Worlds Strongest Man / Anime & Manga

• Afro Samurai: The wielder of the Number One Headband is said to be the strongest and the only one who has the right to challenge them is the Number Two.
• Attack on Titan:
  • Levi Ackerman is dubbed as "Humanity's Strongest Soldier", capable of slaughtering several Titans with ease. Unlike other examples, Levi's ability comes from his speed and mobility rather than raw strength. He was able to dominate the Female Titan and always curbstomps the Beast Titan. Even the Marleyan Titan Shifters are afraid of him. It takes being too close to a detonating Thunder Spear and suffering grievous permanent injuries to finally cost him this title, and that was more due to him letting his guard down at the worst possible time than anything.
  • Levi's uncle and mentor, Kenny Ackerman is this. He single-handedly murdered over a hundred members of the Military Police, the branch where only elite graduates can apply. He was the only person who could fight Levi on equal footing, and Levi was more keen on hightailing it in the other direction than actually fighting him face-to-face. Ultimately, he dies from injuries inflicted not in battle, but from being too close to a massive Titan initiating its transformation in too small a space and getting cooked from the heat and the collapsing cave.
  • Eren Yeager after the Time Skip becomes the most powerful Titan Shifter in the story. He has three of the Nine Titan powers and after unlocking the Founding Titan thanks to Zeke Yeager and Ymir, he wields virtually absolute power over the Titans as well as the Subjects of Ymir, to the point he can command any number of mindless Titans and even summon the past generations of Titan Shifters as mindless puppets. The Attack Titan enables Eren to see his future memories (although he does make a point that the memories go no further than a certain point, though there's no elaboration on why aside from suggesting that he is/will be the last wielder of the Attack Titan ever) and send his memories back in time to control his predecessors. The Warhammer Titan grants exceptional control over hardened Titan flesh and can create constructs powerful enough to punch through even over hardened Titans. The only reason he loses in the end is because he allowed his friends to defeat him, so that they could be recognized as saviours of humanity.
  • By the very end of the manga, with the Titans gone, the Titan Shifters Brought Down to Normal, Eren dead, and Levi crippled from his lasting injuries, this title likely falls to Mikasa Ackerman by virtue of being the only combat-capable-and-experienced Ackerman still alive by the end with her latent superhuman physicality while everyone else is "just" a Badass Normal at best. However, given that Ackerman abilities originate from the power of the Titans and that power is now gone, this is left ambiguous.
• Claire Stanfield from Baccano! and Shizuo Heiwajima from Durarara!! Word of God confirms that they are strongest person in their own series and top five in The 'Verse, which consists of Baccano!, Durarara!!, Vamp!, Hariyama-san and Etsusa Bridge series. And that's including immortals, vampires, and other supernatural creatures. The only beings stronger than them are: a living black hole and a Mook who goes From Nobody to Nightmare because the author made "strongest man in the history of time" the basis for his character.
• Baki the Grappler:
  • Yujiro Hanma. His title is the "Strongest Creature in the World."
  • And now Baki holds that title after Yujiro willingly gave it to Baki. Even after curb stomping Baki with ease after going all out in their fabled final battle.
• Bakugan has several characters that could reasonably claim the title of the Ultimate Bakugan.
  • Pyrus Dragonoid, also known as Drago, is no doubt the most powerful Bakugan of all time. Over the course of the series, Drago has had many different evolved forms that allowed him to face enemy Bakugan capable of ruling or destroying the universe. He's also revealed to be a descendant of the Original Dragonoid, one of the first two Bakugan created by Code Eve, and this Drago has inherited his ancestor's powers and abilities thanks to the Ultimate Warrior Gene.
  • Hydronoid was the first Bakugan to aspire to become the "Ultimate Bakugan", and had the show ended at Season 1, he would have been the top contender, seeing how Naga was dead and Drago had managed to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence.
  • Naga after absorbing the Silent Core became this. With his newfound power he was able to overpower the Battle Brawlers, their Guardian Bakugan and his twin sister Wavern who had the Infinity Core. It wasn't until Drago absorbed the Infinity Core that he was able to to fight evenly and later defeat Naga using the Infinity Core's power.
