Dabi

Dabi, real name Toya Todoroki, is a major antagonist in the My Hero Academia manga and anime series.

He is the eldest son of the Pro Hero Endeavor, driven insane due to his neglectful actions, and becoming a villain to enact revenge. He became affiliated with the League of Villains, a former member of the organization's since disbanded Vanguard Action Squad, and later one of the nine lieutenants of the Paranormal Liberation Front. Alongside his teammates, he serves as one of the main antagonists in the Forest Training Camp Arc, Pro Hero Arc, and Paranormal Liberation War Arc.

Appearance
Dabi is a fairly tall, pale young man of a slim, somewhat lanky build, described to be in his early twenties. He has white hair with a few red streaks at its crown that spikes upward around his head, hanging low over his eyes, which are thin, turquoise in color, and heavily lidded. Before the reveal of his true identity, his hair was dyed black.

His most striking features are undoubtedly the patches of gnarled, wrinkled, purple skin that cover much of his lower face and neck, all the way down past his collarbone, below his eyes, around his torso, and on his arms and legs due to him losing control of his fire Quirk at a young age and engulfing him in flames. These appear to be attached to the rest of his skin by multiple, crude surgical staples or hoop piercings.

He has several silver cartilage piercings in both ears, and a triple nostril piercing on the right side of his nose. He also seems to be lacking earlobes on both sides of his ears upon closer inspection. In his first appearance, he wears a dark blue jacket with a high, ripped collar, and matching pants, cut off above his ankles, a pair of dark dress shoes on his feet. He also has a plain pale gray, scoop-neck shirt, below which a gray belt with a circular pattern wraps around his waist, a leather satchel attached at the back.

As a child, Toya had a round face and unruly crimson hair that was spiked up in tufts around his head, falling down his forehead in uneven bangs, though due to inheriting his mother's genes, his hair slowly turned white. He also wore a plain gakuran jacket as well. He would usually wear a neutral expression as shown in a few of the photos he was shown in. Due to his premature birth, he was shorter than his two younger siblings, Fuyumi and Natsuo, though it wasn’t until after his growth spurt did Toya become around the same height as them.

After losing control of his Quirk and waking up from three years in comatose, Toya had grown taller and his hair had become spikier, with him now resembling more of his appearance as an adult. Toya’s burn scars were also present, albeit not as severe as they are now and not yet attached to his skin via piercings.

When he joins the Vanguard Action Squad, his look is updated, now consisting of a larger dark blue coat with two large metal cuffs at the end of each elbow-length sleeve, and a white stitch design on each of his shoulders, the hem ripped, extending down to his knees. His shirt and belt stay the same, but he replaces his pants with some larger ones of a darker color, and his shoes with black boots.

Around the time of the formation of the Paranormal Liberation Front, Dabi acquires a new outfit to complete his status as one of the nine lieutenants of the organization. Dabi wears a darkish blue long coat with the same white cuffs similar to his previous one. In addition, he dons a white V-necked shirt with white outlines. His stitches not only extend to his shoulder pads but also the kneecaps of his pants. The only things he retains are his silver belt, black boots, and his dark-colored pants. He also has three buttons on both sides of his coat.

Following the Paranormal Liberation War, Dabi retains his white hair color and his burns have now extended to his hands and cheekbones as a result of overusing his Quirk during his confrontation with Endeavor and Shoto. By the time of the second war, Dabi’s new tattered overcoat, boots, and pants are all white, with bracers on the sleeves and a belt on his waist. His new outfit also lacks a shirt underneath.

As Dabi continues to use his Quirk wildly, his body is burning away even more. The already burned flesh around the right side of his face is beginning to crumble and fall off, leaving him horribly disfigured. A portion of his jaw and teeth, as well as muscles and tendons, are now visible and his burns continue to spread around his face.

Personality
As a child, Toya was very energetic and boisterous, and he wanted to learn as much as he could from his father. Because his father, Enji, had emphasized that he would be the one to surpass All Might since childhood, Toya became obsessed with the goal to fulfill that dream, becoming just as stubborn as his father to become the next number one. This drive to surpass All Might was so great that despite Enji continuously trying to tell him to abandon this goal and focus on something else in life, he refused and continued training, burning himself in the process. Toya described his goal as a fire that his father lit within him that would not go out and that he could not bring himself to ignore, highlighting how his childhood dream went on to become an unhealthy obsession. His mother Rei however, construed that he simply yearned for his father’s acknowledgment and proof that he wasn’t a failure.

