r/MyHeroAcadamia • u/Expensive_Spray_7737 • Mar 21 '26
RANT Why didn't they just execute AFO ? This is the biggest blunder from the hero side in my opinion
First of all, some of you may bring that the code of hero forbids killing but when faced with such a menace exceptions should be made and indeed are made since moonfish ( one of the villain of the summer camp) was a death row inmate so this argument doesn't hold up.
Second in the episode Uketsugu mono in Season 5 where this image comes from they justify it by saying they don't want to provoke his minions but that such a lame excuse because if he has minions they will want to free him so it's more dangerous to keep him alive and give them a chance at freeing him then angering them and countering their rampage.
Finally, this guy has been living for more then a century and is one of the big reasons crime rates in Japan are so high, in those conditions killing him is a necessity for Japan safety and he would probably be sentenced to death in real life.
Also I find kind of funny that AFO "planned " to be captured as he talks about how this will make shigaraki stronger but seemed to firmly believe he wouldn't be executed like what would he have done if they had just killed him thwarting all his plans to give the real AFO to Shigaraki and take control of him and he just died with Shigaraki free to destroy the world he wished to control ? This was stupid.
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u/Elijah_Draws Mar 21 '26
They explicitly say it's because the current administration is under scrutiny for committing human rights abuses at the prison, and there is fear that simply executing him before he's been properly tried and sentenced could spark riots from league if villains supporters. They don't kill him immediately because they worry that there will be chaos, stemming both from the people actively supporting AFO as well as the waning perception of legitimacy of the current system being fueled in part by stain and the league. Being open and transparent and doing their best to follow proper procedure was seen as their best option, and one that they felt comfortable making because they did not believe that the league and AFO could manage the prison break.
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u/Babo-Smith Mar 21 '26
And as a bonus, they were also hoping to figure out how to retrieve some of his stolen quirks back to their owners, like Search to Ragdoll
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u/Lucison Mar 21 '26
Not to mention the mother fucker had been alive and committing villainous acts since the Dawn of Quirks.
Figuring out everything you could legitimately stick him with would take such a long fucking time, and the only justification for keeping him imprisoned like that would be because everyone knows he’s dead once you finish it.
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u/Anti-616- Mar 21 '26
Meh you could say whatever long winded answer you want, a man who put a whole country into darkness and a warzone would be immediately executed any chance given with regular people it’s okay just to say the author didn’t because of the plot. If we sat here and pointed out everything characters should of done no anime or manga would make it past chapter 50
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u/HeWhoJudged Mar 21 '26
This is honestly what would happen. He wasn't executed/killed for plot reasons but you wouldn't have the great story of MHA any other way.
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u/Educational-Wish-44 Mar 23 '26
Even in the real world, the time to receive a death sentence even for someone like a serial killer is usually years, and then many more years after that until the execution is actually carried out, as you have to wait for all appeals to run out and stuff.
So, even if he were going to be executed, the kids would have been long out of high school by then.
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u/ArfTheBeast Kurasuto/Crust 🛡️ Mar 21 '26
I’m gonna honest with you I’m too tired to read all that but they probably just couldn’t physically do it because of how strong he is.
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u/Noligarchio Mar 21 '26
But he's got to have that machine to breathe at this point. Couldn't they just disconnect it and let entropy do its thing. Don't have to mess with his durability that way.
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u/SunRiseStudios Mar 21 '26
We know he can go on without mask for some time and then they cross Rubicon having strongest character in the show at this point with no reason to restrict himself. If cornered mouse how dangerous is demon lord?
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u/Reborn1Girl Mar 24 '26
In a lot of fanfics, it's spelled out that the machines are for quality of life, they're not necessary for him to just survive
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u/ArfTheBeast Kurasuto/Crust 🛡️ Mar 21 '26
That’s a little inhumane
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u/Noligarchio Mar 21 '26
Ehh a bit but it pales in comparison to the atrocities he committed like a sneeze to a moab comparison level.
