The League of Villains consisted of some of the most dangerous individuals in their society. From decaying an entire city, to immolating the tallest of towers or to sneak in anywhere as anyone...but they are still constrained by human limits which brings their downfall when they bite off more than they can chew.
End of The Line
is a My Hero Academia fanfic written by Winds Carry Far where the incident in Jaku City ends with the League of Villains losing with their members ending up captured or dead. The story deals with the aftermath of the war.This one-shot provides examples of:
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
- In canon, Aizawa took the death of Nemuri fairly well and held it together. But here, after her gruesome death, Aizawa realizes how he took her friendship for granted and how his cold indifference led to the prolonged suffering of his friends and students.
- Mirko actually processes her pain of losing her limbs after the Hospital War and how it'll severely limit her abilities as a Pro Hero.
- Adaptational Karma: Unlike in canon where Endeavor still gets to keep his job in spite of his past as a domestic abuser, it is strongly implied he's now destined to face jailtime after his crimes have been exposed and confirmed. Granted, unlike canon there is no war going on that he is vitally needed for.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Mirio and Nejire were just friends in the original show. But in Chapter 5, Mirio actually has romantic feelings for her. And seeing her hospitalized only adds to his animosity towards Izuku.
- Alas, Poor Villain:
- Unlike most of the villains in the story, Lady Nagant gets sympathy from the new head of the HPSC, as she was more or less used until she broke by the organization previously and didn't deserve to be gassed for it.
- Spinner also feels bad for Himiko as she was The Baby of the Bunch who turned to villainy for sympathetic reasons and should have more of a chance at a better life compared to the rest of the League.
- Always Someone Better: Bakugou confesses that the reason he hated Izuku with a passion was because he was always better then him at everything or at least made more of an effort to excel at something he wasn't good at. His drive to be better while obtaining success drove the blonde to spite him throughout their adolescence.
- Apathetic Teacher: Aizawa realizes he was this and he brutally deconstructs this trope while alone with his thoughts. He realizes that his laziness and cynical approach to teaching only made it so his students were unprepared for the true dangers of hero wars while also developing toxic behaviors that would only be detrimental to them in the long-run.
- Beware the Nice Ones:
- Asui is much stronger than she looks and shatters Toga Himiko's hip with a single kick.
- Inko glares at Bakugou so coldly he feels almost as scared as he did facing Shigaraki.
- Bound and Gagged: When Toga is captured by Asui and Uraraka the police restrain her with chains, and also place a ball-gag in her mouth to keep her from biting someone and drinking their blood. This also applies when she gets to rowdy and ends up in solitary confinement. She finds this deeply humiliating.
- Broken Pedestal: Averted. Hawks accepts that Enji Todoroki is a disgraceful man who deserves to be punished for his crimes against his family, but he chooses to acknowledge the good his "hero" persona has done throughout his Pro Hero career.
- Brought Down to Normal: Mirio's Permeation Quirk disappears after the Hospital War leaving him Quirkless once again.
- But Now I Must Go: Now that All For One has been officially defeated, the Vestiges of One For All are allowed to move on from their lifetime mission. But they do assure Izuku that they'll still be around when needed.
- Can't Catch Up: Another reason why Hagakure quits being a hero is because of how her friends are growing more stronger and experienced with their abilities while she isn't able to reach their level.
- Clueless Boss: According to Skeptic, Shigaraki Tomura and his League are great in a fight but not so much at running an empire. Especially as many of them are focused on generic goals (destroying the world for Shigaraki) or petty vendettas (Himiko stalking the Yuuei kids and Dabi wanting information out of Endeavor) rather then having long-term goals for running their new organization. It quickly unravels leaving them at the mercy of authorities.
- Dark and Troubled Past: In Chapter 5, Mirko is revealed to have been a shy and softspoken girl who was easily picked on by her peers. She didn't make it into any hero schools and was told to settle for being a model or a housewife. Her feelings of sorrow turned into anger which she used to turn herself into a musclewoman capable of reaching the Hero Rankings.
- Deal with the Devil: HPSC President Mera considers handing the HPSC to Nezu this. Still considers it the best option.
- Death by Adaptation: Several instances.
- Shigaraki is burned to a crisp by Endeavor after Izuku's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown leaves his regeneration in shambles.
- Mr. Compress bleeds out after trying to compress part of his body, failing to achieve anything.
- Lady Nagant, Stain, Overhaul, Muscular and Moonfish are killed by poison gas in Tartarus. This leaves All For One comatose and it is implied in the third chapter that he will not be waking up.
- Deconstruction Fic: This fic takes a critical look at the League of Villains and how they would react to being offered a redemption arc. As the fic shows, many of them are not the articulated masterminds the fandom makes them out to be as their poorly thought revenge schemes and skillset result in them losing to the heroes. And regarding potential rehabilitation, they are too filled with hatred and a desire to lash out at the world that they spit on the hands of those that try to reach out to them.
