Katsuki Bakugo

Katsuki Bakugo, also known as Kacchan (かっちゃん) by his childhood friends, is a student in Class 1-A at U.A. High School, training to become a Pro Hero. He is the deuteragonist of the series.

Appearance
Katsuki is a young man of average height, with a slim, muscular build and fair skin tone. He has short, spiky ash-blond hair with choppy bangs that hang over his eyebrows. His eyes are sharp and bright red in color.

At school, he wears the standard U.A. uniform without the customary red tie. Underneath his blazer, he wears a white collared shirt with the top few buttons undone. His pants are worn loosely, causing them to sag at his ankles, despite him wearing a belt in them.

His hero costume is composed of a tight, black, sleeveless tank top, with an orange “X” across the middle, forming a v-neck. There are two dots along the left line of his collar, indicating the support company that designed his costume. His costume also has a metallic neck brace worn with rectangular ends that have three holes on each side. His sleeves reach from within his large grenade-like gauntlets to his biceps. His belt, which also carries grenades, holds up his baggy pants with knee guards, below which he sports black, knee-high combat boots with orange soles and eyelets. His mask is jagged and black, and as it goes around his eyes, a large, orange-rimmed flare shape protrudes from each side.

In the winter months, he wears a large jacket with a high collar, rather than the usual tank top, although it does have the same orange “X” design, so he can still sweat a sufficient amount, which is how his Quirk works.

While interning under Best Jeanist, he wore a pair of blue denim jeans with his hero costume, rather than his usual baggy pants. His hair was also combed and parted to one side during this tenure.

Personality
Katsuki is a crude, arrogant, short-tempered, and aggressive person, especially at the beginning of the series. Katsuki tends to come off as an anti-hero, if not downright villainous for those not familiar with him. This problematic behavior goes all the way back to his early childhood days when he was known to bully a young, Quirkless Izuku Midoriya.

However, after being accepted into U.A. High School and experiencing several personal defeats, one of them even coming from Izuku, Katsuki has gradually changed into a less antagonistic person, albeit still retaining a lot of his unpleasant traits. While often portrayed negatively, Katsuki's fierce character and competitive drive have actually granted him an important role among Class 1-A, as a sort of inspirational mood-maker.

Determined and thirsty for victory, Katsuki smiles eerily when in the middle of a battle. He is incredibly focused on achieving his own authentic victories and has learned to never underestimate his opponents. Katsuki is not only very athletic and talented at fighting, but also very intelligent and extremely perceptive, capable of strategic planning and quick improvising. Moreover, Katsuki's grades are among the highest of his class and he already knew how to read perfectly by age 4, evidence that he treats studying seriously. Katsuki also possesses surprising talent in other areas, such as cooking and music, even though he doesn't show a particular interest in them. Overall, Katsuki is considered a natural-born genius with the potential to be one of the best Pro Heroes around.

While a rather volatile hero-in-training, Katsuki is smart enough to discern who his enemies and allies are. He is not particularly nice or open with people who are on his side, or anyone else for that matter, but will act less unfriendly and sometimes even kind to those that manage to earn his respect. Because of his attitude and vulgar language, Katsuki's U.A. classmates often react negatively to him, although they have come to appreciate his skills and warm up to his personality. Katsuki matures slowly through his time at U.A., coming to befriend some of his classmates and willingly engaging in social interaction with them, though remaining aloof and solitary for the most part.

Katsuki tends to disregard the notion that Quirks shouldn't be used in public, and will activate his Quirk for a number of reasons, such as to intimidate someone, to punctuate a point, out of frustration, or even if he just feels like showing off. Overall, Katsuki doesn't seem to care very much about what others think of him, barely containing himself from violent behavior (although he avoids other typical delinquent practices like underage smoking). Katsuki values honesty highly and never lies, to the point his brash candor is seen by some as rude and insensitive. He is never afraid of speaking what's on his mind and will notice when people are not being truthful to him. This shows that, despite his anti-social habits, Katsuki actually has an excellent judge of character, making it hard to deceive him.

