In the world of Tokyo Ghoul, vampires are replaced by flesh-eating ghouls who stalk humans in the night and devour them whole. Ghouls aren't just strong and scary; they can rapidly regenerate their wounds and use supernatural limbs to attack, known as kagune. Some kagune look like wings, others like tentacles or even swords.
Ken Kaneki is a half-ghoul who inherited Rize Kamishiro's kagune, and he is a nimble, flexible fighter with four kagune tentacles on his side. Could he defeat everyone in the world of My Hero Academia with those powers? He could triumph over some characters, but others would force him to flee, or prove impossible to take down.
Update November 7th, 2020 by Louis Kemner: Ken Kaneki is a fascinating seinen protagonist, since he has the courage and optimism of a shonen protagonist while having the gritty w0rldview of a seinen lead, and he has the fighting skills to back it up. With his centipede-like kagune and his ghoulish healing powers, he's ready to take on a few more heroes and villains from the My Hero Academia world, and some matchups will be easier than others. Can he prevail?
15 Can Defeat: Tenya Iida
Tenya Iida is like the Flash from DC comics, a melee warrior who can run at blinding speed and deliver some impressive kicks. His quirk is Engine, meaning he has engines and exhaust jets on his calves. He's too quick for most heroes and villains to handle.
These melee attacks hurt, but Ken can regenerate, and Iida has limited endurance. Once Iida gets tired and slows down a bit, Ken can impale him with his kagune, and Iida will bleed out or get his head taken off. He can't outrun that.
14 Can't Defeat: All Might
He is the Symbol of Peace, the most powerful hero in the entire world until his final fight with All For One. All Might wielded One For All, a power-charging quirk that allowed him to make the most of his incredible strength.
All Might is too fast, too tough, and too tenacious for Ken to handle, and his blows will blast Ken away time and again. Ken's regeneration would be pushed to its limit, and no doubt he'd retreat after a a few minutes of this. He's not the type to die in a blaze of glory.
13 Can Defeat: Denki Kaminari
Although Denki Kaminari has the worst grades in class 1-A, he is not to be taken lightly. He's got good instincts, and his lightning quirk can generate incredible offensive power in all directions at once. He also has a device, courtesy of Mei Hatsume, that helps him aim his power better.
Denki is literally in for a shock, but his ghoul regeneration powers can handle it, and Denki will soon run out of options and power alike. It won't be much trouble for Ken to regenerate a bit and then impale Denki on one of his kagune tentacles.
12 Can't Defeat: Inasa Yoarashi
Inasa Yoarashi is the master of the Whirlwind quirk, which means he can generate powerful gales of air and control them with incredible finesse. He can make hundreds of delicate air currents at once, as well as conjuring hurricanes.
Inasa can keep Ken away with his winds, and he can also throw around debris and obstacles to further frustrate Ken's efforts. Inasa might not deal the finishing blow, but he can keep himself safe while throwing Ken around, and Ken would retreat from this aggravating stalemate for sure.
11 Can Defeat: Fumikage Tokoyami
This is going to take some time, but Ken can do it. Fumikage has Dark Shadow, a quirk that is fast, flexible and equally effective on offense and defense. The darker the surroundings, the more powerful this quirk becomes.
However, Ken's kagune are on par with Dark Shadow, and he can regenerate his wounds while Fumikage cannot do the same. So, Ken can wear down Fumikage with a battle of attrition, and once he lands a critical blow, it's all over.
10 Can't Defeat: Endeavor
Endeavor was the #2 pro hero for a long time, and with All Might in retirement, he is now the top hero. At first, people were a little skeptical of this, but then Endeavor defeated the most powerful Nomu yet, with a bit of help from Hawks.
With his massive strength and overwhelming fire quirk, Endeavor can obliterate just about anyone or anything who gets in his way, and Ken's ghoul regeneration would be sorely tested. Ken can't even get close; he has to call this one off and retreat, and hope that Endeavor doesn't catch him first.
9 Can Defeat: Muscular
This hulking villain was part of the vanguard squad that raided the forest training camp. His quirk enhances his muscles and grants him bone-crushing strength, and Izuku needed a 1,000,000% Smash to take him out.
