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My Hero Academia (or “MHA”) has a lot of interesting characters with unique powers called “quirks.” These vary from person to person and can be utilized in many ways. They are much like the powers in superhero movies. For example, someone in MHA has electricity generation as a quirk, just like the powers of Electro who made his name in the popular Marvel Spiderman series.
In the story, some people use their quirks to serve the community and the people; they are called heroes. Meanwhile, some people use their quirks to cause inconvenience or create chaos to attain their own goals; they are perceived as villains.
Due to the large cast MHA has, some readers or viewers might forget who is who. Are they a villain? Are they a hero? What are their powers again? These questions are frequent for stories with many characters. This article will help guide you to answer these questions, particularly on a specific character, Hawks. Hawks is a much-complicated character that even many well-versed followers of the story tend to forget details about him.
Be advised that this guide may contain spoilers for those not caught up to the manga. If you have watched the latest season so far, then there are slight spoilers ahead. If you have just started on your journey in watching or reading this series, then it may contain large amounts of spoilers.
What is My Hero Academia?
My Hero Academia, also known as Boku no Hero Academia to its Japanese audience or MHA as its abbreviation, is a story that has a manga and an anime series. Its first season aired from April 13, 2016, to June 26, 2016, and it has become a huge success among eastern and western audiences alike. Due to its success, it has since been followed by numerous seasons and movies. Its latest season as of the time of writing is its fifth season, which first aired on March 27, 2021, and is currently on air.
The story revolves around a world where people suddenly received superpowers and has been steadily increasing to be the norm. Since many people use these superpowers called “quirks” to disobey the law, mighty individuals are known as “heroes” emerged to stop these troublemakers. One of them is Izuku Midoriya, an ambitious middle-schooler who wants to become a hero. He has been inspired by the number one hero, All Might. However, he has one big problem: he has no quirk at all!
That is until he meets All Might in unusual circumstances. He learns that All Might’s power is slowly declining, and the hero has decided to pass on his quirk to the young boy. With hard work, dedication, and perseverance, Izuku enrolls in UA High, a prestigious high school famous for the heroes graduating from there. He passes, and with his classmates around him, he learns the true meaning of becoming a hero.
Who is Hawks in MHA?
Hawks (whose real name is Keigo Takami) is the no. 2 pro hero, formerly the no. Three before All Might retired. Pro heroes are individuals who are licensed to use their quirks to protect civilians from disasters. He is 172 cm in height, 23 years of age, and has messy blond hair and somewhat golden eyes. He has a slim and narrow build, noticeable thick eyelashes, and a faint stubble on his chin. He has black marks below his tear ducts, which is a trait he has had since birth.
On his back are large bright red wings due to his quirk. He typically sports a tan jacket with a high collar plus white fur that is lined on the sleeves and the insides. The jacket is worn over a black shirt with a wavy golden pattern. He has a yellow visor to protect his eyes and yellow headphones for his ears. His first appearance in the manga was in chapter 184, and in the anime was in episode 87 (full appearance).
What is Hawks’ quirk?
Hawks’ quirk is Fierce Wings, which grants him large, red, feathery wings on his back that allow him to do multiple things, which are listed down below.
- Flight: he can fly through the air using his wings.
- Feather Manipulation: He can easily control the movement and nature of each feather using his mind. He can change the hardness of each feather, as he usually transforms them into blade-like structures when in a fight. He can even change the speed and trajectory of the feathers. He has a fighting technique wherein he plucks two feathers from his wings and hardens them to create sharp blades.
- Strong Feathers: These feathers are strong enough as he can use them to carry medium-sized objects such as a rock or a human. Since he has many feathers, he can carry a lot of things all at once.
- Vibration Detection: Similar to echolocation, he can use his feathers to sense vibrations in the air. With this, he can distinguish sounds which allows him to listen to conversations secretly. He has been known to be a dangerous spy because of this.
- Speed Enhancement: Hawks has trained himself to become a fast individual, and his agile wings give him more boost into speed. He can reach long distances in a blink of an eye with relative ease.
Weaknesses
Although Fierce Wings is a strong quirk, it has its fair share of weaknesses.
- Fire: The quirk’s biggest weakness is fire; it can burn down Hawks’ wings, disabling his quirk completely. It also damages Hawks himself as his wings are connected to his body. When his wings are burnt, it severely impairs his agility and mobility.
- Limited Feathers: Despite having many feathers on his wings, they are not unlimited at all. So, he must use them wisely and manage his resources well.
- Slow Feather Regeneration: When he loses feathers, it takes at least two days to regrow them halfway back, which can be a major drawback, especially during battle.
What is Hawks’ personality like?
