Valdo Gollini, also known as Dark Might, is the main antagonist of My Hero Academia: You're Next. He is the Villain leader of the criminal Gollini Family mafia in Europe, and a perverse admirer of All Might, whom he reveres for his great strength and power, desiring to succeed him as the next Symbol of Peace.
Appearance#
Before altering his appearance with his Alchemy Quirk, Valdo is a somewhat lean Italian man with sunken green eyes, a stubble moustache atop his lip, and black hair that was slicked back. Like most members of the Gollini Family mafia, he wore dark dress clothing, with his preference being a black blazer and vest, with dress undershirts and bowties. After taking over the family business, he is shown wearing a pure white tuxedo suit and dress shoes over his regular garb.
When taking on his Dark Might persona, he looks almost identical to a younger All Might in his empowered form, bearing an equally muscular physique and short blond hair that is swept backward, with two distinct tufts sticking above his head, leaning slightly to each side. There are a few subtle yet notable differences, however, compared to All Might. Dark Might has bushier eyebrows, straighter and thicker hair tufts, a tanner complexion, a bigger, more hooked nose, and more pronounced cheekbones. He also retains his original green eyes with dark markings underneath as opposed to All Might's clear, blue eyes.
He mainly wears a white tuxedo suit with black accents, white pants and dress shoes, a dark blue collar undershirt, a pale blue bow tie and handkerchief in his left pocket, and a bright red rose on his left lapel. He also wears eight golden rings, four on both fingers, the ones on his middle and ring fingers sporting a silhouette of All Might's head, but none on his thumbs, something that is consistent throughout all his costume changes.
Before revealing his identity to the citizens of Japan after changing his looks, Dark Might wore a metal mask with leather straps that pinned down his hair tufts and concealed most of his face. When he first introduced himself publicly, he was wearing a royal blue cape with a crimson red inside.
His first costume was a dark blue bodysuit with red lines with a cape, and feathery red attachments scattered across. He also had a red star pattern adorned on the right side of his eye. He discarded it shortly after Katsuki insulted its design and Dark Might's behavior.
Later on, he wears a darker version of All Might's Silver Age costume. After absorbing more of Anna Scervino's Overmodification Quirk, he becomes way more muscular and taller, with his hair growing longer as well, and changes his Silver Age costume to All Might's "Golden Age" costume.
After Anna's Overmodification goes out of control, Dark Might's Golden Age costume transforms him into a giant and muscular monster that resembles the U.S.J Nomu. He has a skin of the same color scheme as his Golden Age costume, clawed feet with the color scheme of the boots, and spikes emulating All Might's hair tufts sprouting from the back and head. It also possesses no eyes, an enormous, pointed mouth, and severely overgrown muscles.
During the climax of his final fight between Deku, Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight, and Shoto, this form evolves further, causing the muscles in his upper body to swell to the point where they dwarf his entire lower half, his skin to change to red, and several muscular arms near his three smaller heads and a split mouth.
Personality#
In the past, Valdo was a ruthless mafia member who was always seen with a sullen and dim expression. Valdo greatly admired All Might's accomplishments and strength, believing that he used his power to make his ideals a reality. He was also incredibly power-hungry, which his father pointed out was his weakness, as he did not see that All Might's strength was not what defined him, but rather his heroic will to help other people, and that people don't look up to what they fear. Feeling as though he had what it takes to lead the Gollini Family and being insulted when his father said he would never be like All Might, Valdo shot his own father dead in his office and usurped control of his mafia family.
After becoming one of the most dangerous villains in Europe, and sometime after All Might defeated All For One in their second battle, Valdo became heavily fixated on All Might and decided to dedicate his new purpose to becoming the new All Might. He pursued this purpose to the extreme by mimicking everything about All Might: his facial features, mannerisms towards citizens, similarly designed costumes, owning framed pictures of All Might (even as Toshinori Yagi) from various angles and degrees in a single dark room, and watching his fight at the Nomu Factory numerous times.