Due to the constant praise of his abilities and powerful Quirk, Katsuki has developed a superiority complex, and because of that, he desires to be the first and best at everything. As pointed out by many people, Katsuki loves to win above all else and cannot stand it when he doesn't, leading him to lose his already short temper or, less often, sulk. He is fiercely competitive and will never settle for less than the number one spot. However, Katsuki also values hard work and fair play, to the point of refusing to acknowledge a winning result if he feels that his victory was not earned by actual merit. Along with that, he detests being pitied or looked down by others, and will hold contempt towards those that don't take him seriously, while recognizing the effort of those that manage to put up a challenge against him, like, for example, Ochaco Uraraka and Eijiro Kirishima.

Katsuki is immensely prideful and prefers to act alone, as he hates the idea of being protected or having to rely on other people to assist him unless, in the latter's case, he is recognized as the unquestionable leading figure within a team. At the beginning of the series, Katsuki's cooperativeness was nothing short of atrocious, often ignoring his partners' ideas and suggestions for his own very direct approaches. His teamwork skills gradually improve as the series progresses, even if Katsuki keeps coming off as condescending through his usual tone. However, it's clear he now acknowledges their importance, protecting them from harm while expecting them to do the same for him in return. As a leader, Katsuki is a merciless perfectionist, and will only become satisfied with complete, indisputable victories.

Katsuki often has difficulty accepting his mistakes and shortcomings, and will fiercely deny them whenever they are pointed out by others, regardless of who they are. That doesn't mean, however, that Katsuki doesn't listen to advice, having come to realize his faults and how to somewhat improve on them thanks to the words and actions of other people like All Might and Best Jeanist, but because of his pride, Katsuki never outright admits it. He prefers to self-reflect alone and in silence, becoming a bit more brooding during those periods. Katsuki's unchecked pride has cost him victories on numerous occasions, like the Battle Trial or the Provisional Hero License Exam, and it tends to worsen whenever Izuku Midoriya is involved. Both characters share a sensitive history with each other, with Katsuki, in particular, being unable to completely overcome his issues with Izuku, although this has not stopped them from working together many times.

Katsuki has a more vulnerable side, having been led to tears due to damaged pride a few times. Katsuki has also shown moments of fear and guilt, the latter due to viewing himself and his own weakness as the cause of All Might losing his remaining power and retiring as a hero. Still, due to years of misunderstandings, tension, and pride, Katsuki has difficulty doing the same thing towards Izuku.

While his inspiration for becoming a hero was the same as Izuku's, the Symbol of Peace, All Might, their beliefs differ: Katsuki feels a hero should never stop fighting or give up, regardless of the threat they face, and that always winning is the mark of a true hero. Furthermore, due to his arrogant and conceited behavior, various heroes, civilians, and even villains have commented on it. However, Katsuki is unwavering in his aspirations of heroism, having outright refused Tomura Shigaraki's proposal for him to join the League of Villains, even after being offered the power and ability to 'win'.

Abilities
Overall Abilities: Katsuki has proven to be one of the strongest students in Class 1-A, earning 3rd place in the Quirk Apprehension Test, while placing first in both the U.A. Entrance Exam, having the most villain points, and the U.A. Sports Festival. Katsuki's fighting style is an all-out offense, using his Quirk's propulsive abilities to close the distance between him and his opponents, followed by a bombardment of close-range attacks that often start with a powerful right hook. Katsuki is able to use his Explosion to propel himself through mid-air, blind opponents, and release long-range blasts, among other applications. Explosion is a versatile Quirk, especially for battle situations, as the recoil caused by the blasts can be exploited by Katsuki for mobility purposes.

During the U.S.J. Incident, Katsuki was able to single-handedly overpower and immobilize Kurogiri, a highly capable villain. At the U.A. Sports Festival, he was able to defeat Fumikage Tokoyami and Shoto Todoroki, who were considered the two other strongest students in Class 1-A at that point. Many notable Pro Heroes, such as Shota Aizawa and All Might, have praised Katsuki's prowess, noting the sheer amount of potential he carries. The League of Villains also took notice of Katsuki's strength and went as far as trying to kidnap him so he could be converted to their cause, even if it meant sacrificing members of the Vanguard Action Squad as his potential membership would have far exceeded the risk.

