Ever since their inception, heroes have donned costumes that separate them from their regular identities and the crowd as a whole. As such, hero costumes have become a staple that is integral to the characters. This sacred tradition is not only witnessed in western comics, however, as manga and anime have long since been producing their own superheroes with amazing costume designs that can compete with some of the most classical superheroes.

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Among those mangas and animes is My Hero Academia. Horikoshi's series features vast amounts of heroes and villains, and the author never passes up the opportunity to show his design capabilities in his character creation. In appreciation for all the amazing hero costumes in the MHA universe, here are 5 amazing hero costumes and 5 villains who have outdone them.

10 Hero Costume: Edgeshot

edgeshot the ninja hero making a hand jutsu in my hero academia

While the Hero Billboard Chart event showed a host of amazing Pro Hero costumes, the number 5 hero's costume was still one of the more interesting among them.

The Ninja Hero's costume is more than fitting for his hero title as it looks like that of a traditional ninja. The costume's overall color scheme is red and blue which stands in sharp contrast against his sharp white hair. The costume is full of many details which easily makes it among the best including the golden mask hanging off his shoulder, the belt design, and his face mask.

9 Villain Costume: Nine

Introduced in My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising, Nine's costume is more futuristic-looking in comparison to others'.

The villain's attire consists of a simple lilac blazer and pants, but beneath those two he sports a full-body suit running from his neck and extending to his feet. His face is additionally covered by a black mask that obscures his face from his nose down. If you look closely, you'll also notice two cylinders of the same color scheme protruding from his shoulder. Overall, the costume looks sleek in its black tones contrasted by the bright suit; an image fitting for the movie's main antagonist.

8 Hero Costume: Katsuki Bakugo

Bakugo smiling

An important part of a hero's costume is that it is reflective of their character in order to give off the right impression to civilians, and few costumes come as close to accomplishing that as Bakugo's.

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Bakugo's costume design clearly exhibits his explosive quirk and personality in its usage of grenade shaped gauntlets and the flares protruding from his mask. In addition to being aesthetically fitting, the costume is very practical as the grenade gauntlets can be used to store up his sweat in order to make for bigger explosions. Other useful details of his costume include the grenades hanging off his belt as well as knee-high combat boots that feature a metallic guard at the kneecaps.

7 Villain Costume: Tomura Shigaraki

My Hero Academia Shigaraki with head tilted.

Another piece of costume design that might be a bit too on the nose is that of the main villain and League of Villains' leader: Shigaraki. Shigaraki's attire started off as rather simplistic but steadily evolved in design with the most recent design featuring him in a suit. The key element of Tomura's costume design, however, lays in the hands clinging to him and covering his face.

His original costume featured 14 hands, all of which belonged to a real human that suffered a bad fate at Shigaraki's own hands. This part of his costume is fitting despite being morbid when viewed in light of his quirk which depends on his hands making contact with others. The majority of those hands are later discarded or destroyed, but Shigaraki does keep the one covering his face which he calls "Father" - a name indicative of its origin.

6 Hero Costume: Snipe

While we don't get to see much of this hero outside of USJ and the final exam arc, his costume is hard to forget even among other heroes'.

The UA teacher's costume is similar to that of a classical, old school cowboy which matches his gun-slinging quirk. The most notable details of the costume includes a red cloak, a signature cowboy hat with an S insignia in a metallic plate, and a peculiar gas mask. The latter is shaped more like a horse muzzle in combination with a world war 2 gas mask. Overall, Snipe's costume is fit for a new blockbuster western as well as everyday heroism.

5 Villain Costume: Shin Nemoto

While the cowboy costume is impressive in its own right, there's another costume among the villains which matches with a period's stereotypical attire far better.

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While Overhaul's villain costume might steal the spotlight as a more liberal rendition of a plague doctor's mask look, one of his underlings pulls off a far more accurate look of the plague doctor. With jet black cape and pants coupled further with a hat reminiscent of plague physicians, Shin's outfit is easily among the best of the Eight Bullets.

4 Hero Costume: Tenya Iida

While Tenya's costume is extremely similar to his brother's, there is still a difference between the two which makes the young Iida's costume better.

Iida's costume design is comparable to that of a medieval white knight, but its practical features such as the engine pipe found in his arms and boots which give off a more futuristic look. Beyond looking cool, the armor serves as a means of decreasing air-resistance and is in fact quite light-weight. Overall, the new Ingenium's costume design makes for one mechanized white knight which civilians are sure to admire after his hero debut.

3 Villain Costume: Gentle Criminal

Gentle Criminal in My Hero Academia

Where Iida's costume stands as the perfect image of a white knight, Gentle Criminal's matches up with the chivalry of one.

While we only see the villain for a brief 2 episodes this season, his costume is undeniably an unforgettable one due to its extravagance. Sporting a dark coattail jacket with large, flared collars, the mere silhouette of his costume is amazing on its own. Beneath that, the gentleman's attire consists of striped pants, a purple scarf, gloves, and peculiarly two belts. The additional white walking stick simply completes the image of the Gentle Criminal. Whether a Jane Austin novel love interest or the next threat to UA, it's hard to tell from this villain's costume.

2 Hero Costume: All Might

When hero costumes are discussed, it's hard not to mention the previous number 1 hero. While his costume is clearly inspired by western comic superheroes, that doesn't detract from its amazing design.

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All Might's costume is quite simple in design. A bodysuit in stereotypical red, blue, and yellow, it's the costume's perfect encapsulation of the classical hero image which sets it apart. Of course, this design is only the most recent and final one of many costume designs he's had in the past, but many fans will agree that it's more than perfect for the Pro Hero. While we might never get to see him don that costume again, it made for a more spectacular end for the hero's career as it truly ended in a golden age.

1 Villain Costume: Stain

If any villain costume can compete with the classical hero's, it's that of the sociopathic villain.

Stain's costume is quite daunting which is perfect for the Hero Killer. With bandages covering the majority of his arms as well as a frayed scarf and mask that trail behind him, Stain's costume lends to his ferocious image. Let's not forget the myriad of blades that stick out of his attire. With two hanging in a holster at either side of his ribs, one at the front of his left shoulder, another two by his left thigh, a katana, and a blade which he always holds on to, the villain has no shortage of means by which to slice an opponent open. While his costume design might be as violent as his nature, it remains as one of the best villain costumes throughout the series.

Next: My Hero Academia: 5 Characters Deku Can’t Beat Yet (& 5 He Never Will)