Without getting too deep into the weeds in what’s a very old discussion, I’ve always felt that when everything is taken into consideration, the strongest in Class 1-A isn’t Deku.  Or Bakugo, or Todoroki, Or Yaoyarozu.  We saw him in action this week, which is itself a relative rarity in Boku no Hero Academia.  Tokyoyami is a supporting character and I’ve never been sure if Horikoshi intended for his quirk to be a real contender, or if it took on a life of its own.  But every time we see it in action, Dark Shadow strikes me as a terrifying force to be reckoned with.

That’s all if we’re talking potential, of course.  If we’re talking about getting the most out of your quirk, Kacchan and Shouto probably sit at the top of the pyramid (now that Shouto has embraced his other half).  Mirio rode this strategy to the #1 slot in the school, and his quirk is nowhere near as powerful as theirs.  Izuku’s potential is huge, because we all know what One For All can do when fully unleashed – certainly he’ll exceed Bakugo and probably Todoroki if he can ever achieve something close to full potential.  But I’d argue Fumikage would exceed even him, should he do the same.

Therein lies the rub of course, and so far Dark Shadow has sometimes seemed as much a threat to Fumikage or his allies than to villains or rivals.  That’s why it was interesting to see him paired up with Hawks, one of the most enigmatic of all the top pros.  Hawks has already shown himself to be a keenly insightful fellow, and the fact that he would single out Tokoyami as an interesting project is unsurprising.  As much as anything strategically Tokyami learned from this, I think Hawks harsh treatment was vital in leveling him up.  Tokoyami has never given himself enough credit, and his irritation at being treated as an information source forced him to reassess his own value.

It seems logical that Dark Shadow would be set off against 1-B’s Kuroiro and his “Black” quirk.  That’s a bit of a mislead, though, as Kuroiro is really more about his deceptive nature than his shadowy quirk.  His plan is to lure the A team into believing this would come down to a mano a mano shadow battle, but the 1-A group is pretty much ready for that.  In a one on one battle Fumikage pretty much shows that Dark Shadow is the stronger and more powerful of the two quirks, especially now that he’s embraced the sky as Hawks pushed him to do.  But that sets the table for the rest of the teams to enter the fray.