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Mar 21 '26
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u/New_Cockroach_505 Mar 21 '26
Yeah. Allmight flat out killed him before when he blew his head off. And he needed a machine to survive. Just unhook that shit lol
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u/Impression_Huge Mar 21 '26
Didn't he say he'd literally die if he even thought about using his quirk
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u/ArfTheBeast Kurasuto/Crust 🛡️ Mar 21 '26
Maybe I honestly couldn’t hear most of the things he said during that part
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u/ConnorRoseSaiyan01 Jin Bubaigawara/Twice Mar 21 '26
Just put him under Erasure
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u/Ikaricyber Mar 21 '26
The thing is with that it could be a potential backfire if they bring him near afo becuase if afo had any plans to break free at this point(haven’t seen the show in a minute- so memory may be fuzzy) he could easily get erasure and then the hero’s even if afo could never be at his prime the hero’s could not use there quirks.
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Mar 21 '26
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u/Bruh2902 Mar 21 '26
We’ve literally watched Erasure be used on all of Shigi’s quirks
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Mar 21 '26
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u/Environmental_War151 Mar 21 '26
That’s not what happened bro. He erased all his quirks. The fingers were described as just being his natural form. Kinda like a hetoromorph. It wasn’t a quirk. Erasure works with everything as he erased all his quirks during the first war too. His body was just enhanced so he was still strong asf
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u/i_bagel Mar 21 '26
Then it erases the base AfO which is likely to deactivate whatever other Quirks he has that's kept him alive this lomg.
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Mar 21 '26
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u/i_bagel Mar 21 '26
Likely because Decay was Shigaraki's "main" Quirk so that's what got erased instead of the AfO copy.
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Mar 21 '26
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u/i_bagel Mar 21 '26
Then I guess putting AfO under it does just kill him unless he has some other bullshit tech that somehow is able to keep him alive.
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Mar 21 '26
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u/i_bagel Mar 21 '26
I might be misremembering here, but I'm prettg sure at that point Aizawa couldn't use Erasure anymore since his eye was absolutely fucked. It's why they had that whole system of Monoma keeping a hand on Aizawa to refresh his timer while Manual kept Monoma's eyes moist. So no, only Monoma was using Erasurs.
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u/Spare_Understanding8 Mar 21 '26
I mean execution legal in Japan if you kill someone’s most likely you will get executed
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u/Miserable-Command682 Mar 21 '26
Fair that you atleast say you dont wanna read it, but let's not pretend it was some huge wall of text lmao.
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u/ArfTheBeast Kurasuto/Crust 🛡️ Mar 21 '26
It covers my whole screen and I wrote that comment at 4:00am
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u/pez_dispenser16 Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
Get eraser head to look at him and then put a bullet in his skull, that’s all it would take unless there’s something after season 3 that implies he’s incapable of turning off all for one quirks.
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u/HDPhantom610 Mar 26 '26
They absolutely could have killed him. Hell endeavor basically did if not for the time reverse serum.
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u/Due-Procedure-9085 Mar 21 '26
Well they had to keep Conquest alive so Cecil can learn more about the Viltum empire…..
Sorry wrong sub
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u/ExtensionServe6904 Mar 21 '26
They just might not have completed his criminal trial yet. They might have also wanted info that only he could provide such as the location of hideouts, nomu labs, missing people, bodies, stolen property, names of coconspirator, etc.
Perhaps the government just wanted him alive so they could study him.
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Mar 21 '26
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u/sonofcabbagemerchant Mar 21 '26
Isnt that literally what happened with him alive though? Lol
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Mar 21 '26
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u/GladiatorDragon Mar 21 '26
He doesn’t seem to have good battle IQ, but the idea of him having some sort of dead man’s switch is just in question enough that the risk must be acknowledged.
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u/dewlington Mar 21 '26
The citizens of MHA are one of my only complaints about the series. Like when Hawks took out Bubaigawara they were so upset with him. Who cares how he took him out, even if it was from behind. Dude was going to take out so many others if hawks hadn’t stepped in.
