The Villains Win in My Hero Academia Episode 45 “What A Twist!”

My Hero Academia / Episode 45 / Hulu Remember David Xanatoss? He was the goatee-wearing, ponytail-sporting Big Bad of the classic cartoon Gargoyles. His plans were so convoluted and twisted that a trope was invented to describe them. Called the Xanatoss Gambit, the trope describes any plan where every possible outcome benefits the plan’s creator. I bring this up because it’s important to what makes My Hero Academia’s villains work. The villains of MHA are essentially involved in an ongoing Xanatoss Gambit- while they may express explicit goals from time to time (killing All Might, capturing Bakugo), those are means to the final end of destroying the superhero society. The faculty of UA High acknowledge as much.

Every attack from the villains undermines the public’s trust in the superhero society, even if the goals of each attack aren’t met. The villains have turned UA’s openness against the school, using the Sports Festival as intelligence for their operations. They’ve even managed to plant the seeds of distrust amongst the UA staff.

The heroes are on the defensive most of the time in My Hero Academia, struggling against a far better prepared adversary whose zeal matches their own. That dynamic makes it believable when an episode like “What A Twist!” occurs. The threat of the League of Villains is real, because they often win in the long run. This time they’ve done the unthinkable: kidnapped a UA student, seriously wounded several more, and caused society to openly question…