One of the most popular shonen action anime series out there is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which has a combat system based on alchemy and the Philosopher's Stone. Alchemists can use transmutation circles to modify the matter around them, such as breaking down walls, extending spikes from the ground, gathering iron from the earth to make weapons, and much more. Alchemy can, in short, rearrange and reconfigure any matter.
Edward Elric is the star, and he and his brother Alphonse can actually use alchemy without even needing transmutation circles. Ed is also a nimble martial artist and is very crafty and resourceful in battle. But can he take on heroes from other anime series, like My Hero Academia? There are some characters whom Ed can defeat, but others would overwhelm him with their quirks. Let's review the matchups.
10 Can Defeat: Momo Yaoyorozu
Momo has a quirk that is roughly similar to the creation aspect of alchemy. With lipids in her body as fuel, Momo can create nonliving objects, which emerge from her exposed skin. She can even make functioning electronic devices in this manner.
This makes her a great support hero, but she has no chance against Edward, who can dismantle anything she makes with a touch. If that weren't enough, Edward has agility, speed, and martial arts training on his side, and Momo has no such skills. At least, not on Ed's level.
9 Can't Defeat: Inasa Yoarashi
A student at the prestigious Shiketsu High School, Inasa Yoarashi can create powerful gales with his quirk, like a human hurricane. But it's not just blunt strength; he can also create and control many fine air currents at once.
Inasa has mastered his quirk, and his gales will allow him to stay out of Ed's range in a fight and blow away any projectiles that Ed flings at him. At some point, Inasa will find the right angle to throw Ed against a wall and knock him right out.
8 Can Defeat: Yuga Aoyama
This princely boy is a support hero, since his quirk, Navel Laser, is best used at medium to long-range instead of knife range. Yuga's laser, like Cyclops' beams, uses blunt force and doesn't actually apply heat to its targets.
Yuga is no good in a duel, though, and his constitution is limited. If he were to fight Edward Elric, his laser zaps would get blocked with barriers made from alchemy, and Ed would get in close and knock Yuga right out.
7 Can't Defeat: Cementoss
Cementoss is a teacher at UA, meaning he's a man who truly knows what it means to be a hero. His strength is formidable, and he knows how to analyze his opponents and find a way to neutralize their strategies.
His concrete creation quirk is like alchemy, and it is both rapid and strong. Cementoss would engage Edward in a battle of attrition, and no doubt crush Ed's own alchemy creations and squish him under the great weight of all that concrete.
6 Can Defeat: Mineta Minoru
Mineta is widely reviled due to his personality, but at least he's a decent student. His quirk is Pop Off, meaning he can rapidly create and fling about very sticky spheres that can adhere to flesh and nonliving surfaces alike. He can also jump off of them like tiny trampolines.
This is a flexible and useful quirk, but if Mineta used it against Edward, then Ed can just use alchemy to dissolve whatever surface the Pop Off spheres are stuck to. This will neutralize Mineta's entire plan, and Ed can get close and beat him, hand to hand.
5 Can't Defeat: Midnight
Midnight is a hero teacher like Cementoss, and she has a straightforward but very useful quirk. She can emit vapors from her skin that can put anyone to sleep if they inhale it, and this effect is most potent on men.
If Midnight clashed with Edward, she can use this to fill the entire battlefield, and Ed will run out of breath sooner or later. Once he takes even a slight breath, he'll pass right out, and his alchemy won't do him any good then.
4 Can Defeat: Eijiro Kirishima
This boy's quirk allows him to harden his skin like metal, which makes him a highly effective human shield. Eijiro also has some martial arts skills, and his quirk means he always has a pair of brass knuckles on hand for a good old fashioned scrap.
In a fight against Edward, Eijiro could smash Ed's barriers the way he smashed Cementoss's own barriers, but Ed can use alchemy to trap Eijiro's arms and legs to a wall or the ground, and Eijiro doesn't have the strength to break free. His fists hit hard, but if they're stuck in place, he's doomed.
3 Can't Defeat: Hitoshi Shinso
His martial arts skills are limited, but Hitoshi Shinso can end a battle before it begins if things go his way. His quirk is a psychic one, and it can control the mind of anyone who answers a spoken question of his.
Edward is fairly excitable and likes to talk, so if he fought Shinso, he'd likely answer a question or two and fall under Shinso's spell. Then, Shinso could make Ed do anything, from merely walk away to slash his own throat with his right arm's blade.
2 Can Defeat: Itsuka Kendo
Itsuka Kendo is the class representative of UA's class 1-B, and she is the big sister type that her classmates urgently need. In battle, she can deliver a beating with her oversized hands, courtesy of her quirk.
That's not going to work against Edward Elric, though. Even if Itsuka can smash Ed's barriers and block his projectiles, she may end up with her feet trapped in the ground once Edward decides to aim a little lower. While she's preoccupied with that, Ed can create long earth spikes that impale her from behind, or just hit her head with a rock.
1 Can't Defeat: Ms. Joke
There are many hero schools aside from UA and Shiketsu, and that includes Ketsubutsu, where the hero known as Ms. Joke teaches. She is fond of her students and has a well-toned physique, too. She's not afraid of a fistfight.
Against Edward, though, it won't even come to that. Ms. Joke's quirk allows her to inflict great humor on a target, and render them helpless as they laugh their heads off. Ms. Joke would do that to Ed, and while he's rolling on the ground laughing, Ms. Joke could almost literally roflstomp him.