Did Deku Surpass Prime All Might in Power by the End?

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Summary

  • End of Series Deku may be stronger than Prime All Might.
  • Deku, using his mastery of One For All, held his own against powerful foes like All for One and Shigaraki.
  • All Might’s strength, even in his prime, may have been surpassed by Deku in the final My Hero Academia arc.

The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia.

In the anime “My Hero Academia,” All Might stands as an ideal that Deku strives to achieve using his newly obtained One For All ability. As the top hero, All Might functions as a standard for Midoriya’s growth in mastering his power. Even without a quirk initially, Midoriya can aim high and potentially match the accomplishments that All Might has attained.

Despite quickly gaining the power of One For All, Deku soon realizes that harnessing its full might isn’t straightforward. He can only gradually tap into its power, far from its peak capacity. Since Deku’s advancement seems slower than All Might’s early progress in mastering One For All, does Deku ever match All Might at his best in the series My Hero Academia?

End of Series Deku is Implied to Be Stronger Than Prime All Might

Despite Never Mastering True 100%, Deku Probably Exceeded Prime All Might in Power

In “My Hero Academia”, it might appear that Deku is considerably weaker than Prime All Might due to not fully utilizing One For All by the series’ end. However, it’s important to understand that the strength of 100% Midoriya was greater than what 100% Prime All Might could wield, thanks to One For All’s unique stockpiling feature. Over nearly four decades, All Might had accumulated and amplified the Quirk, making it an extraordinary force by the time Deku inherited it.

By the series’ conclusion, I observed that Deku could wield approximately 45% of One For All’s power safely. Nevertheless, this portion, combined with his other abilities, proved potent enough to face off against the formidable opponents, All for One and Tomura Shigaraki, in their final showdown.

Dumb Deku manages to utilize full cowling regularly, even at just 30%. To prevent damaging his body… he only accesses 45%… right before impact,” says Bakugo during Chapter 275 of the My Hero Academia Manga while racing alongside Deku.

Influenced by All for One, Shigaraki boasted about his resilience, claiming he was harder to eliminate than All Might during his peak years, and criticized the heroes for employing feeble assaults against him.

Shigaraki, challenging the heroes in Episode 149: “You’re not strong enough. Consider it! Could Golden Age All Might have perished from such a weak assault? Absolutely not. Why are you all so oblivious?

Given his ability to confront both All for One and Shigaraki, who possess remarkable power, toward the end of the series, it’s clear that Deku has surpassed the capabilities of Prime All Might.

How Strong Was Prime All Might?

Despite Being Incredibly Strong, Prime All Might Was Likely Weaker Than Some End of Series Characters

In Season 1, I witnessed a hint of All Might’s prime strength when he engaged in combat with the Nomu at the USJ. He casually mentioned that he could have ended the fight with just five punches if he were at his peak, contrasting starkly with the three hundred blows it took him to defeat the Nomu in his weakened state. This suggests that All Might was approximately 60 times stronger during his prime.

In my prime, just a few strikes would’ve been sufficient to fell an opponent like him. However, these days, it took well over three hundred forceful impacts to achieve the same result. -The Observer

It’s important to remember that though All Might appeared invincible, even at his peak, he admitted he couldn’t defeat Nomu with a single punch. Compared to All Might, Deku, equipped with all the past wielders’ Quirks, would have found it much harder to face off against Shigaraki and All for One in their final forms. This is particularly true given Deku’s achievements during the final war arc, which seem to indicate that he surpassed Prime All Might in strength. Even with Aizawa erasing Shigaraki’s Quirks, his resilience was evident as he endured the combined onslaught of the strongest heroes. Despite the uncertainty, it appears Deku might have outmatched All Might in terms of raw power.

My Hero Academia can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Hulu.

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2025-06-06 17:36