My Hero Academia: What is All For One’s Real Plan?

My Hero Academia‘s big War Arc has left big questions on the table in regards to where the series is heading next. We’ve already broken down the question of what the new reveals about Izuku Midoriya’s One For All power means, now let’s talk about OFA’s villain counterpart: All For One. During the war it was revealed that there are two versions of the AFO quirk in Tomura Shigaraki and All For One the man – and that connection lets All For One forcibly take possession of Shigaraki’s physical form. Now All For One is about launch an ambitious new attack, and we have one big question to ask:

What is All For One’s real plan for the world of My Hero Academia?

At first, All For One seemed like a pretty straightforward and simple villain: he relentlessly pursued his dead brother’s quirk, One For All, as it was passed down from user to subsequent user. Along the way, All For One stole quirks to both compile power, and secure durability and longevity. The Rise of All Might set All For One back in a big way, as the villain leader suffered grave, disfiguring injuries. After their rematch at the Battle of Kamino, All For One has been locked away in Tartarus Prison.

…Until now.

The epilogue of the War Arc has been laid out in My Hero Academia manga chapter 296. The ramifications of the hero/villain war have been far-reaching and deep, as major heroes and villains have died, and the core beliefs of the series’ hero society have been fractured. Average people are no longer even sure that heroes are as noble as they’re supposed to be, thanks to dark secrets of the top Pro Heroes (Endeavor and Hawks) coming to light.

The final scene of My Hero Academia‘s Paranormal Liberation War Arc reveals All For One in Tartarus prison, claiming the war may not have gone as expected, but still was effective for his plan. Using Shigaraki’s body and a gang of Intelligent Nomu, All For One is about to free his original body from prison.

…But to what end?

If All For ONe succeeds in freeing his body, does his consciousness go back to that body alone? Or will he have Shigaraki’s body and his own to command? We knew that All For One had made Shigaraki his protege, but now it seems more like Tomura was being both groomed and experimented on to be a vessel for All For One, more so than a successor.

Now that Shigaraki’s body and powers have been freakishly enhanced, and he has the original AFO quirk, it’s a perfect time for All For One to get a new lease on life, in a younger body. It would be the ultimate revenge: All For One would defile the grandson of his old foe Nana Shimura; overcome his injuries from All Might, while All Might’s body slowly falls apart; with a whole new (and more powerful) generation of quirks to steal.

Indeed, it seems more and more that beating death and becoming the ultimate superpowered god may have been All For One’s endgame all along.

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