One Punch Man: All of Garou's Forms, Explained

Highlights

Garou's transformations throughout the Monster Association arc made him incredibly powerful and allowed him to fight on equal terms with the strongest characters, including Saitama.
Garou's Monsterized Forms, such as Spiral Garou and Monster Garou, increased his strength and made him a formidable enemy to face, even for high-tier S-Class heroes.
Garou's ultimate form, Cosmic Fear Mode, brought him back to his original size but gave him a more eldritch appearance with nebulae and galaxies in place of his face. He became the strongest enemy in One Punch Man and only Saitama could defeat him.

Garou is arguably the best villain in all of One Punch Man and, to many, he is even one of the best characters in the entire show. Despite being incredibly evil in his goals, he is a character with a ton of nuance as to who he is and why he has been led to believe the things he does, something which has made him very loved by most fans of the series.

However, during his evil rampage against both the heroes and the villains during the Monster Association arc, Garou was shown to have undergone many transformations in his battles. These transformations made him incredibly powerful and allowed him to fight with the strongest characters on relatively equal terms, culminating in his Cosmic Fear form, with which he fought Saitama. So, let's break down all of Garou's forms in One Punch Man.

One Punch Man: Who is Garou?

Garou has gone through an interesting journey since he was first introduced. Here's a closer look at what makes the 'Hero Hunter' tick.

Garou, the Hero Hunter - Demon Level Threat

This shouldn't really be considered a form, because this is what Garou is like naturally. In his natural state, Garou received no power-ups from the Monster Cells, due to which he was still a human who relied completely on his physical strength and martial prowess. Despite this, however, this version of Garou was an extremely powerful fighter who earned the moniker of 'Hero Hunter'.

This was because of his mastery of Bang's Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, an incredible martial arts technique that gave him amazing powers. Through the usage of this technique alone, Garou was at the strength of someone in the lower tiers of the S-Class, as he defeated many villains, including two S-Class heroes; Puri-Puri Prisoner and Tanktop Master.

Frenzied Garou - High Demon Level Threat

Garou's frenzied state came towards the end of season 2. After fighting some of the top heroes in the entire association such as Death Gattling, Wild Horn and Smile Man, who teamed up with many other lower-ranked heroes, Garou eventually surpassed his base form and unlocked a state that seemed far more primal and dangerous to face.

In this state, he stained his white hair red with his own blood and used his copy ability to copy the fighting style of S-Class hero Watchdog Man, which made him a terrifying enemy to fight. He was very injured before the fight began, but evolved to the point where he could fight even in his sleep, requiring 3 S-Class tier heroes to battle him, though even they were unable to stop him completely.

Garou, the Half-Monster - Low Dragon Level Threat

Even after reaching his limits during his frenzied state, Garou's rapid evolution would not stop there. After being taken to the Monster Association HQ, Garou would reach this 'half-monster' state and in it, would go on to defeat formidable villains such as Royal Ripper. After doing this, he fought even more monsters, such as Unihorn and Showerhead.

This transformation greatly improved his senses as well as his overall physical toughness, leading to him playing mind games and messing with all of his opponents. However, it was in this form that he would get overpowered by Overgrown Rover and challenge Orochi to a fight. He was swiftly defeated by the Monster King, leading to his next transformation.

Spiral Garou - Mid-Dragon Level Threat

In this form, Garou's increase in strength was far more drastic than ever before. Due to the injury he received in his battle against Monster King Orochi, Garou's body was forced to adapt even more. This is why the encroaching darkness around the wound he received from Orochi began to cover his body in a spiral shape, which eventually hardened into a powerful armor-like shell.

The strength of this form was staggering, as Garou was able to take on higher-tier S-Class heroes such as Superalloy Darkshine, said to be the physically strongest hero in the entire Hero Association and also the most durable. The battle was intense and both combatants ended up doing a great amount of damage to one another, but Spiral Garou ended up defeating him.

Monster Garou - High Dragon Level Threat

The most iconic of all of Garou's transformations, Monster Garou was where his strength reached its peak before his battle against Saitama. In this form, Garou fought against Bang and, in a very close fight, was able to get the upper hand against his former teacher, but in doing so, his armor was cracked open and Garou was able to regain his composure.

After coming back to his senses, he fought against some of the most powerful of the Monster Leaders and had an incredible 3-way fight against Platinum Sperm and Flashy Flash. At the end of this battle, the hero was knocked out and Platinum Sperm was killed, leaving Garou as the sole victor.

featured Smartest One Punch Man characters Dr Genus Blast Psykos

One Punch Man: 7 Smartest Characters, Ranked

One Punch Man has a plethora of smart characters, and they often rely on their wit to overcome their opponents.

Monster Garou, Absolute Evil - Above Dragon Level Threat

This version of Garou can be considered to be the evolved state of his Monsterized Transformation. This was when Garou had proved himself to be the greatest villain in the series at that stage, far eclipsing even the strongest Dragon Level threat, as this form was made by his body adapting to the threat of Saitama. Though this form was short-lived, it made him look even more demonic as he grew in size and took on a beast-like appearance. His strength and speed were on a level far above all other heroes and villains except for Saitama.

Monster Garou, Gargoyle Garou - Above Dragon Level Threat

The third stage of Garou's Monsterized Form was by far the strongest form of the villain that he could reach without any outside help. His power had grown exponentially in order to defeat Saitama, to the point where he took on his most beastly appearance yet. He had grown even larger, had massive horns coming out of his head, had four arms, wings, and a cloak of fire.

This form was powerful enough to destroy entire mountains with just the force of his fists and was the greatest threat in all of One Punch Man, up to that point. However, he still couldn't match Saitama.

Cosmic Fear Mode Garou - God Level Threat

Garou's ultimate form came from the added boost of strength that he got from his brief interaction with God. Appearance-wise, this form was far less monstrous than the previous 2 that came before it as it brought Garou back to the size he was originally and got rid of the wings and horns. However, it took on a far more eldritch visage, as Garou's face and features were gone and instead, there were nebulae and galaxies in their place.

Cosmic Garou is the strongest enemy in all of One Punch Man that any of the heroes have faced. At one stage, he unlocked his 'Saitama Mode', which allowed him to copy Saitama's move set and strength, making it so only the Caped Baldy himself could take down this walking calamity. However, Saitama still shocked the entire world and eventually defeated the God Level Threat.

One Punch Man can be streamed on Amazon Prime and Netflix.