My Hero Academia’s Kudo: The Bakugo Connection Fans Keep Overlooking
My Hero Academia season 8 episode 3 finally spotlights One For All’s second user, Toshitsugu Kudo, and a pointed comparison from All For One has fans buzzing that Bakugo could be connected — the spiky-haired likeness is hard to ignore.
My Hero Academia just dropped a deep-cut history lesson in season 8, episode 3, and it immediately set off a very specific fan theory: is Toshitsugu Kudo, the second user of One For All, related to Bakugo? Short answer: no. Longer answer: here is why people thought that, and what actually connects the two.
Why everyone suddenly thinks Kudo is Bakugo's ancestor
The episode shows All For One sizing up Bakugo and getting flashbacks to Kudo. On top of that, Kudo looks a lot like him — short, spiky hair, same 'will bite through steel' energy. That visual echo is doing a lot of work online. But looks are just that: looks.
Who Toshitsugu Kudo actually was
Kudo lived during the height of All For One's reign, when AFO was basically an end boss who walked. Kudo clocked the threat, rallied allies, and built a resistance specifically to take him down. And then things got messy.
Yoichi Shigaraki — All For One's younger brother — was in the middle of it. Kudo originally intended to kill Yoichi, saw the state he was in, and instead chose to save him. AFO found them anyway and killed Yoichi, leaving Kudo literally covered in his blood. Kudo and what was left of the resistance escaped, but the fallout changed him: he ended up carrying two Meta Ability Factors, with Yoichi's will living on inside him. That made Kudo the first inheritor of the power that would be called One For All — in other words, the second user.
It did not end there. AFO hunted Kudo down again, crushed the resistance, and mortally wounded him. Before he died, Kudo managed to pass One For All to Bruce, who became the third user. AFO, consumed by spite, then murdered every woman and child connected to Kudo in an attempt to erase his bloodline entirely.
So, is Kudo related to Bakugo?
No. The bloodline angle does not hold up for a very straightforward reason: AFO systematically wiped out Kudo's descendants and anyone close to him. That family tree is ash. The resemblance is coincidence.
What AFO is reacting to when he looks at Bakugo is the attitude. Kudo was the first person to organize a real opposition to All For One. Bakugo has that same uncompromising drive to end AFO for good. That is why AFO mentally links them: his hatred of Kudo bleeds into how he sees Bakugo. If you are looking for a connection, it is spiritual, not genetic.
The powers in play
- Toshitsugu Kudo: Gearshift, One For All
- Katsuki Bakugo: Explosion
The bigger picture
Kudo's legacy is the template: stand up, organize, fight the tyrant. The show keeps circling back to how heroes across generations are tied together by that same refusal to fold. Bakugo fits that mold, even if the family resemblance is only skin deep.
My Hero Academia is currently streaming on Crunchyroll. Think Kudo and Bakugo mirror each other in the right ways, or is the show pushing the comparison too hard? Tell me.