Warning: The following article contains spoilers for My Hero Academia‘s sixth season and chapter 282 of the manga.

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My Hero Academia‘s heroes cannot catch a break. Now facing humanity’s biggest threat thus far, the heroes are all that stand in the way of total destruction at Shigaraki’s hands. Some are in more danger than others, though.

Episode eight of My Hero Academia‘s sixth season ends with a huge cliffhanger, where during an intense battle Shigaraki manages to fire a Quirk-erasing bullet, effectively hitting his target, Aizawa. As we know, the U.A. High School teacher is the only person capable of keeping Shigaraki in check by nullifying his Quirks while keeping his eyes on him. Therefore, Aizawa is the villain‘s biggest obstacle and the ultimate threat to his goal of destroying the world.

Though Shigaraki isn’t helpless without being able to activate his Quirks — he maintains incredible strength, speed, and durability — Aizawa gives the struggling heroes a much better winning chance. It stands to reason, then, for Shigaraki to prioritize taking the teacher out of the equation.

As established, the Quirk-erasing bullets have been enhanced by the villains, and are now capable of completely destroying someone’s Quirk. The first instance where this happened was during the Shie Hassaikai Arc when Mirio was left permanently Quirkless after being hit with a bullet. Because of this, the danger of Aizawa losing his Quirk is very much real. But does he? Warning: spoilers to follow.

Is Aizawa’s Quirk gone?

By itself, a bullet cannot destroy a Quirk; the drug inside it is what matters, and the bullet is simply the mean for it to enter the target’s body. Hence, there is a time window between the bullet hitting and the drug spreading throughout the body. This means that in order for the Quirk to remain intact, the bullet’s content must be quickly removed from the system, but since that’s very hard to achieve in battle, there is one other way: amputation.

After being hit on the right calf with Shigaraki’s bullet, Aizawa promptly makes the tough decision of cutting off half his leg. By doing so, the hero does not allow the drug to spread, and his Quirk is not affected by it. Thankfully, Aizawa had been previously warned about the bullet by Ryukyu, which gave him enough time to mentally prepare for the gruesome act. Handling the situation with immense rationality, the hero swiftly grabs his knife and cuts through his own flesh.

Unfortunately, the bullet is not the only trick up Shigaraki’s sleeve. In another desperate attempt to eliminate Erasure, the villain digs his hand into Aizawa’s face, inflicting damage on one of his eyes. After that, the teacher can no longer keep his eyes open, and Shigaraki is free to use his Quirks once more. Despite the wound to his right eye, this is also not enough to make Aizawa lose his Quirk permanently.

My Hero Academia is available for streaming on Crunchyroll, Disney Plus, and Hulu.