My Hero Academia's best villains had every right to turn evil, and it's why I love them

The narrative of the My Hero Academia series has produced some of the best-written anime villains of all time. From well-illustrated background stories to their contributions to the stories, the villains are one of the major reasons for the series' success.

Among the huge plethora of villains from the series, some of them have become iconic in their antagonistic roles, and they have extensive backgrounds to prove the validity of their popularity further. Several villains, especially from the Paranormal Liberation Front, belong to the said category and deserve the popularity they gained as villains.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the author's opinions and contains spoilers from the My Hero Academia anime and manga series.

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My Hero Academia villains who had every right to turn evil

The best candidate to start the discussion will be Shigaraki Tomura, the leader of the Paranormal Liberation Front from My Hero Academia. While he was one of the main antagonists of the series, alongside being an accomplice for All for One, his character transformation arc made complete sense and was reasonably written by Kohei Horikoshi, the mangaka.

Shigaraki had an abusive father to begin with, who always undermined his dreams of becoming a hero. When he needed guidance, he never got anyone by his side, which was taken advantage of by All for One, who pretended to be his friend and fueled his anger and rage, feeding into his toxic traits.

His being deprived of love and guidance, while also being manipulated for years by All for One, led him to become a villain, which he had every reason to become. If Shigaraki had gotten help from any of the heroes or even any citizens, he wouldn't have turned out like this. Shigaraki turning on the society that abandoned him gives him the right to turn evil.

Another one of the villains who had every right to become evil was Twice, whose real name was Jin Bubaigawara. When Jin was in middle school, his parents were attacked and killed in a villain's attack, leaving him an orphan. While he did find a job growing up that provided him with food and shelter, it didn't last long. After being wrongfully accused and losing his job, Jin became desperate.

While Jin could have tried to get on with his life, his mental health took a downward spiral, and he chose a life of crime, committing several robberies with the help of his quirk, Double. Betrayed by others and social injustice imposed upon him, despite being cleared by authority, led Jin to take the villain route, which, while debatable, is justified.

Himiko Toga, from My Hero Academia, comes to mind when talking about villains who had every right to become evil. Similar to Shigaraki, Toga also faced abandonment from her parents when she was young. When she first received her unique quirk, nobody was there to guide her. Rather, everyone assumed she was a monster and abandoned her.

She never received the social morality education that the others got, which helps determine what's right and what's wrong. Furthermore, her craving for acceptance was only met after she met other villains like Tomura and Twice, which further influenced her path to becoming a villain.

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Final thoughts

While the villains from My Hero Academia have committed several heinous crimes that cannot be justified, their path to becoming villains partially lies with the hero society and the several other implications brought up by the series regarding them. Other villains like Spinner are also victims of such social discrimination and lack of guidance.

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