Summary
Stain the Hero Killer may not have as much screen time as the other villains inMy Hero Academia,but he has undoubtedly become one ofthe most iconic and memorable villains in this series.Nobody condones the crimes that he has committed, but most people can certainly understand his motivation and spare some respect for his relentlessness in upholding his brand of justice.
From his unwavering creed to his unique quirk, there are so many things to talk about when it comes to the Hero Killer. This article, however, will focus on what is arguably the most interesting part of Stain, his unique fighting style. After all, unlike most heroes and villains, he does not solely rely on his quirk to do the job for him. On the contrary, there are a lot of intricate details involved in Stain’s attempt to hunt the unsuspecting heroes. But before we talk about his methods, let’s start with his motivation first.
Reason to Fight
Unlike most villainswho are driven to the world of crime either to obtain large sums of money or satisfy their murderous and destructive tendencies, Stain has a much different reason as to why he chooses to become a Hero Killer. And it all began during his brief stint as a vigilante.
A Brief Stint as a Vigilante
Stain grew up idolizing the indisputable No. 1 hero in Japan, the one and only All Might. He always aspired to be a hero like the No. 1. Unfortunately for him, his quirk didn’t allow him to step up as a pro hero, so he had to be satisfiedby being a mere vigilanteinstead.
During his tenure as the harbinger of street justice, Stain was known by the name of Stendhal. He was pretty effective at eradicating the bad guys at the time, but at some point, he realized that there were other issues that were way bigger and more important than the villains. That’s when the transformation from Stendhal to Stain officially began.
All Heroes Must Follow All Might
As he got older, Stain’s admiration for All Might grew into an obsession. In his mind,All Might is the standard of what a Hero should be.While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that sentiment, it quickly spirals into something much more sinister with Stain.
He noticed that quite a few heroes not only failed to live up to All Might’s standards but seemed to use their position as heroes to gain fame and money. In his mind, these types of heroes are the ultimate problem with society. That was the moment he decided to stain the world with the blood of those fake and shameless heroes, hence the moniker “Stain”.
“I am the faceless ideal. One who acts without really existing. I will dye this world red. It is the path I leave in my wake. A path to serve as a guide for others. These bloodstains will never fade.”
– Stain, My Hero Academia: Vigilante; Chapter 55
Tools For the Hunts
Now that we’ve covered Stain’s past and his sacred creed, it’s time to talk about the tools thatthe Hero Killeruses for his hunts. Apart from his weapons, Stain’s quirk will also be included as part of his tools because considering the nature of his quirk, it’s really nothing more than one of the tools within his arsenal.
Bloodcurdle
Stain’s quirk is called Bloodcurdle. It allows him to temporarily paralyze anybody whose blood he has ingested. While it seems like a good and quite useful quirk for a killer, the key point here is the word “temporarily”. Bloodcurdle can paralyze somebody for eight minutes at most.
Not only that, the blood types of the target also affect the duration of the paralyzing effect, with blood type B being the longest while type O being the shortest. He can paralyze multiple people at the same time, but once the effect runs out, it’ll take some time before he can paralyze the same person again. All in all, quitean annoying and barely usable quirk.
Swords, Knives, and Spikes
Since Stain’s quirk requires him to ingest his target’s blood first, his fighting style revolves around drawing the first blood. That’s why he is fully equipped with numerous sharp weapons and uses them with the full intention of making the target bleed, rather than killing them outright. In a way, this fighting style issimilar to Hidan fromNaruto.
During his fight against Deku, Todoroki, and Ingenium, Stain uses a regular katana as his main weapon. Additionally, he has several daggers, throwing knives, and folding knives as well. As if that’s not enough, his boots also have sharp spikes to increase the chance of injuring the opponent whenever he kicks them.
Plan of Attacks
We talk aboutStain’s past as a vigilante,his iron-clad creed, his quirk, and also the weapons that he uses for the hunt. So now it’s time to talk about the hunt itself, particularly Stain’s unique fighting style and interesting plan of attack.
Lone Wolf and Dark Alleyway
Stain knows his quirk is not that strong,which means facing multiple enemies is highly disadvantageous to him. That’s why he always goes after a single target. Furthermore, after he designated a hero as the next target for his purge, he would stalk them to find out as much as he could about their usual patrol route.
After gathering enough information, he waits for his target to be alone and lures them into a dark alleyway, his preferred hunting ground. He usually does this by taking a random passerby and hurting them just enough for the hero to hear their cry for help. In a way, Stain is akin to an assassin who carefully stalks his opponent before delivering a swift death from the shadows.
Draw First Blood
When his target takes the bait and enters the secluded hunting ground, Stain immediately attacks them with his myriads of sharp weapons. This surprise attack is highly effective at hurting his target. After all, no matter how powerful a hero may be, a sudden attack from an unknown assailant hiding in the dark will delay their reaction time for at least a fraction of a second.
Those fraction of seconds are all the time that Stain needs to draw the first blood. The moment he obtains their blood, he will lick it and activate his quirk. Once the target drops to the ground and is unable to move their muscles,Stain will either stab their heart or slice their throat.Everything is over in a matter of minutes. It’s actually more appropriate to call it an execution, rather than a fight.
Relentless Barrage of Attacks
In rare instances where other heroes come to the rescue before Stain can finish off his initial target, Stain will go into full fighter mode and overwhelm most heroes with his speed, agility, and unparalleled combat instinct. This is precisely what happenswhen he encounters Ingenium, Deku, and Todoroki.
Stain has trained his body in such a way that it allows him to unleash a barrage of attacks that can come from all directions. He throws his knives at his opponent, which forces them to evade it only to see Stain rush to their face with his katana, aimed directly at their throat. If the enemy manages to evade or parry that katana, a kick from a boot adorned with sharp spikes will immediately come from the other direction. It’s nearly impossible to not bleed against these torrents of attacks, especially if they don’t know about Stain’s quirk.
What makes Stain so dangerous, however, is the fact that he is so relentless. As long as his heart is still beating, he will keep rushing toward his opponent and move in a way that is hard to anticipate, while his knives will always find their way to your face. As if that’s not scary enough, Stain also has a bone-chilling bloodlust that permeates the surrounding air which can make even veteran heroes filled with dread and drop down to their knees.
The only reason why Stain lost during the Hero Killer arc was becauseit was basically a three vs one fight.Even then, the Hero Killer only fell because he had accumulated far too much damage to his body. He took every critical blow and still got back up, becoming more bloodthirsty each time. That’s why Stain is so scary, so dangerous, and so iconic.
My Hero Academiais available to stream onCrunchyroll.
My Hero Academia
In My Hero Academia, some humans have superpowers called quirks. Izuku Midoriya, nicknamed Deku, is not one of them. Deku has always idolized heroes like the number one hero, All Might, and since he was a child, he has always wanted to be a hero. However, his lack of a quirk has always held him back, but a chance encounter with All Might after discovering a classmate in danger sets Deku on the path to becoming a true hero. My Hero Academia centers around Deku and a class of heroes-in-training at UA. This school shapes young quirk users into future heroes through fake rescue missions, combat training, and other hero-tempering tasks. With young Deku inheriting the “One-For-All” quirk, he will learn what it means to be a true hero while facing off with dastardly supervillains.
