All Might Just Had His Best Episode of ‘My Hero Academia’ Yet

One of the core elements of My Hero Academia has always been All Might. Standing as the Symbol of Peace in the series, he’s been a point of idolization by Midoriya and the rest of the world.

But the latest episode of the series had All Might‘s greatest showing to date as he finally put his status as Symbol of Peace to the test in the fierce battle with All For One.

After Episode 48, All Might began to weaken as his injury was pushing his body to its limits. All For One then unleashes another attack, which completely reveals All Might’s weakened form to the world. Everyone is confused by this, but even as the world began crumbling around him All Might refused to give up.

When All For One boosts his right arm with the power of several quirks, mutating it into a beastly form, All Might stands to defend a woman behind him anyway. Remember what his master had taught him about what it takes to be a symbol of peace, he decides to put his literal all into one more attack.

After clashing with All For One, All Might is able to successfully land a fully power punch despite his weakened form. This punch then gives him enough of a window for a counterattack as All Might delivers a powerful “United States of Smash” to completely defeat All For One. People cheered him on from the sidelines, and he managed to be a symbol one last time as he also proclaims that he won’t die until he’s taught Midoriya everything he needs to know about One For All.

Defeating All For One, All Might stands fully powered, with his fist raised, as a way of saying “it’s over.” It just goes to show how central of a figure All Might is in this world that even after everyone sees his sickly body, they still believe in the hero’s victory. And in this moment, All Might successfully cements himself as a true symbol of herodom that Midoriya will one day need to surpass.

For those unfamiliar with the My Hero Academia juggernaut, the series was created by Kohei Horikoshi and has been running in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump since July 2014. The story follows Izuku Midoriya, who lives in a world where everyone has super powers but he was born without them. Dreaming to become a superhero anyway, he’s eventually scouted by the world’s best hero All Might and enrolls in a school for professional heroes. The series has been collected into 15 volumes so far, and has been licensed by Viz Media for an English language release since 2015.

My Hero Academia‘s first movie, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, is scheduled to open August 3 in Japan, but will hold a special World Premiere at Anime Expo 2018. The film is expecting to hits U.S. theaters this Fall. The film will cover a story not seen in the original manga with series creator Horikoshi noting that, “Of course the movie will be filled with Class A’s great efforts, that character’s past that hasn’t been in the manga yet, flashy action scenes, and much more.” The film also previously revealed its first key visual depicting a character fans have never seen before, and a trailer revealing an All Might in his prime.