Shoto Todoroki

Shoto Todoroki, also known as Shoto, is the tritagonist of the My Hero Academia manga and anime series. Shoto's Quirk gives him the ability to generate ice from the right side of his body, and flames from his left side. Due to years of rejecting his father, Shoto has developed a habit of favoring ice, even when fire would be a better option. This grudge also caused him to have difficulty controlling his flames. While he is capable of using both elements simultaneously, he isn't used to doing this and still needs to practice dual-wielding. While training for his ultimate move, he claimed that using both abilities at the same time slows him down. If he overuses one element without utilizing the other, then his own body temperature will suffer; the ice half will cause frostbite and the fire half will cause heatstroke. Until his bodily limit is reached, however, neither has any visible effect on his body. Shoto can easily negate this weakness by alternating between ice and fire.

As part of his training, Shoto sat in a barrel of water and alternated between using ice and fire to regulate the temperature of the water. It helped his body become accustomed to the cold, and he learned better control over his flames. He is a student in Class 1-A at U.A. High School, where he got in through official recommendations and is training to become a Pro Hero. He is the youngest son of Endeavor, the No. 1 (formerly No. 2) Hero. Having been trained by his father, Endeavor, at a young age, Shoto entered U.A. High School through recommendations, and has been established as one of the strongest students in Class 1-A. He earned 2nd place in both the Quirk Apprehension Test and U.A. Sports Festival. Shoto also has a great handle over his versatile and powerful Quirk, Half-Cold Half-Hot, which grants him incredible dual-element capabilities. Using the right side of his body, Shoto can drastically lower temperatures and freeze anything he touches, and generate ice that he can freely mold into numerous constructs that include ice waves that cover large areas, and ice barriers. Shoto also employs his cryokinetic abilities for mobility purposes, such as stacking ice shards behind his back to propel himself forward, glaciating the ground to skate on it, or his signature move, creating trails of ice on which he can surf. From the left side of his body, Shoto can eloquently increase thermokinetics and release scorching hot flames in the form of consuming streams or protective waves. Overall, Shoto has tremendous power, but because of past decisions and circumstances, such as his intentional neglect of one half of his Quirk, he has yet to reach his full potential. At the U.S.J., Shoto was able to easily overpower small-time villains at the Landslide Zone by himself, and later on showcased elite judgment, combat awareness, and athletic ability during the U.A. Sports Festival. At the festival, Shoto was able to neutralize a Villain Bot-Executor, defeat his swift classmates, Hanta Sero and Tenya Ida, as well as fight on par with Izuku Midoriya for a prolonged period of time to a nigh-draw. In his battle against Izuku, a fan claimed that Shoto was already stronger than the average Pro Hero. When he was pitted against Katsuki Bakugo in the final round of the Sports Festival, there was a chance Shoto could've won the match using his fire powers, but due to inner turmoil, he extinguished his inferno, leaving him open to Katsuki's "Howitzer Impact", and losing the match. Starting with the Hosu Incident, Shoto began the full embracement of his left side, as well as his pyro-cryogenic interchangeability, particularly when he, Izuku, and Tenya faced off against the Hero Killer: Stain. Following his run-in with the Hero Killer, Shoto is recognized as one of strongest students of Class 1-A, as noted by Pixie-Bob. While Shoto may possess full supremacy over his cryomancy, the control over his pyrokinesis was initially relatively inept, especially in comparison to that of Endeavor. However, after the third match of the Joint Training Battle, Shoto realized that he had disregarded his left side for too long, which had put him and his team at a disadvantage, and resolved to achieve greater mastery over his pyrokinetic abilities by learning the fundamentals of "Flashfire Fist", Endeavor's signature technique. Thanks to his internship, Shoto's handling over his left side has improved significantly, as he can now use his pyromancy in a new variety of ways, such as boosting his movement speed, launching himself through the air, and attacking with blaze-powered punches. And though Shoto is powerful, contending with individuals such as Stain, Wolfram, Moonfish, Mr. Compress, Gang Orca, Chimera, and Tomura Shigaraki require Shoto's effective camaraderie with multiple people in order to prevail against such formidable opponents. That was hardly the case during the climax of the Paranormal Liberation War, wherein he faced his brother Dabi in a battle of flames that nearly resulted in Shoto being burned alive, had it not been for Izuku's brief intervention. As the body-charring Todoroki brothers resumed their full-power pyromantic clash, Shoto ended up losing, but Dabi chose to spare his brother, as it would've been pointless to kill him without Endeavor watching. During Class A's mission to bring Izuku back to U.A. after he left following the events of the war, Shoto displayed an even greater mastery over his cryokinetic abilities. In particular, his control over the shape of his ice has become much more refined, being able to form a massive vertical pillar of ice with Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall, and even being able to create a smooth curved ramp without the need of a solid framework. Furthermore, he's shown the ability to use his signature move, Flashfreeze Heatwave, without needing to cool the air down first; now he can simply put his hands together and unleash the power of both sides at once to create the same effect.

