In the popular anime and manga series My Hero Academia, there was an intense confrontation between the villain Dabi and the hero Hawks. During this confrontation, Dabi revealed some shocking information and taunted Hawks with cryptic words. Let’s take a closer look at what exactly Dabi said to Hawks in this climactic scene.
The Lead-Up to the Confrontation
First, some background. Dabi is a major villain in the series who is part of the League of Villains. His real name is Touya Todoroki, and he is the eldest son of the hero Endeavor. However, Dabi rejects his father and seeks to destroy hero society. Hawks is the No. 2 hero who has been working undercover to infiltrate the League. However, he is caught by Dabi and the two finally have their fateful confrontation.
This confrontation takes place during the Paranormal Liberation Front arc. Dabi orchestrates an attack on several cities using the newly organized Paranormal Liberation Front. He confronts Hawks during the attack on the city of Deika. By this point, Dabi has realized Hawks’s true allegiance and motives. He’s ready to expose Hawks as a traitor to the League of Villains.
Dabi’s Cryptic Opening Line
As soon as Dabi approaches Hawks, one of the first things he says is:
“Do you remember my name?”
This is a cryptic opening line. Dabi is subtly hinting here that he and Hawks have history together. Hawks trained under Endeavor, so he likely encountered the young Touya Todoroki at some point in the past. Dabi is suggesting Hawks should recognize him, even under his new villain identity.
This line also shows Dabi’s flair for drama. He doesn’t openly state his identity right away. Instead, he speaks in a vague, roundabout way to build suspense and intrigue before revealing his bombshell secret.
Dabi’s Taunting of Hawks
After this opening line, Dabi continues to taunt and belittle Hawks:
“Look at you… You’re the spitting image of a hero. I hate that. You’re exactly the kind of person I have to destroy to make things right.”
Here, Dabi criticizes Hawks for embodying all the things he despises about heroes. As someone who rejects the concept of heroism, Dabi sees Hawks as a brainwashed slave to the corrupt hero system. Destroying admired heroes like Hawks is key to Dabi’s plan to bring down the entire system.
Dabi also likely feels resentment toward Hawks specifically. Despite undergoing similar training with Endeavor, Hawks succeeded where Dabi failed. These words are Dabi’s way of asserting his own moral superiority over society’s “No. 2 hero.”
Dabi Revealing Hawks’s Real Name
Dabi continues to deride Hawks by using his real name:
“Right, Keigo Takami? Or should I say…the Winged Hero: Hawks.”
Using Hawks’s real name is an insult that suggests Dabi sees through the Hawks persona to the ordinary man underneath. Dabi wants to puncture the image of the perfect, incorruptible hero that Hawks projects. This builds up to Dabi exposing information that he believes will destroy Hawks’s reputation for good.
Dabi Claiming Betrayal by Hawks
Dabi really twists the knife by accusing Hawks of betraying the League of Villains:
“You’ve been playing the spy…selling out our League of Villains…I never trusted you from the start.”
While these accusations are true, they still cut deeply for Hawks. Despite genuinely bonding with League members like Twice, Hawks knows he betrayed their trust for the sake of his mission. Dabi knows thiswill haunt Hawks. The accusations are designed to make Hawks face the moral compromises he made to maintain his undercover identity.
Dabi Revealing His True Identity
Finally, Dabi drops the biggest revelation of all – his own identity:
“You know who I am. I’m Touya. The eldest son of Endeavor.”
This connects all the dots – Dabi is Touya Todoroki, a child of the No. 1 hero who was presumed dead. Hawks likely trained with Touya when he worked under Endeavor. Now Touya has resurfaced as a villain seeking vengeance against his father.
This secret origin makes Dabi even more dangerous to Hawks and society. As Endeavor’s son, his insider knowledge and personal grudge threaten to undermine the entire hero system.
Why Dabi Said These Things
So in summary, Dabi’s statements to Hawks were designed to:
- Remind Hawks of their shared past
- Mock Hawks as an embodiment of false heroism
- Expose Hawks’s deception against the League
- Reveal his true identity for maximum shock value
With these carefully chosen words, Dabi made it clear he saw through Hawks’s plan and was ready to sabotage him. He wanted to damage Hawks’s status as a hero and turn his morally gray tactics against him. Most importantly, revealing his Todoroki lineage would position Dabi as a leader in the war against traditional hero society.
How Hawks Responded
Initially, Hawks was shaken after Dabi’s revelations. But he quickly regained composure and warned Endeavor about his son Touya being alive. Hawks opted not to capture Dabi, allowing him to escape.
In the aftermath, Hawks worried his reputation was tarnished but chose to continue working as a hero. He resolved to make difficult choices to try protecting hero society from further damage. Meanwhile, Dabi continued masterminding attacks to destabilize the hero system.
So while Dabi succeeded in exposing Hawks, he was not able to immediately dismantle hero society as intended. But he remained a dangerous threat poised to further his plans of anarchy and destruction in the future.
Conclusion
Dabi’s verbal showdown with Hawks was a pivotal moment in My Hero Academia. With a few carefully chosen words, Dabi shook the series’ status quo to its core. He outed Hawks as a double agent, undermining the No. 2 hero’s reputation. And proclaiming his secret Todoroki lineage made Dabi an even more destabilizing threat. This confrontation showed the growing danger posed by the League of Villains in their crusade against hero society.
Dabi’s dramatic words highlighted his flair for manipulation and mind games. He knew just how to attack Hawks’s core values and deepest insecurities. This moment truly established Dabi as a force to be reckoned with – an unpredictable villain harboring hatred and secrets. Overall, the Dabi vs Hawks war of words was a climactic and impactful scene that forever changed the stakes in My Hero Academia’s epic battle of heroes and villains.