Katsuki Bakugo

Katsuki Bakugo, also known as Kacchan (かっちゃん) by his childhood friends, is a student in Class 1-A at U.A. High School, training to become a Pro Hero. He is the deuteragonist of the series.

Appearance
Katsuki is a young man of average height, with a slim but muscular build and fair skin. He has short, spiky ash-blond hair that choppy bangs that come to his eyebrows. His eyes are sharp and thin and are bright red in color.

At school, he wears the standard U.A. uniform without the customary red tie. Underneath his blazer, he wears a white collared shirt with the top few buttons undone. His pants are worn loosely, causing them to sag at his ankles, despite him wearing a belt in them.

His hero costume is composed of a tight, black, sleeveless tank top, with an orange “X” across the middle, forming a v-neck. There are two dots along the left line of his collar, indicating the support company that designed his costume. His costume also has a metallic neck brace worn with rectangular ends that have three holes on each side. His sleeves reach from within his large grenade-like gauntlets to his biceps. His belt, which also carries grenades, holds up his baggy pants with knee guards, below which he sports black, knee-high combat boots with orange soles and eyelets. His mask is jagged and black, and as it goes around his eyes, a large, orange-rimmed flare shape protrudes from each side.

In the winter months, he wears a large jacket with a high collar, rather than the usual tank top, although it does have the same orange “X” design, so he can still sweat a sufficient amount, which is how his Quirk works.

While interning under Best Jeanist, he wore a pair of blue jeans along with his hero costume rather than his usual baggy pants. His hair was also combed during this tenure and parted to one side.

Personality
Katsuki is a crude, arrogant, short-tempered, and aggressive person, especially at the beginning of the series. Katsuki tends to come off as an anti-hero, if not downright villainous for those not familiar with him. This problematic behavior goes all the way back to his early childhood days when he was known to bully a young, Quirkless Izuku Midoriya. However, after being accepted into U.A. High School and experiencing several personal defeats, one of them even coming from Izuku, Katsuki has gradually changed into a less antagonistic person, albeit still retaining a lot of his unpleasant traits. While often portrayed negatively, Katsuki's fierce character and drive have actually granted him an important role among Class 1-A, as a sort of inspirational mood-maker.

Determined and thirsty for victory, Katsuki smiles eerily when in the middle of a battle. He is incredibly focused on achieving his own authentic victories and has learned to never underestimate his opponents. Katsuki is not only very talented at fighting, but also very intelligent and extremely perceptive, capable of strategic planning and quick improvising. Moreover, Katsuki's grades are among the highest of his class and he has displayed surprising talent in other areas, like cooking or music. Overall, he's considered a natural-born genius with potential to be one of the best Pro Heroes around.

While a rather volatile hero-in-training, Katsuki is smart enough to discern who his enemies and allies are. He is not known to be particularly warm and open with the people on his side, but will act less unfriendly and sometimes even kind to those that manage to earn his respect. Because of his attitude and vulgar language, Katsuki's U.A. classmates often react negatively to him, although they have come to appreciate his skills and warm up to his personality. Katsuki matures slowly through his time at U.A., coming to befriend some of his classmates and willingly engaging in social interaction with his fellow classmates, though remaining aloof and solitary for the most part.

Katsuki tends to disregard the notion that Quirks shouldn't be used in public, and will activate his Quirk for a number of reasons, such as to intimidate someone, to punctuate a point, out of frustration, or even if he just feels like showing off. Katsuki values honesty highly and never lies, to the point his brash candor is seen by some as rude and insensitive. He is never afraid of speaking what's on his mind and will notice when people are not being truthful to him. This shows that, despite his anti-social habits, Katsuki actually has an excellent judgment of character.

Due to the constant praise of his abilities and his powerful Quirk, Katsuki developed a superiority complex, and because of that, he desires to be the first and best at everything. As pointed out by many people, Katsuki loves to win above all else and cannot stand it when he doesn't, leading him to lose his already short temper or, less often, sulk. He is fiercely competitive and will never settle for less than the number one spot. However, Katsuki also values hard work and fair play, to the point of refusing to acknowledge a winning result if he feels that his victory was not earned by actual merit. Relatedly, he detests being looked down by others, which normally angers him, and will hold contempt towards those that don't take him seriously, while recognizing the effort of those that manage to put up a challenge against him, like, for example, Ochaco Uraraka and Eijiro Kirishima.

