Explosion

Explosion
Quirk Information
Japanese Name	爆 (ばく) 破 (は)
Rōmaji Name	Bakuha
Quirk Description
User	Katsuki Bakugo
Quirk Type	Emitter
Quirk Range	Close to long range
First Appearance
Manga Debut	Chapter 1
Anime Debut	Episode 1

Explosion (爆 (ばく) 破 (は) , Bakuha^?) is the Quirk used by Katsuki Bakugo.

Description

Explosion allows the user to excrete nitroglycerin-like sweat from their palms and ignite it at will to create explosions of various sizes.

Katsuki using Explosion's brightness to subdue Fumikage and Dark Shadow.

Through either one of his palms, Katsuki creates fiery shock waves that are highly powerful and destructive, often burning and/or shattering whatever they hit, with Katsuki himself being immune to them, save for some minor damage from the recoil. Because this Quirk generates light, it's a natural counter to Fumikage Tokoyami's Dark Shadow, which thrives in the dark.

The more Katsuki sweats, the more powerful the explosions become. This essentially means that Katsuki's blast gradually grows in power the longer he fights, since he will naturally sweat more through ongoing physical activity.

Explosion after being empowered by One For All.

While temporarily wielding One For All during his and Izuku Midoriya's fight against Nine, Explosion gained a massive power boost, to the point where regular blasts could create large craters and the heat from his explosions were hot enough to melt through solid rock.

During the Paranormal Liberation War, Katsuki's Quirk undergoes an Awakening, allowing him to fire off multiple, more condensed and powerful explosions at once, which he later honed into his Ultimate Move, Cluster.

Weaknesses

During cold weather, the nitroglycerin-like sweat requires a slightly longer time to detonate, as opposed to warm weather, where conditions are optimal for ignition.

Repeated explosions, particularly large ones, eventually result in throbbing pain to Katsuki's arms and shoulders. Additionally, creating explosions with both arms at the same time causes their overall strength to disperse between both limbs, leading to individually weaker blasts.

Since Explosion mainly stems from Katsuki's palms, which are his Quirk Factor, he would be unable to properly utilize his Quirk should he lose them.

Usage

Katsuki intimidating Izuku with his Quirk.

Katsuki is very proud of his Quirk. Throughout his life, people frequently commended Explosion, leading Katsuki to develop unrealistic expectations of himself, which he wasn't able to live up to. As a result, he acted arrogant and condescending to others to cope with his painful feelings of inferiority. Before getting into U.A. High School, Katsuki had a habit of using Explosion as a means of threatening and bullying Izuku, and while he has dropped that practice for the most part in the present, he still likes to use his Quirk to intimidate foes during fights, usually by creating miniature explosions around both his palms.

Katsuki is able to use 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 for mobility purposes. When coupled with his fighting talent and intelligence, Katsuki can come up with new moves with little difficulty, even having a few ready by the time he started U.A.'s school year. Thanks to Katsuki's battle ingenuity and natural aggression, Explosion tends to be a very overwhelming Quirk for others to face off against.

Katsuki using Explosion for speeding up, dodging, slowing down, and attacking.

In battle, Katsuki prefers 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 are often started with a powerful right hook. Despite having great mastery over his Quirk, Katsuki tends to recklessly cause unnecessary damage to his surroundings, which is a common issue with hero work, as it may jeopardize missions that require more careful approaches. Over time however, he has grown to be more careful of his surroundings.

As mentioned by Katsuki himself, the Grenadier Bracers from his costume serve to reduce the risk of physical strain caused by overusing his Quirk. These bracers store part of his explosive sweat, with Katsuki being capable of igniting all of it at once by triggering one of the bracers' firing pins, releasing a massive blast that, while devastating, tolls the shoulder of whoever uses it, although he seems to be completely unfazed by this due to his superior physical ability. Katsuki also carries around grenade-like containers that can be filled with his sweat, allowing him or someone else to use them as actual explosives.

After experiencing an Awakening and further development of his Quirk, Katsuki has found a way to empower his Ultimate Moves by condensing and letting off a massive flurry of explosions, instead of one single explosion. Dubbed "Cluster", this technique can be applied to any of his already existing Ultimate Moves as a form of upgrade, giving them a boost in power. First thought to only be capable of being used in dire situations, he later figures that the best way to use it is to store up an excess of nitroglycerin sweat, adding to the power of the already powerful barrage of explosions necessary for it to be used.

While fighting against Tomura Shigaraki during the Final War, Cluster was revealed to have a previously unknown side effect where repeatedly storing the beads of explosive sweat ended up stressing the sweat glands in Katsuki's palms, forcing them to exit from other parts of his body. This allows him to produce full-body explosions and greatly enhance his speed, although it also causes his body to ache.

Katsuki understands his now-overly powered explosions.