Imitating All Might's hero persona, Dark Might portrays himself as a loud and flamboyant man, believing that strength and strength alone is required to become the next Symbol of Peace, and gladly shows off his power whenever given the opportunity. Despite mimicking All Might's personality, this doesn't include the hero's kind and selfless attitude, only having a few moments of fake and pretentious kindness, such as offering Deku a chocolate bar when first meeting him and acting gentlemanly around Anna. In truth, Dark Might is very condescending, referring to other heroes as "amateurs" while also being willing to involve innocent people in his schemes, kidnapping hundreds of civilians to turn into living weapons for his cause while labelling them as "specimens". This selfish and callous nature makes it clear that he admires All Might solely for his strength and power rather than his heroism. As a testament to his malevolent nature, Deku's Danger Sense immediately went into overdrive upon sensing Dark Might's malicious intent shortly after their first encounter, proving that he has no actual interest in heroism even though he takes heavy inspiration from All Might.
Dark Might has a large, yet fragile ego, his confident façade quickly slipping whenever someone doubts his capabilities or his motives. Even after being called out for his evil deeds by Deku and later All Might himself, he refused to waver, only reinforcing his aspiration to take All Might's place. After All Might saw through his heroic façade and realized that he only cares about looking powerful and furthering his own interests, Valdo chose to switch names from All Might to Dark Might, further showing his bloated arrogance in using his supposed idol's image as a motivator for his crimes.
Dark Might is highly narcissistic, proclaiming himself to be All Might's successor, despite having no real form of relation to him and leading a mafia family, being the very opposite of a hero. Even upon meeting the real All Might and being lambasted for his villainous aspirations, Dark Might continued his plans, saying that he would replace the retired hero and exceed him in forming a new future. Dark Might greatly enjoys fighting, often referring to it as "entertainment", whether he himself fights or simply watches someone else doing it, even claiming he welcomes any challenge his opponents may have for him. Despite his haughtiness, he can show respect to others if they manage to give him a good battle, as he praised Deku, Dynamight, and Shoto as exceptionally tough pupils of All Might, though he still taunted them for not managing to hurt him.
Dark Might is also an opportunist, quickly taking advantage of Japan's state of chaos to appear and proclaim himself as the country's new Symbol of Peace. His true goal is to expand the power and influence of his mafia family using his strength and resources. When the students of Class 1-A refused to submit to him as the country's new "hero", Dark Might shifted his plan to use his fortress, dubbed the Symbol of Paradise, to destroy U.A. High School and all the heroes and civilians within, believing that with All Might's alma mater destroyed, everyone in the country will be forced to rely on him.
Dark Might holds his family's reputation in high regard and as such he has little tolerance for failure, going as far as threaten his own family members not to fail and even disposing of them for their repeated failure, as seen with both Paulo and Simon. However, he does show leniency towards Deborah despite her inability to defeat Deku and Giulio Gandini, although this is presumably only because her Day Dream Quirk was needed to keep Anna under control. After finding out that All Might himself already chose a successor, Dark Might became very interested in testing the students of Class 1-A, eager to try and find out who All Might's true successor is and see whether or not they can truly be called heroes. He even goes as far as to psychologically attack and torment them for their huge admiration for All Might, especially Deku, Dynamight, and Shoto, all of whom greatly admire All Might and were enraged at him for twisting their idol's image into that of a power-hungry villain.
Dark Might takes much pride in his appearance, usually wearing a formal suit when not in combat and even becoming agitated when one of Deku's attacks formed a small cut on his face. This extends further to his surroundings as he used his Quirk to make his family's lair within their fortress resemble a fancy castle with statues of himself, demonstrating just how much he cares for his image.
For all his bravado, Dark Might is ultimately a coward who is desperately trying to cling on to All Might's powerful image. After taking enough damage, he panicked when his transmuted appearance slipped and revealed his true face, whimpering as he was defeated by Deku, Dynamight, and Shoto, who all saw him for the fraud and imposter that he really was. Even All Might himself was sickened to see his final message as a hero be twisted in such a horrible way, declaring that Dark Might was the very opposite of him. Moments before his initial defeat, Dark Might realized that his father was right all along; All Might's power was never what truly defined him, and he met his downfall by trying to make it so.
Despite remembering his father's words in a brief moment of acceptance, Dark Might quickly reverted back to his villainous self and fell into a maniacal state when Overmodification went into overdrive, transforming him into a gigantic monster. Even then, he still hungered for more power, claiming that he couldn't get enough of it while arrogantly saying that he would not just be the new Symbol of Peace, but also the new world, showing that at heart, Dark Might is an utter megalomaniac who desires the power to triumph above all.