Katsuki is immensely prideful and prefers to act alone, as he hates the idea of being protected or having to rely on other people to assist him unless, in the latter's case, he is recognized as the absolute leading figure within a team. At the beginning of the series, Katsuki's cooperativeness was nothing short of atrocious, often ignoring his partners' ideas and suggestions for his own very direct approaches. His teamwork skills gradually improve as the series progresses, even if Katsuki keeps coming off as condescending through his usual tone. However, it's clear he now acknowledges their importance, protecting them from harm while expecting them to do the same for him in return.

Katsuki often has difficulty accepting his mistakes and shortcomings, and will fiercely deny them whenever they are pointed out by others, regardless of who they are. That doesn't mean, however, that Katsuki doesn't listen to advice, having come to realize his faults and how to somewhat improve on them thanks to the words and actions of other people like All Might and Best Jeanist, but because of his pride, Katsuki never outright admits it. He prefers to self-reflect alone and in silence, becoming a bit more brooding during those periods. Katsuki's unchecked pride has cost him victories on numerous occasions, like the Battle Trial or the Provisional Hero License Exam, and it tends to worsen whenever Izuku Midoriya is involved. Both characters share a sensitive history with each other, with Katsuki in particular being unable to completely overcome his issues with Izuku, although this has not stopped them from working together many times.

Katsuki has a more vulnerable side, having been led to tears due to damaged pride a few times. Katsuki has also shown moments of fear and guilt, the latter due to viewing himself and his own weakness as the cause of All Might losing his remaining power and retiring as a hero. Still, due to years of misunderstandings, tension, and pride, Katsuki has difficulty doing the same thing towards Izuku.

While his inspiration for becoming a hero was the same as Izuku's, the Symbol of Peace, All Might, their beliefs differ: Katsuki feels a hero should never stop fighting or give up, regardless of the threat they face, and that always winning is the mark of a true hero. Furthermore, due to his arrogant and conceited behavior, various heroes, civilians, and even villains have commented on it. However, Katsuki is unwavering in his aspirations of heroism, having outright refused Tomura Shigaraki's proposal for him to join the League of Villains, even after being offered the power and ability to 'win'.

Abilities
Overall Abilities: Katsuki has proven to be one of the strongest students in Class 1-A, earning 3rd place in the Quirk Apprehension Test, while placing first place in both the U.A. Entrance Exam, having the most villain points, and U.A. Sports Festival, although his last opponent, Shoto Todoroki, basically surrendered at the last moment. Katsuki's fighting style is all-out offense, using his Quirk's propulsive abilities to close the distance between him and his opponents, followed by a bombardment of close-range attacks that often start with a powerful right hook. Katsuki is able to use his Explosion to propel himself through mid-air, blind opponents, and release long-range blasts, among other applications. Explosion is a versatile Quirk, especially for battle situations, as the recoil caused by the blasts can be exploited by Katsuki for mobility purposes. His overall fighting style and Quirk handling are reminiscent to how Nejire Hado utilizes her Wave Motion Quirk.

