The clashes between heroes and villains in My Hero Academia are not just a show of strength. They are also clashes of ideals and the protection of social order. Kohei Horikoshi, the creator of this masterpiece, made a point of presenting a list of antagonists whose motivations are as complex as those of the protagonists they oppose.

Some of them are products of the broken society the heroes are trying to uphold. Others were failed by their families, leading them down paths they wouldn’t have originally taken in an attempt to get revenge or make some kind of change in the world, even if it’s not right for them to take matters into their own hands. With that in mind, here are some of the My Hero Academia villains who are right.

4 Jin Bubaigawara

A victim of his individuality

Jin, popularly known as Twice, was forced into this life of crime by his quirk, which allows him to create duplicates of himself and anything else. He had opposing personalities that manifested when he made clones of himself due to his OSDD, which only stopped when he put on a mask. A certain conflict with his clones left him unsure if he was the original. This plunged him into an identity crisis that reshaped his personality and led him to villainy.

Jin suffered an unhappy life before becoming a villain. He lost his loved ones, his home, and his job. There was almost no way for him to return to his normal life because of the multiple personalities roaming around in his head. He took the League of Villains as his family, as they were the ones who took him in when he had no one else. He risked his life to protect Himiko Toga, which earned him the respect of Hawks, a high-ranking pro hero.

3 As

Ignored and emotionally abused by his father

Dabi, originally known as Toya Todoroki, is a victim of the cruel upbringing that comes with being Endeavor's son. Endeavor groomed Dabi from a young age and filled his head with dreams of surpassing All Might and becoming the number one hero. Dabi took his training very seriously and didn't mind getting hurt and burned, despite his father's warnings. After the birth of Shoto, who possessed the quirk he lacked, Endeavor began to ignore Dabi. Dabi then continued to push the boundaries of safety and injure himself in training every day, hoping to gain praise and attention from his father.

Dabi eventually lost control after evolving his quirk and burning himself, which resulted in a three-year coma. Finding out that his father still didn't care about him when he woke up broke him and he rejected the name his father gave him. He then dedicated his life to being a cold-hearted villain with the goal of ruining his father's name and making him go through all the suffering he had to go through as a child.

2 Shigaraki Tomura

Obsessed with destroying the society that hurt him

Like most villains My Hero Academia, Shigaraki Tomura is the product of a broken society, and more specifically, a broken family. Tomura has no regard for human life, and this stems from the abuse he received from his father and his own loneliness as a child. The itch he feels represents the desire to kill someone or destroy something. Tomura's goal at the beginning of the series was to kill the Symbol of Justice, All Might's Number One Hero. This is not because he has any personal grudge, but because he wishes to see the society that failed him crumble. Killing All Might is a surefire way to achieve his goals.

The broken state of his society had spawned many villains and ignored the suffering of many children. Heroes seemed to heed only the pleas of the privileged. After All Might's retirement, Shigaraki decided that the ruined society would not be enough. He grew to hate everything that breathed, and decided that only the destruction and subsequent resurrection of the social order under his rule could serve as atonement for the pain he had suffered.

1 Hero Killer Stain

Cleansing society of false heroes who are not pure in heart

Hero Killer Stain is one of the first names that comes to mind when everyone thinks of an anime villain with an understandable motive. He seemed to be a cruel and maniacal killer who killed heroes for no reason but tried to cleanse society in his own twisted way. Stain was killing fake heroes who became heroes for the sake of fame, status, and money, and didn't care about saving people. He doesn't blindly attack every hero. He was reluctant to go after Tenya Iida until the latter angered him and revealed that he was out for revenge, which Stain saw as a selfish reason for using his quirk.

All Might and Deku are the only heroes to receive his praise due to their overwhelming selflessness and willingness to put themselves at risk for the safety of others. Stain is not a mindless killer, despite his extreme beliefs and actions. This is evidenced by the number of instances in which he chose to help the heroes and All Might, including in the Final War.