My Hero Academia Teases Shigaraki's Next Big Onslaught

08/11/2020 05:52 pm EDT

My Hero Academia's "Meta Liberation War" arc has been a tense chess game between the pro heroes and the League of Villain's new army. The villains planned a major terrorist strike across Japan, and the heroes countered by launching an ambitious surprise attack on the villains' secret lair. The villains then gained the upper hand when All For One and his disciple Dr. Ujiko achieved their long-term plan to transform Tomura Shigaraki into the ultimate weapon, but the heroes fearlessly countered by attacking Shigaraki head-on, and bringing him to submission. However, even though Shigaraki is down, he's not yet out - in fact, it looks like his next big attack is about to be unleashed!

Warning - My Hero Academia manga SPOILERS Follow!

In chapter 280 of My Hero Academia's manga, the secondary pro hero squad and Class 1-A recruits are busy dealing with the rampage of Gigantomachia, who has been called in to rescue his boss, Shigaraki. That face-off is a pretty thrilling showdown (that sees Class 1-A step up in a big way), but it all leads back to one place: the showdown with Shigaraki.

Last we saw, Izuku Midoriya, Bakugo, and Pro Heroes like Endeavor and Eraser Head had used their combined efforts to de-power Shigaraki and blast him hard enough to put him down.

My Hero Academia chapter 280 ends with the scene cutting back from the fight against the Gigantomachia, to show where things stand with Shigaraki. Endeavor is standing over the downed leader of the Paranormal Liberation Front, telling him: "It's over Tomura Shigaraki. Gather up all the power you like! But without ideals, your hollow destruction will never bring us down!"

However, as stated, Shigaraki is down, but he is not out of the fight. With his new powers and enhanced body, Shigaraki took the full might of Endeavor, Bakugo, and Midoriya (with his powers canceled by Aizawa), and is still in one piece. The final panel of the manga shows Shigaraki starting up some kind of devastating counter-attack while offering a stark counterpoint to Endeavor - with a personal swipe at the No. 1 hero's personal life:

"You heroes hurt your own families, just to help complete strangers! Dad told me that. You want ideals? I've got 'em! I've had em."

Indeed, the "Meta Liberation War" arc of My Hero Academia has features the major subplot of Tomura Shigaraki truly embracing his own identity and ideals. Shigaraki no longer fears the monster he is, nor is satisfied with simply being All For One's disciple. Now that he has boosted disintegration powers, the vast arsenal of All For One and its stolen powers, and a body enhanced to be as strong as All Might, Shigaraki's next attack could wipe out some major hero characters for good.

...Oh, and he still has Overhaul's quirk-canceling bullets, too.

My Hero Academia is in production on season 5 of the anime. Online chapters of the manga can be found HERE.

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