  • The Legendary Soldiers of Vestroia were the strongest Bakugan of all time thanks to their status as legends and their awesome powers and abilities, each having a G-Power of 500.
  • Helios is perhaps the most powerful Bakugan on Vestal and was undefeated until Drago came along. He gained even more strength upon becoming Cyborg Helios, then Helios MK II and finally Infinity Helios, and additionally has the ability to combine with other Bakugan to further increase his power. In the fourth season, Helios is the only known Bakugan to change his attribute from Pyrus to Darkus after he evolved into Infinity Helios.
  • Farbros is the most powerful Mechanical Bakugan ever created, with it being the pinnacle of all Mechanical Bakugan. It was so strong, it managed to battle and defeat all of the Legendary Soldiers of Vestroia.
  • Dharak is another contender for this title as he is Gundalia's strongest Bakugan and the partner of Emperor Barodius. He, like Drago, is a unique Bakugan since he's from the same lineage as him, and has inherited the DNA of the biological makeup of one of the first two Bakugan. He projects a dark energy blast from his mouth to devastate his opponents and only Emperor Barodius can bring out the best of his abilities. He later evolved into Phantom Dharak after being infused with Blitz Dragonoid's DNA, and was able to battle evenly with Drago.
• Zekka from Battle Angel Alita. In a world where the average civilian is a cyborg capable of killing a human five metres away, his punches can kill at 2 kilometres, without a shred of effort. A serious attack from him makes the victim and everything near them explode. And is ultimate attack, which he never uses due to it being overkill? It can obliterate continents.
• Berserk:
  • The protagonist Guts is by far the strongest and most skilled mortal warrior in Midland (Zodd is a demon so he doesn't count). Guts is a unrivaled Master Swordsman who wields a BFS thanks to his Super-Strength which helped him kill an Eldritch Abomination along with a 1000 other Apostles single handedly. Human enemies are not even a threat for Guts past the Golden Age arc, although to The God Hand this just makes Guts the equivalent of being the world's strongest termite, so this trope doesn't mean much in Berserk and Guts for all his strength still struggles every day to survive. Guts eventually needs to wear supernatural armor so he can be a credible threat to the horrors he faces.
  • Fittingly, Casca, Guts' Love Interest, is likely the strongest human female since she's the only capable female warrior shown in the series, albeit a Fragile Speedster. However, Slan of The God Hand far exceeds Casca being the most strongest/powerful female character in Berserk as a Demon Goddess.
  • Griffith was once Midland''s best knight and completely undefeated when it came to swordplay... until near the end of the Golden Age where Guts (who lost to him twice before) handed him his first ever loss. Which leads to Griffith's Villainous Breakdown and hell in a handbasket. When reborn as Femto, Griffith is nigh-omnipotent and cannot harmed by any mortal means. Where he stands in regards to the other God Hand members, however, it's likely they're all equal to him. If there's any one member stronger than he is, it's likely Void.
• Beyblade:
  • Bakuten Shoot Beyblade:
    • Takao Kinomiya (Tyson Granger) is the only Blader in the original trilogy skilled enough to defeat every Arc Villain and Final Boss in every season, as well as the only multiple-time Beyblade World Champion, making him the World's Strongest Man in this continuity, or at least one of the best contenders for the title.
    • Kai Hiwatari is another contender for this trope. He was always portrayed as a powerful Blader due to being The Lancer and The Rival to Tyson, but by the final season his power and skill became so great only Tyson and Brooklyn could defeat him in a serious match. Tyson even considers Kai the strongest Blader in the world despite Tyson's own accomplishments.
    • Brooklyn in the final season G-Revolution is a Born Winner with so much natural talent at Beyblade that he doesn't need to train in order to defeat Kai in a match. He also possesses unexplained supernatural powers separate from his Bit-Beast like prescience and Reality Warping that he only used when forced to get serious, which altogether makes him the only non-protagonist that can be considered the strongest alongside Tyson and Kai.
