Hood

Hood (フード), also known simply as High-End (ハイエンド), was one of twelve of Doctor Garaki's intelligent High-End Nomu and the primary antagonist of the Pro Hero Arc.

Appearance
Hood resembled other Nomu but with a large, muscular build and a comparatively long neck. His head was shrouded in darkness by a hood of skin and the muscles on neck and shoulders were left exposed.

Underneath his hood, his face consisted entirely of an exposed brain, distorted red eyes, and a mouth full of long, jagged teeth.

Prior to being transformed into a Nomu, he was a muscular man with notably long teeth, distorted eyes, black shaggy hair, and a visible tattoo on his left shoulder.

Personality
Hood openly showed signs of obedience and loyalty to his master. He spoke with a stutter and broken grammar. Hood was disturbingly eager to fight strong opponents, quickly growing bored with whichever hero he was fixated on after managing to defeat them. This could be seen after he seemingly defeated Endeavor, as he began to wonder if there was an even stronger hero. This battle lust was a holdover from its base body's personality: a thug who worked as an underground fighter.

He also displayed some wits during that battle, as he made distractions for lesser heroes by summoning weaker Nomu. He also protected his weak spot, his head, during battle.

History
Before being turned into a High-End Nomu, Hood was once a street punk who made a living as an underground fighter. One time, he was sent on a mission to make sure All For One could get any Quirk he wanted from the Underground Cage-Fighting facility, where he was confronted by the Pro Hero O'Clock. He duels the Hero, using his Quirks to extend his arm to try and attack, while the latter uses his to quickly dodge. The Hooded Man’s fists and attacks cause chaos to erupt in the arena as the stage is destroyed and the attendees try to run and flee. Tiger Bunny and The Rapper return to provide back-up for O’Clock, with him telling them to execute Plan B.

O’Clock observes the disguised Hood’s abilities, noticing how his body utilizes cellular propagation at lightning speed which allow him to not allow stretch and transform his limbs, but also heal and alter its structure. He also notices his martial arts vibe appears to be drilled into his muscle memory, and that said fighting style isn’t compatible with his Quirk, forcing his wind-up attacks to have a lag. O’Clock uses this delay to his advantage, using his Quirk to predict his attacks or create an opening to slice up his muscles, not creating anything lethal, but doing enough damage to keep him held in place.

Tiger Bunny speeds her way through the Underground Facility, making her way to the exit, as Hood notices this and tries to grab ahold of her. However, O’Clock and The Rapper manage to provide enough hits on the man to distract him long enough for her to escape.

Pro Hero Arc
Once he was activated, it took him ten hours to stabilize before he could fight. At Hidamari Kindergarten, Hood is told that he was previously clueless and now more is expected of him. Hood responds to his master to leave an unknown task to him to complete.

Hood flies to the restaurant where Hawks and Endeavor are meeting, as he is spotted by the heroes. Hood attacks by smashing through the window, the Nomu then asks which of them is the strongest. Endeavor sees that the rumors were true and is glad that this was well-timed. Hood prepares to attack but Endeavor takes the initiative and punches Hood out of the building. Hood's right hand, which was gripping the wall, is torn off and left clinging to the wall. Endeavor flies outside and prepares to confront the creature.

Hood mocks Endeavor's attempt to hurt him as he begins regenerating the damage and regrows his right hand. As Endeavor launches another attack, Hood evades with a quick burst of flight and grabs Endeavor; throwing him through the restaurant by elongating the muscles on his arm. Hood continues the assault by swinging its arm and almost causing the top floors of the building to collapse completely. Hawks appears after having rescued the injured civilians and stabs Hood with a volley of feathers. Endeavor follows up with another attack that cuts through Hood 's body in multiple places. Hood comments that the battle is getting interesting and shows no concern over his injuries.

Endeavor launches an attack that Hood flies away from. The attack completely demolishes a good portion of the building. Two heroes use their Quirks to help Endeavor from below on the street. However, their attacks do not faze Hood. Hood then releases multiple Nomu into the streets. When Endeavor doesn't make a move, Hood asks Endeavor if he isn't going to attack anymore. Hood then rushes Endeavor, wanting to test his new strength on the hero. Endeavor then unleashes Prominence Burn, which carbonizes Hood's body, but not his head. Hood regenerates quickly and strikes Endeavor. Endeavor falls to the ground defeated, as well as a damaged eye. Hood then asks if there is a stronger hero around.

As Hood stands over his fallen opponent, a still conscious Endeavor used his flames to lift himself and he attempted to attack High End. However, Hood easily evaded the strike and sent the Pro Hero flying into a building, noting the latter was done. Endeavor refused to give up and used his Quirk to project himself after the Nomu who wondered if he had regeneration. Hood watched as Hawks used his feathers to enhance Endeavor's speed, allowing Endeavor to be launched at the villain.

Thrust by Hawks' feathers, Endeavor used the speed to attack High End sending them both through the air. As he was thrust through the air, Hood began to take on the behavior of a wild beast as its regenerative powers were still active while it was burned. Endeavor had Hawks give him more speed to help and used the speed boost to send him and the Nomu far from the city. With nothing to stand his way, Endeavor used a finishing move while noting he always hated the name to destroy High End for good. Hood was left as a scorched corpse on the ground as Endeavor emerged from the destruction and did a pose, similar to All Might's to show he was victorious.

