Deku’s Strongest Ultimate Moves In MHA

Summary

• Izuku Midoriya has showcased a vast collection of impressive and powerful Ultimate Moves throughout the story of My Hero Academia.
• Blackchain is Deku’s most efficient grappling move, and St. Louis Smash Air Force is his strongest long-ranged attack.
• Full Cowl: 100% enabled Deku to reach All Might’s power level, thanks to Eri’s assistance.

Ultimate Moves are a quintessential part of the My Hero Academia universe, since most of the Pro Heroes and super villains in this series have unleashed these powerful techniques against each other in battle. Needless to say, the main character of this story, Izuku Midoriya (AKA Deku), is no exception.

Thanks to his brilliant strategic mind and the powerful One for All quirk he inherited from All Might, Izuku was able to come up with a fair share of strong and useful Ultimate Moves, and his output got even better when he unlocked the other six additional quirks residing within One for All. Deku has showcased a vast range of incredible Ultimate Moves throughout My Hero Academia’s long run, but the following are the absolute strongest ones in his arsenal.

8

St. Louis Smash Air Force

A Much-Needed Long-Range Attack

• Debut: Chapter 272 (Manga) Episode 118 (Anime)

While Deku mostly specialized in close-quarters physical combat, his intelligence and adaptability have allowed him to come up with several long-ranged attacks, mainly by taking advantage of the strong wind blasts he could generate with One for All’s immense power. Thanks to this, he was able to add a fair share of ranged Ultimate Moves to his arsenal, but the strongest one, St. Louis Smash Air Force, is the culmination of his efforts.

By using 45% of his One for All power, Deku unleashes a potent kick that also fires a potent blast of compressed air, which he can use to either attack enemies from a distance or to protect himself from incoming projectiles. He first used St. Louis Smash Air Force to block a massive wave of crumbling debris made by Shigaraki’s Decay during the Paranormal Liberation War Arc, but he also utilized it to attack a Humarise helicopter in the movie My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission.

7

Blackchain

The Strongest Grappling Move In His Arsenal

• Debut: Chapter 368 (Manga) Episode 151 (Anime)

Since Blackwhip was the first additional One for All quirk he ever unlocked, Deku had more time to master it than anything else in his collection. As a result, he has been able to use it for some of his most interesting and distinctive Ultimate Moves, with one of the most remarkable ones being Blackchain, which he first unveiled in his final fight against Shigaraki.

Blackchain is a strong and durable dark chain-like whip that Deku created by combining Blackwhip and Fa Jin, and it was powerful enough to throw Shigaraki around on more than one occasion. Furthermore, Deku also applied Gearshift to Blackchain later on in the encounter, which boosted its power and speed to try and restrain Shigaraki, although the villain ended up evading it by using the Danger Sense quirk he had just stolen. Nevertheless, this is still the most efficient grappling attack Deku has ever come up with.

6

1,000,000% Delaware Detroit Smash

The Focus Of One Of The Most Epic Moments In The Entire Series

• Debut: Chapter 76 (Manga) Episode 42 (Anime)

Some of Deku’s Ultimate Moves are quite complex, since they’re the results of combining many different quirks and techniques into one, while others are surprisingly simple, but have a lot of heart behind them. 1,000,000% Delaware Detroit Smash is a perfect example of the latter, since this is the attack that he used to defeat Muscular during the Forest Training Camp Arc.

On paper, this Ultimate Move is quite simple: by using 100% power on one of his arms, he combined the strength of his Delaware Smash and his Detroit Smash to unleash a devastating punch that could break through Muscular’s durable muscle fibers. But the most noteworthy aspect of 1,000,000% Delaware Detroit Smash is the emotional context behind its creation, since it was born out of Deku’s adrenaline and desire to save Kota Izumi from the clutches of this dangerous villain, and it undoubtedly remains as one of the most powerful attacks he has ever made.

5

Faux 100 Percent: Manchester Smash

Proof That Fa Jin Is One Of The Best Additional Quirks He Unlocked

• Debut: Chapter 315 (Manga) Episode 134 (Anime)

When Deku unlocked Fa Jin – a quirk that allows him to build up kinetic energy that can be released later – it quickly became one of the most important and useful tools in his arsenal. This was perfectly exemplified by the fact that he used it to come up with a technique called Faux 100 Percent, in which he combined One for All with both Fa Jin and Blackwhip to generate a lot of energy, similar in power to 100% One for All.

While Faux 100 Percent was quite handy by itself, its most impressive and efficient use was via an incredible Ultimate Move that Deku used to defeat Lady Nagant. With Faux 100 Percent: Manchester Smash, he used Blackwhip as a slingshot to launch himself at extreme speeds and applied One for All and Fa Jin to his legs to unleash a devastating axe kick that destroyed Nagant’s rifle arm in the blink of an eye. To this day, this variation of Manchester Smash is one of the most incredible things Deku has ever done, and it was quite complex and impressive for a move that he seemingly came up with on the spot.

