Tomura Shigaraki

Tomura Shigaraki, real name Tenko Shimura, is the leader of the League of Villains after his master All For One's defeat and arrest, and the primary antagonist of the series. He made his first major appearance as one of the main antagonists of the U.S.J. Arc. Like the rest of the League, his goal is to kill All Might, the "Symbol of Peace," thus destroying the society he represents and to create a new one with a new form of justice in his own image.

Later on, Tomura changed his goal to instead, destroy society all together rather than reshape it. He then merged his organization and the Meta Liberation Army to form the Paranormal Liberation Front, and he became its Grand Commander.

Appearance
Tomura is a slim man with deathly pale skin, tinged yellow and wrinkled a great deal around his eyes. His lips are chapped and uneven, a small mole on the right underneath, with visible scars on his right eye and under his lip. He has messy grayish-blue hair of varying lengths, the longest clumps reaching to about his shoulders, left hanging over his face in uneven waves. His eyes are normally obscured, but when visible, they are usually stretched wide in a rather maniacal manner, their bright red irises very small.

Interestingly, when Tenko was at the age of five, he bore a striking resemblance to Izuku Midoriya, with his blue hair originally being dark black in color, while also having dried patches of skin around his eyes, though his lips were shown to be healthy in appearance. After his Quirk manifested, his appearance changed giving him a wrinkled face and changing his hair color.

When in his civilian outfit, he wears plain red sneakers, black pants which expose his ankles, and a matching long-sleeved v-neck shirt, a plain black jacket over the top, the hood pulled low over his face, one of his disembodied hands in his pocket.

His villain costume sports fourteen embalmed hands, all positioned so they’re holding onto him onto different parts of his body. These hands were taken from dead individuals and embalmed by Kyudai Garaki, who gave them a zombie-like grayish-blue color and attached to their bases a golden box with two holes drilled into the bottom.

Each pair of these hands originally belonged to an individual killed by Tomura during the time his Quirk first manifested: the one on his neck is his mother's; on his arms, his grandfather's; on his forearms, his grandmother's; on his wrists, his sister's; and the ones in his chest and shoulders are from two unnamed street punks.

The hand that holds and hides Tomura's face, and that he sometimes keeps in his pocket, is his father's left hand, called "Father" by him. The right one was accidentally destroyed by him, so Kyudai had to make one to hold on the top of Tomura's head; this hand is connected to his mother's pair through two red cords.

All of the hands except one have been either destroyed or lost and discarded. For the rest of the outfit, Tomura just wears his regular black clothes, bar the jacket. He used to wear red tennis shoes, but they were destroyed by him.

After All For One's arrest, Tomura's hair has gotten longer, and he adopts a hooded leather coat that he wears over his costume.

During his fight with Re-Destro, Tomura's left hand was crushed, leaving only his ring and pinky fingers.

After the Revival Celebration, Tomura now wears a suit, a coat similar to Overhaul's, a leg brace, a brace for his left hand, and a hand on his face. His hair has also changed color once again, from light blue to white. During the events of My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising, he wore a dark red trenchcoat over his original black clothing and red shoes.

Personality
Tomura has a malevolent and warped personality. He doesn't care for his or almost anyone else's life, having no qualms about performing evil deeds like murdering innocents. Tomura was initially perceived to be a "man-child": arrogant, selfish, dependent and demanding, becoming angry if things didn't go his way and likening reality to some sort of video game. Much like a child, Tomura seemed unable to cope with his own feelings, instead lashing out and abusing both others or himself, tearing at his own neck when he becomes frustrated. This particular tic stems from the abuse he suffered from his father and being alone during his childhood, with All For One claiming that it represented his suppressed urge to kill and destroy. A very irritable person at the beginning of the series, Tomura would learn to be more patient and self-controlled in subsequent appearances, as a consequence of multiple failed plans and All For One's arrest.

Tomura is proud of the League of Villains, wanting to prove that his organization has the necessary power to shake society and taking pleasure in mocking those standing on his way. He doesn't tolerate others making light of the League's name and loathes the idea of certain personalities joining him, as was the case with Dabi and Himiko Toga at the beginning, which was made worse by the fact that they were inspired by Stain, who had previously refused membership and overshadowed Tomura's Nomus in terms of media exposure after the Hosu Incident. For similar reasons, he looked down on the Shie Hassaikai for their intentions of ruling the underworld over the League. In the end, however, Tomura can set his pride aside in order to do whatever is needed to accomplish his goals, adopting Stain's ideology to enlist more members to his cause and forming a deal with the Shie Hassaikai for the development of the Quirk-Destroying Drug.

