The fifth season of My Hero Academia has now entered an arc dedicated to the League of Villains, the ragtag group of baddies who are slowly (but surely) learning how to make a proper mess of things. Despite the “villain” in their name, the group is actually going up against another villain instead of facing off against the heroes, something that kinda happened in the previous season.
I suppose one has to deal with other adversaries before being crowned Top Opposition of Hero Society.
I got the chance to chat with Jason Liebrecht (Dabi), Leah Clark (Himiko Toga), Eric Vale (Tomura Shigaraki), and the new villain on the block played by Sonny Strait (Re-Destro), who you should totally be rooting for, according to Strait. “Once you hear my performance you’ll root for me,” he says, though he did hint at knowing who to root for, he just wouldn’t give any spoilers.
While Re-Destro and the League are at odds at the moment, all the actors seemed to agree that playing the villain was awesome. “You get to be the pepper on the pizza. You get to add a little bit more flavor,” Clark says (note: red pepper, specifically).
The general consensus from the group was that villains usually think they’re doing the right thing. According to Strait, that’s one of the reasons why some people can relate to them… even if, deep down, some villains prooooobably know that they’re wrong.
While Re-Destro is new to the story, the League has been around since the first season. Even so, we actually don’t know much about them. We’ve gotten to know some of the League members (Twice, for example), but others like Dabi, Himiko, and even the leader of the group (Shigaraki) have shared very little about themselves. This arc will, hopefully, give us more context for the group.
“I’m hoping to learn more about who she (Himiko) is and why she is the way that she is,” says Clark when talking about what she hopes to see in the season’s last arc. “I’m hoping that it draws people to her more and gets everyone a little more invested.”
Liebrecht, who probably has one of the most mysterious characters in the group (we don’t have a full name for Dabi yet, we just know his villain name), expressed similar sentiments. “I have been waiting and just as curious as any fan out there as to where he’s coming from, what his motivations stem from, what happened to him, who IS he? All of these things are really tantalizing questions and I feel like every little bit of information I get only makes playing him more interesting and it makes it so I can play him more truthfully.”
Vale, who plays the group leader, Shigaraki, had an, um, different response when asked about what he hopes to learn about his character. “Maybe some recipes that he uses around the house, you know? Something like that.”
Shigaraki has been being built up as a major antagonist, but again, we know next to nothing about him. We know he’s loyal to All For One who, in turn, treats him like a son, going so far as to tell him he can fail at villainy as many times as it takes until he gets it right. So I was pretty surprised that recipes were on Vale’s wishlist of things to learn about Shigaraki.
But you know what?
How DOES Shigaraki cook without destroying everything he touches? Would it be him who cooks for the League? Especially since Kurogiri (who was clearly the voice of reason on the team) has been arrested? Well, both Vale and Strait chimed in with a delightful headcanon to answer those questions.
Now you might be wondering where the sitcom comes into play. You can thank Leibrecht and Clark for the AU you didn’t realize you needed in your life.
I for one do think we could have an entire season dedicate to the villains and their ongoing hijinks. Give them an entire reality show with confession booths and everything. I’d tune in every weeknight, 7 PM central, sharp.
Be sure to catch My Hero Academia (not a reality show) over at Funimation on Saturdays.
(Image: © K. Horikoshi / Shueisha, My Hero Academia Project)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
