My Hero Academia may be a bright, colorful world but underneath its gilded facade is a hard-boiled world that requires toughness and grit to overcome. And, out of the entirety of U.A.'s Class 1-A, there's only one character that truly celebrates the hardcore hero styles of old, Eijiro Kirishima. Kirishima is the optimistic, loud-mouthed kid of the class who would've been perfect as the main character in any other Shonen anime.
His perseverance and overall hardened attitude are complimented by his Quirk, Hardening, which allows him to harden his body into jagged shapes. He's a reliable rising hero who played an important role in both rescuing Bakugou and the recent Shie Hassaikai Arc. Seeing that he's grown so much during his studies, this list will be gauging who exactly Kirishima (aka Red Riot) can defeat in the current story (plus who he's still not ready for).
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10 CAN'T DEFEAT: Katsuki Bakugou
As strong as Kirishima has gotten and as much screen time as he's gotten as of late, he's still far from having the same main character potential as the series' coveted, new big three. This, of course, includes his explosive best friend, Bakugou. There's already definitive evidence of this from the Sports Festival Arc.
In which, Bakugou was able to easily take Kirishima down after repeatedly attacking one part of his body. However, one might expect Kirishima to have learned from this experience, but that experience and training may still not be enough to handle the sheer power and skill of Class 1-A's best combatant.
9 CAN DEFEAT: Rikidou Satou
While fending off Bakugou's powerhouse may be far off at the moment, Kirishima has shown plenty of growth when facing off against pure strength and defensive characters. He's developed a pretty credible combat ability that's been both acknowledged by Bakugou and improved via his internship training.
With the added benefit of his increased hardening abilities, and Kirishima is far from being the same kid that he was when he failed the mid-terms. While it's hard to tell how far Rikidou Satou has grown, his main hold to fame is his powerful yet limited brute strength which, as stated earlier, is something that Kirishima can now easily circumvent.
8 CAN'T DEFEAT: Cementoss
While Kirishima has plenty of combat ability and newfound defenses at his disposal, he's still a hero that depends on his strengths and brute force to get over obstacles and still struggles to make more tactful, patient approaches. Tying back to when he failed his mid-terms, this was the main lesson that Cementoss tried to teach him and Satou and something that has yet to see improvement in the series.
When going up against a complex and overwhelming force like Cementoss' practical earth bending, Kirishima currently has no power, plan, or experience to help him through.
7 CAN DEFEAT: Mashirao Ojiro
Mashirao Ojiro has to be one of the most talented and specialized martial artists in his class. Using his tail, Ojiro is capable of much more flexibility and opportunities than the regular fighter. When considering their base combat strengths, Kirishima and Ojiro may very well be considered equals.
However, Ojiro doesn't really have anything in his disposal that can truly dent Kirishima's Hardening Quirk. This is especially true given that Ojiro's tail whips are what helped Kirishima build up his armor during training, meaning that if there's one attack that Kirishima should be ready for, it's Ojiro's tail attacks.
6 CAN'T DEFEAT: Midoriya Izuku
During the Shie Hassaikai Arc, Kirishima played a big part in both weathering the blows of a powerful opponent and being used as a mighty spear to break through a barrier users' specialized defenses. It's safe to say that Kirishima at this point must be one of the most defensive characters in the series, having the potential to block powerful blows at even the pro level.
As strong as that might be, there really isn't any other power in the MHA world quite as strong as the enhancements of One for All. If Kirishima were to take a full force blow from Deku's current handling of the power, he'd most likely be blown away like a rock on a slingshot.
5 CAN DEFEAT: Toru Hagakure
To be fair, if Toru is smart about, she could definitely circumvent any of Kirishima's moves or tactics without him knowing it and get close enough to get a winning blow. Invisibility is a strong advantage in any combat scenario, and Kirishima, as strong as he is, isn't exactly at a grand master level of martial arts.
With that in mind, there really isn't much to suggest that Toru has any offense at her disposal that could realistically deliver a winning blow against Kirishima. She hasn't really been seen (not that she can help it) to have any martial arts potential, and any weapon that she might bring would give away her location. In a closed setting or one where retreat wasn't an option, Kirishima would win. He'd have a hard time looking for her, but he'd win.
4 CAN'T DEFEAT: Fat Gum
Fat Gum was Kirishima's mentor during the Shie Hassaikai Arc, and he showed to be everything that Kirishima should aspire to be with his given Quirk. He's a much more experienced and tactful hero who's Quirk also depends on defense. However, Kirishima's Hardening isn't quite up to snuff to Fat Gum's Fat Absorption. It doesn't so much block attacks as much as it sucks them and there impact up.
It's kind of like comparing the durability between a brick wall and bowl of pudding, i.e. a brick wall may eventually crack by the pudding will always retain its form. With far more experience and a Quirk that practically makes him indestructible to Kirishima's current strengths, Fat Gum is too loft of a goal for his aspiring intern.
3 CAN DEFEAT: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu
During the Sports Festival Arc, Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were able to tie during one-on-one combat. Needing a tie breaker, the committee decided that the two should arm wrestle to continue, and Kirishima was the close yet decided winner. While a simple arm wrestling match may not be much, it does Kirishima a slight edge when considering who would win in a fight between aesthetically similar characters.
His time under Fat Gum has also allowed him much more specialized and strenuous training which would also come into play with Tetsutetsu's relative strengths in the current story.
2 CAN'T DEFEAT: Tomura Shigaraki
As dependable as Kirishima's Hardening is, it's not exactly an insurmountable defense. Shigaraki's Quirk, Decay, allows him to dissolve anything that he touches; and as of the moment, there really hasn't been anything that his creepy hands can't destroy.
He was easily able to destroy U.A.'s advanced defenses and developed the power to destroy entire sections of a city during the Meta Liberation Army Arc. As a villain that's only growing stronger, Shigaraki would be able to easily dissolve Kirishima's armor and more.
1 CAN DEFEAT: Himiko Toga
Out of the entirety of the Paranormal Liberation Front, its most inexperienced member by far has to be Himiko Toga. To be fair, Toga does seem to have more combat abilities than the typical high school student, yet that may not mean much compared to Kirishima's more focused style.
Her Quirk also depends on being able to inject her needles into her opponent which not be easy to do with Kirishima's armor. She was able to awaken her ability to also adapt people's Quirks. However, her exact mastery of this has yet to be seen and may introduce new issues in battle. Considering this, Kirishima may still be the decided victor.