My Hero Academia's villains are often as popular as its heroes, which is why it's so fitting that the series recently brought back the fan-favorite villain turned hero Lady Nagant.
In chapter 378 by Kohei Horikoshi, Lady Nagant appears in a dramatic pose after firing upon My Hero Academia's Tomura Shigaraki using her Rifle quirk. The shot prevents Shigaraki from activating the true devastation of his recently restored Decay powers by merely touching the ground with his hand since Lady Nagant successfully snipes one of them off.
Lady Nagant is Among My Hero Academia's Most Tragic Villains
This is the first time that readers have seen Lady Nagant ever since Nagant survived My Hero Academia's Self-Detonation quirk that All For One had implanted in her and since she attempted to betray the monstrous villain by relaying information that she mistakenly believed All For One didn't want her to share. Although she was now alive and had tried to help the heroes (even though it was a trap), Lady Nagant's survival greatly implied that she now had to face the consequences of her initially betraying hero society and becoming a hero killer and assassin.
What resonated so much about Lady Nagant was that she always felt redeemable even when her debut involved her attempting to assassinate Deku. Moreover, Lady Nagant's backstory, although violent, was tragic. She became a traitor as a result of My Hero Academia's hero society forcing her to silence anyone who tried to uncover the unfortunate and shockingly villainous actions of the very heroes she once respected. Lady Nagant was even manipulated into accepting her then-current mission to assassinate Deku as her employer All For One had tricked her into believing that Deku was the one obstacle that stood in the way of achieving her goal.
All of this was only exacerbated by how she found redemption. The look on her face when Lady Nagant decided to Deku was touching, especially since she was overcoming the feelings of betrayal that fueled her villainous acts for years. But then All For One blew her up, making her redemption all the more tragic even though she survived. The tragedy of Lady Nagant's predicament didn't end there, however, because All For One had fed her false information on the off chance that she did betray him so that when she divulged this supposedly secret data, she was actually sending her new allies to their doom.
Lady Nagant's Future in My Hero Academia Doesn't Look Bright
Lady Nagant's story is one of her perpetually falling victim to manipulation and lies, in turn causing her to make the incredibly painful decision of having to fluctuate from being a hero, to a villain, and then to a hero again but as an unintended accomplice, thanks to My Hero Academia's monstrous All For One. Even though Lady Nagant will likely still face judgment for her past actions once My Hero Academia concludes the last ongoing war, she is now at least able to assist the very heroes she has remarkably been able to put her trust in again without involuntarily helping their enemies in the process. Lady Nagant's conscience can now fully rest at ease by at least temporarily preventing Shigaraki from causing everything around him to decay. This is despite the fact that Lady Nagant's full redemption in My Hero Academia is giving off an unfortunately high number of death flags as a result.
My Hero Academia is available on Viz.com.