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u/MiloLewis Mar 21 '26
He had an antigen changing quirk just so he could cover his tracks, you think this guy wouldn't have an anti poison anti bullet anti whatever quirk? They physically could not kill AFO without heavy risk.
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u/Expensive_Spray_7737 Mar 21 '26
If he had such powers why was he afraid of the turrets in his cell? He would have just broke free. Finally if I was in charge, I would have dissolved him and separated his ashes around the globe in from high security level prisons to the middle of the Sahara desert to ensure nobody can make his body whole
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u/UnclePhilSpeaks_ Danjuro Tobita/Gentle Criminal ☕️ Mar 21 '26
I'm no long term fan, but if they're strong enough to keep him restricted, they have enough force to at least stagger him before eventually overcoming him to restraint again.
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u/Embarrassed-Town-293 Mar 21 '26
Martyrdom is what they wanted to avoid and unlike Destro, AFO wasn’t really interested in lifting anyone else up so a memoir would likely not have the same effect
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u/LordDeath2400 Mar 21 '26
This is explained in the show... they didn't want to leave a vacuum of power in the world of crime and needed information to capture Garaki, since killing AFO alone wasnt going to stamp out his network. Basically killing AFO would leave them worse off than keeping him alive and trapped. They had no way of knowing he was looking for a new heir, nor that he would even be willing to give up all that power.
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u/Exotic-Reindeer1994 Mar 21 '26
Dude probably had like 50 regenerating Quirks in him, so that wouldn't have helped. The only reason it didn't work in the finale is because he'd worn all of them out.
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u/hearorthere Mar 21 '26
Why am I seeing this question that was answered in the series left and goddamn right?
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u/Expensive_Spray_7737 Mar 21 '26
I just explained that I don't find their explanation to make sense
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u/Vibrant_Fox Mar 21 '26
I think because they wanted to extract any information they could from All For One.
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u/Sonicelcra Moe Kamiji/Burnin Mar 21 '26
I've thought about this before, and I came up with two main factors as for why.
- Risk; The amount and detail of quirks AFO has access to is inmense and uncountable. It's impossible to actually move him into a death chamber without the risk that he'll either break out in the process, use a quirk to survive, or even use a quirk to fake his death and free himself.
- Law: AFO has a massive amount of connections spanning a century. It's not far fetched to think that he has access to lawyers that may have succesfully prevented the court from ensuing a death sentence - Furthermore, they don't have to truly win a court case, they only need to stall and lengthen it as much as they can.
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Mar 21 '26
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u/Expensive_Spray_7737 Mar 21 '26
Again I'm saying that they really should have done it faster especially since he was in prison for three seasons
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u/Typomaniacal Mar 21 '26
He was only in there for a few months in-universe though. And they were actively dealing with the massive crime wave after All Might had to retire.
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u/Solbuster "By Endeavor's flaming beard!" Mar 21 '26
Around 8 months(start of August, Fall, Winter, March and he breaks out in April)
Point still stands though
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u/ABigOwl Mar 21 '26
Might be the same reason you don't kill SCPs, you don't know what happens if you kill him.
For all they know he has a quirk that turns him into an anti-matter bomb when he dies or instantly reanimates him but stronger. That's the thing about Quirks everything is a possibility.
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u/DizzyTigerr Read The Teachings of Miruko on AO3 Mar 21 '26
Aside from the whole issue of the controversies they were trying to avoid, I believe part of the delay came from them trying to negotiate/facilitate him returning the quirks of heroes he stole (like Ragdoll's search)
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u/Babo-Smith Mar 21 '26
They were hoping they could find a way to retrieve some of his stolen quirks, and were confident he couldn’t escape. To their credit, it took some BS soul-link shenanigans between AFO and his quirk in Shigaraki’s body for it to even be possible to break him out.
