Dabi's backstory in My Hero Academia proves why he's a flawed character

Modified Jun 17, 2024 19:00 GMT

My Hero Academia chapter 425 was released on June 10, 2024, and the chapter ended with Endeavor facing Dabi after the events of the Final War, hinting that the next chapter could be heavily focused on the Todoroko family.

But now that the villain has finally been defeated, fans are questioning his character as a biased person who wanted pity from others but never felt bad for his blood-related brother, Shoto, while he suffered harsh conditions from their father, Endeavor.

This had fans calling his character flawed, but considering how he was abandoned by his family who did not even consider looking for their child, his actions could be somewhat justified. But this doesn't change the fact that he is a villain.

Disclaimer: This article contains potential spoilers from the My Hero Academia manga series and has the author's opinion.

My Hero Academia: Exploring the character of Dabi

Endeavor as seen in the manga (Image via Shueisha)

My Hero Academia chapter 425 ended with Endeavor sitting before a chamber. Shoto also teased about an event that was to happen 'today,' when Midoriya asked him about attending the graduation party of Aoyama. This could be related to the oldest brother of the Todoroki family, Toya Todoroko, more commonly referred to as Dabi.

Toya was the firstborn of the Todoroki family who inherited his father's flames, although his father wanted him to inherit his mother's and his quirk. But his flames were much stronger than the father's, so Endeavor was happy. As time passed, Toya's flames started affecting his body, so Endeavor called off their training.

Toya Todoroki (Dabi) as seen in the anime (Image via BONES)

Toya, feeling that his father is no longer paying attention to him, started training alone, trying to keep the hopes alive of his father's dream, to give birth to someone who could become the number 1 hero. Toya tried his best until Shoto was born. After Shoto was born, Endeavor focused his all on him and ignored everyone else.

One day, while training in the forests, Toya's flames caught the trees and the forest started burning. After the fire settled, only Toya's jaw was recovered, which led to the Todoroki family thinking that he died. But in reality, he was saved by Dr Garaki who replaced his jaw and made him think that his family abandoned him.

Dabi as seen in the anime (Image via BONES)

After putting much thought into it, Toya discarded his identity, made it his aim in life to make Endeavor suffer, and became Dabi. During the Paranormal Liberation War arc, while talking to Deku, Dabi claimed that he was a pitiful person, claiming that he needed others to pity him because of the injustice Endeavor did.

But even though he wants pity, in his backstory, he never felt pity for his brother, Shoto, when Dabi saw Endeavor training Shoto rigorously irrespective of his young age. He had acknowledged that he knew Shoto's difficulties, however, did nothing to help him. This had the fans call out the villain for his hypocrisy while claiming that Dabi's character is flawed.

Final thoughts

Shoto as seen in the anime (Image via BONES)

As noticed by the majority of the fandom and as claimed by Shoto, Dabi is not a mentally sane person. He only wanted his father to acknowledge him but due to his conflicting thoughts, Endeavor couldn't do much to keep every one of his children happy.

Dabi burned in vengeance until the Paranormal Liberation arc where he vented out his anger against Endeavor for making him suffer. Yes, he didn't help Shoto when he was suffering but that was a time when his mind was clouded with getting attention from his father. So, his character may be flawed but it is a part of him as 'Dabi,' one of the main antagonists of My Hero Academia.

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Edited by Tiasha