Katsuki is strong enough to fight toe-to-toe and even overpower Izuku when he's using 5% of One For All. During the Joint Training Arc, Katsuki displayed that, despite the cold weather conditions of the winter season weakening his Quirk, he can still fight efficiently. Katsuki has also become slightly less insubordinate when paired with people and has developed a degree of camaraderie, as he utilizes his abilities to repel opponents that overpower his comrades.

Not willing to let Izuku get ahead of him and never taking his intended goal of surpassing All Might lightly, Katsuki is always building up his power, improving his technique and looking forward to knowing what he is not able to do right now, with the intent of being able to do so in the future. Katsuki's unstoppable drive to win is perhaps his biggest strength, with all of his classmates, including Izuku, having faith in his ability to earn victories.

By the time of the Paranormal Liberation Raid, Katsuki's overall abilities and proficiency have significantly increased, and he's even able to match the speed of Izuku using One For All at 30% using his quirk.
 * Enhanced Strength: Katsuki possesses a high-caliber physical strength, confirmed by his ability to use his Grenade Bracers without sustaining effects from recoil, whereas Izuku nearly dislocated his arm trying to do so.

Keen Intellect: Katsuki has proven to be extremely intelligent and strategic. While he occasionally doesn't have preemptive strategies like most people, he does analyze his opponent's weaknesses such as when he realized Fumikage Tokoyami's weakness to light during the Sports Festival in the midst of battle and can anticipate worst-case scenarios. Even when fighting the weaker villains during the U.S.J., Katsuki quickly assessed which of the attacking villains were the most dangerous threat in the long term and eventually figured out a way to incapacitate Kurogiri, one of the invasion's leaders. He also knew that Kurogiri had a weakness and bound his body to hinder his escape. By doing this, he effectively trapped the League of Villains in the USJ until Nomu attacked.

Even outside of battle, Katsuki is incredibly perceptive, having deducted the truth about One For All by just piecing together comments and interactions surrounding Izuku Midoriya, All Might, and even All For One. Katsuki can seemingly detect when people are lying to him by just reading into their behaviors and expressions.

Still, Katsuki's short temper gets the best on him sometimes, causing him to overlook crucial details and commit mistakes.

Leadership Skills: Katsuki has always been criticized for his lack of cooperativeness, usually as a result of his overwhelming ego that prevents him from following the lead of others. However, thanks to Katsuki's very own determination, perfectionism, and intelligence, he is a capable leader should others decide to follow him instead.

During round four of the Joint Training Session, Setsuna Tokage admitted that even if her team had attacked him all at once, they stood no chance of victory. In the end, despite Class 1-B's exceptional teamwork and Tokage's strategic planning, they failed to capture a single member of Class 1-A, mostly thanks to Katsuki's efforts, adaptability, and superior skills.

Musical Talent: Katsuki is highly skilled at playing the drums, having gone through classes in the past.

Quirk
Explosion: Katsuki's Quirk allows him to secrete nitroglycerin-like sweat from the palms of his hands and ignite it on command, allowing him to create strong explosions. The more Katsuki sweats, the stronger his explosions become. If Katsuki overuses this power, his forearms will start to ache.

Katsuki has a strong grasp on the applications of his Quirk, as stated by Best Jeanist. Not only can Katsuki use the explosions for attacking but he can also use them to propel himself and navigate through the air at high speeds, allowing him to fly at his opponents without giving them time to react, and evade incoming attacks, even while in the air. The shockwave from an explosion can even be used as a shield.

Katsuki can keep up his explosions continuously, long enough to break through Eijiro's hardening Quirk and negate Shoto's "Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall" for a short while before being overwhelmed.

As part of his training, Katsuki submerged his hands into boiling water to expand his sweat glands, then created chain explosions to increase the scale of his attacks.