Hawks is a very intelligent hero who is shown to be cunning at times. Despite his laidback and carefree attitude, he is constantly alert to the danger that might occur around him. He does not like formalities at all, as shown when meeting with his peers or his higher-ups at the Hero Public Safety Commission or HPSC. Other than formalities, he does not care about social status or receiving recognition for his actions. He can act unpredictably and sarcastically, and many perceive him as a rude or cocky person.
Because of his carefree attitude, he prefers being in the pro hero’s lower ranks so that he can act more freely without strict supervision and the burdens of being a top hero. He believes that the most important aspect for a pro hero is the approval of the public’s majority, and he thinks that it is something he is unable to do. Even though he is a carefree person, he still values the duties of a hero, holding them in high regard, knowing when to act as a leader in the right circumstances. When he is around people close to him or people he likes, he can be pretty talkative.
Outsmarting other people is something that he can easily do, as shown when he was working as a double agent for the League of Villains. He is very rational and analytical, and he is capable of planning ahead of time, making him one of the best heroes out there, especially for espionage. When in pressure-inducing situations, he can remain calm and collected. He is optimistic about finding the good in other people despite their past, possibly something that he gained from his past.
He is well-versed in deception and infiltration, as what the HPSC trained him for. Because he has learned to suppress his emotions very well, he can easily lie his way in and out of situations. Even though he acts as a double agent in many instances, he finds his actions sometimes sickening, especially when his actions require him to do things that go against his beliefs.
What is Hawks’ backstory?
Birth and abusive household
Before having the hero alias Hawks, Keigo Takami was born on Kyushu Island in the Fukuoka prefecture. Her mother, Tomie, gave birth to him after helping her husband out following a murder he committed. Keigo lived in a broken family, as his house in his childhood days was littered with garbage and broken stuff all around. Keigo himself was an expressionless and quiet child who suffered from domestic abuse and was kept in their house at all times, as his parents were afraid he might rat his father out.
Since he was kept in their house all the time, he watched pro heroes on the television and looked up to Endeavor, so much so that he convinced his mother to buy him an Endeavor plushy doll. When his father was inevitably captured for his crime, he was astonished that pro heroes were real because he thought they were only fictional characters. This event elevated his admiration for Endeavor as the pro hero was the one who captured his father, thus allowing him to escape from his abusive household.
After his father’s capture
His mother, afraid that law enforcement would take them away too for harboring a criminal, moved out of their house and was forced to live on the streets. Sick of their everyday lives and of his mother berating him for being useless, he vowed to become a useful person for the community. One day, he was able to save many people from a high-speed car accident using his quirk, and because of this, he gained admiration from the public for being a hero despite being only a child.
He was then taken by the HPSC, who separated him and his mother away. Still, they promised to give both of them compensation and the protection they needed. They trained him to become the double agent who he is today, enhancing his skills in deception and infiltration. The commission also forced Keigo to abandon his real name and take the mantle of “Hawks” as his new alias, to which he easily agrees since he wants to be a hero like his idol, Endeavor.
His rise to becoming a pro hero
When he became 18, he started his hero agency. Before he turned 20, he was able to reach Japan’s top 10 Pro Hero Rankings, which is an amazing feat to have at a young age. After four years, he became the no. Three heroes with All Might being no. 1 and Endeavour, his idol, being no. 2. He did so with relative ease because of the skills trained to him since he was a child.
When the League of Villains became a larger, imminent threat to the public, he did his best to gather information about them. He took Fumikage Tokoyami, Izuku’s classmate with the Dark Shadow quirk, as an intern in hopes of having more information about the league.
What did Hawks do in the series?
Pro Hero Arc
After All Might’s retirement as a pro hero, Hawks became the no. 2 in ranking. Although Endeavour was at first annoyed by his cocky attitude, he eventually tries to talk with him in hopes of teaming up as a strategy to fight back against the Nomus, strong and formidable creatures that obey the commands of the League of Villains. As they talk, they are attacked by a Nomu. Endeavor orders Hawks to evacuate the building while he fights off the creature. After doing so, he helps Endeavour fight the Nomu.
Endeavour manages to defeat the Nomu with Hawks’ help but is left disfigured and extremely wounded during the battle. Hawks assists him to get his wounds treated. Afterward, he meets up with Dabi, a member of the League of Villains, and becomes angry that this was not a part of their plan. Dabi does not allow him to meet their boss but promises to contact him again. Later, Hawks becomes guilty of causing Endeavour’s injuries as it is revealed that the HPSC tasked him to gain the League of Villains’ trust.
Meta Liberation Army Arc
To gain the League of Villains’ trust, he visits Best Jeanist, the no. Three pro hero and is seemingly planning on murdering him as he unsheathes his sword. Later on, it is revealed that Best Jeanist had gone missing. When Hawks meets up with Dabi, he shows Dabi Best Jeanist’s body. Dabi voices out his approval even though he doubts its authenticity. After infiltrating the league by getting their approval, he witnesses the alliance of the league and the Meta Liberation Army, and he notes that things are getting really bad.
