Overview |
| — King to G4[1] |
- This article is about the character. For the chapter, see King (chapter).
King (キング, Kingu) is the S-Class Rank 5 professional hero of the Hero Association. In public, King is known as "The Strongest Man on Earth" (地上最強の男, Chijō Saikyō no Otoko) and "The Heroes' Hero". In truth, however, he is just a normal civilian who unintentionally gained credit for the heroic acts performed by Saitama. King is also part of the Saitama Group.
Appearance
King is a tall, lean man with light tan skin, blue eyes, and shoulder-length, slicked-back blonde hair combed down to the nape of his neck. He has a long face with sunken cheeks and a well defined jawline. His most notable physical feature is the set of three vertical scars over his left eye, received from Octopus Claw Man. Unlike most heroes, he dresses casually without any hero suit or uniform. He is sometimes seen wearing a cap that has the kanji for 'King' on it.
Personality
When in a threatening situation, King appears calm and displays an intimidating aura. Despite the intimidating personality he projects, King is usually a coward. He is well respected by the public and other heroes, even those in the upper echelon of the Hero Association.[5]
King also has a caring side, worrying about Saitama's well-being and offering insightful advice as well as inviting him to play video games. King even promises to play with only two fingers to handicap himself against Saitama.[6]
King also seems to have an interest in romance games. He would buy and play dating simulator games like Doki Doki Sisters, but when Saitama found out about it, he was greatly embarrassed about it and tried to hide his romance games.[2]
Since gaining the title as the world's strongest man, King has become very good at bluffing and tricking his opponents, both intentionally and unintentionally, causing them to hesitate or even downright surrender. When assassins attempted to take his life, King was able to use clever intimidation and wise explanations to make the assassins back down and leave him in peace even though he had no idea they were assassins.[7]
Expand to see original webcomic information. Beware of spoiler content.
Even against Dragon-level monsters and S-Class heroes such as Black Sperm, Fuhrer Ugly, and Atomic Samurai, King's bluffing was convincing enough to cause them to hesitate,[8] and in some cases, such as Atomic Samurai, even downright surrender.[9]
Despite being constantly afraid due to his hero duty and his dislike of his own reputation, deep down King seems to wish to be the brave and strong hero the rumors say he is. He has a daydream during the raid on the Monster Association headquarters, where he was able to fire a very powerful energy beam.[10]
After the incident with Atomic Samurai, the guilt over his lies and the fear of discovery motivates King to visit Bang in his dojo. King asks Bang to train him. After getting rejected, however, he desperately tries the same with Bomb's dojo and later visits one dojo after another, only to get rejected over and over again. As a result, he eventually drops the thought of getting stronger and even considers the idea of dying while attempting to fight a monster.[11]
Abilities and Powers
Despite not being the highest-ranked hero of the Hero Association, he is considered to be the most powerful man on Earth, and it is due to this strength that he receives praise and respect from fellow heroes.[12] His strength is so feared that criminals and mysterious beings will often surrender before having to fight him.[2]
However, this is due to miscommunication and mistaken identity. King's intimidating presence while near the defeated Mysterious Beings gave the Hero Association the false impression that he was strong. King, in reality, has never brawled before in his life, meaning he is the weakest person in S-Class if not the entire Hero Association.[13] Walking up a single flight of stairs is enough to leave King winded.[14] His intimidating characteristics also have no effect on robotic opponents.[2]
His status has resulted in being targeted by assassins who are paid with huge sums of money by crime bosses. Fortunately, all assassins sent after him are just as delusional as normal people in terms of perceiving King's false power, so they often think they are targeting the formidable foe and willing to give up when King peacefully confronts them.[7]
It should be noted that his hero title does not fail to describe his video game accomplishments. He is an expert at video games and has conquered some video game tournaments in his youth. This talent later proves to be useful when King saves Saitama, who irresponsibly signed a contract without reading it to Fubuki. Fubuki forcibly wanted to have Saitama, Bang, Genos, and King join the Blizzard Group should they win the bet outlined in the contract. The bet was decided with video games and King defeats thirty gamers by himself.[15] He is also able to write scripts about video game content since he often works on creating an independent game during weekends.[7]
Physical Abilities
Strong Heartbeats: The "King Engine" (キングエンジン, Kingu Enjin) is a rumbling sound that others claim to hear when King readies for battle or when he is generally serious. The sound has a formidable impact on his opponent's psyche.[16] In reality, it is simply the sound of King's heart beating rapidly and loudly from fear, anxiety, or other uneasiness. Because of King's intimidating visage and reputation, it is mistaken for bloodlust.[17]
Fighting Style
King Style (キング流, Kingu-ryū): While his intimidating appearance and presence usually scares off potential opponents, King has to rely on this style if his opponents aren't scared and are still ready to fight. It is not a fighting style in the traditional sense. King mostly bluffs himself out of battles or just runs away. King is highly skilled in bluffing, which makes his opponents think he is formidable, sometimes even rendering them unable to perform techniques against him. His frightening aura was so powerful, King managed to literally scare a monster to death.[18]
- King Face (キングフェイス, Kingu Feisu): King's intimidating facial expression, which scares off Villains and Mysterious Beings.[19]
- King Hand (キングハンド, Kingu Hando): King places his hand on the shoulder of his opponent in order to intimidate them even more.[19]
- King Brain: King has a powerful skill that allows him to instantly think of and simulate strategies.[19]
- Super Catch: King supposedly has a technique that allows him to catch heavy weights such as a large group of people, but he claims not to want to use it for the injured heroes as the shockwaves he produces will aggravate their injuries.