Dabi attempted to recover Hood's corpse and take advantage of his destruction by attacking Endeavor and Hawks but Mirko interfered before he could attack. Unable to complete his objective, Dabi was warped away leaving Hood's corpse in the custody of the heroes and the police.

Abilities
Overall Abilities: The first of the High-End breed of Nomu, Hood was an extraordinarily powerful being that bore the capacity to contend with, and outclass top Pro Heroes and cause mass destruction, singlehandedly. He confronted Endeavor and Hawks, the new respective No. 1 and No. 2 Pro Heroes, and was taken by a surprise when Endeavor launched a point-blank "Jet Burn" attack, from which Hood regenerated before engaging Endeavor in an aerial battle. Hood avoided most of Endeavor's "Hell Spider" technique, being hit with only 2 fire beams, and effortlessly pinned the Flame Hero to the wall of a skyscraper. Hood then proceeded to launch the restrained Endeavor through the structure, immediately recover from his left arm being burned off, and hurl Endeavor away a good distance, overcoming the latter's reverse thrust, all while simultaneously bisecting the building. Endeavor even admitted that Hood was faster and stronger than he was, vindicating Hood's overwhelming formidability. Soon after, Hood was temporarily distracted by Hawks jumping into the fray, only to be lacerated by Endeavor's second employment of "Hell Spider", but the Nomu beheaded himself in order to preserve and reconstitute himself.

With their fight being drawn-out, Hood was blasted by a weakened Endeavor's strongest technique, "Prominence Burn", yet Hood underwent another self-decapitation to avoid total annihilation, giving Hood the opening to severely injure the flaming warrior, and nearly claim victory over him. Even as Endeavor rose to his feet and attacked Hood again, the artificial human was able to easily repel the battered hero, given Endeavor's movements had gotten slower. Immediately after, Hood attempted to bring about more devastation to the city of Kyushu, but was once again faced with his blaze-propelled pyrokinetic adversary, whom Hood was still able to counter using his shapeshifting arms. Hawks rejoined the duel, and Hood was capable of keeping up with the high-speed Wing Hero and land an attack on him before being overtaken by Endeavor. Taken high into the sky, Hood finally met his end when Endeavor exceeded his limits and obliterated the black Nomu with a stronger "Prominence Burn".
 * Immense Strength: Hood was incredibly strong even by Nomu standards. He was able to cling to the side of a concrete building with gripping strength alone. Hood can combine his Power, Muscle Augmentation, and Transforming Arms Quirks to increase his strength even further, as shown when he swung his elongated arm through the entire width of a skyscraper nearly bringing down the top floors of the building. At the same time, Hood used his strength to push Endeavor through multiple solid walls.
 * Enhanced Speed: Complementing his high degree of physical strength, Hood boasts a great degree or movement and reaction speed as well. He was shown to outpace Endeavor through out their fight. Avoiding all his attacks including a surprise Jet Burn from behind and even called him slow. Hood's speed was said to be even with the Number 2 Hero, Hawks who is a hero known for his incredibly high speed.
 * Flight: Through a combination of his Transforming Arms and Shoulder-Mounted Jets, Hood was capable of manipulating his body structure to allow him to fly through the air at high speed, easily keeping pace with Hawks, one of the fastest fighters in the world.

Tactical Intellect: Hood's exact level of intelligence was unknown, but as a High-End, he was capable of cohesive speech, unlike any previous Nomu. He also possesses good intuition and planning, as shown when Hood spawned lower-level Nomu to keep Endeavor's reinforcements occupied, given that the High-End was searching for strong opponents and wasn't interested in weaker combatants. Afterwards, Hood, noticing the ceased flame assault, began to realize Endeavor was getting weaker from overusing his Hellflame Quirk. Most notably. Hood was able to cleverly save himself from being vaporized at the hands of Endeavor by decapitating himself, and launching his head to safety, twice.

Quirks
Muscle Augmentation: Hood's Quirk allowed him to augment the muscle fibers in his body, increasing the power and speed of his movements.

Super Regeneration: Hood's second Quirk gave him the ability to regenerate from any damage he takes. He could even regenerate cells that had been burned. As long as his head remained intact, Hood could regenerate his entire body.

Shoulder-Mounted Jets (のジェット): Hood's third Quirk gave him jets on the back of his shoulders. These jets allowed him to propel himself through the air and fly.

Transforming Arms (する): Hood's fourth Quirk allowed him to shapeshift his arms. This gave him the ability to unleash powerful, elastic attacks. He could also turn them into wings to assist with his flight.

Power (パワー): Hood's fifth Quirk allowed his body to contain and unleash enormous physical power. He used this to enhance the strength of his attacks.

Storage: Hood's sixth Quirk gave him the power to store other beings within his own body and release them at will. His limit appeared to be nine.

Chapter Appearances

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Trivia

 * Hood shares his Japanese voice actor, Tsuguo Mogami, with the original U.S.J. Nomu and Mr. Compress. He also shares his English voice actor, Daman Mills, with Mustard, Moonfish, and the Chainsaw Nomu.

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