Abilities#
Overall Abilities: Dark Might is an extremely powerful and accomplished villain. While he rarely goes on the frontal attack due to the limitations of his Quirk, he was able to swiftly defeat a modified Ginji Kurau by launching a single glowing fist from his Quirk, the effect of which caused a powerful shockwave. When he comes in contact with Anna's Quirk, Overmodification, which modifies and enhances the Quirk Factors of any compatible Quirk she comes into contact with, Dark Might's powers and abilities were boosted dramatically, to the point where he claimed that he had surpassed All Might in his prime. During the first public display of his power, Dark Might was able to use his boosted Quirk to transmute countless gold coins and parts of a destroyed city into his own personalized fortress named the Symbol of Paradise, which housed a plethora of different locations that he was able to modify at will. Moreover, using his Quirk at such a large scale created a massive moving light that absorbed everything in its vicinity, allowing Dark Might to abduct many civilians and the hero students of Class 1-A. In combat, he was easily able to overpower Deku, one of U.A. High School's strongest heroes in training, and Giulio, a former soldier and expert combatant.
As noted by Deku, Dark Might's Alchemy gave him the illusion of having multiple Quirks at once, making him an unpredictable opponent who could easily catch his enemies off-guard with surprise attacks and traps. He used the various applications of Alchemy to hurl glowing projectiles, weaponize stone pillars, and protect himself with shields that could withstand heavy attacks and even multiple point-blank bullets to the chest. Thanks to his Quirk allowing him to manipulate the environment within his fortress, Dark Might could easily defend himself while attacking, as seen when he summoned a mound of earth to block a shock bullet from Giulio's revolver. However, Dark Might's constructs weren't as powerful as they made out to be and could be destroyed with enough high-powered attacks. His Quirk's flashy capabilities only served to mimic All Might's immense strength.
At first glance, Dark Might's fighting style is similar to All Might's, with both of them using their massive power to dominate their opponents. However, while All Might mainly fights in close combat or uses the wind pressure from his attacks to knock his enemies off guard, Dark Might instead uses ranged attacks to keep his foes at bay as he continues his assault from a distance. Despite this, he does show to be very capable in close combat, easily disarming and beating down Giulio, kicking the latter hard enough that he vomited and nearly succeeding in killing him before Deku saved him.
As Dark Might's strength evolved even further thanks to Anna's Overmodification, his appearance transformed into that of a larger and bulkier version of All Might in his Golden Age costume. After receiving multiple consecutive modifications from Anna, Dark Might's strength continued to increase, turning him into a monstrous abomination that could move at blinding speeds and unleash devastating attacks, taking the combined efforts of Deku, Dynamight, and Shoto to finally defeat him.
Keen Intellect: Dark Might has proven to be exceptionally intelligent, possessing keen observational and analytical skills as well as a sharp intuition. Because of Dark Might's obsession with All Might, he goes to many lengths to model his entire existence to become like the hero, most notably using his Quirk to replicate his unstoppable power and strength. He extensively studied all of All Might's Ultimate Moves from his "Young Age" to his "Golden Age", including the United States of Smash during his second battle with All For One. He even understood All Might's true intuitions and uses his Quirk to mimic the same moves in his own style. Furthermore, when Deku used Smokescreen at Full Blast and saw Giulio running in the mist, Dark Might quickly realized that Deku planned to attack him from behind and immediately staged a counter attack.
Dark Might was also adept at using psychological warfare. He noted the huge admiration from Class 1-A's strongest fighters, Deku, Dynamight, and Shoto, for All Might during their final battle, using their admiration against them to psychologically attack and wound their emotions, even mocking All Might to get them riled up and causing them to temporarily drop their guard.
Leadership Skills: Being the head of the infamous Gollini Family, Dark Might held complete control over his mafia group consisting of thousands of members, and had the ability to punish or threaten anyone who failed him. Upon usurping control of the mafia family, Dark Might led the Gollinis to become the most feared crime syndicate in all of Europe, becoming such a dangerous threat that even Hawks, Japan's No. 2 Pro Hero, recognized them based on their profiles and said that they were in for big trouble once they appeared in Japan. Dark Might's subordinates followed his orders without question, and when he confronted Paulo Gollini for his repeated failures, the latter started sweating and panicking in fear of facing his boss' wrath.
