Meta Liberation Army Arc

The sixteenth arc of My Hero Academia and the seventh of the Rise of Villains Saga, running chapters 218 to 240 and adapted across episodes 100, 108 to 112, and 126. It sits between the Joint Training Arc and the Endeavor Agency Arc, and for its duration the series rebrands itself My Villain Academia.

All For One's confidant sets Tomura Shigaraki a task that would prove him a worthy successor. At the same time the Meta Liberation Army, a movement built on the belief that Quirks should be used freely, comes out of hiding to destroy the League before it eclipses the legacy of Destro.

Katsuki Bakugo and Shoto Todoroki, newly licensed, break up a robbery by the Cider House gang on the way home from their final lesson, and the leader's black-market gauntlets self-destruct afterward without a trace. On television, Detnerat's president Rikiya Yotsubashi advertises support gear for heroes; in his office he snaps the neck of an employee who calls Destro a terrorist, weeps over it, and convenes the Army he inherited from his father. Their priority is the League, whose fame is crowding out Destro's name, and their leverage is Giran, tortured but refusing to sell out a client.

A month earlier the League had been reduced to looting a cult's temple for fake jewelry. Gigantomachia erupts from underground to test whether Tomura deserves All For One's inheritance and flattens all of them, and Daruma Ujiko warps them to a laboratory full of High-End Nomu. Asked why he should be helped, Tomura recounts the little he remembers, and the flashback shows All For One finding a homeless child and promising to give his rage a purpose. Ujiko agrees to help, on the condition that Gigantomachia submits first. Six weeks of unwinnable fighting follow.

Then Re-Destro calls. Giran's severed fingers have been scattered across five sites the League has used, the Army numbers over a hundred thousand, and satellites have their position. The choice is destruction in Deika City or capture by heroes. Tomura goes, intending to use the Army's numbers to grind Gigantomachia down when he wakes and follows Tomura's scent, then let the beast finish the city.

Deika is a liberated district where even the local hero is a member, and the Revival Celebration begins with dozens of civilians attacking six villains. Curious corners Himiko Toga, dissects her childhood for a headline, and tries to make a martyr of her; Himiko, dying, transforms into Ochaco Uraraka and discovers she can borrow the Quirks of the people she loves, dropping Curious and her followers out of the sky. Skeptic breaks Twice with puppets wearing his own face, and Twice breaks the trap by taking real injury and not vanishing, proving at last that he is the original, then floods the streets with Sad Man's Parade. Dabi trades fire for ice with Geten, Spinner drags Trumpet off his campaign van, and Tomura walks toward the tower.

Re-Destro crushes the preserved hand of Tomura's sister, and the memories return: Tenko Shimura, a father who beat the hero out of him, a Decay that manifested on the family dog and then on everyone he loved, and a man who found him afterward and told him society was to blame. Tomura destroys his father's hand as unnecessary, melds hatred with delight, and unleashes a decay that swallows Deika whole. Re-Destro amputates his own legs to survive it.

Re-Destro halts his soldiers, admits they were following Destro rather than himself, and surrenders the Meta Liberation Army to the man he now considers the true embodiment of liberation. Gigantomachia sheds a tear and finally accepts him as his master's rightful heir. Skeptic doctors the footage into a terrorist attack repelled by heroic citizens, killing the story along with Chitose Kizuki's reputation, while the public argues over whether the civilians were brave or reckless.

A week later the two groups merge into the Paranormal Liberation Front, with Re-Destro handing over the title of Grand Commander and the nine lieutenants named onstage. Hawks watches from the crowd and realizes he is late: with a committed army, Feel Good's network, Detnerat's industry, and more High-Ends coming, Tomura's power now rivals the heroes'. Ujiko promises Tomura the power he was told to expect, with one last request attached. Best Jeanist, who lost a lung at Kamino, has gone missing, and Hawks knows exactly why.