- Didn't Think This Through: Several instances.
- Toga Himiko does not take Uraraka and Asui as serious threats which causes the latter to break her hip preventing her from escaping.
- All For One didn't consider Shigaraki's regeneration failing, in good part because it is struggling to keep his uncompleted body together. This error is compounded by the fact he taught Shigaraki to not retreat when he clearly should have.
- Mr. Compress using his quirk on himself causes him to instantly go into shock and bleed out.
- Dabi burned up his already low stamina fighting his younger brother which leads to his defeat.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: It's repeatedly stated that Izuku may face severe paralysis as a consequence of using One For All to the max during his recent battles.
- The Dreaded: Nezu is this. Entering the meeting in the HPSC causes them all to become terrified.
- Face Death with Dignity: During the mass poisoning of the Tartarus prisoners, Lady Nagant and Stain were stated to have accepted their fate without fighting back.
- Fake Memories: Tenko Shimura's Tragic Backstory is implanted by All For One who killed his entire family and kidnapped him. Ultimately though he is unmoved by this.
- Forbidden Friendship: Inko tells Bakugou that she no longer sees him as a trustworthy friend and forbids him from seeing her son.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Everyone is made aware that Dabi was another victim of Endeavor's tyrannical abuse, and while the media tries to play it up, the actual cast is firmly of the belief that it doesn't justify him becoming a supervillain with a serious kill count. Even his siblings bring up how there were other alternatives to bringing the abusive monster to justice without him turning into another monster in the long-run.
- Grade Skipper: Mineta manages to graduate from high school in only a short time after he dropped out of Yuuei.
- Hated by All: Bakugou's social standing in Class 1-A goes to an absolute zero once everyone learns of his past as Izuku's bully mixed with him becoming too depressed to help with the restoration process like the rest of his peers.
- Hates Their Parent: Along with his passionate hatred for his father, Dabi also thinks of his mother as a shameless, gold-digging whore who was complacent in the abuse he and his siblings endured.
- Heroic BSoD: Once he confesses to his decade as Izuku's bully, Bakugou spends his time sulking around their base rather then helping with the clean up like the rest of the hero hopefuls. He doesn't even have the energy to yell at them when they chew him out for his past and his refusal to help.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Midoriya believes he is not worthy of One For All due to Shigaraki dying before he had a chance to try and save him. It causes One For All to harm his body leaving him comatose due to pain.
- Insanity Defense: In the age of heroes, this has become very rigidly codified. Hawks notes that Twice would be applicable for this, and perhaps Toga. None of the others in the League of Villains however, as they were aware enough to make their own choices, and thus would have to deal with the consequences.
- Internal Reveal: Bakugou reveals to Kirishima his history as Izuku's bully and tormentor.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Even though the heroes "defeated" the League of Villains, that hasn't stopped the general public from developing mistrust towards heroes in general nor has it prevented the Hero Commission from being brutally dismantled.
- It's also mentioned that Midnight was brutally killed during the Hospital War.
- Ironic Hell:
- Shigaraki's descent into what is implied to be Hell involves him screaming for help but with no one answering the call, much like when he was homeless.
- Shouto implies to Dabi that Endeavor might end up his cellmate, to his older brother's fury.
- Irony: Hagakure bitterly points out that her over-the-top and clumsy nature makes her unfit to be a stealthy, invisible hero.
- Jerkass Realization: As with canon, both Bakugou and Endeavor regret their past actions.
- Endeavor confesses it to the public leading to his reputation being ruined, his hero career ending, and him likely facing jail time.
- Bakugou feels immensely guilty for Midoriya's injuries. He confesses them to Kirishima who runs off horrified leaving him to stew in guilt.
- Subverted with Dabi. He is totally unremorseful. As pointed out by both Natsuo and Fuyumi, Shouto had it worse and his 'death' caused their mother to go over the edge coupled with Endeavour's increased abuses.
- Zigzagged with Toga. The author suggests that she will come around eventually but with a lot of effort.
- Aizawa gets one himself when he realizes how his role as an unapproachable Apathetic Teacher resulted in many of his students, present and former, having tarnished hero careers or developing unhealthy behaviors.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: To ensure that his connection with All For One has his mole is never brought up, Aoyama is sent to France where he has his memory wiped. This also means losing his memories of Class 1-A.
- Must Make Amends: After his realization, Aizawa intends to correct his mistakes as a failure of a teacher by making an effort to change and be better for everyone he hurt throughout his teaching career.
- The Needs of the Many: Discussed. The Past Holders argue that Shigaraki's death was the best option as it guarantees that thousands of innocent lives won't be jeopardized in the long run.
- No Sympathy:
- Dabi doesn't care at all about the abuse his siblings endured growing as he's too focused on his own pain while believing that they were all outright complicit with Endeavor's tyranny, and did little to nothing to stop him. He even believes that Shouto was spoiled and pampered and openly wishes he could have witnessed their mother burning him with boiling water.