Initially, Tomura seemingly caused destruction just for the sake of it and felt directionless about the League's path forward after Stain's arrest. It would take a fateful meeting with Izuku Midoriya in a mall for him to develop an epiphany and become aware of his true convictions: to crumble society through All Might's death. Tomura always had a desire to kill All Might, but out of an impulsive expression of anarchy towards a society that hurt him and caused his mental instability. After hearing from Izuku, Tomura realized that All Might is what he hates about both Izuku and Stain, wishing to see them, as well as society as a whole, lose their Symbol of Peace. Following All Might's retirement and during the League of Villains' encounter with the Meta Liberation Army, Tomura's convictions grew from crippling society to completely destroying it, apparently as a result of an innate sense of pain and suffering caused by his past memories. By Tomura's own admission, he hates everything that breathes, displaying an extreme form of nihilism.

Despite Tomura's general disgust of life, there are a select number of people he holds in high esteem. He has a close relationship with his mentor, All For One, the one person who came for his aid when he found himself alone and lost as a child. Tomura holds a great amount of respect and attachment for All For One, always referring to him as "Sensei" and being concerned for his well-being. Incidentally, Tomura happens to carry All For One's family name (Shigaraki), symbolizing a relationship close to father and son. Tomura also had Kurogiri as a trusted confidant and adviser, despite treating him harshly at times. Kurogiri's capture was noted to have made Tomura upset as the latter valued the former's company and abilities. Aside from those two and Kyudai Garaki, who all had a hand in raising him, Tomura is rather distant to his other allies, although he does seem to care about them, enough to prioritize their comfort once he obtained the necessary finances.

As a child, Tenko was shown to be relatively normal, even kind and compassionate. He held a great love for his family and a strong desire to become a hero someday, not unlike Izuku Midoriya. However, he was also psychologically fragile from the constant abuse he suffered from his hero-hating father, being terrified of his mere presence. Because of this oppressive upbringing and the inaction from the rest of his family, Tenko's mind eventually snapped due to his Quirk manifesting and destroying his household.

At first, Tomura expressed heavy remorse for accidentally killing his family upon losing control of his newfound Quirk. The severed hands that Tomura wears all over himself are the only physical remnants of his dead loved ones, claiming that they make him feel simultaneously sick and calm. Despite his sadness, Tomura experienced a partial relish in his family's demise since he considered them responsible for letting him suffer at his father's will. By Tomura's own admission, he felt cathartic pleasure while ending Kotaro's life as retaliation for his abusive treatment. During his fight with Re-Destro, Tomura overcame his past shackles of guilt after getting his memories back and now looks forward to the end of society, using his childhood feelings to further fuel his hatred.

Abilities
Overall Abilities: Tomura is known to be one of the most dangerous villains in Japan, contending with Pro Heroes in combat thanks to his physical and analytical skills. As the leader of the League of Villains, Tomura has total command over his powerful subordinates. During the U.S.J. Incident, Tomura had the mettle to briefly take on the formidable Pro Hero Eraser Head, and successfully use his Decay Quirk on the Erasure Hero's right arm. Tomura was even confident that he could take down Izuku Midoriya, Shoto Todoroki, Katsuki Bakugo, and Eijiro Kirishima, four highly capable U.A. students, although at the time, didn’t know the full extent of the quartet's abilities. Tomura was capable of battling Gigantomachia for half a month, not giving up until he is able to make the behemoth submit. When he faced Re-Destro, and his left hand was partially destroyed, Tomura's prowess had been suddenly enhanced to levels beyond his natural parameters. According to Re-Destro, if Tomura had his newly increased physical parameters during the Kamino Incident, he would’ve easily taken out at least one or two of the Pro Heroes during that event, even without his Decay Quirk. After a fierce battle, he was not only able to defeat Re-Destro to gain control of the latter’s army, but also tame Gigantomachia with his accomplishment.
 * Enhanced Strength: Tomura seems to be stronger than his build suggests, capable of holding Izuku by choking him with only four fingers while his victim displayed visible difficulty in trying to fight back.
 * Enhanced Durability: Tomura was able to withstand a point-blank blast from Katsuki's Explosion Quirk, sustaining little to no damage. He was even capable of battling Gigantomachia for half a month, and withstand the behemoth’s attacks. This trait carries on to the point where he manages to withstand a brutal beating from a powered-up Re-Destro.
 * Enhanced Speed: Tomura appears to be able to move very quickly, which helps him to touch his targets and affect them with minimal contact. He was able to appear before Tsuyu Asui in an instant and see Izuku after the latter had jumped at a speed that rivaled All Might's, immediately reacting afterwards. Only All Might himself was too fast for Tomura to track. Even when he was notably exhausted during the battle against the Meta Liberation Army, he swiftly swung himself atop a wall to avoid a massive onslaught of Army members, to their surprise, before disintegrating many of them in an instant. When he battled Re-Destro, he was able to move so fast with minimal wasted movements, that Re-Destro was taken by surprise by the increase in speed he had obtained.

