Top 10 Strongest One Punch Man Manga Characters

In a show heavily inspired by shounen series throughout the history of the genre, it isn’t hard to see why we’d have the inevitable debate about who is the strongest character in the series. One Punch Man’s premise makes this debate particularly interesting since the leading character is renowned for being able to defeat all adversaries with a single punch. However, the series has also been clever in introducing a ridiculous number of characters but keeping select few away from each other to build up a discussion as to who is genuinely the strongest.

In the One Punch Man manga, we’ve been introduced to the Hero Association consisting of S-Class heroes, some of which we haven’t seen in action, and we’ve learned about the Monster Association and are seeing new and powerful monsters with each chapter that’s released. It’s worth noting that we’re only including the content released from the manga and not the webcomic. Suffice to say, Honey’s Anime had many characters to choose from and a lot of ambiguity to sift through to get our answers, but we think we’ve found the Top 10 Strongest One Punch Man Manga Characters to end all debates (at least until the next powerful foes debut).


10. Overgrown Rover

There are countless heroes, villains, and monsters you might suggest belong on this list over Rover, but this loyal dog-monster has proven to be more durable than most characters in this series. He has two fatal weaknesses: he obeys commands from friend and foe alike and he will attack friend and foe alike.

Aside from these weaknesses, Rover has gone toe to toe with Garou and that was just about all we needed to really take in his power. Having seen Garou face off with S-Class heroes and Dragon-level monsters, it was a clear demonstration of Rover’s strength and durability to see him basically shrug off all of Garou’s offense. Alas, the last we see of Rover is him taking a punch from Saitama. Although he does go flying off, it’s worth noting that he doesn’t get completely vaporized the way most of Saitama’s victims end up. We have a feeling that we haven’t seen the last of Rover.


9. Atomic Samurai

The fourth-ranked S-Class Hero falls all the way down to #9 on our list. He shouldn’t take that as an insult because those above him are simply on another level. Atomic Samurai is the world’s greatest swordsman and near superhuman in his swordsmanship. His ability to draw and strike is at such speeds that even opponents whose entire skill set revolves around speed would not be able to avoid his lethal slashes.

Furthermore, his swordsmanship reaches superhuman levels in terms of what he’s able to cut. It may be boasting, but Atomic Samurai has not yet found something he wasn’t able to cut through. Although he falls low on our list, we’re curious to see how he would fare against some of the heroes higher up. Sure, there are some against whom he’d be obviously at a disadvantage, but a fight between him and Saitama would certainly warrant some interest.


8. Bang & Bomb

We’re going to cheat for this one and have the brothers Bang & Bomb come in at #8. The third-ranked S-Class Hero, Bang, and his brother come in right after Atomic Samurai. Swapping swordsmanship for martial arts, they are arguably the most skilled technical fighters in the world of One Punch Man. Bang is past his prime but has managed to destroy meteorites and eliminate Dragon-level monsters without much struggle.

Bomb has been cited by the manga artist as being even stronger than Bang, but we haven’t seen outright evidence of that yet, so we’ll keep them at the same spot. Despite these two being over the hill, we’ve no doubt that Bang & Bomb could give anyone, including the top heroes on this list, a run for their money.


7. Elder Centipede

Elder Centipede is nearly the length of a city and deserved to be mentioned on this list for one simple reason: it took a Serious Punch from Saitama for him to die. Few get the recognition of necessitating a Serious Punch to be defeated, and so Elder Centipede immediately deserved a spot on our list.

He also sits right above Bang & Bomb because it’s worth noting that despite great efforts on their part, they couldn’t leave much of a dent in him. Both Phoenix Man and Gyoro Gyoro were confident that Bang & Bomb wouldn’t be able to handle Elder Centipede. Although monsters have been known to underestimate our favorite heroes, they may have been right in this particular case.


6. Garou

Funnily enough, if this list came out a couple of months from now, Garou may very well be much higher on this list. The protégé of Bang, Garou appears to be a combination of the world’s greatest monsters and the world’s greatest heroes in terms of sheer power, durability, and ferocity. Garou has defeated hundreds of heroes and monsters including S-Rank level opponents.

