WARNING: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Season 5 Episode 22, "Sad Man's Parade," now streaming on Funimation, Crunchyroll and Hulu.
Until now, My Hero Academia's villains have been easily identifiable. Tomura Shigaraki and the League of Villains have been the group to root against for most of the anime, but Season 5's My Villain Academia arc seems to have turned this on its head. The ongoing storyline pits the League of Villains against the Meta Liberation Army for their very survival. They've proven themselves up to the task before but they're now up against their biggest threat yet: Re-Destro.
The Meta Liberation Army's leader presents himself as defenseless, but this couldn't be farther from the truth. Re-Destro was quite content to let his Army tear Shigaraki's team apart, but Twice's awakening quickly shifted the tide in the League's favor. Their numbers quickly overwhelmed the Liberation Army, aggressively taking the battle to Re-Destro's home front. This development forced the mysterious leader to enter the fray himself.
Even on his own, Re-Destro proved more than capable of handling the body doubles Twice created, destroying most of them with lightning-fast movements and repelling every attack with a powerful wave from his enlarged fist. He continues to lazily fend off the Shigaraki clone with a single fist and eventually overpowers him. Re-Destro's display of strength proves his Stress Quirk is nothing to be sneezed at, but how exactly does it work in My Hero Academia?
The Stress Quirk allows Re-Destro to convert any emotion that causes him stress into raw power. "Negative" feelings like fear, danger or anger only serve to increase his strength, making him an incredibly difficult opponent to best as he grows stronger the longer a battle rages on.
As he's displayed, Re-Destro can concentrate his power into a single part of his body to greatly enhance its strength. Whatever part he enlarges retains all its dexterity and can be controlled the same as a normal limb. With just a wave of his enlarged arm, Re-Destro creates a gust of wind comparable to Deku's Delaware Smash -- without any risk to his own body.
A melee fighter like Re-Destro would seem like an easy win for Shigaraki with his Decay Quirk, but that isn't the case. Re-Destro has done his homework on the League of Villains. He was able to list the specifics of Twice's Quirk and was mindful enough to pin the clone Shigaraki's arms to his side, preventing him from activating his Quirk.
Re-Destro comes face to face with the original Tomura Shigaraki in My Hero Academia's next episode and their match-up is sure to be exciting. It's unlikely Shigaraki can deal with the Meta Liberation Army leader's full power alone, but we can't rule out the possibility that the League's head may still have a couple of tricks up his sleeve.