During the U.S.J. Incident, Katsuki was able to singlehandedly overpower and immobilize Kurogiri, a highly capable villain. At the Sports Festival, he was able to defeat Fumikage Tokoyami and Shoto Todoroki, who are also considered two of the strongest students in Class 1-A (although they had disadvantages respectively in their battles against Katsuki, they still proved to be strong despite their respective limitations). During his battle against Shoto, Katsuki was able to hold his own against one of Class 1-A's recommended students while the latter was only making use of his ice powers. Although Katsuki managed to defeat Shoto in the Sports Festival, Katsuki was not pleased with the victory because his opponent did not go all out in their match like he did with Izuku. Many notable Pro Heroes such as Shota Aizawa and All Might have praised Katsuki's prowess; even the League of Villains have taken notice of Katsuki's strength and went as far as kidnapping him even if it meant losing members of the Vanguard Action Squad as his potential membership would have far exceeded the risk. Katsuki is recognized as one of the stronger students of Class 1-A, as noted by Pixie-Bob. Izuku Midoriya stated that the entire Bakugo Escort Squad (consisting of himself, Shoto Todoroki, Katsuki, Fumikage Tokoyami, and Mezo Shoji) working together, have the potential to take on someone of All Might's caliber. After being released from his restraints by the League of Villains, who had kidnapped him, Katsuki was able to take Tomura Shigaraki by surprise by unleashing an explosion at close-range, albeit without injuring the disintegrating villain, and was confident that he could take out some of the powerful villains (which included Kurogiri, Twice, Dabi, Spinner, Mr. Compress, Magne, and Himiko Toga) before escaping, in spite of the fact that Katsuki was unaware of most of their abilities. While Katsuki did hold his own against the Villain Alliance at the Nomu Factory, he found himself struggling against the villains that had surrounded them, had it not been for the timely arrival of some of his own classmates that came to rescue him.

At the beginning of his impromptu second battle against Izuku, Katsuki was able to overpower him when the latter was using 5% of One For All. Much later when Izuku raised his power output to 8% and fought on par with Katsuki, the blonde was still was able to hold his own, but was fairly injured and taken by surprise a few times by the One For All inheritor's heightened physical prowess. In spite of Izuku's drastic improvement, Katsuki won the battle, although, the nature and outcome of the battle were redundant. During the Joint Training Arc, Katsuki claimed he has gotten stronger since his subsequent battle with Izuku. Katsuki has displayed that, despite the cold weather conditions of the winter season weakening his Quirk, he can still fight efficiently. Katsuki has also become slightly less insubordinate when paired with people and has developed a degree of camaraderie, as he utilizes his top-tier abilities to repel opponents that overpower his comrades. With the help of his teammates, Katsuki was capable of defeating Setsuna Tokage, a recommended student who is not only one of the strongest students in Class 1-B but was thought to have the potential of defeating Katsuki himself.
 * Enhanced Strength: Katsuki possesses above-average physical strength, as he is can use his Grenade Bracers without any recoil, whereas Izuku nearly dislocated his arm just from using one. Katsuki was also able to use his physical strength to go toe-to-toe with Izuku when the latter is using his Quirk at 5-8%.

Keen Intellect: Despite looking like he'd just be a punk with no brains, Katsuki has proven to be extremely intelligent and strategic. While he occasionally doesn’t have preemptive strategies like most people, he does analyze his opponent's weaknesses in the midst of battle. However, despite his analytical skills, Katsuki sometimes overlooks minor and crucial details. After he and Eijiro Kirishima intentionally lunged themselves at Kurogiri, Katsuki was able to figure out that part of Kurogiri's physical body has to be present when using his Warp Gate, so Katsuki targeted that said portion and successfully immobilized the villain. Even when fighting the weaker villains at the U.S.J., Katsuki quickly assessed which of the attacking villains were the most dangerous threat in the long term.

During the Cavalry Battle of the U.A. Sports Festival, he formed a strategy using the quirks of his teammates in order to get the headbands of Neito Monoma and was successful in doing so. In the climax of his battle with Ochaco Uraraka, he surmised that she had a plan prepared to use against him, but he incorrectly assumed that Izuku was the one that gave her the strategy, to begin with; this assumption was corrected when Izuku clarified he wasn't involved with Ochaco's strategy. In the battles against Eijiro and Fumikage, Katsuki barraged them both with explosions in order to discern the weaknesses of their respective Quirks: Eijiro's Hardening weakens in drawn-out battles, and Fumikage's Dark Shadow is susceptible to light. At the beginning of his battle with Shoto, Katsuki effortlessly used his explosions to tunnel through the former’s "Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall", and noted that Shoto's aim was off, realizing the wall of ice wasn’t as potent as it was when Shoto battled against Hanta Sero. When paired with Izuku in the final exams, Katsuki begrudgingly put his insubordination aside and came up with a compromise that involved him and Izuku using his Grenade Bracers to unleash maximum firepower at point-blank range to briefly stun All Might, and afterward, the pair rushes towards the escape gate. Katsuki's plan worked for a while, but he oversaw All Might's incredible speed, resulting in the Symbol of Peace destroying his gauntlets, making the duo lose their maximum firepower.

