Tomura Shigaraki

The petulant, itching young leader of the group that storms the rescue-training facility, wrapped in severed hands and speaking as though the world were a game he intends to break. His touch disintegrates whatever his five fingers close on. Immature and easily discouraged, he is nonetheless dangerous because of the resources behind him and his single-minded aim of destroying the Symbol of Peace.

A gaunt, pale young man with a slouching posture and dry, cracked skin, Shigaraki has shaggy pale blue hair that hangs over his face and red irises with a perpetually hollow stare. His most striking feature is the collection of severed-looking hands he wears clamped over his body, with one gripping his face like a mask and others covering his shoulders, arms and chest. He dresses plainly in a dark coat, a plain shirt, jeans and boots, and he constantly scratches at his neck hard enough to leave raw marks. Nothing about him reads as a costumed supervillain; he looks like a sleepless, unwashed drifter.

Shigaraki is a study in arrested development: petulant, impatient and prone to tantrums the instant a plan does not go his way. He speaks in a flat, bored drawl, frames confrontations in the language of games and levels, and treats human lives as pieces to be cleared from a board. Beneath the whining lies genuine menace, because his casual cruelty is completely sincere; he destroys things and people without any visible emotional cost. He is obsessed with the symbol All Might represents and reasons that killing him would collapse society's faith in heroes. He also chafes at being managed, resenting correction from both his subordinate Kurogiri and the unseen benefactor who supplies him.

Little of Shigaraki's history is revealed during this stage of the story. He emerges already at the head of the League of Villains, an organization built around his stated intention to destroy the symbol of peace and the hero-centred society that grew up around him. He operates out of a shabby bar with the warp-Quirk user Kurogiri as his constant attendant and handler, and he answers to a shadowy patron who communicates through a screen and provides him with resources, information and specially engineered weapons. That patron supplied the artificial creature Nomu and the intelligence on U.A.'s schedule that makes his first major operation possible, suggesting Shigaraki was cultivated for this role rather than rising to it alone.

1. League of Villains Introduction

   Shigaraki is introduced in the League's hideout, complaining about the difficulty of reaching All Might and receiving instructions from a shadowy figure on a monitor. The scene establishes the League's structure: Shigaraki as the impatient front man, Kurogiri as his minder, and an unseen benefactor supplying the plan.

2. Invasion of the USJ

   Leading dozens of recruited villains through Kurogiri's warp gates, Shigaraki storms the Unforeseen Simulation Joint during Class 1-A's rescue training. He announces his intention to kill All Might in front of the students and orders the mob to scatter and slaughter the class, treating the operation as a game to be cleared.

3. Confrontation with Eraser Head

   When Shota Aizawa charges the mob alone, Shigaraki lets him exhaust himself before revealing that Aizawa's erasure cannot save him. He grabs the teacher's elbow and begins disintegrating it, then leaves Nomu to shatter Aizawa's limbs and face while he calmly comments on the outcome.

4. All Might versus Nomu

   Shigaraki sets Nomu on All Might, confident that its shock absorption makes the hero's strength useless. He is visibly rattled when All Might overwhelms and expels the creature, then throws himself and Kurogiri into a direct assault, only to be driven back by the arriving Pro Heroes.

5. Retreat from the USJ

   With reinforcements closing in and a bullet grazing him as he closes on Midoriya, Shigaraki abandons the attack and withdraws through Kurogiri's warp gate. He departs muttering about coming back, leaving the heroes aware that an organized force now exists with the explicit goal of killing the symbol of peace.

Kurogiri

Subordinate and handler

Kurogiri's warp Quirk makes the USJ operation possible, but he also functions as Shigaraki's minder, restraining his outbursts and reminding him of their patron's instructions when his temper threatens the plan.

All Might

Primary target

Shigaraki's entire strategy exists to kill All Might and shatter the idea of unshakable peace he embodies. Watching All Might defeat Nomu produces the only genuine shock he displays during the attack.

Nomu

Weapon and enforcer

An engineered creature supplied by his benefactor, built specifically to endure All Might's strength. Shigaraki treats it as a disposable trump card, deploying it without hesitation against students and teachers alike.

Shota Aizawa

Victim

Aizawa's solo charge earns Shigaraki's mocking respect before he begins disintegrating the teacher's arm and lets Nomu maim him, an act that demonstrates the League's willingness to cripple professionals.

Izuku Midoriya

Obstacle

Midoriya's intervention against Nomu draws Shigaraki's personal attention, and he lunges to grab the student's face before a sniper's shot forces him back, marking Midoriya in his memory.

• He opens the League's first strike by announcing at the USJ that he has come to kill the symbol of peace.
• He disintegrates part of Aizawa's arm with a single five-fingered grip.
• He watches in disbelief as All Might drives Nomu out of the facility despite its shock absorption.
• He nearly seizes Midoriya's face before being shot at and forced to retreat through a warp gate.
• He leaves the USJ vowing that the League will return.

• The hands covering his body and face are a defining visual signature, and one in particular is placed over his face.
• He compulsively scratches his neck, a nervous habit that leaves visible raw marks.
• He frequently uses video-game vocabulary to describe battles and objectives.
• He takes his orders from a figure seen only as a silhouette on a screen during this season.

• IIzuku Midoriya
• All Might
• KKatsuki Bakugo
• OOchaco Uraraka
• TTenya Iida
• Shota Aizawa

Back to the My Hero Academia (Season 1) guide