Katsuki Bakugo

Katsuki Bakugo, also known as Kacchan by his childhood friends, and his hero name Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight, is a student in Class 1-A at U.A. High School, training to become a Pro Hero. He is the deuteragonist of the series. Katsuki has proven to be one of the strongest students in Class 1-A, earning third place in the Quirk Apprehension Test, while placing first in both the U.A. Entrance Exam, having the most villain points, and the U.A. Sports Festival. Katsuki's fighting style is an 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 often start with a powerful right hook. Katsuki is able to use his 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 by Katsuki for mobility purposes. During the U.S.J. Incident, Katsuki was able to single-handedly overpower and immobilize Kurogiri, a highly capable villain. At the U.A. Sports Festival, he was able to defeat Fumikage Tokoyami and Shoto Todoroki, who were considered the two other strongest students in Class 1-A at that point. Many notable Pro Heroes, such as Shota Aizawa and All Might, have praised Katsuki's prowess, noting the sheer amount of potential he carries. The League of Villains also took notice of Katsuki's strength and went as far as trying to kidnap him so he could be converted to their cause, even if it meant sacrificing members of the Vanguard Action Squad as his potential membership would have far exceeded the risk. Katsuki is strong enough to fight toe-to-toe and even overpower Izuku when he's using 5% of One For All. During the Joint Training Arc, Katsuki displayed that, despite the cold weather conditions of the winter season weakening his Quirk, he can still fight efficiently. Katsuki has also become slightly less insubordinate when paired with people and has developed a degree of camaraderie, as he utilizes his abilities to repel opponents that overpower his comrades. Not willing to let Izuku get ahead of him and never taking his intended goal of surpassing All Might lightly, Katsuki is always building up his power, improving his technique and looking forward to knowing what he is not able to do right now, with the intent of being able to do so in the future. Katsuki's unstoppable drive to win is perhaps his biggest strength, with all of his classmates, including Izuku, having faith in his ability to earn victories. By the time of the Paranormal Liberation Raid, Katsuki's overall abilities and proficiency have significantly increased, and he's even able to match the speed of Izuku using One For All at 30%. Katsuki's Quirk allows him to secrete nitroglycerin-like sweat from the palms of his hands and ignite it on command, allowing him to create strong explosions. The more Katsuki sweats, the stronger his explosions become. If Katsuki overuses this power, his forearms will start to ache. Katsuki has a strong grasp on the applications of his Quirk, something that was acknowledged by Best Jeanist, a top Pro Hero; not only can Katsuki use the explosions for attacking, he can also use them to propel himself and navigate through the air at high speeds, allowing him to fly at his opponents without giving them time to react, as well as evade incoming attacks, even while in the air. The shockwave from an explosion can even be used as a shield. Katsuki can keep up his explosions continuously, long enough to break through Eijiro's hardening Quirk and negate Shoto's "Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall" for a short while before being overwhelmed. As part of his training, Katsuki submerged his hands into boiling water to expand his sweat glands, then created chain explosions toward the sky to increase the scale of his attacks.