Pro Heroes (such as All Might) have mentioned several times his great potential and battle-sense. Eraser Head stated that in battle, Katsuki shines his brightest. Another testament of intellectual prowess is that Katsuki scored 3rd place in the midterms, proving how academically efficient he is. Since the League of Villains took Katsuki to their hideout and took time to explain their plan in order to recruit him, Katsuki correctly deduced that the villains needed him alive, so they weren't going to risk killing him. While fighting Seiji Shishikura at the Provisional Hero License Exam, Katsuki anticipated that he would be victimized by the former's quirk, and tossed a grenade to Denki Kaminari, so Stun Gun Hero could free him. This strategy ended up allowing Katsuki and Eijiro breaking free from Seiji's Meatball Quirk, and the trio of U.A. students winning the match after catching the Shiketsu High School student off-guard.

Katsuki was also able to piece together the truth of Izuku's Quirk after being kidnapped by the League of Villains, and seeing All For One steal Quirks which coincided with Izuku's words of getting a Quirk which he correctly deduced came from All Might, with whom he noticed Izuku had a connection to. This is another facet of Katsuki being considered a natural-born genius.
 * Leadership Skills: During round four of the Joint Training, Setsuna Tokage admitted that even if her team had attacked him all at once, they stood no chance of victory. In the end, despite Class 1-B's exceptional teamwork and Tokage's strategic planning, they failed to capture a single member of Katsuki's team, mostly thanks to Katsuki's efforts, adaptability, and skills.

Musical Talent: As shown during the U.A. School Festival Arc, Katsuki is highly skilled at playing a drum kit, having gone through classes in the past.

Quirk
Explosion: Katsuki's Quirk allows him to secrete nitroglycerin-like sweat from the palms of his hands and ignite it on command to create explosions. The more Katsuki sweats, the stronger his explosions become. As stated by Best Jeanist, Katsuki has a strong grasp on the applications of his Quirk.

Katsuki usually uses small, powerful explosions from his hands to not only blast his opponents but to propel himself and navigate through the air as well. He can keep up his explosions long enough to break through Eijiro's hardening Quirk, and negate Shoto's "Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall" for short while before being overwhelmed. The blasts are powerful enough to send Katsuki flying at his opponents without much time for them to react, and he can use them swiftly enough to evade incoming attacks, even in the air.

As part of his training, Katsuki submerged his hands into boiling water to expand his sweat glands, then create chain explosions to increase the scale of his attacks.

Super Moves

 * Blast Rush Turbo (ターボ): Katsuki throws his hands back and uses explosions to propel himself. He uses this both on the ground to increase his speed and through the air to achieve a pseudo form of flight. He first used this technique on the ground during the Quirk Apprehension Test. The first time he used it to fly was during the Obstacle Race.
 * Stun Grenade: Katsuki starts by creating a sphere of light between his hands that explodes into a large scale flash. Similar to the effect of an actual stun grenade, the flash of light blinds anyone close by. He first used this technique to defeat Fumikage Tokoyami.
 * Zero Distance Stun Grenade (ゼロ): A variation where Katsuki fires off his Stun Grenade at point-blank range of the opponent to immediately stun and immobilize them with little lasting damage. This variation was first used against Setsuna in the fourth round of the Joint Training Battle.
 * Howitzer Impact: This move is the strongest move in Katsuki's arsenal, which involves Katsuki taking to the air, and then using explosions to propel himself in a circular motion to create a tornado. This tornado builds up oxygen to fuel the incoming explosion. After colliding with the target, Katsuki releases the powerful aforementioned explosion. Present Mic compared the effectiveness of the technique to that of an actual missile. Katsuki first used Howitzer Impact in the final match of the U.A. Sports Festival Finals. He has also shown that he can release the fueled explosion in midair, without having to make contact with the target.
 * AP Shot: Katsuki stretches out one of his hands and uses his other hand to form a circle on the palm of his outstretched hand. Katsuki then fires an explosion through the circle, which creates a concentrated blast beam. By focusing the path of his explosions into a single point instead of around his whole palm, Katsuki creates a concentrated blast with reduced area of impact, but with enough power to successfully pierce solid concrete.
 * AP Shot: Auto-Cannon: A rapid-fire version of his AP Shot Technique. The explosion power is reduced in order to avoid dealing severe damage to human targets. This variation was first used against Seiji Shishikura in the first stage of the Provisional Hero License Exam.
 * Explode-A-Pult (カタパルト): While in mid-air, Katsuki grabs an opponent with one of his arms, then propels himself in a spinning motion by firing explosions with his free arm. Once he gains enough momentum, Katsuki forcefully throws his opponent with the aid of another explosion. He first used this technique against Togaru Kamakiri in the fourth round of the Joint Training Battle.

