Comparison: Kurogiri vs. Hood in My Hero Academia
Status as High-End Nomu Kurogiri is the very first High-End Nomu and the original prototype for the intelligent class, created earliest by Kyudai Garaki. Hood is one of the later High-Ends out of twelve, representing a more refined and combat-focused evolution years after Kurogiri.
Base Corpse and Original Identity Kurogiri uses the corpse of Oboro Shirakumo, a teenage U.A. hero student whose body remains relatively intact beneath the modifications. Hood comes from an adult underground street fighter and thug, heavily rebuilt into a monstrous form with aggressive traits preserved.
Appearance Kurogiri has an elegant, ethereal look — a humanoid silhouette entirely composed of dark purple mist, wearing a formal suit and tie, with glowing yellow eyes and a protective metal neck brace as the only solid features. Hood embodies the classic grotesque Nomu aesthetic: massive muscular build, dark purple/black skin, exposed brain hidden under a skin "hood," jagged teeth, protruding vertebrae, and exposed shoulder muscles.
Primary Role and Purpose Kurogiri serves as a protector, caretaker, and support operative specifically designed to watch over and nurture Tomura Shigaraki while providing teleportation for the League. Hood functions as a pure frontline destroyer and battle tester, engineered to seek out and overwhelm the strongest heroes in direct combat.
Personality Kurogiri is polite, well-spoken, calm, and formal, often acting as the mature grounding force for the League while retaining subtle caring traits from Oboro. Hood speaks with a stutter and broken grammar, showing disturbing eagerness for battle, quickly growing bored after defeating opponents, and retaining his original thug's violent lust for fighting strong foes.
Intelligence and Tactics Kurogiri demonstrates high tactical intellect and strategic calm, such as cleverly reversing Thirteen's Black Hole against her. Hood possesses solid battlefield intuition and planning (e.g., summoning lower Nomu as distractions, protecting his head, self-decapitating to survive fatal attacks), but operates more instinctively than strategically.
Quirk Setup Kurogiri relies on one primary artificial composite Quirk: Warp Gate (built around Oboro's original Cloud Quirk), allowing precise, coordinate-based portals for transportation and multi-exit manipulation. Hood possesses six separate Quirks: Muscle Augmentation, Super Regeneration, Shoulder-Mounted Jets, Transforming Arms, Power, and Storage — granting overwhelming physical strength, flight, elasticity, and the ability to store/release other Nomu.
Combat Style and Strength Kurogiri focuses on long-range support, portal defense, and evasion rather than direct offense; his strength lies in utility and enabling others. Hood excels in raw destructive power, speed, durability, and multi-faceted close/mid-range assaults, capable of soloing top heroes like Endeavor and Hawks for extended periods.
Outcome and Fate Kurogiri ultimately glitches between programming and Oboro's resurfacing personality, aids the heroes in the Final War, and dies from Quirk overuse while still trying to protect Tomura. Hood is destroyed in a prolonged battle by Endeavor's Plus Ultra Prominence Burn after pushing the No. 1 Hero to his limits.
Overall, Kurogiri represents the subtle, intelligent support prototype of High-End Nomu, while Hood embodies the perfected brute-force combat monster — showing Garaki's progression from caretaker tools to unstoppable war machines.