Later, he learned how to control the full-body explosions over the course of his fight with All For One, as when they shoot through his body, the pain from the explosion helps him time his backup blasts by relying on when and where the pain occurs, creating even more powerful explosions three times their normal size and increasing the volume of them. Thanks to this, he gained an incredible boost in speed, allowing him to catch up to All For One, who was operating at nearly his peak level of speed.

The power of the Quirk that Katsuki had strengthened over the years reached the point that a single, little bead of sweat left behind from his Cluster was enough to help complete his internal resuscitation after his near-death experience at Tomura's hands. He also demonstrated a further advancement of his Quirk by covering his explosive perspiration with regular sweat, and using it for a lengthy explosion to sneak attack All For One by using an external igniter.

After having his right arm broken and rendered immobile during the Final War, Katsuki refused to have it amputated and replaced with a prosthetic as he didn't wish to limit his Quirk to just one hand. Thankfully, he was able to rehabilitate his arm during his remaining years at U.A., restoring it and his Quirk back to full strength.

Named Ultimate Moves

	Explosive Speed (爆 (ばく) 速 (そく) ターボ, Bakusoku Tābo?): Katsuki throws his hands back and then causes an explosion in his palms to propel himself forward. This move can also be used to achieve a pseudo form of flight, as Katsuki used this move to fly over the giant Villain Bots during the Obstacle Race during the U.A. Sports Festival.
	Stun Grenade (閃光弾 (スタングレネード) , Sutan Gurenēdo?): Katsuki creates a sphere of light with his hands. The sphere of light implodes, causing an explosion around Katsuki, blinding anything in Katsuki's vicinity.

Point-Blank Stun Grenade (ゼロ距 (きょ) 離 (り) 閃光弾 (スタングレネード) , Zero Kyori Sutan Gurenēdo?): A variation of Stun Grenade 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 (榴弾砲着弾 (ハウザーインパクト) , Hauzā Inpakuto?): Katsuki dashes into the air and creates two Explosions in his hands. While in the air, Katsuki spins himself around, building up momentum for his Explosions. After spinning himself around and gathering momentum for his Explosions, Katsuki fires an explosive tornado at his opponent.

AP Shot (徹甲弾 (A・P・ショット) , Ē-Pī Shotto?, literal meaning "Armor-Piercing Shot"): Katsuki stretches out one of his hands and uses his other hand to form a circle on the palm of his outstretched hand. 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 even solid concrete.

AP Shot: Auto-Cannon (徹甲弾 (A・P・ショット) 機関銃 (オートカノン) , Ē-Pī Shotto Ōtokanon?, literal meaning "Armor-Piercing Shot: Autocannon"): A scattershot version of Katsuki's AP Shot technique in which the explosion power is reduced in order to avoid dealing severe damage to human targets.
AP Machine-Gun (徹甲機銃 (（A・P・マシンガン) , Ē-Pī Mashingan?): A stronger version of Katsuki's AP Shot: Auto-Cannon where he fires larger, rapid fire explosions. This attack was first used against Tomura during the Paranormal Liberation War.

Explode-A-Pult (爆破式 (エクス) カタパルト, Ekusu Kataparuto?): While in mid-air, Katsuki grabs an opponent with one of his arms, then fires a multitude of explosions with his free arm, causing both him and his opponent to spin. Katsuki then forcefully throws his opponent with the aid of a final explosion. He first used this move against Togaru Kamakiri in the fourth round of the Joint Training Battle.

	Land Mine Blast (爆 (ばく) 風 (ふう) 地 (じ) 雷 (らい) , Bakufū Jirai?): Katsuki places his Grenadier Bracer on the ground and lets of a massive explosion into the ground, blowing back any obstacles surrounding him. He first used this to dissipate Mahoro Shimano's Hologram, and later to dispel Deku's Smokescreen.
	Cluster (クラスター, Kurasutā?): Katsuki condenses his explosions to become stronger and faster, allowing him to unleash a flurry of bursts that can be used in a variety of ways. This was first inadvertently used to save Deku from Tomura and All For One.

Explosive Speed: Cluster (爆 (ばく) 速 (そく) ターボ クラスター, Bakusoku Tābo Kurasutā?): Katsuki employs Cluster to propel himself forward in a similar fashion to his Explosive Speed, but at a much faster rate, allowing him to catch up with extremely fast targets.
Howitzer Impact: Cluster (ハウザーインパクト クラスター, Hauzā Inpakuto Kurasutā?): Katsuki uses Cluster and the Strafe Panzer support item to empower his Howitzer Impact by creating larger explosions to propel himself with, as well as launching explosions in all directions.

Trivia

• Explosion is one of the first Quirks seen in the series.
• Excluding One For All, the Explosion, Hellflame, and Slide and Glide Quirks have been used in the most Ultimate Moves, with 11 each.
• The Quirk's function is similar to the Marvel comics supervillain Powderkeg, who also sweats a nitroglycerin-like substance that causes explosions.