My Hero Academia Reveals the Real History Behind Decay

For every good hero, there is normally a good villain who is challenging them and such is very true for My Hero Academia. As the final arc continues in the shonen superhero’s manga, readers have been given the chance to learn more about the origin of Shigaraki as the war for Hero Society’s future heats up. Unfortunately for Shigaraki, the revealed answers aren’t ones that he was looking to discover and they certainly throw Izuku Midoriya for a loop as well.

Warning. If you have yet to read the latest chapter of My Hero Academia’s manga, Chapter 419, be forewarned that this article will be diving into massive spoiler territory. As revealed in this recent installment, Shigaraki received his Quirk from All For One, changing the course of his life forever. Considering the hatred that All For One had for Shigaraki’s grandmother, Nana Shimura, it should come as no surprise that the villain was looking to carve out a path of revenge from behind the scenes. Shigaraki was originally set to have a very different Quirk when he was born, but All For One took that from him and replaced it with “Decay”.

Shigaraki’s Decaying Origins Revealed

What made this Quirk swap all the more insidious was that All For One had altered the decaying powers, whereas they originally also had the ability to reconstruct whatever they destroyed. As All For One continues to take over the mind and body of his protege, he insidiously discusses how he had always been pulling the strings from the shadows, 

“Foolish Tenko Shimura. Such a pure credulous, superego, a soft simpleton unable to relinquish his cretinous life! Benefiting from my guidance every step of the way, yet amounting to nothing! As I mentioned, not a single one of your choices has been your own. I had to make you think that, or else your strength of will would have been stunted. It was crucial to twist around your illusion of free will.”

On top of swapping Shigaraki’s powers, All For One was shown in the latest chapter having regular contact with Tenko’s father. In planting the seeds in Shigaraki’s dad, the perfect environment was created for Tenko to become the villain that we know today. While Shigaraki has always seemed as if redemption would escape him, perhaps these new circumstances might show that there is light at the end of the tunnel as My Hero Academia’s final arc pushes forward.

Do you think Shigaraki might aid the heroes before the shonen series ends? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of UA Academy.