- Super Sparking King Mode (SSK) (スーパースパーキングキングモード (SSK), Sūpā Supākingu Kingu Mōdo (Esu-Esu-Kē)): A supposed powered-up form of King's mentioned by Child Emperor that increases his abilities and powers.
Ultimate Purgatory Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Cannon (煉獄無双爆熱波動砲}, Rengoku Musō Bakunetsu Hadō-hō; Viz: Supreme Purgatorial Explosive Heat Wave-Motion Gun): One of King's bluff techniques, which he obviously doesn't know. Child Emperor describes this move as King's secret killer move.[20] King merely yells its name to intimidate his opponents.[21] In Child Emperor's imagination, it manifests as an incredibly powerful energy blast, visible from outer space when unleashed.[22] When he attempted this technique as a last resort, it was seemingly powerful enough to defeat Platinum Sperm and Evil Natural Water in a split-second, validating King's legend. However, in reality, it was Garou's sudden arrival that overpowered those two powerful monsters, facading King's supposedly killer move.[23]
Expand to see original webcomic information. Beware of spoiler content.
- Ultimate Fleeing Technique: Backwards B Dash (逃亡術奧義振り返りBダッシュ, Tōbō-jutsu Okugi Furikaeri Bīdasshu): King simply runs away from his opponent. Golden Sperm mistakenly took it as a kind of trap, thinking King is chanting a curse and luring him.[24]
Miscellaneous Abilities
Master Gamer: Even though he is actually not the strongest hero, King is possibly the strongest gamer in the world, having won multiple gaming competitions when he was younger. After Saitama's group was quickly wiped out in a gaming competition against the Blizzard Group, he single-handedly took out the other 30 contenders and won, also taking out Piko, who is an ex-pro gamer in the Blizzard Group.[15] He is shown to be an avid member in gaming and told the Hero Association that he was taking out a "monster", which in reality was really his video game. His mastery is capable of overcoming some of the severest handicaps. For instance, King was capable of effortlessly defeating Saitama in a fighting game despite being low on health and using only two fingers.[25] His skill in video gaming being the equivalent to Saitama's sheer power with no known equal, often to the point where King complains about his overwhelming strength even defeating the likes of Suiryu, a master martial artist utilizing VR technology at a gaming tournament, with only a controller.[26]
Enhanced Luck: King has ridiculous amounts of luck; equal parts good and bad. He is able to thoroughly fool the media and the Hero Association, get all the credit for defeating opponents he never fought, become one of the most popular people on the planet, and has made extremely strong enemies back-off in fear when facing him. He always managed to get away from many dangerous or stressful situations that may potentially cost his life, popularity, or reveal his secret. Paradoxically he unintentionally draws upon the good merits of others by mistake, as well as have the unprecedented knack for either stumbling into or drawing the most cataclysmic situations imaginable his way.[27] On the other hand, King is always in the wrong place at the wrong time when monsters attack; enemies often zero in on him specifically, sometimes for miscellaneous reasons and sometimes because they are motivated to confront him due to knowing his fearsome reputation.[28]
Overwhelming Presence: Due to King's reputation as the Strongest Man on Earth, King can manipulate people into fearing or even obeying him, and most of the time he never even realizes that he is doing so. In one instance, when he was in a restaurant, King was beset upon by six elite assassins, but they were intimidated and humbled by King's way of speech and gave up on being assassins entirely. In reality, King thought they were civilian fans of his and didn't want to be bothered with them, using the hunting of monsters as an excuse to get them out of his hair.[7] While wandering in the Monster Association Headquarters, King stumbled upon a monster disguised as Waganma and stopped his own assassination by intimidating the monster into having a heart attack and melting. In reality, he just didn't want to be responsible for the child and phrased his attempts at dissuading him in an intimidating way.[29] When confronting the likes of Black Sperm, Golden Sperm and Homeless Emperor, his mere presence was enough to make those Dragon-level Monster Association executive members cautious in approaching him.[30]
Hero Rating
King's rating determined by the Hero Association[3]:
Quotes
- (To a monster disguised as Waganma) "No matter how sweet and cute you act, it's just not possible. Not at all, not for me... You can't expect anything, it's useless... It will only turn into despair."[31]
- "Aw crap. I've had enough of being a hero."[32]
- "My job is to exterminate monsters. I'm not here to deal with you, got it? A while back, I was taking a walk when I got bombarded by a ton of people. Even if I make it quick, there's always a next one, and then a next one, and it never ends!"[7]
Trivia