Temporary Quirk
One For All (ワン・フォー・オール): Transferred to him by Izuku Midoriya, One for All allowed Katsuki to stockpile an enormous amount of raw power, allowing him to significantly enhance all of his physical abilities to a superhuman level. This resulted in unbelievable levels of strength, speed, agility, and durability. It also provided an exceptional strength boost to his given Quirk, Explosion.

At the end of his and Izuku's fight against Nine, Katsuki lost One for All and the Quirk remained in Izuku's body. Toshinori initially suspected that Izuku kept One For All because Katsuki lost consciousness prior to the transfer's completion, but later theorized that the Quirk kept itself inside of Izuku due to his willingness to protect others, even if it meant losing One For All.


 * One For All: Full Cowl - 100% (ワン・フォー・オール フルカウル 100): Katsuki activates One For All to its fullest extent throughout Full Cowl, granting him a tremendous boost in speed and strength. Katsuki's first and only use of this technique was against Nine to defend Nabu Island. The power increase caused orange energy to trail out of Katsuki's eyes and his pupils and irises to distort. His hair also became spikier, and his entire body glowed a yellowish hue with orange electricity crackling around it. When fused with Explosion, Katuski's original Quirk became so powerful that standard blasts from it could create enormous craters. The temperature of the explosions also increased to the point where it could melt through solid rock in a similar manner to lava as Katsuki came into close proximity to it.

Super Moves

 * Blast Rush Turbo (ターボ): Katsuki throws his hands back and uses explosions to propel himself. He uses this both on the ground to increase his speed and through the air to achieve a pseudo form of flight. He first used this technique on the ground during the Quirk Apprehension Test. The first time he used it to fly was during the Obstacle Race.
 * Stun Grenade: Katsuki starts by creating a sphere of light between his hands that explodes into a large scale flash. Similar to the effect of an actual stun grenade, the flash of light blinds anyone close by. He first used this technique to defeat Fumikage Tokoyami.
 * Zero Distance Stun Grenade (ゼロ): A variation where Katsuki fires off his Stun Grenade at point-blank range of the opponent to immediately stun and immobilize them with little lasting damage. This variation was first used against Setsuna in the fourth round of the Joint Training Battle.
 * Howitzer Impact: This move is the strongest move in Katsuki's arsenal, which involves Katsuki taking to the air, and then using explosions to propel himself in a circular motion to create a tornado. This tornado builds up oxygen to fuel the incoming explosion. After colliding with the target, Katsuki releases the powerful aforementioned explosion. Present Mic compared the effectiveness of the technique to that of an actual missile. Katsuki first used Howitzer Impact in the final match of the U.A. Sports Festival Finals. He has also shown that he can release the fueled explosion in midair, without having to make contact with the target.
 * AP Shot: Katsuki stretches out one of his hands and uses his other hand to form a circle on the palm of his outstretched hand. Katsuki then fires an explosion through the circle, which creates a concentrated blast beam. By focusing the path of his explosions into a single point instead of around his whole palm, Katsuki creates a concentrated blast with reduced area of impact, but with enough power to successfully pierce solid concrete.
 * AP Shot: Auto-Cannon: A rapid-fire version of his AP Shot Technique. The explosion power is reduced in order to avoid dealing severe damage to human targets. This variation was first used against Seiji Shishikura in the first stage of the Provisional Hero License Exam.
 * Explode-A-Pult (カタパルト): While in mid-air, Katsuki grabs an opponent with one of his arms, then propels himself in a spinning motion by firing explosions with his free arm. Once he gains enough momentum, Katsuki forcefully throws his opponent with the aid of another explosion. He first used this technique against Togaru Kamakiri in the fourth round of the Joint Training Battle.

Equipment
Grenadier Bracers: An adjustment added to Katsuki's hero costume that stores his nitroglycerin-like sweat. Once filled, he can pull the grenade pin in order to release a large blast, as shown when he fought Izuku in All Might's Heroes vs. Villains test. It has enough explosive power to destroy all parts of the building within its blast radius. This equipment was first used during the Battle Trial.

