Does Bakugo Die in My Hero Academia? (Anime and Manga)

Katsuki Bakugo is one of the most beloved and important characters from the My Hero Academia manga and anime series. Although he is not the principal protagonist of the series, Bakugo is very close to Izuku Midoriya and his unique personality is what made him so popular. Bakugo is not your typical protagonist, which is what made him so interesting in the first place. Bakugo has been in a lot of exceptionally difficult battles and in this article, we are going to tell you whether he will die in the anime and manga.

As things stand now, Bakugo is alive and well in both the manga and the anime adaptation of My Hero Academia. He has had some very tough battles and he has sustained some serious injuries in the battle against Tomura Shigaraki when he risked his life to protect Deku, but he has since recovered from this and is completely well.

In the rest of this article, we are going to tell you about the circumstances surrounding the worries from this article. We’re going to explain the battle between Deku, Bakugo and Tomura which initially inspired this question, i.e., caused fans to worry about Bakugo and his fate in the My Hero Academia manga and anime.

Does Bakugo die in the manga?

In case you’ve read the My Hero Academia manga series, you’ll certainly have noticed that Katsuki Bakugo, one of the series’ main characters, has been in a lot of complex fights over the course of the story. Some of them were easier, some were more difficult, but however you actually play it, Bakugo’s role in the story is pivotal.

Now, he has been in many life-threatening fights over the years but one fight, in particular, caused the fans to worry about his fate. Luckily for us, we can now talk about it with ease as it is history and we know that happened, we were as scared as you were back then. So, what’s the deal with this epic clash?

The clash between Deku, Tomura and Bakugo happened during the Paranormal Liberation War Arc. Upon returning to class, Class 1-A heads to Alpha Field to demonstrate what they have learned from their work experiences. In the locker room, Katsuki hits Izuku in the head with his mask in disgust, as Izuku’s control over Blackwhip was praised by his classmates.

Outside, the class is surprised to see that All Might will be teaching the class, as Shota was urgently called to Tartarus that day. Endeavor’s agency trio are finally showing progress. With Katsuki showing his enhanced abilities, Shoto his enhanced speed, and Izuku his enhanced control over Blackwhip. Later in the teachers’ lounge, All Might encounters Katsuki and Izuku.

He congratulates the two on their improvements and places a notebook on the table, which contains All Might’s research on former One For All users. Katsuki reviews All Might’s research and notes that the fifth user was Daigoro Banjo aka Lariat, who possessed the Blackwhip. At first, Katsuki looks down on the original users and their Quirks as weak.

However, All Might tells him that All For One killed them as soon as he could as they defied his will, leaving them no choice but to pass on their Quirks. Katsuki asks Izuku which Quirk he’s going to unlock next, and Izuku replies Float, Nana Shimura’s Quirk. Katsuki denounces him for being good enough at Explosion that he can fly, leading the two to argue, much to All Might’s humor.

As Izuku practices with his classmates to prepare for his quirks, Katsuki assists him with a training drill called “Catch Kacchan with Blackwhip”, only Izuku loses each time and Katsuki’s outbursts leave an afro on her head. Later, Katsuki tells All Might that he can’t keep his secrets forever, and All Might tells him that great power puts others in danger and it’s not just villains who seek power. Katsuki asks All Might about leaving out some information in the notebook and dodging the topic when he asked him the question previously.

All Might explains that they are both worried about Izuku due to his own insecurities, and Katsuki replies that he ignored his own weaknesses, so he bullied him in the past. All Might asks if Katsuki is doing this to atone for himself and he says Izuku won Endeavour, saying he’ll have a chance to speak eventually. Months later, Katsuki accompanied the Pro Heroes. Tomura Shigaraki wakes up with his Decay stronger than before, destroying the entire city. As most of the town’s heroes escape, Katsuki joins Deku and Endeavor in pursuing and arresting Tomura.

Tomura soon realizes that his Quirks are disabled due to Eraser Head’s Erasure, so he throws two Quirk-destroying bullets at him. Katsuki manages to destroy one of them, but fails to stop the other which strikes his leg, disabling obliteration and leaving its user severely injured. Just as Tomura gets the chance to break down all heroes in his vicinity, Izuku suddenly activates Float while using Blackwhip to transport all heroes out of range.

Katsuki worriedly yells at Deku to keep his distance, but the latter tells him that he’s the only one who can stop Tomura from reaching the ground. As the two clash, Katsuki fears that the chance of Izuku dying is greatly elevated whether by Tomura’s hand or by expending his vitality with his Quirks.

He and Endeavor fly to help Izuku, with Katsuki reflecting on how he once believed One For All was a cursed power until seeing how useful it was when All Might and Deku used it for their heroic deeds. As All For One possesses Tomura’s body, the villain unleashes All For One’s tendrils in order to steal One For All. Without thinking, Katsuki intercepts the attack and saves Deku.

Katsuki tells the shocked Deku not to be the hero alone, and his fall is caught by Shoto. Angry that Tomura has hurt his allies and friends, Deku snaps and breaks through to Tomura, accidentally giving him the chance to steal One For All. However, Tomura is unable to steal One For All, and the action stuns both him and Deku.

Ingenium arrives on the scene to help the injured Katsuki and Endeavor, but the heroes are met by Gigantomachia and the League on his back. As Dabi prepares to attack the heroes after revealing his identity as Toya Todoroki, Best Jeanist falls from a plane and holds back the villains with wires.

Katsuki grins when he sees that his former employer is alive and active. Katsuki blasts his way out to help Best Jeanist and Lemillion and fights the Nomu, who had been summoned to assist in the fight. Katsuki talks to Best Jeanist and reveals his official hero name: Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight.

The name is met with disapproval, but amuses Lemillion and irritates Katsuki. As Gigantomachia weakens, Compress-san stabs himself to escape Best Jeanist’s clutches, taking Spinner and Tomura with him to open ground. Katsuki becomes too weak to stop Tomura/All For One and the League from escaping. He faints and is taken to Central Hospital.

Two days after Tomura/All For One frees the convicts in Tartarus and prisons throughout Japan, Katsuki wakes up and appears to be back in his natural, irritable state, much to the relief of the visiting students. Katsuki then asks them if everyone, including Izuku, Shoto, Endeavor, Shota, and Nejire, is okay. He notices the grim looks on their faces and demands to know what is going on.

Katsuki rises from his bed and runs down the hall to get to Izuku, with Rikido and Minoru trying to stop him. He angrily announces that he will kill Izuku if he dies. Katsuki is eventually carried away by Tsuyu, Minoru, and Rikido and angrily demands to speak to Izuku, who is still unconscious. He notices Best Jeanist and Hawks come by to talk to Izuku about One For All.

As you can see, Katsuki recovered from his heroic deed and is, at the moment, quite well. He has been part of all the arcs that followed this one and there is no indication that he is going to die in the manga. Now, we cannot rule that out for sure, as he is certainly a liability seeing how he often engages in difficult fights, but it doesn’t seem likely that the series would simply kill off one of its most popular characters in such a way.

Does Bakugo die in the anime?

The My Hero Academia anime is, more or less, a faithful adaptation of the original manga in most aspects. Sure, there are some changes, but the plot and the characters’ fates have been preserved. This means, of course, that everything we have said in the manga section is also valid when the anime series is concerned. Bakugo will survive the fight against Tomura from the Paranormal Liberation War Arc and he will be okay later on. Now, since he is involved in so many battles, there is a theoretical chance that he could die at one point, but that also depends on the manga.