Great Dexterity: Dark Might has shown to be very talented at sleight of hand, first seen when he summoned a chocolate bar to offer to Deku before making it vanish instantly. He does the same with his coins, able to make countless coins appear from his sleeves in order to activate his Quirk.
Quirk#
Alchemy: Dark Might's Quirk allows him to transmute the matter of any non-living thing he touches. He can create fully functioning objects, buildings, weapons, and can even modify his appearance. Alchemy is also capable of changing the state of matter of an object completely into forms like glowing energy. Transformed objects can still be actively changed if Dark Might maintains contact with it, allowing him to create things like pitfalls and secret doors for him and others to access that can disappear without a trace. He can also do this to reverse and repair any damage his creations sustain if he wishes. However, it cannot affect living matter, and his constructs will also disappear if he is rendered unconscious.
Dark Might primarily uses his Quirk to generate a bodysuit that makes him resemble a young All Might in his prime. When Alchemy is boosted by Overmodification, its range expands significantly, allowing Dark Might to activate his Quirk without using his hands and create much larger and more complex structures and modifications. When applied to his disguise, this allows Dark Might to utilize variations of All Might's strongest Ultimate Moves, giving him a rapid flurry of powerful punches that rival those of All Might. However, he isn't able to actually mimic All Might's physical strength, which is likely the reason why he adopts a long range fighting style.
When Dark Might is momentarily knocked out by Deku, Overmodification goes out of control, greatly boosting Alchemy to the point where Dark Might was able to transform his bodysuit into a gigantic monster form, which was strong enough to leap high in the air, shatter large blocks of ice generated by Shoto and withstand a Howitzer Impact from Dynamight. After receiving a second dose of Overmodification, this monster form evolved to grow two more heads and several deformed arms around its body, and could create powerful shockwaves. Though Dark Might's monster form was capable of withstanding individual attacks from Shoto and Dynamight, it began to take damage when the two teamed up to take it down, and it was eventually destroyed by Deku using One For All.
Ultimate Moves#
- Bologna Smash: Dark Might twirls his arm around before delivering a glowing fist straight into his opponent, using the impact to launch them away.
- Torino Smash: Dark Might generates a glowing fist before directly striking his opponent, turning the punch into a projectile to send his opponent flying.
Equipment#
Handgun: Prior to modelling his appearance after All Might, Valdo carried a handgun with him, which he used to shoot his father dead in his own office.
Coins: Dark Might carries a surplus of gold coins, which is his preferred object to transform using Alchemy. He frequently throws them around after his Quirk takes effect on them, both to flaunt himself to others and to expand the effect range of his abilities.
Battles & Events#
My Hero Academia: You're Next Gollini Invasion Dark Might vs. Ginji Deku, Dynamight, Shoto & Giulio vs. Dark Might Deku, Dynamight & Shoto vs. Dark Might: Rematch
Trivia#
- Both Dark Might's Japanese and English voice actors, Kenta Miyake and Christopher Sabat, also voice All Might.
- He, All Might, and Cow Lady, also share the same birthday.
- While All Might's signature moves are named after states in America, Dark Might's moves are named after cities in Italy.
- As an evil counterpart to All Might, Dark Might possesses similarities to the DC supervillains Bizarro and Ultraman, the latter of which was also a mafia boss in one iteration.
- Dark Might also shares similarities to the One Piece character Gild Tesoro, with both being movie original villains with similar powers, interests in entertainment, and having grand transformations.
- Dark Might is very similar to Homelander from the comic and TV series The Boys. Both characters are extremely powerful and psychopathic man-children with blond hair who masquerade as famous heroes (with Dark Might imitating All Might, and Homelander being an evil parody of Superman) and believe that because of their strength, the entire world should bend to their will and worship them.
- Dark Might's Alchemy Quirk, set of seven followers who resemble the Seven Deadly Sins, being an evil doppelganger of a heroic character, and opposition to a hero with two cybernetic limbs all resemble Father from the Fullmetal Alchemist series, which was also animated by Studio Bones.
