Since their appearance Nomu has always been a troublesome menace to our heroes in the My Hero Academia universe. One of them drove All Might to use more than his 100% and another was sentient and smart enough that it drove Endeavour in a corner. So they are not beings to be taken lightly.

That leads us to the question;

What is Nomu?

On the surface, Nomu are artificially created humans that were manufactured by All For One and Dr. Guraki in order to take down the former number one hero All Might.

What does Nomu mean in My Hero Academia though?

The name Nomu literally means no-brain when translated from the Japanese kanji. It implies that they were created simply to follow orders without giving it any thought. However, as the series progressed, Nomus and their objectives have evolved.

With the recent developments in the latest chapter of the manga it was revealed what are Nomu inspired from. It was Gigantomachia. They were built with the intention of creating multiple beings similar to him. One Gigantomachia has leveled cities after cities just by running through them. Imagine a horde of such beings. With them the liberation army would be impossible to stop.

Although the Nomu are inspired from Gigantomachia, they have varying quirks. They may or may not belong to the body used to create them. They also have various tiers in them.

Low Tier Nomu:

They serve as foot soldiers. They have zero brain function and operate only on voice command. They have light pale skin and may possess more than one quirk along with super strength. These type may be too much for normal heroes.

Middle Tier Nomu:

A slightly stronger version than low tier ones. They have a varying colouration on their skin which distinguishes them from the low tier one.

Upper Tier Nomu:

They are a lot stronger than the its lower counterparts. They have super regeneration and super strength. The Nomu which attacked USJ was of this tier. They have black skin which is very tough. It makes their durability extremely high.

High end Nomu:

These are totally different types of Nomu and are in a league of their own. They can hold upto six or not quirks in them. Along with the super strength and regeneration abilities far surpassing their lower counterparts. Not to forget that they are extremely smart and can think counter measures mid battle to fight Pro Heroes.

The Nomu that attacked Endeavour was a high end Nomu. During that fight the Nomu was able to deduce weakness of the elder Todoroki. In the manga, the female high end Nomu noticed Aizawa’s quirk and its working. After which she kept on fighting without coming into his line of sight.

The teleporting villain Kurogiri is also a high end Nomu.

Can Nomu be created without All For One?

Although creating high end Nomu without the help of AFO is extremely difficult and time consuming. The doctor, Garaki, has somehow managed to create them.

Earlier, all Nomu were granted quirks by AFO. But as time progressed Dr. Garaki made scientific progress and was able to transfer quirks without AFO. Though he still remained extremely loyal to AFO.

The creation of Nomu may seem a little useless for a person like AFO. With his quirk he can take and use any quirk that goes against him. He can easily win any fight for himself without having to worry about anything.

There has to be a twist and a turning point in the story. We don’t know yet what is AFO planning. And in all this the doctor stands tall with him. The doctor’s loyalty is such great towards AFO that his heart didn’t waver even while experimenting on little children and people who are alive.

Why do you think All For One created the Nomus? Will the Nomus eventually overpowe the heroes? Let us know in the comments.