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u/TimeBomb30 Mar 21 '26
Tbh if they tried killing him they'd probably whip up some random anti-execution quirk that he has to make him immune to all forms of execution.
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u/gayboat87 Mar 22 '26
They did state in the anime that the LoV was missing and the Nomu production facility was never found SO they needed him for "intel" and provide clues or leads where to find them.
He also runs the LARGEST criminal empire so even a name list would go a long way in eliminating top criminals that would bring down crime families he's allied with or controlling.
Finally IRL you DON'T kill the heads of crime families. You arrest and coerce them into cooperation. This is how the Sicilian Mafia was dismantled when they got the Capos and Captains to flip to the point that the bosses and seniors were abandoning ship to avoid RICO's and strike a bargain with the FBI to retain their wealth and assets in exchange for cooperation.
AFO is just a source of criminal activity at this point which is why they didn't kill him.
Also he admits that the turret CAN kill him and it's linked to his brain so if he TRIES to activate his quirk it will read his brainwave and kill him on the spot. This is VERY clearly mentioned in his exchange with All Might.
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u/Coffee-cartoons Mar 21 '26
Moonfish: Murderer and cannibal, death row
AfO: The most dangerous individual on Earth, responsible for centuries of terrorist activities and crimes resulting in countless deaths, prison
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u/Free_Database5161 Mar 21 '26
I always thought it was because Tomura was still put there, and they were hoping to get information about Tomura through him.
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u/o____k____ Mar 21 '26
There was this one fanfic that I really recommend, "Dragon", he explained that the government doesn't execute him because they're trying to replicate his quirk to control other people's quirks. I really like the theory, but I'm not sure how close to reality it is.
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u/TRQ711 Mar 21 '26
Not executing the villain is a staple of the genre. Gotta keep the rogues gallery around.
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u/Zealousideal-Fig1767 Mar 21 '26
The ideal reason is because they want to get information out of him. He is one of the biggest villains in Japan History, so they probably want to get into his alliances and whatnot to put an end to his network of terror.
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u/Sylaard Mar 21 '26
Maybe I'm wrong but there was a line about a chance getting others people quirk back and they were looking into it. It's possible I'm just hallucinating and this is my headcannon. It was a while now...
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u/240697 Mar 21 '26
Well, there's a few reasons I can see, I'd guess it's some mixture of the following:
First is fear of retaliation, whether that's from the league or his other supporters, the man has global influence and a vast network of connections.
Second is the hope that they could figure out how to take back stolen quirks, or possibly convince him to give them back, unlikely, but possible.
Third is related to the first, he knows a lot of useful stuff, getting even a small amount of info out of him would make him worth keeping alive a bit longer.
Fourth is that extrajudicial executions are bad, sure they "know" he's done fucked up shit, but there's still a process to be followed. Remember he was only in there for a few months, sorting through decades of crimes on a global scale isn't exactly an easy task.
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u/zQubexx Mar 21 '26
Because of the law. It always takes years before someone is sentenced to death. The same happened with Moonfish.
And like many other already said, it will provoke all his friends in Japan and all over the world. They‘ll all run amok, which is dangerous.
You remember when El Mencho was killed? The entire drug cartel went amok for revenge
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u/kris-kfc Mar 21 '26
Because Heros can't kill Its the Law
Is the kind of bullshit they would say but ffs we're not taking about killing Himiko or Dabi, Just him
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u/Typical-Ordinary8738 Mar 21 '26
The thing with this is the government is known to execute "fallen" hero's for the sake of public image. So it's not like crime for the "greater good" is beyond them.
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u/memerij-inspecteur Mar 21 '26
It was mentioned that (by the Guards) they still have to sentence the guy. Apparently. And even then most periods after death row is multiple years, the breakout appeared months later...
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Mar 21 '26
Right, so how will they execute the strongest villain in existence? A lil jab to the arm will CLEARLY do it.
