Blueflame was the Quirk used by Dabi.
Description#
Like his father, Enji Todoroki's Quirk, Hellflame, Blueflame granted Dabi fire-based abilities, particularly creating and generating fire from his body at will. However, unlike Hellflame, Dabi's flames were blue in color as a result of burning much hotter.
The user could ignite blue fire anywhere on their body with minimal effort or movement almost instantaneously. They could also combust anything they touched almost instantly, including robust minerals and living creatures alike. For example, by touching a single tree in The Beast's Forest, Dabi was able to set the majority of the forest ablaze, trapping everyone there in a ring of fire.[3]
The flames of this Quirk were extremely hot,[4] burning at a temperature of at least 2,000°C (3,632°F),[5] which is higher than that of lava and normal fire, signified by its blue coloration. Dabi's flames were hot enough to burn an entire group of Villains into ash in mere seconds.[6] Furthermore, they were also hot enough to burn through the Flame Hero: Endeavor, despite the latter having a huge resistance to heat due to his own flame-based Quirk.[7] They were also quite bright, which made them an effective counter against Quirks like Dark Shadow.[8]
His hatred and rage powered his flames, so the greater his anger, the hotter his flames were.[9]
Whilst on the verge of death, Blueflame's power increased to the point of manifesting a new ability, the ice from his mother, Rei Todoroki's Quirk, Frost. This made Blueflame become a Quirk somewhat similar to that of Shoto Todoroki's Half-Cold Half-Hot. The newfound power was described as something "different" from an Awakening and was used to fuel his Phosphor Ultimate Move, which he copied from Shoto thanks to his eidetic memory.[7]
Weaknesses#
The major drawback of Dabi's Quirk was that his body couldn't handle the heat due to inheriting his mother's genes, which granted him resistance to freezing temperatures and made his body sensitive to heat. While he inherited partial resistance to fire from his father's genes, it wasn't enough for him to make proper use of his Quirk.[10] As a result, Dabi's Quirk burned his skin whenever he used it as a child and was warned by a doctor not to use his flames at all for the sake of his health.[11]
Since the power of his flames were connected to his emotions, Dabi's Quirk could be dangerous if he became overwhelmed by anger and frustration. This is best seen as a teenager when he broke down emotionally at Sekoto Peak and was consumed by his out-of-control flames, being unable to put them out and causing a massive forest fire.[9]
According to All For One, Dabi's Quirk was left weakened after he nearly burned himself to death, due to his body, organs, and nervous system all being permanently damaged.[12] However, he overcame this by continuously training his flames to the point where they always burned blue. Despite Dabi no longer feeling any pain and achieving great strength over his blue flames, overusing his Quirk caused his skin to swell, sizzle, and slowly burn over time. This prevented Dabi from fighting prolonged battles and severely limited his endurance.[1] As stated by Dabi, overusing his Quirk caused him to lose sensation in his body and render himself completely numb.
During the Final War, the danger of this weakness became more apparent as Dabi continued to abuse his Quirk. This led to his already burned flesh beginning to crisp away and fall off, effectively destroying his body.[13] Dabi confirmed that at the rate his flames were going, his body would eventually give out.[14]
Usage#
Toya was born from a Quirk Marriage between Enji and Rei Todoroki. As a result, he ended up inheriting a fire Quirk even stronger than his father's. While it was not the ideal combination of fire and ice that he was hoping for, Enji still found Toya promising and began training him to become a Hero. Things took a downward turn, however, when it was revealed that Toya took after his mother physically rather than his father, meaning that his body was unable to handle his own flames. A doctor warned that Toya shouldn't use his Quirk for his own wellbeing, saying that worst case scenario he would put his life at risk. Enji quickly stopped Toya's training out of concern.[15]
Unfortunately, Toya refused to quit and continued training his Quirk in secret, hoping to regain his father's attention and pride. To that end, he would continuously train his flames at Sekoto Peak, burning himself in the process. Eventually, Toya learned that his flames were connected to his emotional state, and would burn hotter the more riled up he was, to the point where they would turn blue. One day, when his father refused to meet with him to see how strong he had become, Toya broke down emotionally and was consumed by his out-of-control flames, nearly burning himself to death. Toya tried to put out the flames, but couldn't, as his father only taught him how to turn up the heat.[9]
Upon surviving and becoming a Villain, Dabi would begin to hone his Quirk specifically to kill his father, memorizing all of his techniques and Ultimate Moves. Despite his body being permanently damaged from the incident and continuing to burn away as he used his Quirk, Dabi kept pushing his stronger version of his father's flames, with his inability to feel pain having removed his previous limits.[12]
