Highlights
- Bakugo is back in My Hero Academia after being absent for over a year, and he’s facing the greatest villain in the story, All For One.
- Bakugo’s Quirk, Explosion, is incredibly powerful and can cause massive destruction with a single strike. He has reached new levels of power through his Quirk Awakening.
- Bakugo’s Quirk Awakening technique, Cluster, allows him to use a series of powerful explosions and match the speed and power of All For One. He has the potential to surpass even Deku and become the Number One Hero.
My Hero Academia is currently in the final phase of the story and fans are incredibly excited to see one of their favorite characters, Bakugo, return to the scene. He has been away from the manga for over a year and now, finally, he is back with a bang. This time, Bakugo is up against the greatest villain in the entire story, All For One.
It was a surprise for the fans to see Bakugo end up getting All For One as his biggest fight in the story, however, it is one fight that fans are absolutely glad that he ended up receiving. Taking on All For One would be impossible for him under normal circumstances, however, Bakugo isn’t as he once was. He has now reached new levels of power, thanks to his Quirk Awakening.
Bakugo’s Quirk – Explosion
Bakugo was blessed with an immensely powerful Quirk from the very beginning, called the Explosion. Fans have seen Explosion on display quite a lot of times in the series already and they know how strong this quirk is. Although it may not look like it, Explosion is easily one of the most dangerous powers to exist in the world of my Hero Academia. This is a power that can utterly destroy anyone within a single strike because of the power it packs. Essentially, the key to Bakugo’s Explosion is the sweat glands on the palms of his hands. These sweat glands allow him to produce nitroglycerin and, when ignited, they lead to massive explosions which are powerful enough to crash entire buildings or kill anyone.
Of course, with such destructive power, for Bakugo to become a hero is somewhat strange, however, that is how Bakugo wants to use his power and the inspiration he took from All Might certainly had a massive impact on him while growing up. Bakugo awakened his Quirk quite quickly and he reached unprecedented levels of power. In U.A., Bakugo showcased the potential that he had time and again. In fact, he could even match up to the likes of Deku and beat him in combat when the two ended up fighting. Bakugo could also take his powerful techniques a step further by making use of Hero Equipment that allows him to store nitroglycerin and cause even bigger explosions. Essentially, Bakugo was one of the strongest candidates for the spot of Number One Hero, however, when Deku started progressing further, Bakugo somewhat stagnated for a while.
How Bakugo Awakened His Quirk
For Bakugo to reach the next level in terms of power, Quirk awakening was absolutely essential. Fans have seen quite a lot of characters finally get the chance to awaken their Quirks. Even among the villains, the strongest ones are those who are getting to awaken their Quirks one by one. Shigaraki showed his Quirk awakening and it took his power to an entirely different level. He went from being unable to defeat Gigantomachia to completely destroying the Meta Liberation Army. This just goes to show how big an upgrade Quirk Awakening can be. For Bakugo, this upgrade was somewhat similar but even more significant. Bakugo needed his Quirk to keep up with Deku and he certainly did achieve that in quite some fashion.
While fighting against Shigaraki earlier in the arc, Bakugo finally understood the true aspect of how to best use his Quirk. Instead of using one massive explosion, Bakugo realized that he had to use a series of powerful explosions and he tried this out against Shigaraki first of all. This power was called Cluster and that is what the Awakening of the Explosion Quirk is. When using this power, Bakugo was able to leave Shigaraki in dust, something that even Edgeshot confirmed to All Might in the previous chapter of My Hero Academia. However, this did not prevent Bakugo from almost dying an early and shocking death. Thankfully, his Quirk Awakening came to his rescue here as well and he was resuscitated by one of his sweat beads that was inside his body.
Bakugo’s Quirk Awakening – Cluster
Cluster is an incredibly powerful technique that Bakugo has utilized on a few occasions in the story already. He utilized it first against Shigaraki and completely left him in the dust, managing to deal damage to him as well. What’s more, Bakugo was able to completely overwhelm him in terms of speed and power when he achieved this level of strength. Against All For One, once again, Bakugo showcased the power of Cluster to be great enough to completely take him by surprise. Fans know that All For One is one of the strongest characters in the entire series and for anyone to take him by surprise is a big feat in itself. When Bakugo launched himself towards All For One, he couldn’t see it coming and was hit by a powerful attack. Even All Might was in awe of how fast Bakugo had become. This wasn’t even him at his peak yet.
Soon after, he utilized more Clusters to match the speed of All For One, who believed that he would be able to leave Bakugo in the dust. Clearly, he was unable to do that and Bakugo caught up to him within a few seconds at best. Using the Cluster explosions, Bakugo believes that he can keep up with Deku and, in fact, even go on to surpass him. He was able to match All For One completely and, to take things a step further, land a powerful attack while keeping up with him in midair. This is the true power of Cluster that increases both the offensive output as well as the speed of Bakugo while fighting.
How Strong Is Bakugo’s Awakening?
Bakugo’s Quirk Awakening is incredibly powerful and he certainly becomes one of the strongest characters in My Hero Academia with this ability. In the previous chapter, when Bakugo used this power, he could match Deku once again. Deku is on the path to becoming the strongest of all time and with the power of the Cluster Quirk awakening, Bakugo can certainly match him once again. In fact, Bakugo went on to say that he might even be able to surpass Deku with this power.
This might be true as well, given that Bakugo certainly does have quite a lot of potential. Bakugo can go on to surpass the current version of Deku, which would then mean that Deku would have to surpass his current limits and reach new levels of power as well. All For One previously compared Bakugo to Endeavor and Dark Shadow, stating that he is weaker than both. However, this was before Bakugo effortlessly matched All For One in terms of speed and launched a powerful attack towards him. Clearly, All For One has underestimated him. He is certainly on par with those characters in terms of power and has the potential to far surpass them.
As the fight against All For One progresses, Bakugo will likely hit new levels of power and become a worthy contender for Number One Hero himself. Whether he becomes the Number One Hero or not is something that fans will have to wait to see after the war concludes.
My Hero Academia is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of My Hero Academia, My Hero Academia chapter 407, is set to be November 19, 2023.