- Valdo is the first movie original villain to have the following traits:
- He is the only movie original villain to use Ultimate Moves.
- He is the only main movie villain to have his real name known, unlike Wolfram, Nine, and Flect Turn, who were only known by their Villain names.
- He is the only main movie antagonist to be fought inside of mainland Japan, whereas all the others were fought outside the mainland, Wolfram on I-Island, Nine on Nabu Island, and Flect Turn in Otheon in Europe.
- Valdo Gollini shares many similarities with Kai Chisaki:
- Both have a Quirk that allows them to modify matter by touching it with their hands, although Valdo's Alchemy doesn't directly destroy things and can make much more complex structures in comparison to Kai's Overhaul. Alchemy also can't be directly used on living beings, unlike Overhaul.
- They are leaders in organized crime and became such by disabling the previous leaders through lethal force. Both of their victims were also their fathers (or father figure in Kai's case). However, while Kai genuinely cared about his Boss and only put him into a coma, intending to revive him once his plans were complete, Valdo ended up killing his father in a fit of rage.
- Both individuals had constructed a massive hideout as their headquarters supposedly though the usage of their respective Quirks, with Overhaul creating a massive network of underground tunnels and passages, and Valdo constructing a massive flying fortress that allowed him to transport his entire gang all the way from Europe to Japan.
- Both abandoned their own names upon taking up their Villain names and order their henchmen to address them as such.
- Both orchestrated the trafficking of a girl with an incredibly unique and powerful Quirk, Anna for Dark Might and Eri for Overhaul, in order to use them to further their goals and increase the strength of their crime syndicate's influence.
- Both act superficially polite and civil but are truly ruthless villains who have no qualm with endangering or killing others, including their own henchmen should they fail them.
- Their plans were primarily intervened by a young man who swore to do everything to rescue and protect the girl their respective Villains captured: Giulio for Anna, and Lemillion for Eri. Both were also heavily assisted by Deku, who shared a similar passion to save them.
- The climax of their storylines involved both of them transforming into a monstrous version of themselves using their Quirks, which later evolved into a more powerful and gigantic form, with Dark Might subconsciously transforming due to Overmodification going out of control, and Overhaul fusing himself with Shin Nemoto and later Rikiya Katsukame achieve his respective form.
- Their final, physical defeats came at the hands of Deku, by means of grossly overpowering their new form.
- Both were permanently knocked out of commission for the remainder of the story after their final defeats, with Kai losing both of his forearms and being reduced to a shell of his former self mentally, and Valdo's fate being left unknown.
Quotes#
- (To Deku after the latter called him a fraud) "Not impressed? Well keep your eyes open. As soon as you get a glimpse of what I can do you'll be eating your words kid!"
- (To All Might after being called out for his villainy) "Wow! I didn't expect to be called out. Well then, I suppose instead of All Might I should be called Dark Might. Yes, that's good! Got a certain panache to it! All hail Dark Might!"
- (To Paulo shortly before disposing of him) "I believed in you. That's why I gave you so many opportunities to prove yourself a worthy comrade. But tell me Paulo, what have you given me in return? Utter laziness! Sloth! That's a deadly sin! I won't let any more bumbling idiots disgrace the Gollini Family name! We must be infallible like All Might was when he fought in his prime."
- "Hm... Granting mercy to one who's wronged me would be a way to demonstrate peace... I'll be sure to remember that if our paths ever cross in your next life!"
- (After noticing Deku grazed his cheek) "How dare he put a mark on this flawless face. That boy is in need of a strict re-education."
- (About All Might before mobilizing his fortress to destroy U.A. High School) "Full of indomitable spirit even in retirement. It's commendable. But he's an ordinary man now, devoid of the power to make a real difference in the world. Careful youngsters, you must be open to change. Today you'll realize my predecessor is dead. A memory. If you want to survive the coming days, you'll have to pledge your loyalty to a new master."
- (To Giulio before attempting to kill him) "You're starting to get on my nerves! I'm having a heart to heart with a youngster who still has a future. This is what you get for interfering! I'll make an example of you! Die nobody!"
- (After turning into a monster) "I am the new symbol! No, not just that. I am the new world!"