Note: The Meta Liberation Army is a large and powerful organization that promotes the philosophy of the free usage of an individual’s quirk as a basic human right. They believe that laws and regulations should not interfere with one’s quirks and that quirks are a part of one’s nature.
Endeavour Agency Arc
After a brief confrontation against Slidin’ Go, another pro hero who is in the Meta Liberation Army, Skeptic reveals that he put devices on Hawks’ wings to monitor his activities. However, Hawks had planned ahead of time as he instructed his superiors to contact him in code. Later on, he encounters Endeavour and his three interns, Izuku, Bakugo, and Shoto, fighting against a villain. After assisting them, Endeavour asks Hawks why he is there. Since he cannot directly tell Endeavour because of his monitors, he gives out hints, especially a book which he highlighted that makes a sentence informing Endeavour about the alliance.
Paranormal Liberation War Arc
Hawks reveals to Twice, a member of the league, that he is a double agent acting for the interest of the heroes after Twice tells him crucial information about Tomura’s location. Hawks tells the heroes to prepare a surprise attack, yet as Hawks attempts to kill Twice off, Dabi attacks Hawks by surprise. Hawks are forced to fight two villains at once and manages to kill Twice as Twice tries to escape from the battle. Enraged, Dabi tries to kill Hawks but is saved by Fumikage. Still, Hawks was left severely burned on his back and wings. Eventually, Hawks became unconscious from the damage.
During the battle, he was unconscious as his wounds were treated by medics. Dabi reveals Hawks’ past as well as his murder of Twice to the public, which worsened the hero’s reputation. Dabi also tells the public that Hawks had killed Best Jeanist, but it turned out to be false as Best Jeanist swoops down to aid in the battle; it turned out that he was faking his death. After the battle, Hawks recovered, and his vocal cords were damaged badly, taking assistance from a voice simulator through his phone to communicate.
The aftermath of the battle ruined the hero’s reputation overall, despite their victory against the alliance. The civilian casualties, as well as the revelations in the battle, made the public not trust the pro heroes at all. In turn, society slowly fell into chaos. Hawks and Best Jeanist offer their help to Endeavour in hunting down the League of Villains, to which Endeavour tearfully accepts. After that, Hawks and Best Jeanist learn of the truth about One for All from All Might, after convincing him it was important information to know moving forward.
The top three heroes, Endeavour, Hawks (who is now mostly recovered and can speak), and Best Jeanist, would, later on, attend a public conference. Hawks reveals to the public that he had infiltrated the league and that he was responsible for Best Jeanist’s disappearance. Along with that, he apologizes to the public about the death of Twice, stating that it was the right thing to do to avoid any more casualties from Twice’s troublesome quirk.
Tartarus Escapees Arc
After several prison breakouts and a massive breakout from the most secure prison, Tartarus, society crumbled into even more chaos, extremely dangerous villains terrorized the country, and more heroes slowly resigned from their position as their status was tarnished. As all of this goes on, Hawks forms a team with Endeavour, Best Jeanist, All Might, and Izuku Midoriya to stop All for One, who had escaped from Tartarus, and Tomura Shigaraki, the League of Villains’ leader and All for One’s disciple. Later on, Hawks informs All Might to do his best to support Izuku.
As of the time of writing, this is where e the story ends, as My Hero Academia is still currently ongoing.
FAQ
Answer: Hawks is a traitor in terms of being a double agent, meaning he infiltrated the League of Villains’ ranks to gain information and betray them later on. He is loyal to the Hero Association as well as saving the public from danger.
Answer: No. Hawks works alongside the Hero Public Safety Commission; thus, he acts for the interest of the public’s safety. He is currently the no. 2 hero in terms of ranking.
Answer: Hawks considered Twice as a terrifying villain in the league because of his quirk “Double” that allows him to clone people, even himself. Furthermore, the quirk copies both the appearance and the abilities of the original. Therefore, even though Hawks considered Twice to be a good person deep inside, he had to eradicate him to punish the league’s power.
Answer: Hawks is not dating anyone so far in the story. Furthermore, Hawks is not married to anyone.
Answer: Hawks’ Japanese voice actor is Yuichi Nakamura, while his English voice actor is Zeno Robinson.
Answer: By the Tartarus Escapees Arc, Hawks is 23 years old.
Answer: Hawks was raised by his mother, Tomie, who harbored his husband, who was a criminal for murdering someone. He grew up in an abusive household and was abused by his father. After his father was captured, Tomie continued to raise him. However, because of her hate for Hawks, Hawks became driven to be a useful person. The HPSC discovered his potential after he saved people from a car accident, and from then on, they raised him to become a hero and a double agent.
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