  • Beyblade: Metal Fusion:
    • Ryuga built a massive reputation for being overwhelmingly powerful, to the point that he only ever lost two battles in the entire series. It's even more apparent due to the fact that he enjoys letting his enemies think they have a chance before one of his many One-Hit Kill attacks inevitably come.
    • Rago is generally considered one of the most powerful villains, as well as one of the strongest Bladers in the entire Beyblade franchise, and for good reason: He was one of the two Bladers who managed to defeat Ryuga, who himself has a reputation for being one of the most powerful Bladers. Not only that — he curb stomped Ryuga at his prime with ease. If that wasn't enough, he has the powers of every Legendary Blader, as well as the powers of every opponent those Bladers have ever faced. Given the large amount of strong opponents Gingka alone has fought, that should really tell you something. In the end, it took the powers of every Legendary Blader and the entire Beyblade world's power combined to defeat him, and even then Gingka's Pegasus was only able to keep spinning as slowly as possible the moment it was completely clear Nemesis was down for good thanks to the finishing blow, even when said blow had so much power and speed backing it up. To cap it all off, he caused worldwide destruction and created a black sun almost the size of Earth with his power alone, with said damage taking years to fully recover from.
  • Beyblade Burst has Valt Aoi, who is regarded as the strongest Blader in the Burst saga since he's usually the one who puts up the best fight against the main villains of each season and has an excellent tournament record.
• Black Clover:
  • As the current Wizard King, Julius Novachrono is the strongest mage in the Clover Kingdom. Licht or rather, Patry, who is an elf (who are all vastly stronger than most humans), thinks Julius is so inhumanly strong when they fight that he views him as an obstacle sent by nature against the elves for planning to violate natural law. The only two reasons that Patry is able to emerge victorious are because Julius was holding back since he didn't want to hurt Vangeance (who Patry was possessing) and so aimed to capture rather than kill, and Patry launching an attack on the citizens of the Clover Kingdom themselves, which forced Julius to use up a massive amount of his power to block and leaving him open to a fatal stab.
  • Mereoleona Vermillion is stated to be the most powerful woman in the Clover Kingdom and possibly the strongest Magic Knight. Her potential was such that she could easily have become Wizard King if she wished to. When she curb-stomps Rhya, a powerful elf himself, he notes that her massive power is not just from being royalty but also an unknown human strength. The only woman of the Clover Kingdom possibly her superior is the deceased Acier Silva, a Magic Knight who was the strongest of her time that Mereoleona without shame admits was her Always Someone Better when they were younger and died from a curse that would kill regardless of the victim's strength once triggered. It's not made clear how strong Mereoleona was as she is in the present day of the story compares to Acier when she was still alive.
  • The first Wizard King, Lumiere Silvamillion Clover, was the most powerful mage of the Clover Kingdom during his time. His feat of stopping a great demon which was formerly his close friend — the real Licht who transformed himself in order to avoid Demonic Possession from an actual devil from destroying the kingdom is what started the tradition of the Wizard King in the first place. When he's unsealed in the present, even in a weakened state it's noted his mana is greater than that of even the reincarnated elves. His only possible rival was an elf in the form of Licht himself.
  • Licht, the real one from five centuries ago before the start of the series, was the strongest member of the Elf Tribe, a race of beings who were worshipped as deities in the past whose magical power far outclassed humans. He was implied to be equal in power to Lumiere, who was reputed to be the strongest mage of the Clover Kingdom in their era.
  • Princess Lolopechka is the most powerful mage of the Heart Kingdom, possessing the power and knowledge of the past queens and the Water Spirit Undine. She has the power of an entire Magic Knight squad (including the captain) as well as being able to cover an entire country in her Mana Zone. And yet even she couldn't defeat Vanica on her own and wound up being cursed much like Acier.