Equipment
Grenadier Bracers: An adjustment added to Katsuki's hero costume that stores his nitroglycerin-like sweat. Once filled, he can pull the grenade pin in order to release a large blast, as shown when he fought Izuku in All Might's Heroes vs. Villains test. It has enough explosive power to destroy all parts of the building within its blast radius. This equipment was first used during the Battle Trial.

Improvised Grenades: Around the belt of his Hero costume are several containers made to look like hand grenades. These can store Katsuki's nitroglycerin-like sweat, and be used as regular grenades at a later time. These were first used in a practical way during the Provisional license exam by Denki.

Knee Pads: These are very blunt metallic attachments to Katsuki's knees. They are designed so he can "kill with his knees", but he has not displayed such use for them as of yet.

Trivia

 * Originally, Katsuki was a very kind and gentle character who spoke without thinking and unintentionally insulted others. Horikoshi, however, found this original draft to be boring and decided, while still keeping him a natural born genius, to make him an unpleasant character instead.
 * In later concepts, Katsuki would adopt the Hero Name "Ground Zero" at some point. In the series proper, Katsuki still doesn't have a known Hero Name, as his proposed ones were rejected by Midnight due to their overly violent nature.
 * Katsuki's name is composed of "baku" (爆) from "bakuha" (爆破) and "ka(tsu)" (勝) from "katsu" (勝つ).
 * Katsuki likes spicy food and mountain climbing.
 * Katsuki's academic data at U.A. is as follows:
 * Student No. 17 in Class 1-A.
 * Ranked 1st during the U.A. Entrance Exam.
 * Ranked 3rd during the Quirk Apprehension Test.
 * Ranked 3rd in Class 1-A's mid-term grades.
 * Winner of The U.A. Sports Festival First-Year Stage.
 * Katsuki's rankings in the Popularity Polls are as follows:
 * Katsuki ranked 3rd in the First Popularity Poll.
 * Katsuki ranked 1st in the Second, Third, and Fourth Popularity Polls.
 * With his birthday taking place on April 20, Katsuki is the oldest student in Class 1-A, as everyone was 15 when they started U.A.'s school year in early April.

Quotes

 * (To Izuku Midoriya) "From here on, I..! From here on..! Y'hear me?! I'm gonna... beat you all! Enjoy your win. It'll never happen again! Dammit!"
 * (To All Might) "Needless to say... I'll be a hero that surpasses even you!"
 * (To Shoto Todoroki) "You'll regret making a fool of me! I'll freaking kill you! I'm taking the first to end all firsts! There's no point in winning against some half-assed punk! No point if I can't do better than Deku! So if you're not trying to win, get the hell outta my face! Why're you even here, you bastard?!"
 * (To Izuku Midoriya) "Stop talking. I will win. That's... what heroes do."
 * (To the League of Villains) "Can't stand morons like you who can't get to the damned point! Basically you're saying, 'we wanna cause trouble, be our pal!' What a joke! I've always admired All Might's triumphs. No matter what any of you jerks say... Nothing's ever gonna change that!"
 * (To the leader of the kids at the Remedial Course) "If all you ever do is look down on people, you won't be able to recognise your own weaknesses."

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