One-Punch Man has been referred to as one of the shows that make up the “Disney of the East”. If there is one thing the One-Punch Man show isn’t short of, it’s villains. Since enemies go down in a single punch, there needs to be plenty of them around to restock the forces of evil. These major villains go down as particularly notable and are ranked by their impact on the world.
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10 Crablante
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Despite his silly appearance, Crablante is a strong villain in One-Punch Man. He was the villain that inspired Saitama to start his journey as a hero, which automatically makes him one of the most influential villains in the series. Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be the influence that Crablante wanted. Crablante became a monster by being addicted to eating crabs. He ate too many crabs and thus had no choice but to become Crablante. Crablante recognized his own dead eyes in the office worker Saitama, initially prompting him to spare Saitama. Without Crablante challenging Saitama, many of the other villains on this list might have succeeded in their schemes.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
9 Vaccine Man
It is easy to miss how powerful Vaccine Man is since he appears at the show’s beginning. This is because we haven’t been introduced to how heroes are ranked. In the show’s intro, we see that Vaccine Man has easily defeated two A-rank heroes in a quick shot. Despite the fact that he is One-Punch Man’s first onscreen villain fight, he is much stronger than we would think. Born from the sludge of humans, he is mother nature’s apostle and likely would have done much damage to City Z if Saitama had not stepped in.
8 Mosquito Girl
Mosquito Girl was the first member of Dr. Genus’s “House of Evolution” that Saitama encountered. Saitama met Genos thanks to her attack. This set their partnership and friendship in motion which eventually led to the Saitama and Genos fight. Mosquito Girl was a powerful threat. She could contend with Genos easily and, after powering up, was strong enough to slash buildings apart. Like Crablante, her actions inadvertently caused a chain of events that led Saitama to join the hero organization and defeat even more villains. Her defeat would also cause Dr. Genus to send an attack squad after Saitama, ultimately causing his downfall.
7 Hammerhead
While many villains in One-Punch Man are played for laughs, Hammerhead’s story felt even more so. He tried to lead a worker’s revolt and was humiliated in ways that few other villains were. After failing his evil scheme, he was forced to flee naked. He was only spared being killed thanks to his abnormally thick skull. Hammerhead is the first villain that Saitama defeats that turns his ways around immediately. At the end of his episode, he applies for a job and continues to do good things throughout the series. His bald head and fighting style reminded Saitama of himself and caused Saitama to consider the possibility he could have become a villain if his life was different.
6 Dr. Genus
Dr. Genus was the leader of the “House of Evolution.” His talent and intelligence enabled him to create creatures that represented the best evolution had to offer. He also perfected cybernetics to the degree that Genos thought he could find the cyborg that killed his family. The House of Evolution was brought down in a hilariously anti-climatic way, forcing Dr. Genus to reevaluate his whole existence. After his encounter with Saitama, he and Armored Gorilla tried to live together in peace and use their abilities for the sake of good. Dr. Genus is responsible for Zombie Man, and his actions have far-reaching implications for the story.
5 Gouketsu
This giant martial artist was one of the most terrifying enemies that the forces of evil deployed. He was a martial expert who consumed monster cells to become even stronger. He was ranked as a threat-level dragon, but he was able to dominate other dragon-level threats easily. His character design evokes Akuma or Ryu from Street Fighter. Genos thought all the S-class heroes would need to team up with Saitama to defeat him. Genos compared Gouketsu’s power to Saitama’s. It is implied that Gouketsu was the strongest martial artist in the series up to that point, only being eclipsed by Garou.
4 Speed-o’-Sound Sonic
The “fast as sound” ninja is an interesting One-Punch Man villain. He is introduced and defeated by Saitama easily as normal, but he is given a role in future arcs that would normally be reserved for a member of the protagonist’s parity in other shows. He is shown to be as strong or stronger than Genos at multiple points in the story, and he often has his own B-plot alongside the main plot.
3 Deep Sea King
The Deep Sea King is given the most screentime of any of the king-style villains. The “king of” villains are usually treated as a joke, but the Deep Sea King subverts the joke and becomes a major threat to the heroes. He could defeat the strongest A-class heroes and weaker S-class heroes. Even Sonic was eventually overpowered by him. Although he was defeated as easily as the rest of One-Punch Man’s villains, he came the closest to the date of killing Genos and Mumen Rider.
2 Lord Boros
Lord Boros is the mirror antagonist to Saitama. Like Saitama, he was too powerful to find a worthy opponent and became extremely bored. Boros serves as a reminder of what Saitama could be if he didn’t have a heroic foundation.
Boros was the first opponent that Saitama didn’t defeat with a single punch, although the punch would have killed him if not for his regenerating abilities. By the end of their fight, he had earned Saitama’s respect but was still unable to leave Saitama satisfied. Lord Boros, as a parallel character to Saitama, shows the audience how empty Saitama might be even if he got what he wanted. Hopefully we will get to see more of Lord Boros in the planned live-action One-Punch Man movie.
1 Garou
Despite One-Punch Man being such a comedic show, it takes Garou’s writing, backstory, and character development extremely seriously. It doesn’t pull any punches and sets Garou as the perfect foil to Saitama, heroes, villains, and shonen tropes. Perhaps the joke with his character is that his character arc is so well done.
Garou reached the limits of humanity like Saitama once did. He decided to become a monster, but unlike other monsters, he can transcend the barrier between humans and monsters. Garou himself is sympathetic to villains and hates heroes. His unique perspective makes him a very powerful villain, with the potential to be the strongest in the series. The creator of One-Punch Man, One, said in an interview that Garou would have the edge of Boros if they fought.
