Erasure

A long-range Emitter Quirk, Erasure shuts off the Quirk of whoever the user happens to be looking at. It arrives in Chapter 6 and Episode 5. Because it works by suppressing a power that already exists, someone Quirkless is unaffected by it entirely. In print, activation turns the user's eyes yellow; the anime renders them red.

Once active, a target's Quirk Factor stays disabled until Shota shuts his eyes. He needs no more than a sliver of the target's body within his sights, and given how thoroughly the world leans on Quirks in a fight, that makes him a miserable opponent for nearly anyone. Multiple targets can be caught at once, as Tamaki Amajiki's brawl against Yu Hojo, Toya Setsuno, and Soramitsu Tabe showed at its outset, and they stay erased even after he looks elsewhere, so long as his eyes remain open. Activation also produces an anti-gravity effect around his head, which he has folded into how he handles his Binding Cloth.

The line-of-sight requirement is the obvious hole. Cover, or anything clouding his vision, defeats it, and staring at a construct an enemy controls from elsewhere, such as an object Joi Irinaka is inhabiting, accomplishes nothing. Duration is capped by his blink, and when the Quirk drops his hair falls back into place, handing an attentive enemy a visible cue for the opening. Mutant-type appendages cannot be erased, though nullifying the Quirk Factor behind them does impair how they function, and any strength or skill not derived from a Quirk goes untouched.

The Quirk punishes its owner as well. It brings on dry eye syndrome, capping how long he can hold it, which is why he keeps eye drops on him at all times. Injuries from the U.S.J. Incident added a recharge interval between one use and the next, and a fast enough enemy who notices the gap can counterattack during it. Because the Quirk Factor lives in the eyes, losing them ends it. After the Paranormal Liberation War cost Shota an eye, Erasure became functionally useless, though he retains a limited version through the one remaining. To get real use out of it now he has to stay in unbroken physical contact with Neito Monoma, who fires Erasure on his behalf through Copy.

Shota Aizawa is the Quirk's owner. His standard approach is to cancel an opponent's power, force the fight down to even footing, then close with his Capturing Weapon and superior agility to restrain or beat them. Against Mutant-type fighters immune to Erasure he leans on combat expertise and swift movement instead, noting that such enemies tend to favor close quarters anyway. The Quirk is at its most devastating against anyone who overrelies on their own, Shoto Todoroki and Momo Yaoyorozu included, and it strips concealment from Transformation types like Himiko Toga, forcing them back into their real shape. His goggles hide which direction he is looking and when he blinks, and they protect his eyes besides.

Neito Monoma can produce Erasure secondhand with Copy and now serves as Shota's only route to using it properly. Comparable powers include Erasure Spot, which cancels Quirks by proximity rather than eye contact, and Neutralization, whose user Giulio Gandini lost access the same way Shota did, through villains damaging his Quirk Factor.