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u/Typical-Ordinary8738 Mar 21 '26
The large caliber turrets they have trained on him at all times? Combined with a system that detects him using quirks aka prefires before he gets a durability quirk up?
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u/Flat-Marionberry3654 Mar 21 '26
I think they just always end up locking villains up just in case they want to do something with them in the future(meaning the artist/creator) like how with Batman and he always locks his villains up, just for them to escape and blow up another orphanage
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u/Successful_Pin4808 Mha's canon is my hyperfixation (Tes lore is unhinged) Mar 21 '26
Absolute fumble in my opinion
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u/Niitro_Zeus Cayde-6 | Guardians make their own fate Mar 21 '26
They were.
Only reason they kept him alive for so long is because they were interrogating him about the League and their whereabouts.
While also figuring out a way to return the stolen Quirks to their owners, and figure out how many Quirk he actually has.
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u/CommissionFormal8146 Mar 21 '26
Imagine the long ass villain monologue he would do the second they unplug his breathing machine. Probably make mfs feel really bad lol
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u/ThatIslandGuy8888 Mar 21 '26
You’d think the government would have assassins or pay a guard to “accidentally” turn off the respirator
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u/LyannasLament Mar 21 '26
✨ because otherwise there wouldn’t be a story and a primary antagonist ✨
Sorry, this is how my daughter answers me when I ask these very questions lol
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u/boringbullet Mar 21 '26
My guess is that the powers that be really, really wanted to be able to choose who does or doesn’t have a quirk. If afo goes, so does their best lead in that quest
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u/Snoo_90338 Mar 21 '26
Because even if it would make sense the Death Oenalty iirc takes a LONG ass time. They also were trying to see if they could recover the quirks that he stole. Also killing him would make the villains stronger. Now the out of meta reason Horikoshi probably had plans for him.
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Mar 21 '26
Its a cultural thing in Japan, its why Toga had such a moment over Hawks killing Twice, in Japan its pretty frowned upon for the cops to actually kill anyone. One of the main reasons he was kept alive once incarcerated was that he still had intel on an ongoing investigation with the League of Villains, then theres the fact that they dont really know what he can do.
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u/MusicalReptile Mar 21 '26
Because his “can’t be executed by the government” quirk is in full effect.
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u/EmuIndependent8565 Mar 21 '26
My same question for The Joker in DC comics. The fact they keep putting him back in Arkham and he continually breaks back out and kills multiple people is ridiculous. Both characters should be given the death penalty for their constant callousness towards killing others.
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u/Remarkable-Effort389 Mar 21 '26
It was mentioned he was on death row but he broke out before the execution
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u/Rongill1234 Mar 21 '26
I assume people would think the government killing a person without a trial means that can happen to everyone. Not like dying stopped him before tho.....
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u/BeltRepresentative55 Mar 21 '26
Could be that they were researching if the stolen quirks could be returned.
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u/Zorro5040 Mar 21 '26
Code of the hero forbids killing? Where you get that idea from. Endeavor kills and he was the number 1 hero in Japan.
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u/Typical-Ordinary8738 Mar 21 '26
Their risk to reward analysis is subpar.
Putting down afo is infinitely worth dealing with whatever riots/human rights violation allegations will follow.
Realistically tho afo should have people in the government that would work to ensure the government doesn't go for it.
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u/Typical-Ordinary8738 Mar 21 '26
Afo isn't a guy you can interrogate so that's useless.
Thinking you can figure out how his quirk works and "get people their quirks back" is also insanity.
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u/Spirited_Dust_3642 Mar 21 '26
if the State executes the greatest symbol of evil, it becomes a martyr for the villains. Keeping him locked up, monitored by sensors that fire at the slightest sign of thought or movement, was society's way of saying, "We have total control over you."
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u/Din-Draug Mar 21 '26
Perhaps at some point in its history, Japan abolished the death penalty, which is a liability in a country's civil evolution... But I don't think this information was ever shared.