Toya’s obsession would go on to make him further unstable, not caring about the damage his Quirk training did to his own body. He also shrugged off concerns from his sister and mother, taking Enji’s words to heart that his younger siblings lived in a different world than him. At one point, Toya even lashed out and attacked his mother and an infant Shoto with his Quirk when his father refused to look at him. Despite this, he wasn’t completely callous towards his family as he showed to have a fairly good relationship with Fuyumi and Natsuo while growing up, and also expressed regret for trying to attack his youngest brother while admitting that he was wrong.

After being abandoned by Enji, who became focused on Toya's youngest brother Shoto, Toya went through an existential crisis and would cry out of frustration every night. Nevertheless, he continued to train his Quirk despite the harm it brought him, hoping to surpass Shoto and gain his father’s approval. Toya even cried out of pure happiness when he saw his Quirk evolve and his flames become stronger. When his father didn’t meet with him to see this discovery however, Toya broke down emotionally and lost control of his flames, which ended up nearly burning him to death. Even after surviving and waking up from 3 years in comatose however, Toya still went home and wanted to see his father again, yet also desired to make amends with his family for attacking Shoto and his treatment of them. After seeing that nothing had changed however, and that Enji was still obsessed with training Shoto to become his successor, Toya completely broke, being reminded that all he ever was to his father was a failure. This caused Toya to completely abandon his old self and become Dabi, a murderous villain obsessed with ruining his father's reputation and paying him back for all the suffering he went through.

After renaming himself Dabi, he became a stoic, aloof, confident, and focused individual who rarely shows emotion. While rather crude and violent, he's actually cautious, choosing to retreat when Mirko arrived to aid Endeavor and made sure not to divulge too much information to Hawks about High-End because of the infancy of their relationship. Overall, Dabi is a highly enigmatic individual who trusts no one, preferring to do things alone and in his own way. He also gives off the impression of knowing more about certain people than he lets on.

Despite his usual expressionless behavior, Dabi finds joy in establishing himself as a villain fighting what he believes to be false heroes, an ideology proposed by his apparent inspiration, Stain. Dabi is dedicated to Stain's mission and desires to destroy superhuman society, sharing his belief that one person with the necessary conviction can do so. He is shown to share Stain's sentiment that heroes are hypocritical and unworthy of their title, but unlike Stain, he does not seem to seek a society with better heroes, believing that true heroes don't exist. Despite his devotion to the Hero Killer's creed, Dabi does many things that Stain would not, such as attacking innocent bystanders and helping the League get revenge against Overhaul, while also being motivated by his own vengeance against Endeavor. In the end, it seems that Dabi is only using Stain's ideals as a cover for his own motives, as well as to justify his crimes against hero society.

Dabi takes pleasure in taunting heroic figures, students, and Pro Heroes alike, sadistically enjoying the pain he inflicts on others, including those he murders. Sometimes, Dabi engages in psychological warfare in order to unnerve whoever his opposition is, while also allowing himself to cool down from his Quirk's effects. Very pragmatic in battle, he is rather savvy about how heroes operate and will exploit their natural tendency to rescue others. He is not afraid of causing collateral destruction, rarely holding back, even if it puts his allies at risk.

Dabi is intolerant of most people and can be very derisive, being quite rude and condescending to essentially everybody he interacts with. He insulted Tomura Shigaraki immediately after meeting him and constantly does the same to both his allies and enemies, but doesn't always do it with the intention to be rude. While the League would go on to develop a strong sense of camaraderie, Dabi has remained distant from them for the most part. He has admitted that he doesn't care for Tomura or the rest of the League and that the value he puts on them comes mostly from their ability to bring his ambitions into reality. This selfish way of thinking establishes Dabi as an extreme sociopath.

However, Dabi appears to at least be capable of feeling some remorse. While he had no problem killing the Pro Hero Snatch, the latter's words appear to have resonated with him, implying that Dabi has sympathy for those that have lost family due to villains, as well as the loved ones of those who he has killed. This does not extend to his own family though, as Dabi has frequently contemplated their deaths for the sake of revenge. He is also shown to have certain standards like when he was surprised and disgusted by how the heroes and government were more than willing to bring young students into the Paranormal Liberation War, although he could've just been looking down on them for having to rely on high schoolers. He even displayed some semblance of kindness when he burned down Himiko Toga's old family home while she was feeling distraught over it, though he claims he only did it as a way to twist the knife for the heroes.

