My Hero Academia Chapter 403 Leaks Tease a Long-Awaited Reunion

Chapter 402 of My Hero Academia ended with an armor-clad All-Might blowing himself up in a heroic attempt to stop All for One from wading into the climactic battle between Izuku Midoriya and Tomura Shigaraki. With the outcome of All Might’s self-sacrificial gambit left ambiguous, fans have been anxiously waiting to learn the Symbol of Peace’s fate. After one-and-a-half agonizing weeks, leaks and raw scans for My Hero Academia Chapter 403 have arrived, hinting at a heartbreaking revelation and a heartwarming reunion.

My Hero Academia Chapter 403 Leaks: Katsuki Bakugo Explodes into the Battle Against All For One

If the leaks are to be believed, My Hero Academia Chapter 403 wastes no time revealing whether All Might survives the self-destruction of his armor. At first glance, things don’t look good. The chapter opens with a flashback to a moment in All Might’s childhood where he sat in a park with his mother, blissfully reading the latest issue of his favorite comic. As manga fans know all too well, a mentor figure having a flashback to a happier time in their life is almost always an omen that their end is nigh.

However, it’s soon revealed that All Might, against all odds, survived the explosion. Unfortunately, so did All For One, who uses his newly-acquired Blood Curdle Quirk, which he stole from the Hero Killer Stain, to stun All Might so that his hated enemy can watch as he absorbs Shigaraki and kills Izuku. Star-And-Stripe’s Air Force comrades attempt to swoop in and blast All For One to smithereens, only to be casually blown out of the sky, bringing everyone observing the battle to the edge of despair.

Related: My Hero Academia Chapter 403 Spoilers, Release Timeline, and Recap

At that moment of hopeless dread, Katsuki Bakugo appears on the floating husk of U.A. High School, battered and bloody but alive and ready to battle All For One to protect Izuku. As Izuku stares at his best friend-turned-bitter enemy-turned best friend again, he remembers the iconic moment they both pulled All Might cards from a deck of trading cards back when they were kids and cries in relief.

To say that fans of My Hero Academy are ecstatic to see Bakugo again would be the understatement of the millennium. It’s been almost forty chapters since we’ve seen Bakugo, who was fatally impaled by All For One but saved at the last second through the self-sacrifice of the hero Edgeshot. Unfortunately, many fans also noted that the final panel of the issue implied that Bakugo’s arrival wouldn’t save All Might, who may live long enough to see solid proof that Izuku and Bakugo’s shattered friendship has been restored before he shuffles off the mortal coil.