Improvised Grenades: Around the belt of his Hero costume are several containers made to look like hand grenades. These can store Katsuki's nitroglycerin-like sweat, and be used as regular grenades at a later time. These were first used during the Provisional Hero License Exam by Denki.

Knee Pads: These are very blunt metallic attachments to Katsuki's knees. They are designed so that he can "kill with his knees," but he has not yet displayed such use for them.

Chapter Appearances

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Trivia

 * Originally, Katsuki was a very kind and gentle character who spoke without thinking and unintentionally insulted others. Horikoshi, however, found this original draft to be boring and decided, while still keeping him a natural born genius, to make him an unpleasant character instead.
 * In later concepts, Katsuki would adopt the Hero Name "Ground Zero" at some point. In the series proper, Katsuki still doesn't have a known Hero Name, as his proposed ones were rejected by Midnight due to their overly violent nature.
 * Katsuki's surname contains the kanji for "bomb" (爆) and "powerful" (豪), and his first name contains "to win" (勝) and "self" (己).
 * The first kanji used to write Katsuki's surname is also the first kanji that's used in the word "explosion" (爆破).
 * According to Katsuki's Volume 1 profile:
 * His favorite food is spicy food.
 * His favorite activity is mountain climbing.
 * Katsuki's known academic data at U.A. is as follows:
 * Student No. 17 in Class 1-A.
 * Ranked 1st during the U.A. Entrance Exam.
 * Ranked 3rd during the Quirk Apprehension Test.
 * His 50-Meter Dash record is 4.13 seconds. His previous record was 5.58 in middle school.
 * His Softball Throw record is 709.6 meters, updated from 705.2 meters during the Quirk Training Camp. His previous record was 67 meters in middle school.
 * Ranked 3rd in Class 1-A's mid-term grades.
 * Winner of The U.A. Sports Festival First-Year Stage.
 * Katsuki received a total of 3,456 nominations from Pro Heroes for his U.A. Sports Festival performance, making him the 2nd most nominated student of Class 1-A despite winning the competition.
 * Since he failed the Provisional Hero License Exam, he scored below 50.
 * Katsuki's old, Quirkless 50-Meter Dash record is the same as Tsuyu Asui's current, Quirk-using record (5.58 seconds).
 * Katsuki's rankings in the Popularity Polls are as follows:
 * Katsuki ranked 3rd in the First Popularity Poll.
 * Katsuki ranked 1st in the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Popularity Polls.
 * Katsuki ranked 5th in the First US Popularity Poll.
 * Katsuki ranked 1st in the Second, Fourth and Fifth US Popularity Polls.
 * With his birthday taking place on April 20, Katsuki is the oldest student in Class 1-A, as everyone was 15 when they started U.A.'s school year in early April.
 * Katsuki and Ochaco Uraraka share the same Costume designer.
 * Katsuki's English voice actor for when he was a child, Kate Oxley, also voices Fuyumi Todoroki.

Quotes

 * (To Izuku Midoriya) "From here on, I..! From here on..! Y'hear me?! I'm gonna... beat you all! Enjoy your win. It'll never happen again! Dammit!"
 * (To All Might) "Needless to say... I'll be a hero that surpasses even you!"
 * (To Shoto Todoroki) "You'll regret making a fool of me! I'll freaking kill you! I'm taking the first to end all firsts! There's no point in winning against some half-assed punk! No point if I can't do better than Deku! So if you're not trying to win, get the hell outta my face! Why're you even here, you bastard?!"
 * (To Izuku Midoriya) "Stop talking. I will win. That's... what heroes do."
 * (To the League of Villains) "Can't stand morons like you who can't get to the damned point! Basically you're saying, 'we wanna cause trouble, be our pal!' What a joke! I've always admired All Might's triumphs. No matter what any of you jerks say... Nothing's ever gonna change that!"
 * (To the leader of the kids at the Remedial Course) "If all you ever do is look down on people, you won't be able to recognize your own weaknesses."

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