WARNING: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Chapter 316, “Your Turn” by Kohei Horikoshi, Caleb Cook and John Hunt, available now in English from Viz Media.
Things are heating up as My Hero Academia approaches its endgame with All For One more determined than ever to steal One For All from Deku. But rather than leading the search himself, he’s hiring a band of mercenaries to do his dirty work.
With the hero society currently in shambles, the villain boss has got his pick of powerful foes to send Deku’s way -- including one that many My Hero Academia fans are already familiar with.
The first of All For One's hired guns to confront Deku was Lady Nagant. After fighting him, however, she was won over by his skill and unshakeable resolve to remain a hero. Acknowledging the fledgling symbol of peace came at a steep price though. Her mindset change activated a booby trap Quirk All For One had hidden within her, and her body exploded.
Luckily, Lady Nagant survived the explosion and had enough energy to inform Deku about the hired guns hunting him down before passing out. She didn’t identify any by name, but one silhouette in the panel that followed bares a striking resemblance to Chimera, a villain from the My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising movie.
Chojuro Kon, better known by his villain alias Chimera, was one of Nine’s henchmen who attacked the Class 1-A students on Nabu Island. He was arrested at the end of the film, but the recent mass prison break could explain his potential introduction in the manga. Chimera has more than enough power to be considered a prime candidate for All For One to send after Deku. He was easily able to beat every Class 1-A student who tried to fight him one-on-one. In the end it took all of Shoto Todoroki, Tsuyu Asui, Eijiro Kirishima and Tenya Iida’s best efforts to subdue him.
A mere silhouette isn’t enough to fully confirm Chimera’s introduction in the My Hero Academia manga, but if he is, it would spell quite a bit of trouble for Deku. Apart from an incredibly strong base form, Chimera can also augment his body to amp up his power during battle.
In this final form, Chimera can also release energy blasts from his mouth that are strong enough to set entire forests ablaze. Although Deku is currently able to recreate All Might’s full power with a combination of One For All at 45% and Fa Jin, getting directly hit by one of those blasts would be enough to knock him out clean.
Chimera was only put out of action in Heroes Rising by Shoto Todoroki’s final attack. Endeavor’s son lowered his own body temperature as far as it could go with his arm down Chimera’s throat, freezing the villain from the inside out. Amazingly, he survived. It’s unlikely Shoto could come to Deku’s aid this time around, but Chimera would probably not be beaten by the same strategy twice anyway. If the monstrous villain is indeed after Deku in My Hero Academia, it’ll take every bit of power he’s squeezed from One For All so far to defeat him -- and even that may not be enough.
