The Ultimate Ranking of My Hero Academia Season 8’s Most Epic Battles
My Hero Academia blasts into its eighth and final season with massive clashes already shaking the battlefield. The endgame is here—stakes sky-high, chaos unleashed, and long-awaited closure finally in sight, with two episodes already lighting the fuse.
Spoiler alert: this dives into manga territory for the final arc of My Hero Academia.
My Hero Academia season 8 just started airing, and this is it: the last lap. Two episodes in, the show is already teeing up the endgame chaos fans have been waiting on for years. The biggest clashes are still ahead, and the anime is about to hit four major fights that define the finale.
Where we are right now
Season 8 picks up threads from season 7 and pushes them toward the finish line. Only two episodes are out so far, so the larger, wilder set pieces are still to come. Below, I ranked the four key battles by impact and intensity, not chronology. If you keep up with the manga, I included chapter ranges for each fight so you can place them exactly. And yes, there is some inside baseball in here: All For One literally de-ages mid-fight. Because of course he does.
The four big battles to watch
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#4: Deku vs Tomura Shigaraki (continues from season 7, concludes in season 8)
Deku stops trying to just punch the hate out of Shigaraki and instead aims for the broken kid underneath. Using the vestiges of One For All, he digs into Tomura's memories and sees the whole nightmare: the accidental first use of Decay, the trauma, and how All For One had been pulling strings from the start. It is heavy stuff and it matters, because it tees up a brutal twist in control.
Manga: chapters 379-380, 384, 398, 402-404, 410-418. Outcome: All For One ends up taking over Shigaraki's body.
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#3: All Might vs All For One (Finale)
Quirkless All Might throws himself at All For One, who rolls in wearing an armored suit and spamming a greatest-hits mix of stolen Quirks. All Might tries some gadget work of his own, attempting to freeze AFO's wand-like device and fire off a laser. It does not land. Then AFO pulls one of the weirdest power flexes in the series and literally shows up younger, hurling energy blasts while All Might gets battered to the brink and paralyzed.
Right when it looks over, Bakugo rockets in and blows off AFO's arms, yanking All Might out of the fire.
Manga: chapters 396-404. Outcome: All Might survives because Bakugo intervenes.
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#2: Katsuki Bakugo vs All For One
Bakugo, who was previously pushed to the edge of death by Shigaraki and revived by a teammate, fights like someone who decided pain is a suggestion. He needles AFO with sheer persistence, then drops the move you will not forget: an explosion inside AFO's mouth that scrambles the villain's control. That detonation destabilizes AFO's Quirk Factors, which is as gross as it sounds and exactly as effective.
Bakugo pushes AFO right to the cliff and then signals Deku to finish the job.
Manga: chapters 405-410. Outcome: Bakugo delays and damages AFO, handing the baton to Deku.
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#1: The Heroes vs All For One (the penultimate battle of season 8)
This is the all-hands-on-deck moment against a reborn AFO: Pro Heroes, U.A. students, the Ketsubutsu and Shiketsu kids, and even the lingering vestiges tied to One For All all pile in against one villain. It is a turning point for the series and a setup for Shigaraki's redemption that the story has been circling for a long time.
Manga: chapters 419-423. Outcome: All For One is finally defeated.
Season 8 is clearly going for broke. Which of these fights are you most ready to see animated? My Hero Academia is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.