire forest where people can easily run away? Why not instead get gas into a ventilation system inside of a building and kill everyone silently? Plus, if you do it inside of a city, you have quite a few hostages to take, and the heroes can’t simply blow your smoke in a different direction. Also, if he releases smaller puffs of gas (not that kind) and used them to survey a room or building, he could get a lot of useful information without ever getting in harm’s way. The forest was probably the worst fighting ground for this character and he definitely could’ve done a lot more with just a bit of planning.
2. Nezu
Do you remember in the provisional hero license exam arc when that chick Saiko used hew IQ Quirk to nearly take out Momo, Tsuyu, Mezo, and Kyoka? Well, Nezu basically has this Quirk active at all times and for some reason, no one’s talking about it! Like seriously, we’ve seen what the mouse man can do! He orchestrated elaborate traps, predicting perfectly where Kaminari and Ashido would go. So why don’t hero groups take Nezu along and just have him create the most perfect 300 IQ plans for them to execute? He’s obviously way smarter than anyone else in the show (with that literally being his Quirk and all). And yet all he does is sit behind a desk and ponder over who the U.A. traitor is. Seriously, get your head in the game and abuse the IQ diff!
1. Koji Koda
The thing that annoys me with Koji is that he refuses to take full advantage of his power. He always summons the most harmless powers one can think of and then wonders why he wasn’t of more help. For example, we’ve seen him summon bugs before. But why the hell does he not summon poisonous bugs or spiders? Realistically, it wouldn’t actually kill the criminal but they’d be forced into a hospital and could easily be arrested. Or why doesn’t he summon bears or boars? He has both in Japan and they can easily tear up limbs in a fight. Sure, it’s not very heroic but it would stop the bad guys! Even in terms of surveillance, he doesn’t use his power nearly enough! Why didn’t he send a few flies or mice into the Hassaikai headquarters to gather more extensive info? The dude has some real potential but the writers simply refuse to use him in clever (and sometimes brutal) ways, which makes him seem way weaker than he realistically is.
