My Hero Academia's most influential villain finally gets a proper backstory in Vigilantes

In the world of My Hero Academia, there is one villain that has caught everyone's attention, and it is not All For One. The one who left a lasting impression is the Hero Killer: Stain. He is known to be responsible for killing many pro heroes, but now, his full backstory has been revealed. It has recently been animated in My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. We now have a canon origin story that deepens our understanding of his motivations, morals, and madness.

In the recent episode of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, we see Stain before he chose that villain identity for himself. His story began as a crusade against so-called false heroes. Chizome Akaguro was a passionate idealist.

Notably, his character believed in heroes who are selfless and want to truly protect the civilians. But the times he lived in, Pro-Hero society, was a media-centric industry that rewarded popularity over principle.

This clashed with everything he believed in. To him, watching frauds rise to fame while true heroes struggled to make ends meet shattered his hope. So he took matters into his own hands and started his own way of becoming a vigilante. But this descent still didn’t push him fully into villainy. At least not yet, as shown in the main series.

In Vigilantes, we witness Chizome’s transformation take root under the alias "Stendhal." Adopting this name, he began operating in the shadows, targeting criminals whom he believed had slipped through the cracks of the legal system. But unlike typical vigilantes who worked to support a hero society, Stendhal acted to expose its hypocrisies.

During one of his missions, he encountered the vigilante of Naruhata, Knuckleduster. Chizome was happy to meet someone like him and tells Knuckleduster how similar they really are. But he couldn’t have been more wrong.

Knuckleduster outright rejected any similarity and called him a mad slasher rather than a true vigilante. He was brutally honest towards Chizome, and to him, people who use a mask to murder people are despicable. Furthermore, Knuckleduster also noted that Chizome lacked conviction and purpose.

Ultimately, he punched him hard by literally smashing Stendhal’s nose in a brutal blow that physically and symbolically broke his façade.

After escaping from being punched, Chizome fled the scene. But instead of falling into despair, the confrontation awakened something within him. He abandoned his persona and sliced off his broken nose. Finally, Stain was born.

Fans praise the long-awaited backstory that finally does Stain Justice in My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

The reveal of Stain’s backstory in My Hero Academia: Vigilantes sent waves through the fandom. For years, fans had debated the depth of Stain’s ideology, and now that Vigilantes gave its audience a proper backstory, everything made sense. As this series does not shy away from showing darker stories, it was a proper setting for the creator to give closure to the most influential villain from My Hero Academia.

To conclude, The raw detail of Chizome Akaguro’s descent into becoming Stendhal and later Stain made his ideals feel less like villainous ramblings and more like a rough comment on hero society. Many fans have expressed appreciation for how the manga explored the personal contradictions Stain grappled with.

Trending

To sum it up, Stain's backstory in My Hero Academia: Vigilantes never justified his actions but gave clarity to the audience. He was a misguided character who wanted to make society a better place but descended into villainy. He’s the kind of villain you can’t help but admire and fear to understand. And now, with his full origin revealed, it’s impossible to see Stain as a one-dimensional killer.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback