The Most Underrated Pro Heroes in My Hero Academia

Like the vast majority of shounen, My Hero Academia focuses on a group of protagonists wanting to become the best at something. In this case, it's becoming the Number One Hero. But where My Hero Academia really shines is its celebration of the underdogs—the people diligently doing their best who aren't comfortable with being your All Mights, Midnights, or Best Jeanists. Just like their counterparts who might be receiving more screen time, these heroes deserve to be celebrated too. So here are a few of our favorites.

What occupation is more regularly unappreciated than a high school cafeteria chef? Do you even know if your high school had a head chef?

With that in mind, let's take this time to celebrate Lunch-Rush, the Cook Hero. It's not surprising that UA's head chef is a Pro Hero, but the thanklessness of that job is reflected by the fact that we've seen Lunch-Rush exactly one time. For six seconds. And half of that is just his thumb.

We don't even know exactly what his quirk is or why he has a giant metal tube instead of a face, just that he supplies “gourmet food for reasonable prices.” Everyone must be so relieved that the MHA team took some precious time to solve the burning question, “How can UA students avoid stereotypical greasy cafeteria food without breaking the bank, especially given their presumably sizable admission costs?” Now we can all finally sleep soundly.

Anyway, Lunch-Rush a big enough hero for Midoriya to go all fanboy over him, but not a big enough hero for anyone else to care. And considering how often Midoriya goes fanboy, his act of geek-melting might not be saying much.

But we appreciate you, Lunch-Rush. We respect you and your affordable gourmet food. And yes, white rice is excellent comfort food.

Kamui Woods is a strange example of a Pro Hero who's apparently a rising star on a local level, but who recently became something of an underdog. On one hand, he's got screaming fangirls. He's worthy of Midoriya's google-eyes. Recovery Girl even has a PEZ dispenser in the shape of his head in her office. But we knew poor Kamui Woods as the preeminent rising star for about a minute, because ever since then, he's been overshadowed - both figuratively and literally - by Mt. Lady.

Sure, gigantification is cool,but Kamui Woods arguably has one of the most original Quirks in the show. He can extend and bend his limbs like some kind of wooden Monkey D. Luffy, then use them to swing around like Spider-Man. He can also make an entire tree burst out of his arm, which he can use either to ensnare his enemies or rescue victims. He's basically useless around fire and explosions, but in episode 2, he still chooses to go in for the rescue.

Come on guys, how are we not all his biggest fans? Is it because he appears to have very little sense of humor? Do we need the people saving lives to have a sense of humor? Kamui Woods is one of the first Pro Heros we see in action in the entire series, so naturally there's always a soft spot for your first love. He may be overshadowed in the press, but not in our hearts.

Speaking of that fateful first fight, perhaps no one involved went as unappreciated as Backdraft, the rescue specialist. The crowd seems excited to see him, but the second our pal Kamui Woods comes out, forget about it. That's the problem with specializing as a rescue hero—you end up doing some of the most important work, but then you get little credit compared to whoever beats up the baddie. I imagine Thirteen can relate.

But the best Pro Heroes aren't in it for the glamour and glory, and Backdraft's power is perfectly suited to rescuing, as he's basically a one-man fire truck. He even kind of looks like a dalmatian, for extra endearment points.

Backdraft's most impressive skill goes unremarked on, however—he can shape the water that comes out of his hose-hands and hold it still in mid-air. Of course, that skill is well-suited to serve as a much flashier version of a police line, but it's hard not to believe it doesn't have some combat perks as well. He also doesn't have hands. Eating and playing video games must be hard for him.

So here's to Backdraft—may the showers from your handless water-limbs temper the fire of burning love in our hearts. Or something.

Fourth Kind is like a version of the Godfather from deep inside your nightmares. Even though he's a hero, you kind of want to run away from him. And it certainly seems from his interactions with Kirishima and Tetsutetsu during their internship that he functions on hard discipline and intimidation. If he can completely lose his cool over the temperature of a cup of tea, his interns must've gotten discipline-punched many times, and it should be noted that he has a gold ring on every single one of his twenty fingers, so being punched by Fourth Kind must hurt. You know, if your Quirk wasn't Hardening.

So, in light of all this, what do you think his nickname would be? The Mobster Hero? The Godfather Hero? The Wow-How-Expensive-Were-All-Those-Rings Hero? No, he's the Chivalrous Hero. At least he's into community service…?

Considering that the first thing he discusses with his interns is the relationship between heroes and civil servants, it's clear that there's much more to Fourth Kind than his intimidating look and eager punches. His mysterious office and probably-legitimate business must attract someone. At the very least, it makes him an intriguing presence in the show.

Really, what is an unsung hero but an underdog? And what better underdog is there than someone whose very nickname is The Normal Hero?

Like our buddy Backdraft, Manual's Quirk also relates to the manipulation of water. But fans have pointed out that, unlike Backdraft, Manual seems to need a water source to use his Quirk. So he doesn't even get the upper hand of having an overpowered niche Quirk.

Manual is obviously heroic in many ways. His kindness and diligence about his duty to patrol Hosu City makes him the epitome of a public servant. He's keen enough to deduce why Iida would intern with him instead of a more famous hero, but humble enough not to be angry about it. But when you consider the other heroes on that list, all these traits just make him seem so very normal. His hero name is “Manual,” even!

However, when your peers are people with hoses for hands or just straight-up anthropomorphic seals, being “normal” might make you stand out from the crowd. Just in a very subtle way.

By this point in the anime, we've gotten to know most of the UA faculty pretty well, and we've seen many of them in action—even Principal Nezu. But there's one UA sensei who's yet to have his day in the spotlight: Hound Dog, appropriately nicknamed the Hound Hero.

In the anime, Hound Dog is just shown in group shots with the rest of the teachers, looking large and furry and muzzled. We know it's cheating, but we can ascertain from the manga that Hound Dog only vocalizes in the range of a dog, meaning he only barks and growls, which immediately makes him a fascinating choice for UA faculty. What's more, he's also UA's lifestyle counselor, which is an unexpected decision.

The team behind the anime surely realizes Hound Dog's comic potential and is saving him for the opportune moment. He's barely even used in the manga. But there has to be some kind of middle ground between “having regular appearances” and “appearing only in ensemble shots.”

Okay, we have to call out Nezu. True, he's a prominent character, but in many ways, Nezu is everything we've talked about in this list all wrapped into one. Everything about him screams “unlikely hero”—the guy's not even human. For a while, it seemed to be a safe assumption that Nezu's Quirk was just being a little rat-thing. But no, he's a little rat-thing with a Quirk. And not just any Quirk; Nezu's High Specs makes him smarter than everybody. As in, most of humanity.

But when you first see Nezu, he seems like a funny sight gag. The obvious reaction was, “Ha ha, what's that weird little guy doing here?” Until you realize, “Wait, that's the principal?!” The Big Question then becomes how Nezu's presence at UA is justified at all, not to mention how he has the top position in the school.

The anime takes its sweet time to answer that question—Nezu's introduced with the rest of the faculty in episode 4, but we don't learn his Quirk until episode 36. Until that point, the audience lives in a strange limbo as to whether Nezu is a joke or someone we should take seriously.

In the end, all of this makes Nezu the ultimate triumphant underdog, a non-human whose intelligence surpasses humans to the point where he's the principal of the preeminent super-high-school in the country. So here's to Nezu: a weird little guy with surprisingly large accomplishments.

Honorable mentions go to Death Arms and Uwabami. You have a cool name, Death Arms. And Uwabami, way to go with the creative income supplementation.

So who are your favorite underappreciated heroes in the MHA universe? Share them with us in the forums!