- Himiko is initially unmoved when Ochako asks if she even cared about the lives she stole during her killing sprees. She isn't even phased when the hero brings up how the old woman she killed was the main caregiver of her autistic grandson who will now be sent to an orphanage because of her death.
- Not Quite Dead: All For One is heavily effected by the noxious gas released by the Tartarus personnel. While it doesn't outright kill him like the others because of his Quirks, his body is left in a comatose state in which he won't be able to wake up from.
- Opt Out: Several 1-A students forsake their hero dream after the devastating aftermath of the Jaku War forces them to realize that they just don't have the resolve to continue being heroes.
- Mineta is one of the first after accepting that his goals of being a hero for the sake of publicity and women was shallow and disappointing.
- Hagakure personally takes a leave due to her self-worth of her abilities and how everyone is stronger than her.
- Aoyama ends up leaving and goes as far as to have his memories erased so he can feign ignorance as a former Judas.
- Parting-Words Regret: While alone with his thoughts, Aizawa wholeheartedly regrets taking Nemuri's friendship for granted and how he never directly told her how much he meant to her. Especially given how he coldly brushed off the 18+ Hero while she let it pass without a fuss.
- Playing the Victim Card: Both Touya and Himiko are accused of doing so. While they went through horrible abuse they still ended up becoming killers which isn't justified.
- Point of Divergence: The main difference from canon is that the League outright lost in Jaku City instead of the heroes achieving a Pyrrhic Victory with a few villains escaping, resulting in a number of significant changes to the story.
- Post-Support Regret:
- Spinner reflects that he should have known better to trust the League of Villains with "changing hero society" when all they wanted to was create pointless destruction and fulfill their thirst for revenge.
- Kirishima comes to regret having defended Bakugou from criticism and scrutiny by the rest of the hero hopefuls after learning his dark past. He even realizes that he regrets intervening when the hopefuls attempted to criticize Bakugou for his sins and for not helping them with the restoration process.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Ochako gives a brutal wake-up call to Himiko by pointing out how stupid her actions were as they've only lead to pointless suffering and hardships for everyone. Especially towards the twenty-seven civilians she killed for the sake of being free.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Izuku gets this reaction when the Past Holders joke about him getting together with Ochako.
- So Proud of You: Just before moving on, Nana says that she's proud of Toshinori.
- Stopped Caring:
- Natsuo Todoroki unlike his older sister seems rather unbothered by Endeavor's confession to his abuse and the reveal of Dabi's identity.
- With the added stress of rebuilding everything that was destroyed during the war as well as dealing with the backlash that heroes now receive from the civilians, Kirishima is done defending Bakugo when their classmates insult him when he wasn't contributing to fix anything and was instead sulking off.
- Superhero Paradox: Apparently the HPSC would overlook conditions that could create villains in the past in order to ensure there were beings for heroes to fight, as heroism became so engrained into the culture and economy of Japan. The current president is utterly appalled by this, and is determined to correct this.
- Theme Naming: The Chapter titles go by the theme of "The Ballad of [X]".
- Took a Level in Cynic: To his horror and shock, Mirio is starting to accept Sir Nighteye's ideas on how the world needs another All Might and how Izuku just wasn't cutting it. It doesn't help that he recently lost his Quirk and has more time to think about the long-term consequences of All Might's retirement and Izuku's inability to master One For All.
- Two Roads Before You: Within the Realm of One For All, Shigaraki is presented with two paths for his future: one of him healthy and on the side of good, and the other of him on a throne of skulls as the new King of Villains. He chooses the latter which leads to his ultimate death.
- Underestimating Badassery:
- Toga failed to account for how Tsuyu's Quirk gives her superhuman strength and speed. For all Toga's prodigious talent, her body is still very much baseline human.
- All For One doesn't expect Midoriya's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to be so severe that it cripples Shigaraki's super regeneration preventing him from saving him when Endeavour burnt him to a crisp.
- Dabi makes too many flashy moves against Shouto, who uses his superior stamina to make his older brother burn out.
- Ungrateful Bastard: In spite of all the hard work and dedication the heroes do to rebuild their world, there are tons of civilians who openly express their disdain and ingratitude for them. Momo in particular has had to deal with ongoing criticisms while she continues to rebuild.
- Unwitting Pawn: To Yokumiru's disgust, the other heads of the Hero Commission planned on making Izuku their new Symbol of Peace while using his critical condition to force sympathy from the public.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: The Vestiges of One For All assure Izuku that he did an excellent job with handling Shigaraki and that he should be proud to be a Holder like them.
- You Are in Command Now: Due to Endeavor's arrest, Eraserhead being hospitalized and Midnight dying, Ryuku has had to step up as an unofficial leader from the Top Ten manage the restoration process while watching over Class 1-A.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Mirko has this thought after realizing that Izuku is a fanboy.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Ochako is mortified when she's thanked by two civilians for arresting Himiko while exposing themselves as her Abusive Parents.