4

Deku Overlay

The Ultimate Transformation That Deku Had To Use In His Final Battle

• Debut: Chapter 412 (Manga) Season 8 (Anime)

Unlike most other shōnen manga/anime protagonists, Deku doesn’t really use physical transformations to alter his appearance in battle. But there was one prominent (and cool-looking) exception, which he unveiled in his final battle against Shigaraki: Deku Overlay, an Ultimate Move he quickly came up with to prevent getting immobilized by his overuse of Gearshift.

By spreading Blackwhip throughout his entire body, Deku can still move around, use his tentacles to attack or restrain his opponent, and even keep performing powerful moves (like Delaware Smash) without any setbacks. But Deku Overlay also has a psychological utility, since it also makes him look extremely intimidating and menacing. It’s a real shame that Izuku only used this transformation once before he transferred all his quirks to Shigaraki, because it was a distinctive and useful technique that would have certainly helped him out in many other prior situations.

3

Full Cowl: 100%

Eri Helped Him Reach His Full Potential And Match All Might’s Power

• Debut: Chapter 157 (Manga) Episode 76 (Anime)

Full Cowl is one of the most brilliant techniques Deku has ever created, as it allowed him to equally spread One for All’s power throughout his entire body to enhance his speed, maneuverability, and physical strength, while also mitigating any physical harm to his limbs. However, he was still forced to slowly raise the percentage of power at which he could use Full Cowl to avoid damaging his body, until Eri assisted him during the fight against Overhaul. When she used her Rewind quirk on Deku, she actively healed his body while it was being damaged, which allowed him to use Full Cowl: 100%.

This was the first time in the entire series in which the main character wielded immense power at the same level as his mentor and idol, All Might, and that was immediately evident by the fact that he could glide around and unleash a flurry of destructive punches that easily destroyed Overhaul’s kaiju-like transformation. While he relied on Eri to create this Ultimate Move, he was fortunately able to use it a few more times without her: when he shared One for All with Bakugo in Heroes: Rising, during his fight against Flect Turn in World Heroes’ Mission, and when he confronted Shigaraki in the Final War Arc, although this last one was only possible because he had combined One for All with Fa Jin and Gearshift. Needless to say, his initial battle against Overhaul remains as the most impressive and memorable use of Full Cowl: 100% in the entire series.

2

United States Of World Smash

An Incredible Homage To All Might’s Most Powerful Ultimate Move

• Debut: My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission

During the final battle between Izuku Midoriya and Flect Turn in the movie World Heroes’ Mission, the main character was able to use Full Cowl: 100% to come up with one of the most powerful, destructive and incredible Ultimate Moves in the entire series, the aptly-named United States of World Smash, which is an obvious homage to United States of Smash, the Ultimate Move that All Might himself had used to defeat All for One.

Similarly to the attack that inspired it, United States of World Smash is very simple but extremely effective: by spreading One for All at 100% power throughout his body, Deku unleashed a devastating final kick that managed to break through Flect Turn’s defensive Reflect quirk and finally knock him out. It’s important to point out that the My Hero Academia films are technically part of the franchise’s canon, which means that this Ultimate Move is as important as any other one in the manga, but it is still a real shame that he never utilized it against Shigaraki (or any of the other villains) in the main story.

1

Overdrive/Detroit Smash: Quintuple

A Multi-Hit Attack That’s A Perfect Combination Of Deku’s Quirks, Technique, And Power

• Debut: Chapter 369 (Manga) Episode 151 (Anime)

The Final War Arc was the perfect moment for Deku to unleash the full potential of One for All and his six additional quirks. That’s exactly why this is the story arc in which he first unveiled his brand-new Overdrive technique, in which he combined One for All with Fa Jin and Gearshift to greatly enhance his speed and strength, an excellent power-up that was of great importance during his final fight against Shigaraki Tomura.

Overdrive was already very impressive in and of itself, but it also led to the debut of Deku’s most impressive and most powerful Ultimate Move, Detroit Smash: Quintuple, in which he unleashed five consecutive Gearshift-boosted Detroit Smash attacks that quickly subdued Shigaraki, a villain who had previously defeated many strong Pro Heroes, like Mirko, Mirio and Bakugo. While this was not enough to knock him out (to be fair, Shigaraki had just reached his most durable form), it was still the moment that cemented Deku as an incredible and intelligent hero who knew how to use all of his quirks to save the world. There’s no denying that no other villain in the series would have even been able to withstand Detroit Smash: Quintuple.