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There are a lot of heroes in My Hero Academia who stand out, whether through their unique character designs or quirks. The higher-ranked heroes like Hawks and Endeavor are especially hard to miss, and have vital roles in the series’ ongoing story. However, there is a hero who has always been near the top of the ranks, yet manages to somehow evade mention or discussion.
Fittingly, this is the ninja hero, Edgeshot. While My Hero Academia fans will certainly recognize him, Edgeshot is seen by many as quite forgettable, despite his high status in the MHA world. However, following recent events in MHA’s manga, Edgeshot is suddenly a center point in discussions about the series’ current and final arc. So, there is finally good reason to take a moment and look over everything to do with Edgeshot.
Personality
The most recognisable aspect of Edgeshot’s character design is easily the fact that he’s a ninja. While his costume’s blue and red color scheme isn’t the most fitting for stealth operations, his personality strongly embodies what one might expect a ninja to act like. He’s mostly a reserved, quiet man who can often be seen focused on the task at hand. He’s shown to work very well in teams, and acts very decisively in battle, even having an eye for strategy.
His first major appearance was during the ‘hideout raid’ arc, where a large group of heroes descended on the League of Villain’s hideout, particularly to rescue Bakugo. Edgeshot was one of the main heroes in this operation, where he sarcastically announces himself as a pizza delivery man to distract the villains before All Might breaks down their wall. This shows that under his stoic front, he might actually have a somewhat dry sense of humor.
He’s also one of the heroes more committed to the idealized form of heroism. In My Hero Academia Vigilantes, he expresses a desire to restore civilian’s faith in heroes after a recent disaster, and in the most recent chapter of the MHA manga, has put his life at risk to save one of the UA students, despite not knowing them very well.
His Quirk
As the former number 5 and current number 4 hero, Edgeshot could be expected to be packing one of the more powerful quirks in the series. In a way, he is, but it’s a quirk that takes a bit more thought to fully appreciate.
His quirk is called ‘Foldabody’, and allows him to essentially turn his body into thread, allowing him to twist it into all manner of shapes. Most often, he’s seen using it to turn himself into a thin, sharp string in order to perform piercing attacks. However, he has also been shown to be able to flatten himself, and fold his limbs into weapons. Remarkably, he also maintains complete control of himself, even when his brain is flattened or strung out.
While mostly seen using his quirk to turn into simple thread or string like shapes, he has recently been revealed to be capable of forming more complex shapes with his body, although it is unclear what the limits of this ability are. While Foldabody can’t match the stronger quirks in the series, its ability to easily increase his speed and evasion as well as knock out less durable opponents in a single hit, makes it believable that Edgeshot climbed all the way to number 4 using it.
Character History
When the series began, Edgeshot was the 5th highest ranking hero in japan. Out of the top 5, all of them except Hawks are confirmed to have been former UA students, Including Edgeshot. It is unlikely that he attended the school during the same time as Endeavor or All Might, but he did apparently attend with Best Jeanist, who is slightly older. He might also have been in the school while Eraser Head and Present Mic were attending.
Edgeshot has mainly been a supporting character in the series, helping out in big operations like the hideout raid and meta liberation war. However, he has yet to receive a substantial character moment or backstory to help flesh him out. Following All Might’s retirement he was promoted to the number 4 hero spot, but this didn’t result in any significant increase to his screen time.
Relationships
Edgeshot is one of the more cooperative heroes in the series. Most of his appearances are during large scale operations, but even outside of this, he has his own personal squad to rely on. Following All Might’s retirement, many heroes sought to team up more in order to make up for his absence. Edgeshot, for instance, formed a team named ‘The Lurkers’ with Kamui Woods and Mt.Lady, meaning he’s likely quite close with the two of them.
He also took on some of UA’s students during their hero internships. Specifically, Denki Kaminari, Minoru Mineta, Hanta Sero and Ibara Shiozaki all train under The Lurkers. This means he likely has a similar relationship with the 4 of them as Endeavor has with Deku and Bakugo.
He’s also recently revealed to have been friends with Best Jeanist during their UA days, calling him “club president”. Looking back, the two have always been next to each other in the hero rankings and participate in a lot of the same operations, so it’s clear that they have a fairly strong friendship.