Keen Intellect: Tomura possesses a sharp mind and is analytical, being able to deduce the workings of his opponents' abilities simply by observing them in action. He quickly deduced Eraser Head's weaknesses in combat and took advantage of them. Tomura has a certain skill for unexpected plans, even when his intentions are apparently clear. After battling Gigantomachia for over a month, Tomura realized that the behemoth has gotten much slower compared to the League of Villains first encounter with him, and strongly believes that he will soon have Gigantomachia successfully tamed.

Bodily Modification: After becoming leader of the Paranormal Liberation Front and earning the respect of Gigantomachia, Kyudai Garaki subjected a willing Tomura to body modification surgery. While the details of this surgery and its effects are unknown, the doctor believes that it will allow Tomura to surpass the strength of One For All. A hint of how powerful he'll be is when Mirko was overcome with fear when she sensed him in his surgery capsule to the point that she attempted to smash it, and she quickly told the other heroes that Tomura could not be allowed to awaken from the surgery, no matter what.

Quirk
Decay (崩壊): Tomura's Quirk allows him to disintegrate whatever he touches with all five fingers. It will take effect whether the target is organic or not. The disintegration spreads quickly and will spread through the victim's whole body if they don't amputate the decaying body part. His Quirk can even spread beyond what he's touching, allowing him to disintegrate large groups of enemies instantly.

Because the Quirk has to touch a solid object in order to be activated, it is possible to counter it through manipulation of fluids or particles, such as Snatch's sand body.

During his battle against Re-Destro, Tomura's Quirk underwent an awakening that allows him to decay his targets without needing all five fingers. This was displayed when Tomura used his two remaining fingers to partially decay one of Re-Destro's fingers after the latter destroyed three of Tomura's fingers on his left hand, albeit it was much slower and weaker compared to when Tomura uses all five of his fingers.

Equipment
Disembodied Hands: The most characteristic element of Tomura's costume is a set of fourteen disembodied hands, covering his upper body and face. These hands are the remnants of his family, which he accidentally killed when his Quirk Decay manifested for the first time. The main hand on his face is called "Father". The hands were recovered and preserved by Kyudai Garaki, returning them to Tomura when he was rescued by All For One. An additional two sets of hands from two hoodlums were added to his villain costume. They have no other function than help Tomura’s mind, who confesses that his hands make him feel calm and at peace, although also cause nausea. During his battle with Re-Destro, all but one of the hands got destroyed and Tomura himself would end up destroying his father’s hand that had covered his face as a way to liberate himself from the past. He would wear the remaining hand as his trademark mask.

