My Hero Academia: How Will Dabi Be Defeated?

My Hero Academia‘s Final War Arc is now here, and the series has to answer the big question a lot of fans have wanted to know since the beginning: how will Dabi be defeated? Even before it was confirmed that Dabi was the fallen member of the Todoroki family (Toya), the League of Villain’s firebug clearly had a quirk that would make him a direct threat to the more elemental characters in the series. However, after everything we’ve come to learn about Dabi, his history, and his Joker-level penchant for mayhem, there is a definite way this story NEEDS to end. 

Obviously, Dabi’s final story and final battle have to be with his own family. It’s just the mechanics of that fight that are being left to question. The story of Endeavor (Japan’s new No. 1 hero) and his family has been running through My Hero Academia all along and has definitely been a fan-favorite arc. There’s a Shakespearean-level drama to it, which started from the myopic viewpoint of Shoto Todoroki learning to embrace his estranged father’s fiery gifts – and not just his broken mother’s ice powers. From there, we got to know Endeavor as a much more complex character, as he stepped into the spotlight as the new no. 1 hero, following All Might’s retirement. That expansion extended to the whole Todoroki family during the Work Study Arc, as Izuku Midiroiya and Bakugo got to know Shoto, Endeavor, and their larger family more intimately. Finally, the First War Arc revealed that Toya/Dabi was more than a ruthless psycho-pyro: he’s also a twistedly sadistic mastermind, who literally broke hero society with the reveal of his true origins to all of Japan. 

With all that on the table, it seems like the final battle could take the themes and motifs that Kohei Horikoshi has built up in one of several ways: 

First, there’s the scenario where Shoto and Endeavor defeated Dabi – in whatever form that “defeat” takes (capture, kill, etc.). It could be that Endeavor and Shoto working together gets the job done, with all the symbolism of them healing their rift and Shoto finally becoming the ideal Endeavor hoped for, etc. It could also just as easily be Endeavor’s karma to have to suffer some great injury or even lay down his life to protect Shoto long enough for the youngest Todoroki to take down the eldest. Endeavor’s penance and Shoto’s rise is something that would arguably appease fans the most. 

Then again, this is My Hero Academia, a series where it’s been made clear that punch-em-up heroics aren’t always viewed as the answer. Izuku Midoriya set out to redeem his archnemesis Shigaraki from All For One’s evil: Shoto and/or Endeavor may ultimately seek to “redeem” Dabi as well, rather than “defeat” him in the tradtitional sense. There’s been enough drama in the entire Todoroki family saga to have a twist like Dabi’s mother Rei show up and be the one to stop “Dabi” would hit fans in the heart in a deep way. 

How do you think My Hero Academia will bring Dabi’s story to a close? Let us know in the comments!