One-Punch Man’s 15 Strongest Villains

One-Punch Man is a series full of incredibly strong villains–it has to be, when its hero can win any fight with just one punch. While that might make every villain seem weak, the villains often get a chance to show off the full extent of their power even before Saitama shows up. That means wrecking shop with some of the lower-ranked heroes, and often colossal amounts of collateral damage.

Though Saitama’s power is still to be matched, that doesn’t mean certain powerful villains haven’t tested him before. With a premise like One-Punch Man’s, series creator ONE has had to get creative with his villains. The strongest villains in One-Punch Man show just how ridiculous the series’ best fights can become.

15 Bakuzan

Bakuzan was one of the competitors in the Super Fight tournament arc who agreed to become a monster when the opportunity was offered to him by Goketsu. Bakuzan was already an incredibly powerful martial artist, and when he transformed into a monster, he became that much more of a threat. After becoming a monster, he rapidly attacked Suiryu, one of the only competitors who didn’t accept the offer to transform. He, along with all the other martial artists in the tournament who ate monster cells, was destroyed by Saitama, who obliterated half his body when the monster tried to attack him.

14 Centichoro

Centichoro is a massive centipede monster who appeared at the end of One-Punch Man season 2. The mere movements of its body were enough to destroy cities, and it menaced Genos, Bang, and Bomb, who first confronted it. Even a full-power attack from Genos was only enough to cause it to molt, making its armored carapace even harder than before. Fortunately, Saitama showed up not too long after and delivered a major punch to its face, causing a chain reaction to pulse through its body and destroy it from the inside.

13 Homeless Emperor

The first monster on this list not to have appeared in the anime yet, Homeless Emperor was once a homeless man who was empowered by One-Punch Man’s most mysterious evil being known as God. This gave him the power to conduct massive energy-based attacks, allowing him to strike at a wide range simultaneously. Homeless Emperor was a bit of a zealot since he felt he was chosen by God to repay humanity for all the indignities he had suffered. Oddly enough, Homeless Emperor wasn’t killed by a hero but was actually taken out by God himself when Homeless Emperor was captured by Zombieman, in order to prevent him from sharing God’s secrets.

12 Gums

Gums is, like Homeless Emperor, a high-ranking executive in the Monster Association. His body takes the form of a mouth with legs, arms, and no other features, giving him an eerie appearance. Gums attempted to devour the heroes he was facing, after which point they would be dissolved in minutes by the incredibly deadly acid in its stomach. Gums didn’t seem to be very intelligent, and was eventually tricked into attacking a fellow executive, Fuhrer Ugly. Once Fuhrer Ugly was ingested, however, he managed to split Gums in half and escape, killing Gums for good.

11 Carnage Kabuto

Carnage Kabuto was a creation of the House of Evolution and appears very early in both the anime and manga. He was said to be a very powerful creature, kept contained in an underground testing facility to limit the amount of damage he could do. His appearance suggests he was based on or combined with a Hercules Beetle, telegraphing his power. He was also able to reflect Genos’ attacks with his mere breath, and Genos was soon after ranked highly among the S-class heroes. Carnage Kabuto has the rare distinction of actually recognizing Saitama’s power before engaging in battle, reflexively retreating when Saitama first prepared an attack. Saitama ultimately defeated him with ease when he realized they were about to miss the Saturday grocery deals.

10 Deep Sea King

The Deep Sea King was an early enemy in One-Punch Man, but he was incredibly threatening for the chapters where he was active. Deep Sea King effortlessly defeated a number of A-Class heroes, as well as One-Punch Man’s problematic S-Class hero Puri-Puri Prisoner. The Deep Sea King was vicious, directly attacking a shelter with the intent of slaughtering the innocent people hiding within. When the rain began in earnest, the Deep Sea King gained a huge power-up, which allowed him to nearly kill Genos. The Deep Sea King fight is largely remembered for Mumen Rider’s incredibly brave (but ineffectual) attempts at stopping him, winning over many fans. Saitama took out the Deep Sea King with ease but pretended it was only easy for him because the other heroes had done so much damage, taking a hit to his reputation to spare the others.

9 Goketsu

Goketsu is a monster who appears as the main antagonist of the Super Fight arc, which was adapted in season 2 of the anime. Goketsu held an executive rank within the Monster Association, and his goal was to turn powerful humans at the Super Fight contest into monsters. Goketsu himself was once a martial artist who chose to become a monster for power and expects others to do the same. Suiryu was one of the few to refuse, and he had to hold out against this monster (and the newly transformed others) on his own for quite a while. Fortunately, Saitama was also participating in the tournament and was on hand to defeat Goketsu, decapitating him with a single blow to the head.

8 Fuhrer Ugly

Fuhrer Ugly is a cruel villain whose name is a pretty apt description. Another Monster Association executive, Fuhrer Ugly greatly resents anyone he sees as beautiful, absolutely destroying the #1-ranked A-Class hero, Sweet Mask, with little effort. He gained a power upgrade after being partially digested by another monster, giving him acid powers that allowed him to burn S-Class hero Blackluster’s skin. Fuhrer Ugly even managed to rack up some kills, having taken out at least one member of the Swordmasters’ Council with those same acid powers. Fuhrer Ugly was ultimately defeated by Garou, of all people, who kicked an enormous hole right through his chest.