Character Appearances

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Trivia

 * Tomura was initially designed to be creepier, having empty, black eyes and mouth. Aside from those specific features, this design was not very different from his final one. His prototype codename was Sazanka (沙惨禍).
 * Tomura's surname contains the kanji for "death" (死), "handle, grip" (柄) and "tree" (木), and his first name contains "funerals" (弔). Additionally, his birth name contains the kanji for "intention" (志), "village" (村), "revolve" (転) and "arc" (弧).
 * Tomura's rankings in the Popularity Polls are as follows:
 * Tomura ranked 19th in the First Popularity Poll.
 * Ranked 16th in the Second Popularity Poll
 * Ranked 15th in the Third Popularity Poll.
 * Ranked 24th in the Fourth Popularity Poll.
 * Ranked 6th place in the Fifth Popularity Poll.
 * Horikoshi revealed that he found drawing inexpressive hands extremely difficult. He stated that he was on the verge of tears every week due to having to draw a particular character which we are left to assume is Tomura.
 * Horikoshi revealed that Tomura is based on the protagonist of his first oneshot from 2007 titled “Tenko”, starring the eponymous boy during war time in feudal Japan.
 * Both share the same first name (Tomura’s real name is Tenko Shimura).
 * Both share the same power to disintegrate anything they touch with their hands.
 * Both are orphans, having accidentally killed loved ones with their powers.
 * Both are driven by a deep hate for the world and a very intense goal to destroy something in it. For Tomura, it’s All Might and the world of heroes, and for Tenko, he wants to destroy all the swords in the world.
 * The design and appearance of Tomura when he is young is similar to Tenko's, only with shorter hair.
 * He shares his birthday with Naomasa Tsukauchi, Chiyo Shuzenji and Kesagiriman.
 * Tomura shares multiple similarities with Eri.
 * Both have light blue hair and red eyes.
 * Both have uncommon Quirks, and both accidentally used said Quirks to kill members of their own families.
 * Both are connected to villain organizations, Tomura as the current leader of the League of Villains and Eri as a Shie Hassaikai hostage.
 * Both were abused by family members, Tomura with his father and Eri with her mother and Overhaul.
 * However, while Eri was saved by Izuku Midoriya, Tomura was saved by All For One, which leads him to dark path.
 * Tomura and Overhaul have several similarities:
 * Both wear plain clothes and a coat but also have unique masks.
 * Both their masks have some connection to their character:
 * Tomura's hand has some connection to his father.
 * Overhaul's plague-doctor mask parallels his mysophobia.
 * Both are succeeding leaders in their organization after a previous leader was toppled.
 * Both their Quirks have similar attributes:
 * Both require direct contact with their hands to touch their target for their Quirks to work.
 * However, unlike Tomura who needs all five fingers to activate his Quirk, Overhaul appeared to only need a finger at the minimum to use his Quirk.
 * Also, Tomura's Quirk can disintegrate anything while Overhaul's Quirk can disassemble anything (thus destroying them) as well as reassemble them.
 * Both Quirks are destructive in nature to their enemy.
 * However, Overhaul's Quirk is able to reassemble objects while Tomura's doesn't.
 * The severed hands that Tomura wears across his body are remnants of the first people he ever killed.
 * The hands around his neck came from his mother.
 * The hands on his upper arms came from his maternal grandfather.
 * The hands on his elbows came from his maternal grandmother.
 * The hands on his wrists came from his older sister.
 * The hands on his shoulders and sides came from two random men who made Tomura angry.
 * The hand that he wears on his face came from his father.
 * The hand he wears on the back of his head is a replacement given to him by All For One after he used his Quirk to destroy his father's other hand.
 * Tomura can be considered as a dark parallel to Izuku Midoriya. Although My Hero Academia tells the story of how Izuku became the greatest hero, it also focuses on how Tomura will possibly become the greatest villain. Like Izuku, Tomura starts off being rather naïve and insecure of his position and power due to his tragic backstory, but he gradually begins to become more mature and confident as the story continues.
 * Tomura shares many similarities with from Star Wars.
 * They both renounced their original birth names when they became evil.
 * They both intentionally killed their birth fathers.
 * They both want to destroy the past and replace it with a future in their image.
 * They are both something evil born out of a virtuous lineage of their grandparents. Tomura’s grandmother Nana Shimura who was a famous hero and Ben’s grandfather Anakin Skywalker who was a famous Jedi.
 * They both became the leaders of their master's organizations after they were defeated, although Kylo Ren killed his master.
 * Both of them were inspired by a notorious and legendary villain, with Ben Solo adopting the legacy of Darth Vader while Tomura was groomed by All For One. Additionally, All For One as a character draws inspiration from Darth Vader.

Quotes

 * (To himself) "Create a world without All Might. And cause enough destruction to show them all how fragile their justice really is. From this day forward… that’s my conviction. It’s all about All Might."
 * (In regards to his mask) "These sorts of things too... all unnecessary."

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