However, he also highlights how tough it is to make these lists because he’s shown himself to be weaker against enemies like Watchdog Man who have extremely unique fighting styles. Still, considering Garou has faced off against Bang & Orochi and lived to tell the tale, walked away from strikes by Saitama, and went toe to toe with the ultimate monster Orochi, all while half-dead, we’re willing to put him in at 6.



5. Tatsumaki

Tatsumaki differs heavily from everyone else on this list in that her abilities tend to not show up in hand-to-hand physical combat. The second-ranked S-Class hero, Tatsumaki is an incredibly powerful esper capable of leveling entire cities with her psychokinetic abilities.

This makes Tatsumaki an interesting person to list here because we haven’t seen her face off against one of the characters we’ve ranked above her in a fight. Due to her vastly different fighting styles, it seems very situation-based as to who would win in a fight between her and those ranking above her on the list. In that sense, the same could very much be said about some of the characters that fall below her.


4. Orochi

Also known as the Monster King, Orochi is arguably the most powerful monster in the world. Orochi still hasn’t been able to show the full extent of his power and could very well have made it a step above on this list in a couple of months’ time now that he’s finally having a showdown with Saitama.

However, we’ve already had good hints at how powerful Orochi is. The best demonstration is how easily he was able to dispose of Garou while facing him and how quickly he was able to adapt to Garou’s fighting style. We’d be interested in having Orochi spar with Garou, Bang, and Bomb ahead of his fight with Saitama to see how our hero would fare against a world class martial artist in the body of a near-God level monster.


3. Boros

The first major antagonist of One Punch Man keeps a high spot on our list at #3. Boros was a being so powerful that he’d become bored of his existence and traveled to Earth solely to face someone worthy of his strength. Boros earned instant recognition in One Punch Man lore by being able to survive not only one normal punch from Saitama but three of them, and he had to ultimately be hit with a Serious Punch to be defeated. In the world of One Punch Man, the best way to stand out is to be compared to Saitama and that’s why Boros ranks the highest of nearly every other character; he’s survived the longest against our protagonist.


2. Blast

The first-ranked S-Class hero comes in at #2 off the back of an incredible reputation. Barring the possibility that Blast is coasting through on reputation alone like King, he deserves to be this high on the list. We know that Blast is regarded as stronger than even Tatsumaki, so that deserves some acknowledgment alone. We’ve also seen that he was able to deal with Elder Centipede when no one short of Saitama was able to do it in the present.

Furthermore, he’s regarded by all as the final solution to any threat to humanity and the Earth. Unfortunately, Blast also follows in a long line of mysterious supremely powerful shounen heroes who appear hundreds of chapters into a series, and we still haven’t seen what he can actually do. If there’s anyone who might deserve to pass Saitama, it could very well be Blast and we’re looking forward to the day where these two meet.


1. Saitama

One Punch Man’s lead character predictably reaches the #1 spot on our list. While we’ve had a few survivors of the normal punch by now, no one has survived Saitama’s Serious Punch yet, so we’re willing to let him keep the title of One Punch Man. Saitama vanquished our #7 Elder Centipede and #3 Boros with just one of his Serious Punch while still waiting around to finally find the one opponent who will be able to make him even consider the possibility of a defeat.

He’s about to face the Monster King Orochi and Blast remains shrouded in mystery, so maybe Saitama might lose his #1 spot one day, but as far as we can see, he has this spot locked up for the foreseeable future.


Final Thoughts

One Punch Man has a hugely varied list of superpowered characters, and it’s incredibly fun to see who is strongest. We could easily debate how some people that aren’t on this list (like Watchdog Man) might be able to vanquish some that aren’t due to matching up well with them. The series does a great job of preventing it from being easy to tell who is stronger than the other, at least if your name isn’t Saitama. Do you think a hero, monster, or villain missed out on our list? Is there someone deserving to be higher? Let us know in the comments below.

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Writer

Author: Jonathan Tshinanu

Graduated from Carleton University in the capital of Canada with a degree in Film Studies and English, which basically sums me up real nice. I’m a sucker for a good story – written or visual – wherever I can find it, whether it’s in anime, video games, movies, books, albums or whatever else you can think of. If I’m not consuming, then I’m probably trying to make them myself.

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