Dabi’s Definition Of “Hero”?

Dabi’s Definition of “Hero”?

There’s a lot to be said about what Dabi thinks of pro heroes, but one thought has been rattling around in my head for a while now: Dabi’s definition of “hero” seems to hinge very specifically on concepts of selflessness and protection.

Virtually the first thing he does, every single time he meets a new hero, is mock their compulsion to care for others:

His first words to Aizawa:

To Vlad King:

To Snatch:

And then even with Hawks:

I find it equally interesting that the back alley thugs’ threat to kill him on sight was met with immediate violence:

Without knowing whether their quirks might have been useful for the League at all, Dabi solidly writes them all off as “trash”:

Looking back at this arc is hilarious because everyone had Same Face Syndrome but their same face was Overhaul…

Are they garbage because they all had weak quirks and Dabi somehow sensed that–or are they garbage because Dabi’s standard for “worthy” is based on his ingrained personal values, some of which might (ironically) have to do with how people treat others? At the very least, it’s kind of interesting that the generally pleasant Twice recruits an absolute monster, while the only person Dabi’s even close to recruited for the League is a hero.

Anywayyyy, none of the other League members respond to pro heroes with anywhere close to the same degree of consistency (Tomura’s dialogue is all over the place when confronted by All Might and he says almost nothing to Snatch; Toga flat out ignores Aizawa in favor of Deku, etc. etc.), and while Dabi has been in contact with more pro heroes than any other member of the League–so he’s had more opportunities to wax philosophic than the others–I don’t think that this is just Horikoshi making Dabi the League’s mouthpiece.

The fact that this occurs repeatedly, sometimes with almost the exact same dialogue, makes it feel a lot more like a character-establishing hang-up–without prompting, Dabi habitually calls attention to pro heroes’ drive to save others at the cost of themselves. He treats the idea, “heroes are always trying to save others” like a definition or, bizarrely enough, an accusation, and he keeps coming back to that definition–and his clear derision for it–with every hero he meets.

When you lay out all his scenes, Dabi really does seem to be preoccupied by the notion of selflessness and the extent to which pro heroes will go to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

There’s a lot to unpack with this idea and I really don’t have time to think all the ramifications of this through, but I noticed this and have been thinking about it for a while now.

While none of the other villains specifically dwell on it, Dabi keeps coming back to the idea that heroes are supposed to put others first.

Why, it’s almost like he’s got a massive chip on his shoulder about their willingness to save people from villains but not from the cruelty of fellow heroes. You get ONE guess which hero doesn’t get accused of caring more about others than himself…

Just some food for thought!