Warning: contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Chapter 312!
It's a big deal when My Hero Academia unveils a character who possesses more than one quirk, as few can claim this honor, but that's somehow still not the most interesting thing about the manga's latest villain. She's a hero traitor, the assassin that All For One hired to capture Deku, and the former mentor of the number-two hero Hawks. Meet Lady Nagant.
To convey just how awesome Lady Nagant is, chapter 312's main story detailing how Izuku Midoriya, also known as Deku, tries to stay out of her crosshairs briefly cuts to a clip from a television show about some of the most notable current heroes. The main focus in this particular instance is an interview with a hero named Snipe, who says he would have been Japan's best long-distance sniper if it weren't for Lady Nagant.
Snipe's quirk might allow him to lock onto anyone he sees within a 600-meter range, but his projectiles don't pack much of a punch, and he can't control where they strike his target. Meanwhile, Lady Nagant's Rifle quirk, a rifle that grows out of her arm, can fire powerful, homing rapid shots at those she chooses and from a further distance of three kilometers. Incredibly, she didn't just surpass Snipe because her quirk works better than his, though it does. Lady Nagant can also make bullets out of her hair and mold them into different types of ammo, even bullets that curve through the air. Shockingly, even that is part of her Rifle quirk, which she pairs with a whole other ability.
Lady Nagant's second quirk isn't revealed until the very end of the chapter, when she recalls the moment she accepted the mission from All For One to hunt down Deku. Lady Nagant originally turned down his offer, but when All For One said that her dream of watching the Pro Hero Society fall would be impossible so long as the boy lived, she quickly changed her tune... and then flew away. Her second quirk is Air Walk, which is why she's known as a flying artillery battery.
Regardless of her innate skills, capturing Deku is turning out to be a much more difficult endeavor than Lady Nagant had originally anticipated. Not only is he the first prey who has successfully deflected two of her bullets, but Deku just did the unthinkable by heading straight for her instead of running away.
My Hero Academia has only revealed a handful of characters who possess more than one quirk, and the fact that the latest is currently hunting Deku makes her introduction all the more shocking. But what's truly compelling about Lady Nagant aren't her powers but her connection to the number-two Hawks, due to his turbulent past. Hawks' history is fraught with so many negative experiences with heroes that it's a miracle he became one without immediately defecting to join the ranks of villainhood. Hawks' father hated heroes and was later arrested by one, an incarceration that turned Hawks' already difficult life upside down. The fact that his mentor first betrayed and then began seeking ways to destroy the very organization he's dedicated his life towards only makes his commitment more fascinating. Earlier, it was believed that Hawks betrayed Japan's heroes when he had actually just been serving as a double agent, but his connection to Lady Nagant raises big questions about his future as a hero in My Hero Academia.