Highlights
- King, the strongest man in the world, is a member of the S-Class in One Punch Man, despite having no powers or strength whatsoever.
- King's iconic ability, the King Engine, is an aura that instills fear in his enemies and causes them to die out of sheer terror.
- Despite his desire to be left alone, King is one of the most respected and popular heroes in the Hero Association, with many believing he has unparalleled luck and the protection of Saitama.
In the One Punch Man universe, the S-Class exists at the very top of the power scale. Since there are only 17 characters that belong here, it's quite evident that the strength needed to be in the class is otherworldly because the S-Class is humanity's most powerful line of defense against threats. However, even within the S-Class itself, there is only one person who is known as 'the strongest man in the world'; King.
As of the end of the Monster Association arc, King sits comfortably at the 5th rank in the S-Class and while that already seems like an unfathomable amount of strength, it should be noted that King doesn't even have any powers. In fact, he has no strength in the slightest! He is a character that is completely defined by his luck as he is always getting saved from situations of trouble which somehow always end up with him receiving praise and adoration from the masses. Though he hates this and wants to be left alone to play his video games, this fate always seems to follow him.
What is King's Story?
In truth, there haven't been many details about King's backstory, just his actual personality and speculation about what his true power might be. All we know is that King used to be a normal person who was once just going about his day when suddenly, he got attacked by a monster that gave him his iconic 3 scars. As he was bleeding out, he got saved by a hero who was not even based in the Hero Registry at the time, a hero that turned out to be Saitama, though King would only find out about this years later.
After this event, King somehow obtained his infamous 'King Engine' at some unspecified point in the story. The Engine is basically an aura of strength that envelopes King and his heart starts to make a loud, booming sound that fills King's enemies with so much fear that they often die just because of how scared they are. The truth of the matter is that King himself has no idea what the King Engine is, it's just an aura that has appeared out of nowhere and the sound his heart makes for some reason. He doesn't know why it does this, only that it gets louder and more imposing the more scared King gets. This, in turn, causes most monsters to start fearing him even more.
King is an unemployed 29-year-old man who just wants to be left alone to enjoy his video games. He is a self-described Otaku and is the height of cowardice, always choosing to run away from any confrontation even if the enemy is far weaker than him. Saitama seems to be his only real friend as they play games together and seems to be the only one who knows his secret. King generally wants to be left alone but the trouble keeps finding him.
What do Others Think of King?
Save for S-Class, Rank 1 "Blast", there is no other hero in the entire Hero Association who commands as much respect as King does. Despite not wanting it, he is one of the most popular heroes in the entire association and has a reputation as being one of the few heroes to never waste any time and just get the job done, as was explained by Tatsumaki and S-Class, Rank 11 "Superalloy Darkshine" even said that there are 3 beings you should not mess with; himself, Tatsumaki and King.
Even in his dealings with characters in non-combat situations, they're just so taken aback by the very legend of King that they start to assume his strength in every little thing he says, even if he tries to tell people the truth. For example, in One Punch Man Chapter 193, King goes to almost every martial arts school and tries to tell them all that he is hopelessly weak and finally wants to gain some strength, to which they all say he has no need to be humble and that he is already too strong for their martial arts.
As for enemies, King has many. Monsters from all levels are automatically against him, but what seems to work for him is the fact that most monsters below the Demon Level are affected by the King Engine. In Chapter 107 of the manga, we see a monster impersonating a child and how he comes face to face with King and, after hearing the King Engine, becomes so scared that he starts to hyperventilate, eventually dying because of this.
King's True Power
However, despite the truth of his abilities and character, King might not truly be powerless. Many in the fandom have realized that King may have the most overpowered abilities of them all; luck and Saitama. While this seems like an absurd notion, it starts to make sense when we think of the fact that whenever we see King in any sort of potential danger, the entire situation always seems to end up working out for him.
One example of luck playing into his arsenal is in the Monster Association arc when he faces Platinum Sperm and Evil Natural Water. These are two beyond Dragon Level threats that pose a danger to the entire world, and they were facing off against King, undeterred by his King Engine and looking him down with the intent to kill him as soon as he made his move, which Child Emperor named the 'Ultimate Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Canon'.
As King makes the move, Garou blitzes both enemies and sends them flying in less than even a second, making him virtually invisible to the eyes and crediting this feat as King's powerful move.
The reason why many call him the actual strongest character in the entire One Punch Man universe is the fact that he has Saitama unknowingly act as a sort of guardian angel for him, always coming around to save King one way or another. This is seen throughout the anime, for example in One Punch Man season 2, episode 12, "The Wiping of the Disciple's Butt", King calls Elder Centipede towards himself, whom Saitama annihilates in just one punch.
Though this attribution of power is only given to King by the fans and is in no way official, it is easy to assume why many fans follow this line of thinking. King seems to have incredible levels of luck that, no matter how dire the situation might be, seems to change everything in a way to make King always come out on top, perhaps making him even more powerful than even Saitama!