My Hero Academia: Vigilantes shows Stain for who he truly is (& all his biggest issues)

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes serves as a crucial prequel exploring Hero Killer Stain's beginnings while uncovering the splintered psyche of the notorious villain. Vigilantes reveals Stain as Stendhal, a man once portrayed as a terrifying ideologue whose quest for justice spirals into fixation and insanity.

The spin-off reveals the fractured nature of his beliefs by demonstrating his profound mental instability and cognitive dissonance. The narrative reveals the fundamental hypocrisy in his beliefs instead of affirming them, showing him to be not an icon of justice but a tragic character destroyed by his flawed principles.

Disclaimer: This article is a speculative theory and reflects the writer's opinion.

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My Hero Academia: Vigilantes exposes the hypocrisy and madness behind the Hero Killer’s ideology

Vigilantes episode 6 delivers a crushing blow to the legitimacy of Stain's ideology. His transition from Stendhal to Stain represents not enlightenment but deterioration—a mind increasingly detached from reality and fixated on an impossible standard. His All Might zealotry becomes particularly troubling when viewed through this lens.

What Stain venerates in All Might isn't heroism in its purest form but rather an unhealthy, self-destructive devotion that the main series actively critiques. The irony is palpable: Stain worships All Might for the very characteristics that nearly destroy him, mistaking self-immolation for heroic virtue.

This fundamental misunderstanding manifests most clearly in Stain's attack on Ingenium (Tensei Iida). By the standards Stain himself professes to uphold, Ingenium exemplifies legitimate heroism—he saves without hesitation, acts on instinct to protect others, and lacks the fame-seeking behavior Stain supposedly despises.

Yet Stain targets him anyway, revealing that his criteria for "true heroism" are neither consistent nor rational. This contradiction exposes the hollowness at the core of his philosophy. Stain doesn't truly want Hero Society reformed; he wants it destroyed and replaced with an impossible ideal that not even All Might could sustain.

The commercialization of heroism in MHA's world offers Stain just enough legitimate societal criticism to make his ravings seem profound to some observers. This creates a dangerous illusion of depth where there is only delusion. Vigilantes mercilessly deconstructs Stain’s ideology by chronicling Stendhal’s psychological breakdown.

His descent from a questionable vigilante to an unhinged killer stems not from philosophical growth, but from trauma, obsession, and a progressively warped mindset. What makes Stain particularly compelling yet disturbing is how his broken ideology mirrors the main series' nuanced exploration of heroic sacrifice.

The show persistently examines whether complete self-sacrifice is sustainable and healthy while simultaneously honoring heroic impulses. All Might's physical decline reminds viewers that his heroic methods inspire but cannot last long term. Deku discovers through his journey that true heroism isn't about self-destruction—a realization Stain fails to attain.

The spin-off demonstrates that Stain doesn't merely have a flawed philosophy; he fundamentally cannot distinguish between selflessness and self-destruction, between protecting society and imposing his bloody vision upon it.

His cognitive framework is so warped that even when confronted with genuine heroism in figures like Ingenium, he cannot recognize it because it doesn't match his impossible, twisted standard.

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Conclusion

In My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Stain transforms from a villain who seems principled into a tragic character suffering from mental illness and radicalization. His rage, which appeared justified, dissolves into a display of delusion and hypocrisy as the cognitive dissonance within his beliefs becomes apparent.

Yet, the spin-off preserves his intrigue, showing how a warped sense of justice can birth dangerous extremism. In doing so, Vigilantes deepens the main series’ themes, contrasting Stain’s bloody idealism with the flawed, human efforts of real heroes—those who struggle, make mistakes, and still strive to protect others without losing themselves in the process.

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