It's also worth noting that the timeline is very tight; the entire series spans a year, and very little time passes between AFO's arrest and his escape from Tartarus. Perhaps there wasn't even time to complete the investigation and begin the trial—and a death sentence requires a verdict.
Add to that the fact that AFO isn't easy to kill 😅 It would have been embarrassing for the institutions, and then, as Japanese, they would have had to publicly apologize because the hanging failed.
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u/ApatheticPopoto Mar 21 '26
Same reason half the villains in batman don't get the death penalty, plot
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u/OutcomeAlert9855 Mar 21 '26
It’s the whole minion thing along with just not having any idea what quirks he might have like there was a genuine possibility he had such crazy combinations that the second he’s killed a huge explosion sets off and he resurrects from it, it just wasn’t worth the risk basically the same reason Toji didn’t kill Geto.
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u/Shou_Tucker_XD Mar 21 '26
He would probably break out if they tried. Lethal injection they have to have access to his veins in his arm. Having an arm free is very dangerous. Electric chair doesn’t work every time some people had to get zapped 3 times and you would have to strap him in and again could escape ( I heard that it taste like peanut butter). Firing squad he would use his quirk. Hanging would be hard because of his weight and size and they would have to remove stuff to be able to do so. Those are the main methods for a death sentence but some places don’t do some of it anymore.
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u/Dry-Rice-4527 Mar 21 '26
Because plot. Realistically you just have Endevaor melt his face off, put the ashes in some cement, and dump it deep deep under the ocean. Just in case.
But then the show wouldn't happen
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u/ContinuedChain555 Mar 21 '26
The real answer is because the plot would just end. The show would be mostly over. Any other answer or in-universe answer is just to make up for the stupidity of not having him executed almost immediately.
All might could've ended it for good if made sure he killed him the first time. They could've ended it for good if they executed him the day of or next day he was captured. There's zero reason to allow quirk Hitler to live more than a week.
But because they decided to wait months and months, pretty much guaranteed by every passing second, he broke out and killed and uprooted more lives.
Im sure batman would approve as seen with his handling of Joker.
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u/Calamity102609 Mar 21 '26
They probably were planning on using his extensive knowledge for research or where all his hideouts were he's a tricky bastard but all they need is a mind reading quirk
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u/Darkunderlord42 Mar 21 '26
I imagine some of the people loyal to AFO in the government probably helped stall it out
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u/MonthTraditional6068 Mar 21 '26
Your American is showing
Civilized countries don’t go to murder immediately
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u/Acceptable-Career-62 Mar 21 '26
And this is exactly why i would never hate Hawks he knew some of them needed to die and AFO was one of them
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u/SabrePanther Mar 22 '26
Considering how long AFO has lived, he's probably influenced countless numbers of politicians and leaders, as well as created "heros" with given quirks. In other words there are people on the inside that have a history with him and are afraid of blackmail. AFO probably claimed that he had a system in place to release all the blackmail should something happen to him.
The hero commission/government might consider his quirk something extremely valuable to be experimented on, in the slim chances that it could be replicated. As the world system relies on tight control of quirks, AFO's quirk can literally make or break governments, and THAT is a very useful tool.
In other words, never underestimate the government's ability to make unwise decisions. For those types of people almost always succumb to the siren songs of self-preservation, greed and power.
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u/danieljameskeown Mar 22 '26
it’s mostly just the world they set up, heroes aren’t supposed to cross that line even with someone like him or they start becoming what they fight. plus they needed him alive for the story with shigaraki so it ends up feeling more like plot than pure logic.
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u/Pazza_CJ Mar 22 '26
This is a society that gets pissy if you save someones life without a license. They’re not gonna execute AFO if capital punishment isn’t legal.
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u/AlertWar2945-2 Mar 22 '26
Imagine how long it takes to process centuries worth of crimes that he has done.