Dabi primarily used his Quirk to fight from a distance and burned his enemies using waves of fire and flamethrowers. He could also release a short burst of flames for roasting his targets at close range.[16] Dabi often relied on the brute force of his powerful Quirk to overwhelm his enemies. His fire blasts were powerful enough to collapse building walls[4] and were enough to completely repel Snatch's Quirk.[17]
Dabi also used his Quirk tactically, creating walls of fire to trap his targets within a fixed area or to propel himself in midair through the soles of his feet.[18][8] This Quirk also paired well with Compress, as anyone compressed along with some of Dabi's flames would be burned to death.[17]
Because Dabi's flames weakened his body with prolonged use, he was unable to release successive attacks for long. To counter this, he would often engage in rattling the enemy in order to buy himself some cooldown time. Additionally, Dabi learned to take some heat off his attacks in order to reserve more power for himself in critical situations.[8]
After revealing his true identity during the Paranormal Liberation War, Dabi also revealed his Quirk's true power by unleashing his father's Ultimate Moves, and released devastating heat that was strong enough to burn through Best Jeanist's Carbon Fibers, as well as overpower Nejire Hado, one of The Big 3. During his battle against Shoto, Dabi utilized more power and defeated his youngest brother.[19] In the Final War, Dabi used his Quirk to engulf all of Kamino in flames, while using more of his father's Ultimate Moves on a wide and devastating scale, putting up a fierce fight against Shoto and the Flaming Sidekickers. However, continuing to use his Quirk to such an extent caused Dabi's burns to worsen, to the point where his body began to burn away and fall apart.[13]
During the height of the Final War, it was revealed that Dabi had been internalizing his heat ever since freeing himself from Shoto's ice, and that in the span of ten minutes, he would explode and cremate everything within a 5-kilometer radius, having intended to use this suicidal move to take out his father and any remaining bystanders.[20] While facing his father once again, Dabi's flames continued to rage on, becoming hot enough to burn Endeavor as the explosion began to form a massive inferno. While reaching out to him, Endeavor realized that Dabi's Quirk began to manifest Rei's ice as a result of him being on the verge of death.[7] Dabi's explosion would eventually be stopped by the combined ice Quirks of Rei, Fuyumi Todoroki, and Natsuo Todoroki, along with a more powerful version of Shoto's Great Glacial Aegir, though Shoto admitted that he might not have been able to cool down the explosion if his mother and siblings hadn't intervened beforehand.[21]
Ultimate Moves#
Flashfire Fist: Endeavor's signature technique, later passed down to Dabi himself. Dabi raised his fire's temperature to its highest level and maximized his power. By doing so, Dabi could unleash devastating flame attacks or increase his speed dramatically.[5]
Jet Burn: Like Endeavor, Dabi unleashed a powerful blast of fire at the enemy, although unlike his father, Dabi only shot his fire out in a punching motion rather than directly striking his opponent. This was first seen used against his youngest brother, Shoto.[22]
Prominence Burn: This attack allowed Dabi to launch a massive, concentrated beam of fire from his entire body that was able to vaporize his target.[23] Dabi nearly used this move at full power against Endeavor but was intercepted by the sudden arrival of Best Jeanist on the battlefield.[5]
Hell Spider: Dabi shot streams of fire from his fingertips, scorching his opponents.[24]
Phosphor: Dabi copied Shoto's Ultimate Move, originally designed to combine fire and ice into one attack, and instead used it to reinvigorate himself and his flames after Shoto's attempt to cool him down.[25]
Hell Minefield: Dabi used his Blueflame to push his flames underground, which caused pillars of flame to surge out of the ground and burn anything in the way.[26]
Vanishing Fist: Dabi blasted his arm off and created a giant fist of fire in its place before launching it at an opponent.[7]
Trivia#
- The flames of Dabi's Quirk used to be orange and red like his father's, and turned blue when Dabi hit puberty.[9] This implies that "Blueflame" was the Quirk's updated name, and that it was originally referred to by a different moniker.
- In the anime, Endeavor's own flames are capable of turning blue if he concentrates them in his hands for a short time, making them similar to those of Blueflame.[27]
- None of Dabi's Ultimate Moves were unique to him; all were intentionally copied from Endeavor and Shoto.
- The japanese pronunciation of Blueflame (Sōen) is similar to the japanese pronunciation of 疎遠 (Soen), which means estrangement, neglect, or silence. This could be a nod to the dynamics Dabi experienced in his family, namely being neglected by his estranged father and people staying silent about said father's misdeeds.