WARNING: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Season 5, Episode 21, "Revival Party," now streaming on Funimation, Hulu, and Crunchyroll
The League of Villains find themselves in dire straits in Season 5, Episode 21 of My Hero Academia as their battle against the Meta Liberation Army begins. Overwhelmingly outnumbered, the LoV is immediately swamped by MLA soldiers as they enter Deika City. Fortunately for the villains, Tomura Shigaraki and Himiko Toga each power up their Quirks during the confrontation, which may help turn the tide in this villain-on-villain conflict.
Perseverance in the face of adversity doesn’t just benefit heroes, as the League of Villains are each devoted to their own ideals and refuse to give up. As the two most fanatical members, Shigaraki and Toga might be the worst -- or best, depending on how you look at it -- characters to improve their Quirks. Let's look at each villain's Quirk and how their power-ups could affect MHA going forward.
Toga's Transform Is Now Limitless
Toga's Quirk allows her to take on the appearance and voice of anyone whose blood she drinks. The more blood she ingests, the longer she can maintain her transformation. If Himiko drinks the blood of multiple people, she can shuffle between their appearances. This has made Himiko the perfect spy and she has conducted several infiltration missions throughout the series.
In Deika City, Himiko is ganged up on by MLA soldiers, including Curious, who wants Toga to hold an interview regarding her life story. As she is savagely beaten, Himiko thinks about how she longs for a world where she can live normally, because drinking blood is normal for her. As Toga tries to escape, she drinks a vile of blood from her stockpile and transforms into Ochaco Uraraka, one of the people she proclaims to love most.
On the verge of death, Himiko's Quirk undergoes an "Awakening" in which she activates Ochaco's Quirk, Zero Gravity, and uses it to kill the MLA soldiers. Quirk-copying is one of the most troublesome powers in MHA, and unlike Class 1-B's Monoma, there is currently no indication of any limitations on Toga's new ability. Assuming Himiko survives her injuries, she stands to become one of the most dangerous villains around, as the possibilities of her new ability are endless.
Shigaraki's Decay Now Has Range
Shigaraki's Quirk causes anything he touches with all five fingers to disintegrate, whether it's a person or an object. The effect spreads from the point of contact and the only way to stop it is to amputate the decaying body part. Shigaraki's Quirk, while devastating, has always been pretty limited. Decay requires getting close to his opponents and can only be used on one person at a time, which makes it difficult to use in situations like the battle in Deika City.
Unlike Toga's breakthrough as a result of being on the edge of death, Shigaraki's Quirk appears to evolve out of sheer force of will. Tomura hardly seemed to notice the power-up that was observed by Spinner. As Shigaraki passed a group of MLA soldiers, he made the entire group disintegrate, despite having only touched a single person.
Now that Shigaraki's Decay can spread from person to person, he is deadlier than ever before as his Quirk can now be used on a much larger scale. Fighting Shigaraki has always been tricky, and his power-up makes it even more dangerous to get close to him. Tomura is a man on a mission in Season 5 of My Hero Academia, and the Meta Liberation Army might have created a monster by, apparently literally, forcing his hand.