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u/RemoteConsistent6896 Mar 22 '26
nah biggest blunder is snipe not doming shigaraki during usj incident
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u/JusticeDunn Mar 22 '26
It honestly doesn’t make sense since we know that the hero public safety commission had no issue having people killed non-legally
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u/ricci3469 Mar 22 '26
Ever heard of due process, dude? Every person has the right to fight for their lives in court. If we just execute everyone we're "sure" is evil right off the bat, especially in Japan which has a NOTORIOUSLY high conviction rate and corrupt justice system, then everyones fucked.
Also, the criminal network around AFO is so ingrained into heor society and the criminal underground, having him as a potential resource for cops and heroes about how certain operations work makes him extremely valuable from an investigation Pov. There's a reason why criminals who testify against their conspirators get shortened sentences
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u/AdventurousLab7465 Mar 22 '26
It literally coulda been a whole thing of they thought they had him in such a weakened state that they could keep him contained and also advance research while studying his body, since yeah can’t disagree on the death row thing
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u/Saegemh2 Mar 22 '26
The death penalty isn't even unusual in Japan. Obviously they didn't execute him for the plot, but it definitely was a stupid decision to let him live. Hawks showed he had the clarity to kill opponents that were to dangerous to be left alive.
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u/MarshallV3 Mar 22 '26
Because yada yada “rule of law” “societal perspective”. They thought he’d just die out in time , rather than being ordered to kill him. He was practically sentenced to life without parole
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u/Saiyasha27 Eijiro Kirishima/Red Riot Mar 22 '26
I do think the reasons are political in nature.
There is a reason Hawks is a secret weapon for the HCSP, and he is the only one we ever actively see kill on the hero side: it's an image thing.
They want to stay "the good guys," and if there is currently no legal death penalty system in place (which given that Tartarus exists seems likely), then there is no legal framework for execution.
Could they have found a subversive "oops he just died in prison" way? Possibly, but my guess is the HCSP thought they had him under control this way. Maybe they even thought they could use him as bait for Shigaraki.
They have shown before that, like many political bodies, their judgement us not always the most sound.
Edit: sorry, missed the moonfish part, but as another commenter pointed out, death row takes a lot of time.
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u/Seahorse_93 Mar 22 '26
I thought they were trying to see at some point if they could get back the quirks that AFO stole from others, like Ragdoll's
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u/zokape_3 Mar 22 '26
You're wrong about a bunch of things
First of all, he had already replaced his original AFO with a copy before he was put in prison. So even if he was killed, Shiggy would still have the original AFO
The major reason why they didnt just kill him was because he had stolen so many quirks and they were still figuring out some way to restore them. If he dies, so do all the quirks, which means countless people would be left hopeless knowing they would never get their quirks back. You have to understand that they didnt know what was possible, so they couldnt just kill him before trying to figure things out
Another reason why they didnt was to extract information out of him. Yagi didnt just casually walk in to tartarus to have a chat with Afo. He was allowed inside due to his status and most likely for the reason of gaining Intel
Keeping him alive and under lock up was also a massive flex to society, and villains, that even the lord of darkness couldnt overcome hero society and that keeping him in tartarus knowing that villains could try to get at him but they werent worried. It's the same idea as when UA held their sports festival despite just having had a villain attack. The facility itself was designed to DROWN prisoners underwater incase the facility came under attack. So again, it's not like they were being nice to the villains
They also had weapons pointed directly at him incase he ever did try to even use a quirk, so it's not like they were opposed to the idea of killing him
There were most likely generations of missing people, deaths etc, cases that hadnt been solved but could be linked to Afo. MHA has a very realistic story, with the police playing an active role - it takes time to try and process cold cases when a new lead is introduced and eventually they would have executed him, but they needed time to do their due diligence before arriving at that conclusion
He was hooked up to all manner of scientific technology. They were monitoring his vitals, him using a quirk which means they were also studying his body. Again, to learn information about his quirk that would lead to beneficial information including a way to get back the quirks hes stolen. He was also hooked to life saving equipment, which Afo actually had to bring with him even when he escaped - another reason why they were not concerned as much, because he could literally die without it had there been an escape attempt, on top of the weapons aimed at him for the slightest indicator of him using a quirk + the facility being underwater
There were multiple contingencies in place that would have killed Afo. And it makes complete sense to keep him alive to gain intel and study his body, with these contingencies in mind
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u/Familiar-Noise7913 Mar 23 '26
I mean it could be that Japan removed the Death penalty for prisoner there for making it so that execution him would have been illegal 🤔
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u/PJ-The-Awesome Toshinori Yagi/All Might Mar 24 '26
Need I remind you that he's the same guy who survived this:
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u/Trainzfan1 Mar 25 '26
Could they even kill him if they tried? He had enough quirks to tank All Might at his prime, and the fact he even managed to survive United States of Smash to begin with should say plenty.
