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Among the many characters in My Hero Academia, none have experienced a transformation quite like Class 1-A. Consistently rising to the occasion, these 20 aspiring heroes have proven themselves to be the standout trainees of their era, often outshining students from Class 1-B and Shiketsu High. Throughout the series, Class 1-A has showcased some of the most impressive Quirks, and this remains evident as the story progresses.
As My Hero Academia approaches its eighth and final season, fans are eager to see how the members of Class 1-A rank in terms of power. This concluding chapter offers an ideal opportunity to evaluate each student’s potential, determining who is destined to become a top-tier hero and who might serve as a sidekick. While not every student can claim a spot at the top, the leading members of Class 1-A provide a strong example for their peers to follow.
Among the top 10 Quirks in Class 1-A, Hanta Sero’s Tape Quirk occupies the last spot due to its limited offensive capabilities. While Tape lacks direct attack power, Hanta can creatively utilize it to grab objects and hurl them at opponents. Additionally, fans might recognize that Tape is one of the unique abilities in My Hero Academia that allows characters to mimic the abilities of Spider-Man.
Tape Lets Hanta Sero Fight Like Spider-Man
Hanta Sero’s Tape Quirk ranks last among the 10 best Quirks in Class 1-A because it has limited offensive power. There is no direct way to deal damage with Tape, but Hanta can still grab items and throw them at the enemy if he’s resourceful enough in a fight. Fans may also note how Tape is one of a few Quirks or weapons in My Hero Academia that help the characters emulate Spider-Man.
The Tape Quirk truly shines when used as the support Quirk that it’s meant to be. With it, Hanta can bind villains and restrain them from head to toe, or yank a teammate out of harm’s way from a distance. Hanta can also use Tape to form webs to block the enemy’s escape, swing around like Spider-Man, or hold items together if a building is about to fall apart on someone.
Earphone Jack is How Kyoka Jiro Scouts Enemies and Attacks With Sound
At first, the Earphone Jack Quirk felt a tad underwhelming due to its limited offensive power. Kyoka Jiro also had minimal physical strength or dexterity, making her seem vulnerable in battle. By Season 8 of My Hero Academia, though, Jiro and her Earphone Jack Quirk have become much stronger and more impressive. Together with Fumikage, Jiro even confronted the supervillain All For One as she made good use of Earphone Jack.
The Earphone Jack Quirk is helpful with scouting because it can easily pick up sounds like voices or footsteps from a great distance. Also, with the right amplifiers and speakers, Jiro may use Earphone Jack to blast the enemy with powerful sonic waves. That, or she can stun the opposition long enough for teammates to finish the fight, marking Earphone Jack as a semi-offensive support Quirk.
Sugar Rush Serves as Rikido Sato’s Power in Melee Combat
Melee power is often eclipsed by special abilities or effects in shonen action anime like My Hero Academia, but it still counts for a lot when the fight is up close and personal. That’s how the hulking student Rikido Sato managed to rank among Class 1-A’s stronger students, mainly through his impressive Sugar Rush Quirk. Rikido has underperformed with Sugar Rush before, but this Quirk still has some serious power.
Sugar Rush is refreshingly straightforward as a Quirk. When he ingests enough sugar, Rikido amps his physical power and speed to unbelievable levels, with Deku himself mentally praising Sugar Rush’s effects in battle. Even now, with such incredible Quirks at play in the final battle, the heroes need Quirks like Sugar Rush to charge in and smash the opposition. If Detroit Smash and the likes can still be relevant now, then so can Sugar Rush.
Acid Makes Mina Ashido Glide Like an Acrobat on the Battlefield
As seen during her fights in the UA Sports Festival Arc, Mina Ashido is a highly capable fighter when leveraging her Acid Quirk for all its worth. This may not be Class 1-A’s most powerful Quirk by any means, but it remains a fine example of how far a student like Mina can go with creative thinking and physical acrobatics. Mina has gotten this far with Acid both because she puts in the legwork and because she’s a good dancer.
Mobility counts for a lot in battle, and Mina’s Acid Quirk makes it almost too easy as she glides and slides around the battlefield with Acid, creating slick pathways for her. On defense, Acid can shield Mina from harm with a large spray of sizzling acid, and on offense, Mina can dissolve flesh or metal with her Quirk. Overall, Acid is well-balanced as a combat tool that’s perfect for an elegant and gutsy fighter like Mina, who won’t hesitate to make the most of it.
Engine Helped Tenya Iida Become an Incredible Runner Hero Like His Brother
The Engine Quirk is a rare example of two My Hero Academia characters having the same Quirk outside of users of One For All or All For One. The Iida brothers, Tensei and Tenya, were each born with the Engine Quirk, and they both pushed it almost to the limit. Tenya, in particular, was motivated to go Plus Ultra and even exceeded what his pro hero brother Tensei accomplished with this mobility Quirk.
