All For One just played a mind game twisted on so many levels that readers probably had to check to make sure they were reading My Hero Academia and not a Batman comic featuring Joker.
One of the greatest Joker stories of all time is The Killing Joke. That famous series sees Joker trying to prove that all it takes is one bad day for anyone to become as messed up as him. The Clown Prince of Crime endeavors to prove his hypothesis by subjecting Police Commissioner James Gordon to a series of truly horrific and maniacal perpetrated misdeeds. First, Joker paralyzes and assaults Gordon’s daughter, Barbara. Next, he captures and then exposes Gordon to a carnival show of horrors in the most humiliating and terrifying way during which time he shares images of his daughter’s assault for Gordon to behold. As truly disturbed as Joker’s actions are though, they don’t hold a candle to the main villain of My Hero Academia, All For One.
At the end of chapter 316 of My Hero Academia, All For One’s actions prove that he knew that Lady Nagant, the woman whom he hired to apprehend Deku, would most likely betray him. Because of that, he lied about where he would be next so that Deku and his allies would go there and play a recording he made just for them before detonating a bomb. But what’s truly atrocious about his actions is that his plan involved slipping Lady Nagant the Self-Detonation quirk that All For One could initiate once she betrayed him. Of course, he could have forced Lady Nagant into carrying out his heinous plot by divulging the fact that he had implanted a bomb in her and that if she failed, he would kill her. Lady Nagant would have most likely completed All For One’s mission and never have allowed herself to be swayed by Deku had she been privy to this pertinent bit of information. But All For One wanted to prove to both Lady Nagant and Deku that she had willingly chosen to follow him, instead of her being coerced into it.
In other words, All For One could have easily found a way to apprehend Deku, which would have brought him one step closer to victory. But, instead, he weaved a deceptive plot that was contingent on the person who could have played a major role in his success betraying him, all so he could sully her redemption.
In the case of Joker, Gordon is able to disprove the psychopathic jester that everyone and anyone could become as messed up as him over the course of one fateful day if the right variables were met, but it comes at a terrible price. The mental anguish that he sustained in The Killing Joke would go on to torment the commissioner indefinitely while his daughter is forced to live with her permanent injuries, always acting as a reminder of what Joker did to her. Meanwhile, All For One successfully manipulates Lady Nagant into carrying out his dastardly plan, tarnishes her redemption, and possibly injures her just as badly as Barbara Gordon, should Lady Nagant survive at all. But unlike Joker who strives to prove that people just need one little push to become a psychopathic killer, My Hero Academia‘s All For One just hopes to convey the message that he possesses the power to negate the sanctity of amazing grace.