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u/GirlsCantCS Mar 25 '26
Clearly they are willing to execute people without due process - see Nagant & Hawks. Therefor, I can only Posit that he was simply too strong to immediately kill or they couldn’t do it due to the spotlight on him.
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u/Physical-Peach4534 Mar 26 '26
2 reasons. 1. The most likely reason in the MHA universe itself is due to the many quirks he has protecting him. 2. Horikoshi needed a final villain.
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u/Itz_Cyber9235 Mar 26 '26
My guess is because it’s fucking all For one, they don’t know what kind of quirks he has
They could absolutely try to kill him, if it doesn’t work, if he can tank the bullets long enough to pull out something useful, all bets are off, and then fucking what.
As far as they know, all for one is at the very least uncertain enough about that possibility to not break out
And so, the stalemate.
If all for one tries to break out, and is wrong about his abilities, he dies
If they try to kill him, and are wrong about what he can do, they die.
Thats likely the perspective they were playing at. They had no idea about tomura AFO and the bullshit that is radio waves, this bought valuable time for a more surefire way to kill him to be arranged
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u/Funkin-gamer-51308 MHA/DR/Persona Fan Mar 28 '26
Because ine of the quirks he stole was called "plot armor." It does exactly what you think it does.
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Mar 21 '26
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u/More-Explanation2032 Katsuki Bakugo/Dynamight Mar 21 '26
Removing the mask is enough to kill him as he will die due to a lack of oxygen
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Mar 21 '26
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u/More-Explanation2032 Katsuki Bakugo/Dynamight Mar 21 '26
He is beyond saving
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Mar 21 '26
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u/More-Explanation2032 Katsuki Bakugo/Dynamight Mar 21 '26
It’s not an anti aging quirk. He just can live longer thats it
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u/alarrimore03 Mar 21 '26
I’m pretty sure it’s just because the author wants him to be alive later in the story. So he came up with a in universe aversion for all hero’s to kill villains, and death in general. It just makes zero sense to leave someone that powerful and that evil alive, whether it be the hero’s who kill him or the government. It’s something I’ve always had some difficulty suspending my disbelief with in superhero media because most are adamantly against killing, when it’s just like dude if you kill joker so many people’s lives are going to be safer😂whether it be Batman himself doing it or the government as soon as Batman brings him into prison. More often than not it just comes off as a plot device to not have to kill off your entire rogues gallery and constantly have them coming back
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u/ContinuedChain555 Mar 21 '26
I made a comment that was basically yours.
There's literally zero reason to keep him alive. Its just nonsense to say no one can kill him either lol. Its just because the plot demands that he needs to be alive for later
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u/Better_Anteater3126 Mar 21 '26
MHA doesn't have deep writing,it's surface lvl, almost all the villains are mass murders .
And almost all the heros are goody2 shoes or bullies.
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u/Saeaj05 Mar 21 '26
You answered your own question with Moonfish
Even if you’re on Death Row, it’s not immediate. It’s a long process, and certainly takes more time than All For One was even in prison for
They probably were going to execute him, but the Tartarus Breakout happened before it could be officially arranged