Following the reveal of his identity and his broadcast revealing his childhood, Dabi unveils his far more sadistic and unhinged side, expressing a maddened and gleeful expression upon confronting his father and youngest brother. With his sadism and vengeance fully renewed, Dabi is shown to completely relish in any and all pain he can cause Endeavor, which is shown when he attacked Nejire Chan with his Quirk and gloated that another child's future had been burned by Endeavor's flames. His broadcast has also shown his true belief in heroes, which is that they use their good actions to hide and justify all their sins, and use the public's admiration of them to keep it that way. He ridicules his father for believing that he could atone for his past of abusing his family, as well as his attempts to change into a better person, and did the same when revealing Hawks’ father to be a serial criminal who was caught by the Flame Hero. Although he had previously discarded his past name, he resumes using it after his battle with his father.

Dabi is also aware of his own madness and doesn't seem to be against the idea of suicide if it can kill his father or hurt him more, as shown when Dabi attempts to immolate both himself and Shoto in the War. He also expresses how he can't feel anything anymore, not even towards his family, further cementing Dabi's apathy and showing just how far he has fallen. He later confirms to Shoto that he’s fully intending to go down while taking out Endeavor, knowing that his vengeance would lead him to death from the start, and that killing his father while destroying everything he holds dear will be how he leaves his mark on the world.

Abilities
Overall Abilities: Having been trained by his father, Endeavor, at a young age, and undergoing rigorous self-training, Dabi has proven to be a powerful villain, being one of the strongest members of the League of Villains' Vanguard Action Squad, as well as its de facto leader. After joining the League, Dabi has killed over thirty people, garnering a reputation as a dangerous criminal and a mass murderer. Dabi has an effective handle on his powerful, yet hazardous Quirk, which not only grants him control over his self-generated blue flames that are stronger than normal flames, due to hating his father, but also proficient wide-range capabilities.

A noteworthy feat is that he was able to survive being completely incinerated by his own flames and spend three years comatose. Kyudai Garaki even found it amazing that Dabi was able to live into adulthood, despite only being given a month to live with his burned and ruined body.

Dabi primarily fights from a distance, shooting fireballs, generating flamethrower attacks, and releasing bursts of fire when at close range. His basic offense is using the brute force of his Quirk to overwhelm his enemies. Defensively, Dabi can burn away attacks and even generate massive walls of fire to surround his targets. With this skill and power, he can incinerate an entire group of opponents in mere seconds. Overall, Dabi has the capacity and ingenuity to contend with a multitude of adversaries who outnumber him.

The immense capabilities of Dabi's Quirk allowed him to repel the Bakugo Escort squad during the Vanguard Action Squad Invasion, fight off multiple Meta Liberation Army members and emerge unscathed, as well as extensively fight on par with Geten, one of the MLA's strongest members. He even completely overpowered Hawks, the No. 2 Hero, primarily due to pyrokinetic Quirks being a major weakness to Hawks' Fierce Wings. These feats are proven to be even more impressive as Dabi never relied on his Flashfire techniques in any of these encounters.

Dabi's Quirk finesse also enables him to fly and hover in the air much like his father and youngest brother. In the Paranormal Liberation War, Dabi began utilizing his father's Flashfire Fist techniques in combat and was not only able to instantly burn through Best Jeanist's Carbon Fibers, but effortlessly dominated Shoto (also using Flashfire Fist) in a battle of flames. The disparity in their abilities was so great, Dabi could hold back and defeat Shoto with a single Jet Burn, without killing him.


 * Pain Insensitivity: As told by Kyudai Garaki, Dabi's immolation as a child had caused severe damage to his body and nervous system, to the point where it is now difficult for his body to detect pain. This is shown when a clone of Dabi barely had any reaction to Eraser Head breaking one of his arms. This condition allows Dabi to use his Quirk freely and ignore the potentially fatal burns that it inflicts on his body, causing Dabi to still persist even when his body begins to burn away.
 * Cold Resistance: Dabi is resistant to extreme cold or ice-based attacks, a trait he inherited from his mother. This gave Dabi an advantage during his fight with Geten.