With Engine, a fighter like Tenya can race across the battlefield in explosive bursts of speed, which is excellent for evading enemy attacks, rescuing people, or getting into melee range. Tenya’s Engine Quirk is even more impressive once it’s used to deliver powerful kicks such as Recipro Burst and Recipro Turbo, to the point Tenya almost defeated Shoto himself in the UA Sports Festival. It’s true that Tenya’s growth has slowed since he fought Class 1-B with Recipro Turbo’s debut, but Engine still ranks among class 1-A’s better Quirks.
Electrification Allows Denki Kaminari to Zap Entire Groups of Villains Into Submission
Denki Kaminari may get the worst grades on paper in Class 1-A, but his Electrification Quirk still ranks in the middle among Class 1-A’s Strongest Quirks in the anime’s endgame. As Deku noted, Electrification was always a powerful Emitter Quirk, though Denki had issues regulating its output or aiming the electricity. Fortunately, Mei Hatsume gave Denki the equipment necessary to aim his Quirk, making Electrification much more effective now.
Even in this late stage of My Hero Academia, Electrification remains a remarkable Quirk that most villains should take seriously or even fear in battle. Entire groups of villains may be wiped out if Denki goes all out with his Quirk, and Denki can make precise ranged attacks if necessary, thanks to Mei’s help. All that is why it’s a real shame Denki’s Electrification Quirk hasn’t seen much use in the last two seasons of My Hero Academia.
Dark Shadow Serves as Fumikage Tokoyami’s Weapon and Partner in Any Fight
For a long time, four particular students in Class 1-A were the big four of their class, thanks to the overwhelming prowess of their Quirks. The weakest among them is Fumikage Tokoyami, who impressed My Hero Academia viewers by refusing to take his astonishing Dark Shadow Quirk for granted. Fumikage has always been ready and willing to up his game, gladly tackling Dark Shadow’s problems to enhance his power.
Fumikage’s efforts have paid off hugely, because Dark Shadow still hits hard while also being a notable mobility enhancer when used as a cloak. As seen in the Joint Training Arc, Fumikage can fly at great speed, deliver devastating blows, and shield himself from harm with ever more creative use of Dark Shadow. Notably, Dark Shadow still suffers in bright light, but Fumikage can work around that, and Fumikage has also gotten control of this Quirk’s strongest and darkest side.
Explosion Marked Katsuki Bakugo as a Powerhouse Prodigy in UA
The undeniable power of the Explosion Quirk has always been a point of pride for Katsuki Bakugo, at the expense of characters like Deku. Bakugo has always been a powerhouse thanks to Explosion’s formidable strength, but like Fumikage, Bakugo didn’t always take his gifts for granted. Bakugo showed remarkable growth and creativity with his Quirk, innovating many moves with Explosion’s abilities.
Bakugo is now one of Class 1-A’s most capable students of all with his many techniques rooted in Explosion. That helped make Bakugo Japan’s last real hope against All For One, with Bakugo surviving certain death to fight back against the Symbol of Evil. Recently humbled and motivated to save the world rather than feed his own ego, Bakugo mustered all of Explosion’s astonishing power to wipe out All For One at last. It was the most historic and inspiring usage of Explosion ever seen in the anime, since Explosion needs to be more than strong — it needs to be the tool of a true hero.
Half-Cold Half-Hot Gives Shoto Todoroki Two Quirks in One
It’s both impressive and concerning how Shoto Todoroki became this powerful with the strength of his Half-Cold Half-Hot Quirk. After all, this Quirk was tailor-made to make Shoto a superstar, the product of a controversial Quirk marriage. It may worry some My Hero Academia fans and characters alike how Half-Cold Half-Hot fulfilled its promise and, on a physical level, validated Endeavor’s questionable actions.
At least Shoto is definitely making awesome use of Half-Cold Half-Hot, and he even made it more than the sum of his parts. Each half is formidable on its own, but the true strength of Half-Cold Half-Hot lies in Shoto’s ability to form cold flames to defeat his mighty villain brother Dabi. In between Rei’s ice Quirk and Endeavor’s fire Quirk lies a third Quirk, one that’s far stronger than either component, something incredible that the world has never seen before.
As My Hero Academia viewers no doubt expected, One For All emerged as the anime’s most powerful Quirk of all, not just the strongest Quirk in Class 1-A. On its own, One For All is a peerless melee Quirk that can defeat even the likes of All For One, though it took generations of power storage to make it that effective. More recently, to his classmates’ shock, Deku awoke the other Quirks built into One For All to make him a one-man team of heroes.
With the additions of extra Quirks such as Blackwhip and Danger Sense, One For All has become the world’s best and likely last hope against the supervillain Tomura Shigaraki. This fight is personal, too, with Deku getting ready to sacrifice One For All’s extra Quirks to destroy Tomura from the inside in ways no other Quirk in Class 1-A ever could. That’s because, unlike the likes of Dark Shadow or Explosion, One For All is a Quirk rooted in the heroic spirit of its users, and not just physical strength.
