One Punch Man: Who is Garou? (2024)

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the One Punch Man manga.

Since the first scene of the very first episode of One Punch Man, it has been made clear that Saitama is a character on a level that simply can't be reached by anyone else. Being gifted with such overwhelming strength, he can defeat any of his enemies with just one punch, no matter how powerful these enemies may be. This is most apparent in One Punch Man season 1, episode 12, "The Strongest Hero", where he faced off against Lord Boros, an alien pirate who could have easily made light work of any other hero in the entire Association. However, it just took one serious punch by Saitama to kill him.

Fast forward to the Monster Association arc, where we see Garou gradually growing in strength to the point where he could single-handedly take down Dragon Level threats. This shot him up to the very top of the power tier of the series, culminating in his talk with God to unlock Cosmic Fear Mode, a transformation so insanely powerful that for a brief time, he was able to match Saitama's strength and could kill anyone else from just the radiation his body emitted. So, let's take a look at his journey in the series.

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Backstory

Ever since he was a child, Garou always had a different line of thinking as compared to the other children that he grew up with. Existing in a world where super-powered heroes and monsters were the norm, Garou eventually got tired of seeing how the world shaped the narrative, of how heroes are always the good guys and the monsters end up getting the short end of the stick. Even in playing games with other children, he always opted to take the role of the monster.

This would eventually become a big part of his philosophy in the future. As he grew up, he joined the martial arts dojo of S-Class, Rank 3 hero, Bang and became his disciple, eventually mastering Bang's Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, which became his primary ability. However, at some point, Garou went on a rampage and mercilessly beat his fellow students, leading to his expulsion from the dojo.

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After his expulsion, he joined a martial arts tournament and ended up winning, further bolstering his strength and skills. However, his childhood empathy towards monsters and hatred for heroes would eventually form his main objective; to become so powerful that he would reach Disaster Level God and become the Ultimate Evil, which would make him powerful enough to eliminate true evil and suffering from the world on his own terms. To start his journey, Garou became the Hero Hunter and went around defeating all kinds of heroes from different classes.

His prowess in doing so allowed him to be recruited by the Monster Association where his entire 'monsterization' process began, which then led to him eventually becoming a monster. However, despite becoming one, he decided that his goals did not line up with those of the Monster Association, leading to him being at odds with them too. This ended with a very decisive defeat against Monster King Orochi which, somehow, just led to Garou getting even stronger.

Since his defeat at the hands of Orochi, Garou's strength would grow so exponentially that he became a powerhouse that was soon defeating the very top-level heroes of the S-Class as well as the toughest Dragon Level threats of the monster cadres. At one stage, no one could ever hope to match his power other than Saitama, leading to their legendary clash. In this battle, Garou kept getting stronger and stronger and kept evolving his forms but was still no match for Saitama.

After the end of this fight, Garou very briefly interacted with the mysterious God, which allowed him to unlock Cosmic Fear Mode. After unlocking this transformation and fighting Saitama briefly, he used his mimicry ability to copy Saitama and unlock his most powerful mode yet; the Saitama Mode, which put them on even footing. However, even this fell short as Saitama's rate of growth and power simply could not be matched, leading to Garou's defeat.

Powers and Transformations

When it comes to talking about Garou's main abilities, his primary fighting style is predicated on his peerless martial arts abilities. Being trained in the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist by Bang, Garou was able to master the move and has since used it in almost all of his fights. Even when he was only in his human form as the Hero Hunter, Garou used the technique to defeat the S-Class Rank 15 hero, Tanktop Master as well as the entirety of the Tanktop gang.

Other than this, Garou is a master at mimicry of moves and adaptation. He possesses the unique ability to see how a move is performed, copy it perfectly and then, integrate it into his own move set. This is an incredibly useful and unique ability as it allows him to match up with whoever his opponent may be at the time, even if they're stronger than him. The best usage of this was against Blast, as he was able to not only copy his gravity knuckle attack but also Blast's ability to use portals and gravity manipulation, which was one of his main moves in his battle with Saitama, whose moveset he also copied to unlock his Saitama Mode.

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Garou has many transformations/forms as well. When he was a human, he used his mastery of martial arts to defeat some of the strongest heroes in the series, already putting him at the S-Class level. He then goes into the frenzied state he obtained after defeating the lower-class heroes and fighting Bang and Bomb which, although being beaten by them, was far stronger than his human form. In this state, Garou was able to hold his own against Bang, Bomb and Genos at the same time.

Upon his transferral to the Monster Association, Garou had red hair and it was in this form that he fought Orochi but still lost to him. After this defeat, darkness began to emanate out in a spiral pattern from the hole that was put in Garou by Orochi's attack, leading much of the fanbase to call this form Spiral Garou. This form was overwhelmingly strong and was able to defeat Superalloy Darkshine, the most durable S-Class hero.

After this, Garou emerged from the rubble of the Monster Association base in a hardened black shell, that saw him fully realized as Monster Garou. This form was his most iconic and was able to beat both Bang and Bomb, continually growing in strength and speed to the point where he knocked out Platinum Sperm and Evil Natural Water in less than one second. This is the same form that eventually killed Platinum Sperm and even Sage Centipede.

When his battle with Saitama started, Garou started to grow even more monsterized and his black shell kept growing larger and larger, continuously taking on a more terrifying shape. This fight against Saitama saw a few new transformations that themselves kept evolving, culminating in what fans call Gargoyle Garou, a massive form that had wings and four arms and was the strongest we had seen Garou upto that point. This form was able to use every single move as before and could level a mountain with his "Massive Fa Jin" attack, but was still defeated by Saitama.

Upon his defeat, Garou got a vision from God, where he was very briefly blessed by God's power, leading to Cosmic Fear Mode Garou. This form was one that not even Blast could compete against as it was a level of strength that matched Saitama. In their climactic battle, Garou went on to unlock Saitama Mode which put him on the same level as Saitama, perfectly replicating his killer moves and moving even faster than light. This form was the culmination of everything Garou and learnt up to that point and was unbelievably strong, but was still eventually beaten by Saitama as his rate of growth simply couldn't be matched.

As of now, Garou is being rehabilitated by Bang and has finally been let back into his dojo. While Garou still retains his brash and confident personality and is still extremely strong, he is being trained to handle his power better and Bang, having recently retired from his position in the S-Class, hopes that a rehabilitated Garou will take his position in the Hero Association. Whatever the future of One Punch Man may hold for him, it's just a breath of fresh air that he is on the side of the good guys.

One Punch Man is available to stream on Netflix & Hulu.

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