My Hero Academia: Armored All Might, explained

This article contains spoilers from My Hero Academia Season 7, Episode 21.

My Hero Academia Chapter 396 came out a while ago and it was certainly incredibly fascinating for fans to see the progress it made towards the battle between All For One and All Might. Fans have been waiting for this fight for months, and since the conclusion of the fight between Toga and Ochako was finally announced in the previous chapters, it was only a matter of time before Horikoshi got to this fight.

The fight between Deku and Shigaraki is saved for the end, meaning that All Might's clash against All For One is the penultimate fight of the Final War Saga My Hero Academia. With this fight being covered in this week's chapter, fans got their first look at the incredible Armored All Might.

Updated by Rei Penber on Oct. 12, 2024: All Might transferred his powers to Deku. Because of this, he had no power of his own to stand against All For One. Luckily, he now has the power of his new armor to fight again. This power gives him the chance to stand up to All For One in MHA Season 7 Episode 21.

All Might vs. All For One

All Might fights for one, one last time

All Might and All For One have a long history together. The two fought several times and still bear mutual wounds to this day. All Might was the only one of the Remnant who could truly stand up to All For One and even defeat him. However, All Might also lost to All For One in the past, which led to him retreating to the United States as mentioned in the previous chapter. After truly becoming accustomed to One For All's power, All Might became many times stronger, to the point where he was able to end All For One's tyranny. The two clashed and All Might finally incapacitated All For One. He also suffered a serious injury in the process, forcing him to pass his quirk on to someone else. Finally, the two clashed one last time in Kamino, and it was there that All Might finally used the rays of his power to defeat All For One forever, or so he thought.

Little did he know that All For One had other plans and that in the end he would return stronger than ever. When the Final War began and All For One looked unstoppable, All Might took it upon himself to finally end this age-old rivalry. He is responsible for dealing with All Might and will surely bring an effective end to this conflict. That's exactly where fans are currently in the story, as All Might stands in his way as a Quirkless fighter and still wants to fight him. My Hero Academia Chapter 396 finally got this fight going and of course it lived up to all expectations.

The creation of the armored All Might

All Might's newest power

Fans have been waiting for some time to see what weapon All Might will use against All For One. It was pretty obvious that All Might wouldn't stand a chance against All For One if he went away empty-handed. After all, he no longer has his quirk and that certainly weakens him a lot. For most fans, the easiest guess was that he would be carrying hero gear that would aid him in battle. All Might was certainly seen carrying a briefcase as he got out of his car and stood in All For One's way. In the previous chapter, it was all but confirmed that All Might was indeed using hero gear to take on All For One. He unleashed this power when he broke his briefcase apart and his entire body was then covered in an iron suit. All Might calls this transformation “Armored All Might”.

The development of this battle suit likely began a long time ago when All Might was in the United States, where he developed a close bond with Dave Shield and eventually even his daughter Melissa Shield. Together they ended up creating this incredible armor for All Might, which he now uses in the fight against All For One. Undoubtedly, this armor greatly enhances his physical abilities, allowing him to easily compete with even the strongest of all time.

The powers of the armored All Might

All Might's last chance against All For One

Armored All Might is certainly incredibly powerful. For one thing, it looks threatening to take him on in battle. He also has Hercules, his car, which he can also use as a weapon. When All For One attacked him with a powerful technique capable of tearing buildings apart, All Might relied on his car, which transformed into a shield and took the brunt of the damage for him. The integrity of the shield was compromised by 66%. Still, the shield proved incredibly powerful. From then on, Armored All Might showed what he was truly capable of, and of course his skills were incredible.

All Might seems to be inspired by his students and their quirks when developing Armored All Might. This is clearly evident in all the strength he displays in battle. For example, he uses Blackwhip, which belongs to Deku. He uses the power of electricity, which belongs to Denki, he also uses Cellophane, which belongs to Sero, and he even uses Shoot Style Smash, which in turn is Deku's signature ability. It's pretty clear to see that All Might has incorporated his students' abilities into his battle armor, and that's certainly incredible for fans. With these powers, he was even able to push back All For One, even though the monstrous villain was stronger than ever. Armored All Might could even interrupt his healing and deliver powerful blows.

The Armored All Might's Potential Abilities

All Might will do his best

Fans certainly haven't seen everything from Armored All Might yet. The fight is just beginning and All Might himself has pretty much confirmed that he won't be going into this fight with the mindset of a loser. He fights this fight only because he wants to win, and to that end he will use everything he has for All For One. There are certainly many more abilities he has up his sleeve, and fans will likely get to see them in the next chapter. Since it's already established that Armored All Might uses the abilities of his students, it can be assumed that there are powers that he may be able to manifest in the next few episodes. On the one hand, he can definitely use Bakugo's explosions, as they are quite easy to create mechanically.

He is also able to use acid in battle, which is used by Mina Ashido. Additionally, Shoto Todoroki can probably also use his pyrokinetic and cryokinetic powers. Kirishima's toughness could be another ability that Armored All Might fans will see in the next few chapters. Ultimately, Armored All Might is driven by his students, and if he manages to win this fight, a lot of it will be because of them. Fans love this power-up for All Might and only hope that it lasts long enough to defeat All For One, and this time for good.

My Hero Academia Season 7, Episode 21 is scheduled to release on October 12, 2024. MHA Season 7, Episode 21 is available to stream on Crunchyroll and airs at 2:30am PT/5:30am ET.