7 Boros

Boros appears at the end of season 1 of One-Punch Man as the leader of the Dark Matter Thieves, who came to Earth from deep space. One-Punch Man’s Boros was powerful, resistant to damage, had incredible regeneration capabilities, and could generate shockwave attacks on a whim, keeping opponents from closing in. He initially wore a suit of armor, but this was revealed to be a power limiter, which he removed when battling Saitama. He was one of the first monsters to actually pose even a slight challenge to Saitama, hitting him with an attack that sent the hero all the way to the Moon. Saitama had to unleash his “Serious punch” for the first time in order to win.

6 Psykos

Psykos was, like Homeless Emperor, once a human who gained phenomenal power upon becoming a monster. However, Psykos already had ESP abilities as a human, which led to an even greater increase when she sided with God and the monsters. Psykos actually has a close connection to Fubuki and Tatsumaki, the Psychic Sisters, as they once knew each other as children, and Psykos was bullied by Fubuki at the time. Psykos ultimately attempted to fuse with Orochi, the Monster King, for greater power, but she was still defeated by Tatsumaki in an incredible display of psychokinetic ability.

5 Platinum Sperm

Another Monster Association executive, Platinum Sperm actually started out as a swarm of creatures known as Black Sperm. All of these trillions of bodies merging together led to the creation of Platinum Sperm, who proved to be incredibly powerful. Platinum Sperm was able to go head-to-head in a three-way fight with Garou and the S-Class hero Flashy Flash, and boldly challenged King to attack him head-on. Against Garou, Platinum Sperm exchanged thousands of hits in mere milliseconds of time, suggesting an attack speed that’s well and truly off the charts. He was ultimately defeated by Garou, whose abilities were growing so fast by that point that he couldn’t possibly keep up.

4 Evil Natural Water

One of the most bizarre monsters in the series, One-Punch Man’s Evil Natural Water is just that: a puddle of violent and evil water. However, when Evil Natural Water is mixed in with another body of water, it takes it over, something so risky even the monsters had it locked up. Evil Natural Water first gets into the groundwater, and then makes its way out to sea, becoming Evil Ocean Water. Evil Ocean Water could project beams of water at intensely high pressure, and control itself to create massive tidal waves. Its deadliest attack was also its simplest: drowning heroes. Saitama defeated it in dramatic fashion, landing a Serious Punch that split the sea in an almost biblical manner.

3 Centisennin

Centisennin was another centipede monster from One-Punch Man, but far, far more massive than the one seen in season 2 of One-Punch Man. The creature emerged from underground, where it was sleeping and recovering from a fight with the S-Class rank 1 hero, Blast. It had 6,666 limbs and towered so tall its head was nearly outside the atmosphere. It had massive strength and defense, with its hard carapace blocking most attacks with ease. Centisennin emerged specifically to fight Saitama, whom it called “The Abominable Fist That Turned Against God.” Unfortunately for it, though, Centisennin was actually defeated by Garou, who karate chopped its entire body in half in one dramatic motion.

2 Orochi

Orochi is the King of the Monsters and the ostensible leader of the Monster Association, seen only briefly in season 2. In the manga, Orochi has unbelievable speed and strength, but its most dangerous ability is its capacity to transform its body at will. Orochi is also the source of the Monster Cells seen throughout the series, which if eaten will turn a human into a monster. He could also breathe fire, as well as draw energy directly from the Earth’s core, making it nigh impossible to stop. Orochi was nearly defeated by Saitama, but it fused with the real mastermind of the Monster Association, an esper known as Psykos, which gave it the power to control gravity and to assimilate anything into its body. Orochi-Psykos was defeated in a particularly spectacular manner by Tatsumaki.

1 Garou

Garou has already appeared in the One-Punch Man anime, but what’s been shown there is only a taste of his power. Garou constantly transforms to become more monstrous throughout the Monster Association arc, gaining power at an exponential rate. When all the other monsters are gone, Garou turned his attention to the heroes in his new Cosmic Horror mode, which saw Garou granted power by the ultimate being, the evil God.

One-Punch Man’s Cosmic Horror Garou launched planet-destroying attacks as he fought with Saitama, and their battle obliterated a massive chunk of Jupiter. Garou’s defeat came when God abandoned him, and Saitama launched an attack that was so powerful it sent the pair back in time. The Cosmic Horror Garou faded away into nothing, and the damage their fight had done was thankfully reversed. As such, the alternate Garou is still alive from before his transformation.

One-Punch Man’s villains are jaw-dropping in terms of power, but they have to be in order to even register as threats to Saitama. And there are still stronger threats out there, like God, who has yet to make a direct move against Saitama. One can only imagine what still lies ahead in One-Punch Man, but at least anime fans have some of these incredible monsters and their amazing fights to look forward to in One-Punch Man season 3.