- King is ranked 8th in the character popularity poll.[33]
- According to the databook:
- The origin of his hero name comes from his strength to effortlessly defeat a monster of the disaster level "Demon", thus he was named the king of heroes.[3]
- King recommended a book titled How I Developed Indomitable Will, written by ONE and illustrated by Yusuke Murata as an Easter egg.[34]
- ONE has said that while the most popular hero in their world is Sweet Mask, King is rather high up as well.[4]
- When Child Emperor devises a product to measure strength, both Saitama and King are shown to be undefined. Child Emperor gives two potential reasons for this, one being that the recipient is too weak to measure, and the other being that the recipient is too strong to measure. Scanning Saitama also caused the device to crack without anyone's notice.[15]
- Rumor has it that King got his scar in a fight to the death against a Disaster Level God monster[3], but this is proven false in a flashback, where King was scarred by Octopus Claw Man, a Tiger-level threat.[35]
- The King Engine is actually King's VA's voice, not a sound effect.[36]
- In Murata's stream he describes King as a westerner, even more so than Genos.[37]
- King is the only hero so far who has been able to kill a monster through sheer intimidation alone.[38]
- According to ONE, King will remain who he is and not suddenly gain powers.[39]
- In the 2017 One-Punch Man Halloween cover,[40] King was depicted as Frankenstein Jr. with two large bolts in his head instead of his neck.
- The number of one of his former ranks, 7, is the number of luck in Western culture.
- Some of King's rumored feats include:[41]
- Flying into the sky holding the bomb that can destroy the entire solar system and hurling it into a giant black hole.
- Traveling into the past to destroy all meteors heading toward Earth.
- Leaving a hidden message within almost every legend that foretold the coming of King.
- Using the moon as a sandbag and leaving a crater on it. (This is likely what is believed by the public to have happened to the moon during the events of Saitama vs. Boros)
- Creating the martial art style called King Style Qigong.
References
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga and Anime; Chapter 38, page 20, and Episode 13
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 One-Punch Man Manga and Anime; Chapter 38, and Episode 13
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 One-Punch Man Encyclopedia; One-Punch Man: Hero Encyclopedia, page 44-45
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 One-Punch Man Interview; Niconico Interview
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga and Anime; Chapter 32, and Episode 10
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 77, page 5-16
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 One-Punch Man Manga; King's Weekend-like Weekday
- ↑ One-Punch Man Webcomic; Chapter 73
- ↑ One-Punch Man Webcomic; Chapter 108
- ↑ One-Punch Man Webcomic; Chapter 81
- ↑ One-Punch Man Webcomic; Chapter 111
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 32, page 47
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga and Anime; Chapter 38, page 27, and Episode 13
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 127 (Online), page 24
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 One-Punch Man Manga; Numbers
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 38, page 4-5
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 38
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 109 (Online), page 17-18
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 One-Punch Man Encyclopedia; One-Punch Man: Hero Encyclopedia, page 46-47
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 152 (Online), page 26
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 154 (Online), page 21-22
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 152 (Online), page 28
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 154 (Online), page 22-27
- ↑ One-Punch Man Webcomic; Chapter 81
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 79, page 45
- ↑ One-Punch Man OVA; Games and Rivals
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 38, page 73
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 39, page 3-5
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 109 (Online), page 13-17
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 151 (Online), page 23-25
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 109 (Online), page 16
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 38, page 2
- ↑ Manga Popularity Poll; First Manga Popularity Poll
- ↑ One-Punch Man Anime; Episode 6
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 39, page 15
- ↑ Audrey's translation of the One-Punch Man Autumn Festival Event Live Drama
- ↑ One-Punch Man Stream; 30/12/2015
- ↑ One-Punch Man Manga; Chapter 109 (Online), page 17
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePunchMan/comments/8tkh0z/a_question_for_japanese_translators/e18aecz/
- ↑ tonarinoyj.hatenablog.com
- ↑ One-Punch Man Webcomic; Chapter 111, page 4