Keen Intellect: Possessing good judgment, Dabi is a very keen individual, observant of everything around him, whether he's reading someone's intentions or weaknesses. Dabi is also known for psychologically engaging enemies, questioning their motives and morality during combat. This is an entirely tactical maneuver for buying time since it compliments Dabi's weakness of his flames hurting his own body over time. When he first met Tomura Shigaraki, the pyrokinetic easily identified Tomura's personality instability. During the Vanguard Action Squad Invasion, he formed a plan having copies of himself, created by Twice, distract Eraser Head and Vlad King, while simultaneously using his flames to trap numerous U.A. students in the The Beast's Forest. Dabi's machinations may have resulted in the Vanguard Action Squad suffering 3 casualties, but in the end accomplished the objective of capturing Katsuki Bakugo. In the course of the forest incursion, one of Dabi's clones saw through Eraser Head's stoic nature with just a glance. After the League captured Katsuki, Tomura wanted Dabi to remove Katsuki's restraints, but Dabi refused, knowing Katsuki would initiate a surprise attack once released, which was proven true after Twice removed Katsuki's restraints.

While battling Snatch on a highway, Dabi quickly deduced and exploited the limits of the Sand Hero's Quirk. With this exploitation and Mr. Compress' aid, Dabi expressed that the lingering flames will kill the compressed Snatch, since the Pro Hero can only turn his upper body into sand. Once the Revival Festival was underway, wherein he was ambushed by Geten, Dabi, with a glimpse, assessed that the ice wielder was a strong adversary, all before their bout commenced. Whilst overpowering Hawks at Gunga Mountain Villa, Dabi revealed that he had suspected the Wing Hero of being the P.L.F traitor, so he chose not to trust Hawks the whole time they were acquainted with one another. To ensure Twice's escape, and knowing that he can't keep pace with Hawks' speed, Dabi threw Hawks off-balance by announcing the hero's civilian name: Keigo Takami, despite that being classified. Following Tsukuyomi's intervention, Dabi knew that the Jet-Black Hero would try to make a swift escape, so he intentionally waned the potency of his blaze attacks so he can have enough energy for his new jet propulsion ability.

Dabi's most impactful form of guerilla warfare was when he had his pre-recorded backstory uploaded to be globally broadcasted, while simultaneously revealing his true identity as Toya Todoroki to Endeavor and Shoto - with the video even including DNA results that confirmed he is of Endeavor's blood. Other than explaining his abusive childhood, kinship to Endeavor, and Endeavor's ambitions, Dabi also confessed to orchestrating his father's encounters with Hood, Starservant, and Ending in his attempts to discredit his father, a fact that sent Shoto into a tearful rage. Another nail in the coffin was Dabi divulging a part of Hawks' history in regards to the Wing Hero being both the son of a serial criminal, Takami, whom Endeavor previously apprehended, and the one responsible for the deaths of Twice and Best Jeanist, as murder is an act heroes don't commonly perform. These revelations were implemented to instill despair into Endeavor, as well as strip people of their faith in heroes, both of which were successful.

Quirk
Blueflame: Dabi's Quirk grants him the ability to generate highly destructive blue flames from his body. He has very well-developed control of his flames and can project them a fair distance from himself and in large amounts. Furthermore, his flames possess greater firepower than that of his father, Endeavor's, Hellflame Quirk, and they become even stronger when Dabi feels strong emotions. However, Dabi's body has a low tolerance for his own flames, due to inheriting his mother's resistance to freezing temperatures, rather than his father's resistance to high heat, and he will get burned if he uses them for prolonged periods of time.

Ultimate Moves

 * Flashfire Fist: Endeavor's signature technique, later passed down to Dabi himself. Dabi raises his fire's temperature to its highest level and maximizes his power. Doing so, Dabi can unleash devastating flame attacks or increase his speed dramatically.
 * Hell Spider (ヘルスパイダー): Dabi shoots streams of fire from his fingertips, scorching his opponents. Unlike his father, Dabi performs this with less care and precision, and on a larger scale.
 * Jet Burn (ジェットバーン): This attack allows Dabi to shoot out a blast of fire at his desired target. This attack is quite powerful, as it was shown to critically wound Shoto, knocking him unconscious. Dabi used the move against his youngest brother during the war against the Paranormal Liberation Front. Unlike his father, Dabi only shoots his fire rather than making direct contact with his opponent. However, during the second War, Dabi uses it again against Shoto, this time in a punching form, similar to his father.
 * Prominence Burn (プロミネンスバーン): This attack allows Dabi to launch a massive, concentrated beam of fire from his entire body that is able to vaporize his target. Dabi nearly used this move at full power against Endeavor but was intercepted by the sudden arrival of Best Jeanist on the battlefield, With this move, Dabi reaches the peak of speed and temperature.

