My Hero Academia has no shortage of amazing moments and fights. Even if we just consider the anime, not the manga, there are plenty of amazing fights to choose from. We all have a favorite, whether it be one involving Deku, or one of the dozens of other characters.
It's so much fun to talk about all the epic fights of the series. But what about the most brutal fights? Looking back on it, there have been a lot of intense fights, that more often than not resulted in some form of injury. Granted, that's almost a given when Midoriya is involved, at least in the earlier stages. Here are some of the most vicious in the series.
10 Midoriya vs. Bakugo (The Second Time)
These two UA students have a lot of issues to work out with each other. Ironically, it seems like fighting it out may actually be the right call in this case. Which is good, because Bakugo clearly wants to fight Midoriya.
You could probably put either of their fights in this spot on the list, but we're going to go with the second fight. They really go all out here – since there was no supervision that they were aware of, and thus nobody to stop them. They also had a lot of emotions to work through, even Bakugo (which may have surprised many).
9 Bakugo vs. Todoroki
During the UA championship, there were plenty of battles to be had. The final fight in the set has earned a spot in this list, and the reason is fairly obvious. Todoroki and Bakugo seem like they may as well be polar opposites. The way they look, their personalities, and even their quirks. That may well be the reason the fight ended up being so good.
Bakugo's temper, admittedly, is the other reason why this fight ended up being so major. It's safe to say that Bakugo took significant offense to the fact that Todoroki used his left side against Midoriya, but not him. Meanwhile, Todoroki was struggling with the actions and impulses he had shown while battling Midoriya. Had he been given more time to think about things and made a decision about his powers, this fight might have gone very differently. But it would probably have been just as entertaining for us fans!
8 Midoriya vs. Todoroki
Midoriya is one of those amazing characters who manages to inspire others. Therefore, we rarely actually see him angry. But that's exactly what happened in his fight against Todoroki. Midoriya felt compelled to force Todoroki to reconsider his abhorrence of his quirk – while battling directly against him. It may not have been the best timing, but heroes are meant to meddle, right?
This fight will go down in MHA history because of the emotional toll it took on Todoroki. This ultimately ended up becoming the turning point for Torodoki's character, starting him on the path to becoming a different sort of hero. Let's not forget the massive explosion at the end of this battle, either.
7 Mirio vs. Class 1-A
Okay, so nobody got seriously injured during this fight. But considering the odds and how surprisingly things went, it deserves to be on the list! Mirio is one of the 'Big 3' from the UA upperclassmen. Even knowing that, it probably seemed a bit odd that this one student wanted to fight the entirety of Class 1-A. But that's exactly what happened.
He won. Against those odds, he won. He didn't even break a sweat, though he did lose a few articles of clothing along the way, and scare a few of the girls. Mirio's ability allowed him to consistently surprise almost the entirety of Class 1-A. Deku was one of the few who saw through his tactics, but it was too little too late for our main character.
6 Midoriya & Bakugo vs. All Might
All of the students in Class 1-A were forced to pair off and fight against different professors. Unfortunately, they weren't allowed to pick their partners. Or their opponents. This series of fights ended up being truly epic, but the one where Midoriya and Bakugo were forced to team up against All Might? That one took the cake.
Midoriya and Bakugo don't get along – not by any means. But they had to do just that in order to stand a chance of winning their fight against All Might. It didn't exactly help that both of these students have a tendency to hero worship All Might – just in their own ways. All Might, despite wearing weights to slow him down, seriously messed these two up. While they did ultimately pass, Bakugo got knocked out in the process.
5 Aizawa vs. League of Villains
Up until this point in the series, Class 1-A's homeroom professor, Aizawa, might have seemed apathetic about his job. Suddenly, he proved his willingness to risk his life for his students, when he went up against the League of Villains.
The odds were not in Aizawa's favor here, but he didn't even hesitate to take on dozens of villains. Man, did he do a good job of it. Had Noumu and Tomura Shigaraki not been involved, there's a very good chance he would have won the fight.
Unfortunately, they were there, and they turned the fight against Aizawa. The damage he took here was painful to watch – though it was certainly worse from his point of view. Even though Aizawa ended up needing interference from the students (and later from All Might), he bought the time needed for the heroes to arrive. Had he not done this, there's a very good chance that some of Class 1-A would not have survived.
4 All Might vs. Noumu
All Might vs Noumu was the first major fight we see All Might in, once he's given away his quirks. Anybody that was paying attention could probably tell that something was up. Certainly anybody in the know could tell. Noumu would have been a tough opponent no matter the odds.
He had super strength, speed, and healing. Our weakening All Might had a tougher time than normal here. So much so that he took another serious injury. The fight had a good chance of going poorly as well. Had the top students of 1-A not interfered...well, it's hard to say how much more damage he would have taken.
3 Midoriya, Iida, & Todoroki vs. Stain
There was so much emotion tied up into this fight, though admittedly most of it was coming from Iida. Iida, desperate to avenge his brother, made a decision he would normally have chastised the others for. Still, we'll give him credit, for if he hadn't shown up another hero would certainly have died. However, we can likewise say that if Midoriya hadn't shown up, Iida himself would have.
To make matters worse, Iida and Midoriya both would have been in trouble had Midoriya not called for backup. It was Todoroki who responded to the call, which was fortunate for everyone involved. Well, maybe not for Stain.
The emotional element upped the ante for this fight. As did the fact that Stain ultimately decided Midoriya was 'worthy' in his mind (as proven by his later actions). The fight was a desperate one though, and was not easily won.
2 Midoriya vs. Muscular
This may well be the most desperate fight we've seen Midoriya in (so far). Everything about this fight was against Midoriya. But those same circumstances are also what allowed him to truly shine. Here, Midoriya was in an isolated area against an opponent significantly stronger and more durable than he is. To make matters worse – Midoriya was protecting somebody, and we all know well what would have happened had he lost.
Let's not forget, there was going to be no backup for Midoriya – everyone else was occupied with their own fights for survival. Midoriya was forced to pull out all the stops against Muscular – and even then that wasn't quite enough. Had Midoriya not been capable of learning on the spot and pushing himself beyond his limits... things would not have gone so well for him.
1 All Might vs. All For One
This is without a doubt the guitar solo of the series. At least, so far. All Might and One For All come together for an epic battle. It's not their first battle, by any means, but that just makes it all the more desperate. As does the fact that All Might has been getting steadily weaker, and had been burning through his time limit well before this moment.
The fight nearly cost All Might everything. It cost him the last of One For All. It cost him his secret. It cost him his career. But it did not cost him his life. He was even able to send a message out, one with a very complex purpose. To his fans, it was a note of encouragement. To the villains out there, it was a threat. To Midoriya, it was a reminder of what his job was going to entail from now on.