My Hero Academia is all about superheroes and their great deeds to keep the streets safe, and entire schools like the prestigious U.A. are dedicated to training the next generation of heroes. In the first-year class at U.A. are prominent students like Shoto Todoroki, son of Endeavor, but there are also notable students like Denki Kaminiari (a lightning user) and Hanta Sero (who can make tape).
Major characters like Shoto and Katsuki Bakugo aren't the only ones who are thrilling to watch in a fight. Every last student in class 1-A is serious about becoming a real hero and should not be overlooked. Let's see who would win in a fight between these two supporting characters, Denki or Hanta.
10 DENKI: Stun Power
Denki is not the first lightning user to appear in the world of shonen. There's also the likes of Laxus Dreyar, the Lightning Dragon slayer, not to mention the rogue Sasuke Uchiha. What do they have in common? They can use their powers to stun their enemies.
Lightning can cause burn damage, but it can also disrupt the opponent's gross motor systems and reduce their mobility and coordination. This can give a lightning user like Denki an edge during battle.
9 HANTA: Long Range
Meanwhile, Hanta Sero can't stun people with his own Quirk, but then again, he can reach pretty far with it. His Quirk allows him to eject long streams of thick, wide tape out of his elbows, and he can launch it pretty far during battle.
Hanta is hardly a sniper, but he can capture targets from afar with his Quirk if he aims just right, giving him more reach than a number of his fellows in class 1-A. Denki's lightning, on its own, can't go that far without some assistance (more on that soon).
8 DENKI: Using Gadgets To Aim
Ordinarily, Denki can only launch his Quirk's lightning so far. It tends to have only a moderate range in exchange for covering a wide area, meaning Denki has to get somewhat close to his target to hit them with his lightning. But not for long.
Denki is one of several student heroes who received a helpful gadget from Mei Hatsume the tinkerer. In this case, Denki got a wrist-mounted device that can aim his lightning and focus it, meaning it can hit a target with great precision. That was a major upgrade.
7 HANTA: Swinging Around
Some Quirks produce solid materials, such as Shoto's ice or Minoru Mineta's pop-off spheres, and that also includes Hanta Sero's elbow tape. He can eject this tape and attach it to nearby objects of great height, allowing him to swing around.
This gives Hanta a great deal of mobility, without having Tenya Iida's running power or Shoto's ice-skating technique. Denki, by contrast, has no real options for advanced mobility like this. He has to stand in place.
6 DENKI: Area Of Effect
As mentioned earlier, if Denki is not using Mei Hatsume's gadgets to aim his Quirk's electricity, then his Quirk will naturally discharge all over the place, surrounding him. This Quirk naturally trades accuracy and focus for sheer coverage during battle.
In some combat situations, that coverage is actually preferred since Denki can hit many enemies at once without needing to aim. Alternatively, he can use it to hit a fast-moving enemy who gets too close to him. Denki can aim, but in some cases, he doesn't need to.
5 HANTA: Initiative
Some of the student heroes in class 1-A have more initiative than others, and having a brave, can-do attitude can make all the difference. Katsuki Bakugo is well-known for taking charge of a situation, and Hanta Sero isn't afraid to act, either.
Denki tends to hesitate when a battle starts, but Hanta Sero doesn't. Instead, he will aim those elbows and start launching tape, and he doesn't feel the need to announce his presence, either. Even when facing the formidable Shoto Todoroki, Hanta won't hesitate for a second. That's a good trait for a hero.
4 DENKI: Using Metal And Water
This doesn't happen often in the anime, but in theory, Denki has a formidable advantage if he is fighting an enemy near water or conductive metals. His Quirk behaves just like natural electricity, and some materials conduct electricity well.
If Denki gets resourceful, he can extend the reach of his Quirk by using it on metal pipes, rods, or railings, and if he lures his enemy into a body of water, he can zap them with utter impunity. Urban battlefields should provide opportunities like these.
3 HANTA: Binding Targets
Sero's Quirk has very little hitting power; no one was ever knocked out by getting slapped with tape of any size or shape. But then again, Sero's sticky tape is useful for binding objects together, or for trapping enemies. He can bind the target's arms or legs together, or even other appendages such as wings or a tail.
What is more, Sero has the option of binding his target, then swinging them around on a long strand of tape to slam them against a wall or toss them far away. That's what he tried to do against Shoto Todoroki in the U.A. sports festival.
2 DENKI: Moderating His Power
If Denki uses all of his Quirk's power all at once, then he leaves himself vulnerable to a counter-attack. His Quirk is a strong one, but draining all of his electric energy will leave him weak and confused, to the point where he can no longer think straight. Everyone has seen Denki's goofy face.
The good news is that Denki knows his limits, and he can moderate the use of his Quirk in battle, especially if he has his gadget to aim limited blasts of it at a time. Only if he panics will he use up all his power at once.
1 WINNER: Denki Kaminari
It's a battle of lightning vs tape, and Denki has not all, but most of the advantages. Hanta Sero will likely strike first and try to bind up Denki before throwing him against the wall to knock him out. But not so fast: Denki can burn away the tape with his lightning to free himself.
Sero has the edge with mobility, swinging around on that tape of his like Tarzan. Denki, however, can fill the entire battlefield with his Quirk, and no matter where Sero is, he'll get hit. Not even barriers of tape will protect him from the serious offensive power of Denki's Quirk, and he'll inevitably get stunned into submission. Denki may not be a genius, but his Quirk hits hard. Izuku himself realized that early on.