Kicking off our list is Bang, also known as Silver Fang, one of the S-class heroes top 3! He may be old, but thanks to his lifelong dedication to the martial arts, he is still in top shape to be one of the best. You know Bruce Lee’s saying of how water can flow or crash? Bang pretty much personifies that since the name of his fighting style is the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist. Along with Saitama, he’s one of the few heroes that can defeat a dragon class villain with ease which is enough to say that he’s one of the strongest as he was the one who finally had to intervene and put Garou out of commission. Thanks to his age and experience, he contributes a lot of wisdom to this installment.

At number 9 is Bomb, who happens to be the older brother of Bang. Being the older brother, it is obvious to conclude he is a senior citizen, but still in enough shape to go out there and kick some ass with some Kung Fu fighting. However, what makes him different from Bang is that as opposed to being like water with his fighting style, he prefers to be like the wind. And like Bang and Saitama, he is also capable of taking out Garou and/or other dragon class villains.

On the outside, Metal Bat looks like your typical teenage delinquent you would see in a 1980s anime/manga. However, he happens to be an S-class hero whose gimmick is dressing him up in such a style with his baggy clothes, donning a pompadour, and carrying a metal bat, hence his namesake. He’s an act first, never think kind of guy due to the nature of his get up. Like Saitama, he’s not trained and just goes at it and can go toe-to-toe against demon and dragon class villains, and his swing is the equivalent to that of a prime Mark McGuire, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco and Sammy Sosa all put together (on steroids). And the more he’s pumped up for a fight, the stronger he becomes! So when you look at him, don’t be quick to judge since he’s a tough punk, but he’s a tough punk that’s on our side!

If looks could be deceiving, then Watchdog Man is the perfect example of that cliché. He looks like an ordinary guy cosplaying that he’s Hachiko, the dog who has a statue outside Shibuya Station in Tokyo, but he’s actually an S-class hero! If the man behind the costume was a method actor, then he’s certainly dedicated to his craft with how he presents himself as a dog in every sense of the word. As to what qualifies him to making this list, he’s actually one of the first heroes in the second season to go toe-to-toe against Garou, and give him a run for his money! He combats Garou in a way where he goes as far as emulating a dog’s movement (let’s call it the dog style of Kung Fu!) in order to throw Garou off balance mentally and gain the upper hand. The fact that he could go against Garou, who was taking out A-class and some S-class villains shows he’s of great strength.

Gouketsu is another main villain in the season 2 as it pertains to the tournament. His goal was to take the best fighters, and make them into monsters like him. While his backstory establishes him as someone who was already a strong martial artist, his presence in the now of season 2 shows how powerful he becomes when his monster form allows him to take on the tournament’s best competitors with ease. While we’ll never know how a fight between Suiryu and Gouketsu in his true human form can go, he takes out Suiryu, the heavy favorite like he’s a white belt. Of course, all of that changes when Saitama saves the day, but that’s not something we’re going to get into. The fact that he can take out the best of the best when it comes to martial artists as a monster should be enough to demonstrate how strong he is.

Genos, Saitama’s self-appointed disciple, is another strong character for enhanced reasons. He’s the ultimate cybernetic experiment and whenever he’s damaged, he comes back stronger than ever. Not only does it make him physically strong, but extremely fast and packed with crazy fire power that would make any nation’s military jealous! Thanks to having features that can emit energy blasts. He contributes a lot to many of the battles of this season, and is capable of any other S-class since he’s the ideal in cybernetic technology.

The fact that he wants to always do the right thing also makes him strong, and he wants to become better, which is why he seeks Saitama’s guidance. Unlike the rest of the Hero Association who see Saitama as a nobody, he recognizes Saitama for who he is and encourages him to be more assertive, but eventually comes to terms with Saitama refusing to be part of a system. Eventually, it’s his content to allow people to be themselves is what makes Genos further develop as a character.

Returning from our weirdest characters list is Puri-Puri Prisoner. Despite his gimmick of being a prisoner, he’s actually an S-class hero! As we shared in that list, he’s the guy who probably don’t want to be locked in a cell with, but that’s a different topic for a different article. He has tremendous physical strength as he can break through inches of steel, and defeat monsters with bear hugs like he’s Brock Lesnar when he defeated Hulk Hogan with one. Not only does he have natural muscles, he can also transform to make his muscles even bigger to a point that we already shared in the weirdest characters list. However, not only does he have tremendous strength, he can also take heavy damage, run at great speeds, and killer stamina that allows him to last on land and in water. Despite his supposed criminal past, we give it to him for wanting to redeem himself as a hero, and that’s what makes him strong.

Tatsumaki, or the Tornado of Terror, is ranked number 2 on the S-class hero list and for good reason. While her strengths aren’t physical in nature, but they are in the supernatural, which is where her namesake comes in. She may look like a little girl, but considering the nature of her powers, it would be wise to not underestimate her (and also adding to the truth she’s pushing 30). Her namesake is just the tip of the iceberg since the basis of her powers are entirely psychic and telekinetic in nature pretty much making her One Punch Man’s version of Professor X. So thanks to her presence, we can learn that there are characters who can be strong in a supernatural sense, and at times, that can be much more powerful than physical strength.

At a far distant second, we have to put in one of the co-lead villains of season 2, Garou, a martial arts master. When you take into consideration the nature of his character, he’s more of an anti-villain as opposed to your typical megalomaniacal one who is hell bent on world domination. Instead, he wants to prove that he’s the best, and the series does a great job of showing why he doesn’t have a positive view of heroes. As to why he’s an anti-villain, he doesn’t want to kill his opponents, and is willing to go out of his way to make sure no innocent lives, especially children, get caught in the crossfire.

In addition to his (emphatically) moral character, the reason why he’s strong is that he challenges a good number of S class heroes throughout the duration of the series. Some give him a tough fight, but in most of the fights, he comes out on top. Even when he’s severely injured after being clobbered by Saitama, he can still take on give or take 5 (lower ranked) heroes by himself. Like Saitama, he trained his body hard to make it a lean mean fighting machine,but nowhere near his one punch power results. In the end, he may be bad, but he’s bad for good reasons.

Now the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Anyone can say that Saitama is the strongest and there’s really no further explanation as to why. Everybody and their mother already knows why. We’ve already covered that on our list of most overpowered characters and the title of “One Punch Man” itself is pretty much an explanation as to why. However, we don’t want to talk about what makes her physically strong, but how he’s strong in character. By reasons of tabula rasa, there’s really no reason to further develop his character, and audiences are ok the way he is. However, the series does go out of his way to give him some direction by having him enter a martial arts tournament disguised as Charanko, his acquaintance. Yes, he can win by taking out every contestant in a single punch but he does it to get a better first hand understanding of the martial arts.

The fact that despite his strength, he’s still willing to learn something new shows that he is still capable of being developmental in a spiritual sense as opposed to a physical one. Granted he gains nothing from it, but Saitama’s greatest strength is not just how he can take out villains in a single blow, but how he contributes to the development of those around him. When he sees someone discouraged, he’s willing to cheer them up and encourages them to never give up. The fact that he goes out of his way to help others morally and physically is what makes him the strongest.