What did you want to happen to the villains in the end?
Hmm - its a really good question anon. There's an answer for what I, as a fan, would personally want and a slightly different answer for what would be narratively satisfying and a third answer for what makes 'sense' for the character as they are written which may or may not incorporate facets of the other two categories.
In terms of a simple answer, I wanted them all to live. Redemption in death is meaningless to me. Redemption in life - having to live with your own pain and pain you've caused others and grow through it - is much more powerful. I wanted them to live with their mistakes. I wanted them to find out they're loved anyway.
With that caveat, the ending Horikoshi wrote (mostly) makes sense. There are even aspects of each death that I liked. I'll talk about the villain trio here because they're the most narratively intertwined.
Touya Todoroki/Dabi - of the three, his death makes the most sense and is overall narratively satisfying; in part, because I think Dabi did not want or intend to survive. A part of me feels that him surviving for a brief period after the fight - unable to move and barely able to speak, dying but forced to listen to his family apologize and weep and throw themselves at his feet - is incredibly cruel. I think he and Endeavor should have burned up together. I think Endeavor should have made that ultimate sacrifice; both as a father and as a Hero. To die for his son and with his son so he's never alone again, to give Touya that closure, to protect his remaining family, and to save the world. A final scene where Endeavor is screaming to him that he'll never leave him alone again and Touya slowly hugging him back as they both burn to cinders? Oh. The Cinema. I would be inconsolable.
Himiko Toga - out of the three, I find her death the most egregious and least narratively satisfying. While one can argue that both Dabi and Shigaraki were too warped by revenge and were self-destructive to the point of suicide for their mission, Himiko was not. Himiko was driven by the need to be loved, to be understood as she is. She was failed by society as a whole - and of the three, the one who stands to benefit the most from it changing. Of the three, SHE should have been the one to live. To see the world change because of what the League accomplished. To know that, even if they died, their dream to create a world in which people like her could live is realized. I like that she died as she 'wanted,' i.e. using her Ability not to hurt someone but to save someone she loves and that moment should stay, because its beautiful. However. She should have survived. I think what makes the most narrative sense is her 'disappearing,' but us having strong implication that somewhere, Himiko Toga is still alive. If the original ending was supposed to be 'Uraraka sometimes leaves blood in the forest and when she comes back, its gone' that would have been. Amazing.
And, honestly? Of the three, I think she'd be the most okay in prison. I wouldn't mind Uraraka going to visit her, telling her about the world she's doing around Quirk counseling, making Himiko's eyes shine because everything really is going to get better. Maybe not for her, but for someone like her. Somewhere, out there, in another life.
Tenko Shimura/Tomura Shigaraki - this one hurts the most for me. His death makes sense but I find it extremely narratively unsatisfying. This in part is due to the many instances of foreshadowing Horikoshi himself.
Tomura exists as a direct narrative contrast to Izuku Midoriya. Their stories are extremely intertwined; I cannot speak of one journey without noting the other. What can I say that doesn't hinge on Izuku seeing the scared person hiding deep within the monster and wanting to save him? What can I say except that, deep within, Tenko had been waiting for a hero to reach him? What can I say when people told him time and time again that 'some people can only be saved in death' and Izuku couldn't look at them?
What can I say when Izuku's hero journey hinges on the fact that heroes and villains are not that different - that people deserve forgiveness, that circumstances can make good people do bad things, that nothing is as black and white as he once believed?
And there are aspects of his death that make sense, both in the story and for his character. Tomura Shigaraki, controlled from the moment of his birth, uses the last of his strength to destroy the puppetmaster and to die on his own terms. Tomura, through his final actions, became a 'hero' to the villains, never allowing his ideals to falter. Tomura Shigaraki stays with Izuku as the person he desperately wanted to but could not save - an endless shadow goading him on, telling him to change the world the way that he promised.
I think Izuku should have saved him. I think when he reached out to him within that mindspace, when someone held Tenko's hand and protected him for the first time, something should have changed. He should have changed.
I think they both should have ended up Quirkless. I think he could have visited Shigaraki across that window in Tartarus much the same way as All for One and All Might had before, but as equals. I think Tomura Shigaraki should get to know that he truly became a Hero to the Villains. That the part of him that wanted to save others never really died. That, despite All for One's best efforts, at his core, he is and always will be Tenko Shimura.
