Summary
- Tatsumaki’s power, while impressive doesn’t allow her to defeat Boros as of yet.
- The Terrible Tornado would struggle against Lord Boros due to his planet-level energy attacks and superior feats against Saitama.
- Evidence suggests that Tatsumaki would have lost to Boros if they fought at the end of Season 1 of One Punch Man.
The following contains minor spoilers from the One Punch Man manga.
In the finale of Season 1 of One Punch Man, the #2 S-rank hero Tatsumaki (Terrible Tornado in the dub) participated in the counterattack against the Dark Matter Pirates after their attempted invasion. While the S-class heroes dealt with the ship and the fearsome lieutenant Melzargard, Saitama entered the ship and fought a lonesome battle against their leader, Boros.
Tatsumaki stood by while the other heroes struggled before effortlessly reflecting the spaceship’s barrage that previously destroyed City A. Given that she was barely trying during this battle, one might assume she is stronger than many of the alien pirates; but would she stand a chance against Boros? If Saitama had not been available, it’s likely Tatsumaki, as the strongest hero on the scene, would have had to confront Boros directly. This article will examine evidence from the the One Punch Man anime and manga, to try to determine if Tatsumaki would have been able to defeat the dominator of the universe, Lord Boros.
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Despite being just a human, Garou’s current appearances suggest impressive power that puts him near the top of the series’ titans.
Tatsumaki’s Strength So Far
What Do We Know About Her True Power?
Tatsumaki has not had much time to show off her powers in the One Punch Man show, but what we have seen so far is impressive. In Season 1, just after the arc where multiple S-class heroes struggled to stop a meteor from falling to earth, Tatsumaki effortlessly summoned a meteor with her psychic powers just to defeat an ancient monster in the way it died previously. By setting things up this way, the narrative is trying to show Tatsumaki’s power is in a league of its own.
Living your life has nothing to do with what others think. -Tatsumaki
During the Dark Matter Pirates’ attack, Tatsumaki easily defended against the spaceship barrage that had the power to destroy a city. Looking ahead in the manga, she was able to defend against Psykos-Orochi’s ultimate energy attack, which was shown from space to have severed and lifted a continent from the surface of the Earth. Even after taking this attack, Tatsumaki was still able to fight. Later on in the manga, she also fights Saitama directly, able to push him around with her telekinetic powers and send him flying longer distances than we have seen most characters muster against the formidable Caped Baldy.
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Is It Enough To Combat Boros?
Does Tatsumaki Have a Chance Against the Dark Matter Pirates’ Leader?
While Tatsumaki is in an impressive place in terms of power in the One Punch Man universe, it seems unlikely that she would be able to compete with Lord Boros. Boros’ strongest energy attack, Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon, was stated by him to be capable of destroying the entire earth or at least its surface, depending on which source one is using. This puts Boros’ attacks well above anything Tatsumaki has dealt with so far.
Further evidence that Tatsumaki would lose to Boros can be found by directly comparing their performances against Saitama. Boros knocked Saitama all the way to the moon with his meteoric burst, far further than Tatsumaki was able to. She, at one point, was consciously trying to output enough energy to send him to space, but Saitama was barely affected. Also, during their fight, Saitama did not even attempt to fight back against Tatsumaki, meaning Boros was fighting a “more serious” Saitama than she was and still managed to put in a better showing.
By contrast, Boros survived multiple punches from Saitama, and in his final moments, was able to temporarily live through the Caped Baldy’s serious punch attack. The wind pressure alone from this attack was shown from space to have split a large portion of Earth’s sky, even after nullifying Boros’ planet-level energy attack. Tatsumaki cannot contend with something on that scale of power, much less survive it as Boros has.
In conclusion, it’s clear, based on the current evidence, that Tatsumaki would have lost to Boros had they been forced to fight at the end of Season 1. She may have been able to keep up with his initial forms, but once Boros goes all out, she would fold to his superior energy output. While it’s unclear if the origin of her powers as mental energy would give her any additional advantage over Boros, it’s unlikely that even if this was the case, it would be enough to close the gap between them.
One Punch Man can be streamed on Crunchyroll.