Goto Imasuji

Muscular (マスキュラー) is a villain affiliated with the League of Villains as part of its Vanguard Action Squad. He and the rest of his squad serve as the primary antagonists of the Forest Training Camp Arc.

He is currently incarcerated in Tartarus.

Appearance
Muscular is a large, bulky and extremely muscular man set wide with short, spiky blond hair and small black eyes. He has a large scar going across the left side of his face, his left eye replaced with a prosthetic one, and he has another, smaller scar on the right side of his forehead.

His outfit consists of a black, hooded cloak and a white hockey mask with multiple holes. Underneath this, he wears a red tank top, a dark jacket that hangs around his waist, dark-colored pants, and black knee-high boots.

Personality
Befitting his appearance, Muscular has a very sadistic and bloodthirsty personality. He openly admits that he wants to use his Quirk freely to kill. Muscular enjoys killing and tormenting those he fights, often saying "show me your blood!". Unlike most of the other members of the Vanguard Action Squad, he joined the League of Villains just to let loose with his brutal tendencies, rather than following Stain's ideology.

Even so, Muscular does have ideals of his own. He believes that people should deliver on whatever promises they make to others or else their words mean nothing. To him, "right" and "wrong" are determined by one's ability to accomplish their intentions. When he fought Water Hose, he viewed it as a battle of wills between his intent to kill and Water Hose's intent to stop him; as he was victorious, he was right and Water Hose was wrong. Conversely, he accepts the loss of his left eye as the result of Water Hose's intent and bears them no ill will for it. He even spoke highly of the heroes to their son.

Muscular's signature trait is his overconfidence which later proved to be his greatest flaw. Muscular believed himself superior to Izuku Midoriya because his Quirk's augmentation powers were more potent than Izuku's. This superiority complex resulted in Muscular using only part of his power to toy with Izuku. His overconfidence is also what caused him to become distracted during their fight. Izuku was able to land a powerful smash on Muscular on two separate occasions because he allowed himself to be distracted by Kota Izumi.

Despite his ego, Muscular does compliment Izuku's strengths. After getting hit by a full-power smash, Muscular admitted Izuku is powerful and decided to stop holding back. However, this never stopped him from taunting Izuku during their bout.

Abilities
Overall Abilities: Muscular is a very powerful villain, being one of the strongest members of the League of Villains' Vanguard Action Squad. His incredible combat aptitude allows him to singlehandedly overpower, and potentially kill, Pro Heroes, most notably, Water Hose. Muscular also has a great handle on his Quirk, Muscle Augmentation, which he used to exponentially increase his physical brawn in parts of his body, or his whole body. By infusing his heightened strength into his melee combat abilities, Muscular overwhelms his opponents with blurring speeds while delivering heavily reinforced strikes, making him a highly formidable force to face in battle. While he is powerful, Muscular does however sustain some form of injury after a bout, such as his missing left eye caused by his confrontation with Water Hose. Muscular's bloodthirsty nature, coupled with his battle efficiency, earned him the epithet, "The Carnal Murderer".

During the Vanguard Action Squad Invasion, Muscular was more than capable of repeatedly overpowering Izuku Midoriya, a One For All inheritor who is one of the most powerful students at U.A. High School. When Izuku delivered a 100% "Detroit Smash", which is equivalent to the strength of All Might, Muscular emerged virtually unscathed, albeit at the cost of his tank top and one of his prosthetic left eyes. After the said attack, Muscular revealed that he was holding back a great deal of his strength, and decided to fight seriously. At full power, Muscular not only continued to dominate Izuku, but nearly killed him too, even as the young hero employed another 100% "Detroit Smash", had it not been for the intervention of Kota Izumi. Kota's actions inspired Izuku to go beyond 100% of One For All in order to overcome Muscular's power and finally defeat the villain. Battling against Izuku indicates that Muscular's overall prowess is enough to contend with someone of All Might's calibre.

Quirk
Muscle Augmentation: Muscular's Quirk allows him to greatly amplify his own muscle fibers, even reaching a point where they can’t be contained by his skin. These enhanced muscle fibers exponentially increase all of Muscular's physical abilities to a superhuman level, roughly on par with One For All.

He has also been shown to use his Quirk for defense by covering his whole body in an armor of augmented muscle fibers.
 * Immense Strength: Thanks to his Quirk, Muscular exhibits extreme levels of physical strength. Even when holding back, he is able to shatter rock and overpower Izuku Midoriya with minimal effort, such as sending the young hero flying with remarkable force with a mere kick. When fighting seriously, Muscular's reinforced strikes were able to cause destruction on a scale to similar to Izuku's 100% Detroit Smash. He was also able to directly overpower Izuku, who was using One For All at 100% at the time, in a physical clash.
 * Immense Durability: Muscular possesses a frightening level of impermeability to physical harm. He was able to take the full brunt of Izuku's 100% Detroit Smash, which is on the same level as All Might's power, with minimal injury. However, he was incapacitated only after Izuku went beyond his limit with One For All. Even after the battle, Muscular was shown fully awake, and fighting with his restraints while Izuku was in a coma.
 * Immense Speed: Muscular has shown to be surprisingly swift despite his large bulk. He was able to catch Izuku off-guard several times during their fight. With the increased muscle mass in his legs, Muscular is able to launch himself off the ground at blurring speeds. Izuku surmised that, even if he took Kota and tried to run back to the training camp, Muscular would overtake them in seconds the very minute the young hero opted a hasty retreat, especially since Izuku was exhausted from the training that day.

Equipment
Prosthetic Left Eyes: Muscular keeps a small collection of replacement eyes in his left pocket in case his regular one is damaged or loosened from its socket. Each one sports a unique design. Muscular picks a replacement depending on his current mood.

Trivia

 * Muscular's English voice actor, Jim Foronda, also voices Tsutsutaka Agoyamato.

Quotes

 * (To Izuku Midoriya about Kota Izumi) "Haa ha ha! Blood! Love it. So fun! What was that, again? You're gonna save him, right?! So why're you running?! That's a weird way to save someone!!"
 * (To Izuku Midoriya) "My Quirk's a muscle enhancer. These muscle fibers of mine can't be contained even by my skin. They raise the standard in speed!! And power!! Get what I'm saying?! You're nothing but...an inferior version of me! You understand where I'm coming from?! I can't help but laugh!"
 * (To Kota Izumi about his parents) "Brats like you sure know how to pass the blame. It's no good. I don't really hold a grudge against 'em about my eye. I killed 'em, just like I wanted to. And they tried to stop me. We all did our best and had to deal with the results. What's bad is when you can't put your money where your mouth is...like your dear mommy and daddy!"
 * (To Izuku Midoriya when asked about the League of Villains' goal) "Like I care. All I wanna do is rampage. As long as I get to use my Quirk without holding back, I'm good."

Site Navigation
Muscular Muscular