Warning! Spoilers ahead for My Hero Academia chapter 345!
It isn’t really a secret that Endeavor wouldn’t win the “best dad of the decade award” in the My Hero Academia universe, but he has been trying to make amends for all of his many failures as of late. Or it seemed that was the case until recently.
In chapter 345 of My Hero Academia, All Might and Endeavor initiate their plan to separate all of the League of Villain members from All For One by pitting them off against certain heroes. And, undoubtedly, the worst pair-up is between Shoto Todoroki and his long-lost brother Toya, who now goes by the villainous alter ego Dabi. The matching is so outrageous that even All For One calls out Endeavor for his lack of empathy regarding his children, describing this massive oversight as another example of “unceasing abuse.“
All For One is referring to the damning revelations that Dabi shared with the world about how terribly his father Endeavor mistreated him and his family. Endeavor was so obsessed with his own inability to fully withstand the massive heat from his own Hellflame quirk that his whole family life revolved around remedying this shortcoming for his children. It all started with him only marrying his wife simply because she possessed an ice quirk that could counteract his Hellflame. His hope was that at least one of his children would develop a quirk that utilized both of their powers so they could summon ice to control the raging fires of Hellflame.
Unfortunately, his children and wife suffered as a result whereby the most promising of his children received all of the attention and those who didn’t were ignored. Toya suffered the most from this since Endeavor originally devoted all of his time to training him, but when Shoto was born with the Half-Cold Half-Hot quirk, Endeavor shunned Toya, causing him boy to spiral into depression after losing his father’s affection. Toya wanted to prove himself so badly to Endeavor that the soon-to-be-christened Dabi ostensibly killed. But rather than actually dying, Toya survived, but became warped from the experience and eventually embraced a life devoted towards tearing down his father and all of hero society. Shoto was also affected by the experience. Endeavor was so committed to molding Shoto into the perfect version of himself that he didn’t allow the boy to interact with his siblings. The isolation had a toll on Shoto’s mind, and the boy resented his father for how he mistreated him and his family – a hatred that lasted for the majority of the series until Endeavor finally broke down and apologized.
Even though Endeavor has taken massive strides towards making amends with his family, pairing Shoto off with Dabi does feel cowardly. Shoto may have begrudgingly forgiven his father, but it’s quite likely that confronting the brother who essentially died because of their father’s negligence will open up old wounds for Shoto Todoroki, forcing Endeavor to contend with these grievances again, all while dealing with Dabi, the son he thought he killed. Moreover, who’s to say that this confrontation won’t lead to one or both sons dying? Even though Shoto is disgusted by what Toya has become, Shoto would undoubtedly suffer if he killed Dabi. If anyone has to take on Dabi, it should be Endeavor. Even though Shoto is powerful, this entire mess is because of Endeavor, and he shouldn’t endanger Shoto’s life because of his mistakes. Plus, Endeavor should be there just for the sake of My Hero Academia fans since having all three of them fight each other would undoubtedly increase the overall emotion exponentially.