Ken will have an easier time against Muscular. He is nimble enough to avoid Muscular's attacks, and even if his kagune can't pierce Muscular's namesake muscle tissues, he can send a kagune tendril through Muscular's head, such as into his eye or through his mouth. Those are weak points, and Ken is fast and ruthless enough to exploit them.
8 Can't Defeat: Best Jeanist
He is the #3 top hero, rising one spot after All Might's retirement. Best Jeanist is a bit like a spider, since he can create tough fibers all over the place to form webs or capture people. Those fiber threads are also sharp enough to cut through just about anything.
Best Jeanist can use his denim webs to block Ken's kagune, then capture Ken like a spider catching a fly. Ken will be forced to concede and admit defeat, since not even his kagune will get him out of this one.
7 Can Defeat: Tsuyu Asui
Tsuyu Asui is a petite girl with a lot of power. Her quirk gives her some frog-like attributes, meaning she can leap great distances, extend her lengthy and strong tongue, swim with ease and even store items in her stomach. She is also cool-headed and quite smart.
But none of that will save her from Ken Kaneki, who can handle Tsuyu's low-power attacks and then launch a counter-attack. Tsuyu is tricky to catch, but Ken will snag her eventually, and one kagune is all he needs to take her out.
6 Can't Defeat: Midnight
Midnight is a pro hero teacher at U.A., known as the R-rated hero. Her Quirk allows her to release vapors from her skin, and anyone who inhales them will fall asleep at once. Boys and men are affected to the greatest degree.
Ken can take on Midnight in physical combat, but her quirk is a major part of her technique, so she will release it everywhere. One whiff, and Ken will be knocked right out. Midnight can then get rid of him at her leisure. Even ghouls have to breathe, after all.
5 Can Defeat: Mina Ashido
Next up is Mina Ashido, the acid girl of class 1-A. She is a moderately effective student hero, and although she falls short of the likes of Shoto Todoroki, she is an agile and brave fighter who has figured out all kinds of creative uses of her acidic Quirk.
Mina can slid across the battlefield on streaks of acid and throw handfuls of that acid at her foes as a ranged attack, and move with a dancer's grace. This will drag out the fight against Ken, but in the end, Ken's ghoulish power and regeneration will be too much for Mina to handle. She can't win this battle of attrition.
4 Can't Defeat: All For One
Can Ken take on the ultimate villain and win? He probably can't, alas. All For One is the inversion of All Might, since he likes to collect other people's Quirks and gather them up in his own body, becoming a one-man army. All for one, indeed.
This hoarding strategy has paid off, since All For One has hundreds of Quirks that can combine in devastating ways, including power-augmentation Quirks. If All For One can stand up to the symbol of peace and almost win, he can certainly crush Ken with his armada of Quirks, too.
3 Can Defeat: Tiger
Tiger is a martial artist hero, a brawny man who likes to get up close and personal. He is a pro hero and a member of the Wild, Wild Pussycats squad, acting as the muscle. His Quirk allows his body to bend and stretch in odd ways, usually to avoid enemy blows at the last second.
Tiger can last longer against Ken's ghoul powers than most melee heroes, but Ken's kagune can strike from unexpected angles, and in this fight, Ken has to take Tiger by surprise just once to take Tiger down. This pro can't endure a kagune stab through the chest.
2 Can't Defeat: Overhaul
This insidious mobster is among the last of his kind, and he's making it count. Overhaul the villain is calm and collected, and he has a devastating Quirk also called Overhaul. It allows him to rearrange and control matter on a molecular level, either breaking items down or reassembling them as desired.
Such an ability can cause a victim's body to explode when touched, a fate that Magne suffered. Overhaul can use this vast power to heal himself, tear Ken Kaneki apart and more in their fight, proving that Overhaul is truly on top.
1 Can Defeat: Eraserhead
Shota Aizawa goes by Eraserhead as a hero, and indeed, his Erasure Quirk can shut down most enemy Quirks just by sight alone. This makes Aizawa effective in his own universe, since he can even disable the Quirks of Shoto Todoroki, Momo Yaoyorozu and other talented heroes.
But that does nothing against Ken Kaneki, whose ghoul powers are not a Quirk at all. So, Eraserhead must use his equipment and martial arts skills to fight, and that won't be nearly enough to win against Ken. What's a knife or some caltrops against a kakuja kagune?