Chapter Appearances

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Anime Appearances

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Trivia

 * Dabi's official rankings in the Popularity Polls are as following:
 * Ranked 28th place in the 2nd Popularity Poll.
 * Ranked 34th place in the 3rd Popularity Poll.
 * Ranked 28th place in the 4th Popularity Poll.
 * Ranked 19th place in the 5th Popularity Poll.
 * Ranked 22nd place in the 6th Popularity Poll.
 * Ranked 16th place in the 7th Popularity Poll.
 * Ranked 11th in the 5th US Popularity Poll.
 * Dabi's real name, Toya, contains the kanji for "lamp" (燈) and "arrow" (矢), and his alias translates to "cremation" (荼毘).
 * In the Season 2 opening, "Sora ni Utaeba" by Amazarashi, Dabi was shown as a silhouette foreshadowing his appearance to come.
 * Dabi favors his left-hand in battle.
 * Dabi can get carsick easily, as he stated to Spinner when the latter was not driving properly.
 * Dabi is unable to cry since his tear glands are burned. However, it's been shown that blood will still flow from them.
 * Dabi hates fish.
 * Dabi and Burnin share the same birthday (January 18th).
 * Dabi may be considered a dark reflection of Shoto, as it's been implied that Shoto may have become just like Dabi if he couldn’t forgive his father and let his burning hatred for Endeavor consume him as Dabi had done; Shoto himself noted this and it was the reason why he wanted to deal with Dabi himself.
 * Dabi was born prematurely and was small throughout his childhood because of it until he went through a growth spurt.
 * Dabi's flames were originally red like his father's, and they didn't turn blue until he hit puberty.
 * There were many hints in the story that Dabi was Toya Todoroki all along.
 * These include their similar appearance, as both Dabi and Toya have spiky hair and turquoise eyes.
 * Throughout the series, Dabi was shown to have acted as if he knew Shoto and Endeavor beforehand, the way he spoke to them also indicated that they had history.
 * Both Toya and Dabi's powers are identical, both having powerful fire-based Quirks that surpassed Endeavor's but a weak constitution and low tolerance for their own flames.
 * Dabi shares some features with Frankenstein's Monster from the 1931 movie Frankenstein.
 * Toya's skin attached with surgical staples and his body having been restored with regenerative tissues, leaving several scars around his body, is shared with the Monster's body being made out of several corpses.
 * Victor Frankenstein's lifelong pursuit to create his creature filled him with purpose and drove a series of feverish attempts to fulfill his dream. Something shared with Dabi's father who planned to have children in order to give a perfect match of Quirks in order to fulfill his dream to surpass All Might.
 * Ironically, Victor and Enji both yearned for their creations to fulfill their ambitions, only for said creations to turn on them after feeling rejected and become vengeful killers.
 * Dabi's introduction gesture in Chapter 191 looks like a mirrored version of Frankenstein's Monster's gesture with both hands standing close to his chest.

Quotes

 * (To the Vanguard Action Squad) "This will just be a signal fire. We'll fill those heroes full of holes... and put them in their place. All for a brighter future."
 * (To Eraser Head) "Quite worthy of being an instructor at U.A. Ain't that right, hero? Is it cuz your students are so precious? Hope you got what it takes to protect them... See ya later."
 * (To Vlad King) "Why not get cocky? You're playing right into our hands. The second you lost the initiative signaled your defeat. You've got the top hero-training academy, U.A., and the Symbol of Peace, All Might... the two most trusted foundations of our hero-based society. But now one mess after another is shaking that trust... don't you think that loss of faith will spread like wildfire throughout society? Think about it... how your careless administration keeps allowing attack after attack... you're so weak... you couldn't even stop a criminal organization from abducting your students."
 * (To unnamed criminals) "If you're trash, at least burn and be kindling for my flames."
 * (To Hawks)"The League? Shigaraki? I never gave a crap about them. A single person with a single conviction has the power to change the world. There are no true heroes. I plan to make Stain's will a reality. See ya, Hawks. Your life's another thing I don't care about."

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