Bakugo vs All For One: Episode, Chapters & How AFO Is Defeated
Bakugo’s comeback is not remembered because he wins. It is remembered because the boy who spent years chasing All Might arrives, barely alive, to stand where All Might no longer can.
At ANIMURA, we look for the seconds that change what a character means. For Bakugo, it is not the explosion itself but the walk back into a fight his body should have ended: his heart stopped, the story moved on without him, and then he was standing at the edge of a falling U.A.
Did Bakugo defeat All For One?
Bakugo lands the final blows, but he does not do it alone. After his heart is stopped by Shigaraki and kept alive by Edgeshot, Bakugo returns in chapters 403–405, takes the last piece of All Might’s armor and fights All For One, whose body is already regressing because of an unstable Rewind-based drug. Bakugo’s explosions finish the job in chapters 409–410, and the anime covers it in My Hero Academia season 8, episode 4, “Quirk: Explosion!!” (episode 163 overall).
- Anime
- My Hero Academia, Season 8 (final season)
- Episode
- Season 8, episode 4 (163 overall)
- Episode title
- Quirk: Explosion!!
- Manga chapters
- 403–410 (return and fight); 362 and 364 (his injury)
- Arc
- Final War
- Opponent
- All For One
What happened to Bakugo before the comeback
The comeback only works because of how thoroughly Bakugo is removed from the story first. In chapter 362, Shigaraki punches him in the chest and his heart stops, leaving him seemingly lifeless. In chapter 364, Edgeshot enters his body to stand in for what the damage has taken, while Best Jeanist warns that Edgeshot may not come back from it.
Then the manga moves on. Bakugo is absent for roughly forty chapters, long enough for readers to wonder whether the series had meant it. Chapter 405 finally explains the survival: Edgeshot could hold Bakugo’s organs together but could not restart his heart and lungs on his own, and a bead of Bakugo’s own sweat in his bloodstream helped kick-start them. Edgeshot also warns that every breath will now hurt badly. Bakugo is alive, not repaired.
How Bakugo returns to the Final War
By chapter 403, All Might is losing to All For One. He has been frozen by Bloodcurdle and is being pulled apart, while Deku, still fighting Shigaraki, can only watch. The chapter ends with Bakugo standing at the edge of the falling U.A., still holding his All Might card. Nobody asked him to come. He simply is there.
In chapter 405, All Might passes Bakugo the final piece of his support armor, and Bakugo opens by catching All For One off guard with an explosion. The handover matters: Bakugo is in worse shape than he has ever been, yet he is in better fighting condition than All Might, so the fight passes to him by necessity, not by tradition.
What Bakugo actually does against All For One
Bakugo does not win by out-muscling the strongest villain in the series. He wins by turning his Quirk into a problem All For One cannot solve in time. In chapter 409, he uses explosive sweat hidden inside ordinary sweat as delayed timebombs, then unleashes his finishing move, Howitzer Impact, a continuous tornado of explosions. MHA Wiki summaries also describe him answering All For One’s all-Quirk attack by firing delayed-detonation sweat into his mouth, destabilizing the Quirk factors from inside.
Chapter 410 supplies the image people remember. All For One, reduced to an infant, crawls toward Shigaraki to pass his Quirks on, and Bakugo plants himself in the way. When All For One fires one last attack from his mouth, Bakugo catches it in his teeth and detonates it.
All For One’s condition, and what “defeat” means here
All For One is not at full strength in the way earlier fights suggest. After Endeavor scorched him, he used a drug built from Eri’s Rewind by way of Garaki’s modified Quirk-Destroying Drug. It is unstable: the more damage he takes, the younger he gets, and he cannot control it.
That is why “Bakugo defeated All For One” needs precision. Bakugo supplies the decisive damage, and in chapter 409 the stolen Quirks inside All For One also begin fighting back, with Hawks among them. His body is pushed back to childhood, then in chapter 410 to an infant, and finally rewinds out of existence after Bakugo destroys his last attack. Bakugo is the one who breaks All For One’s last chance. Rewind is what erases him.
Who else made the moment possible
Bakugo’s fight is the end of a relay. Edgeshot kept him alive, All Might fought All For One long enough to hand off the armor and the fight, the drug All For One turned to after Endeavor burned him did the rest, and Deku was occupied with Shigaraki, which kept the war from collapsing while Bakugo handled All For One. Remove any one link and the chapter does not happen.
Why the moment matters for Bakugo
Bakugo’s story begins with a boy who needed to be the best. Here, the All Might card in his hand shows where that ambition has ended up: he is not fighting to be the top hero, he is fighting so the man who inspired him does not die on the ground.
It also completes his rivalry with Deku without a word between them. Deku fights Shigaraki; Bakugo fights All For One. Neither fight is a duel for rank. They are two separate halves of the same stand, which is the most direct answer the series gives to what their rivalry was for.
What happens next
All For One’s end removes the series’ central villain, but not the Final War. The fight against Shigaraki continues, and Bakugo leaves the battlefield having paid for it in pain, not triumph. The moment closes a long-running threat while keeping the cost visible, which is why it lands as a comeback and not a power-up.
Anime vs manga: where to watch it
The anime covers this sequence in the final season. Season 8 aired from October 4 to December 13, 2025, and adapts roughly chapters 399–430, with a later special adapting chapter 431. Episode 4, “Quirk: Explosion!!,” aired on October 25, 2025, and shows Bakugo’s fight and All For One’s disappearance. Episode numbering here follows the overall count (163) and the season count (season 8, episode 4), because streaming platforms number seasons differently.
Bakugo vs All For One questions, answered
Did Bakugo really die in My Hero Academia?
His heart stopped in chapter 362 after Shigaraki’s punch. Edgeshot kept him alive in chapter 364, and chapter 405 explains that his own sweat helped restart his heart.
Did Bakugo defeat All For One alone?
No. Bakugo delivers the final blows, but All For One is already regressing from an unstable Rewind-based drug, and All Might, Edgeshot and Endeavor all contribute earlier in the sequence.
What episode is Bakugo vs All For One?
Season 8, episode 4, “Quirk: Explosion!!” — episode 163 overall.
What manga chapters cover Bakugo vs All For One?
Chapters 403–410 cover his return and the fight. His injury happens in chapters 362 and 364, and chapter 405 explains his survival.
Why does All For One turn into a baby?
Because the Rewind-based drug he used keeps making him younger as he takes damage, and he cannot control it.
Does Bakugo vs All For One end the Final War?
No. All For One’s defeat ends one major fight, but Deku’s battle against Shigaraki continues.
If you like moments where loss turns into power, read Goku’s first Super Saiyan transformation against Frieza, or browse the Bakugo collection.
Carry the moment beyond the page
Bakugo Mug – The Decisive Comeback is the everyday ANIMURA mug for the moment Bakugo returns to the fight he was never supposed to reach.
Sources and verification note: Chapter details were cross-checked against the MHA Wiki entry for Bakugo vs All For One and its chapter summaries, plus chapter coverage from ComicBook.com and Sportskeeda. Anime details come from Wikipedia’s season 8 page. Chapter and episode numbers can differ between official translations and streaming platforms, so both are given.