  • Lucifero is the strongest devil in the series no questions asked, even while half manifested and having half of his power, he was able to catch Asta's sword with a single hand, while the latter was in Devil Union form and then punched Asta so hard, he could not see straight. Lucifero also curb stomps the Magic Knight Captains and barely flinched after all of them attacked him, calling all their attacks pointless. Not even Mereoleona the Uncrowned, Undefeated Lioness, was able land a single hit. He more or less wins his fight with the magic knights, with his victory coming undone only because Asta's True Devil Union is capable of negating his magical advantages and inflicting wounds that won't regenerate, preventing him from leveraging any of his strength properly for its duration.
    Adrammelech: Lucifero's magic is beyond amazing, and so are his physical skills. Even if he's not complete. An ant can't beat an elephant, no matter how strong or weird it is.
  • Lucius Zogratis, the oldest and fourth Zogratis sibling and Julius’ original personality, is perhaps the strongest character in the story. He was already regarded as the Clover Kingdom's strongest mage as its Wizard King Julius. He then goes on to defeat the un-manifested 50% of Lucifero without half his body in the underworld, who when manifested at 50% took the combined effort of the strongest magic knights with Asta's True Devil Union nullifying his magical advantages and Lucius's help with his time magic to defeat him, a feat that Lucius accomplishes alone. He tells Asta he's stronger than Julius, using more powerful Time Magic after gaining more magical power from absorbing Lucifero.
• In Bleach, there are a handful of Soul Reapers, Hollows, and Quincies that are highly superior to the other members of their respective race in power and skill:
  • As the Captain-Commander of the Thirteen Court Guard Squad, Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto is the strongest Soul Reaper in the history of Soul Society. When confronting Aizen, Yamamoto states that he has held that distinction for the past thousand years because, for those thousand years, there hasn't been a single Soul Reaper that has surpassed him. Aizen himself admits that he doesn't feel confident taking him on in a one-on-one fight, and had to create an Arrancar that was specifically designed to seal Yamamoto's Zanpakuto abilities. When said Arrancar does so, Yamamoto effortlessly beats the Arrancar using just his fists. During the Thousand Year Blood War arc, Yamamoto confronts the Sternritter Royd Lloyd disguised as his Arch-Enemy, Yhwach, and immediately releases his Bankai Zanka no Tachi which would eventually destroy Soul Society if left active for too long.
  • Kenpachi Zaraki is said to be the strongest Soul Reaper due to his love of fighting strong opponents, and he wears a special eye patch to control his immeasurable Reiatsu. He is however, second only to Yamamoto in Spiritual Power and Reiatsu. During the Thousand Year Blood War, he goes through some training with the first Kenpachi, Retsu Unohana, to become stronger and manages to surpass her. His Spiritual Power is so great, not even Gremmy, who was stated to be the strongest Quincy, next to Yhwach, was able to handle the sheer amount of raw power when attempted to replicate it, and in his bankai state, Kenpachi was able to rip off Gerard Valkyrie’s arm with his teeth and then cut him with a single slash. He was also listed as one of the Five Special War Powers for his specialty for combat.
  • Even as a child, Sosuke Aizen possessed a frightening amount of strength. He is gifted with extraordinary abilites, and is rivaled only by a few in terms of power, talent, skill, and intellect. He is able to effortlessly defeat Ichigo the first time they meet, and quickly subdues Komammura with a Kido spell that wasn't even at its most powerful. However, Aizen states that no matter how strong a person becomes, there is always a limit, and Aizen wishes to move past those limits. Aizen's goal is to become even stronger and ascend beyond the boundaries that limits Soul Reapers and Hollows. When he fuses the Hogyoku with himself, Aizen becomes nigh-unbeatable, with only Ichigo being able to fight him. When he is sealed in Muken for two years, his Spiritual Power grows exponentially, even beyond the time where he became a Transcendent Being fused with the Hogyoku. The Vandenreich have him listed as one of the Five Special War Powers due to him having the highest amount of Reiatsu out of any character in the series.
  • Ichigo Kurosaki manages to become this after reaching his full potential and forging his true Zanpakuto. Ichigo discovers that he is a hybrid of Human, Soul Reaper, Hollow, and Quincy with unbelievable power, and the potential to become a Transcendent Being akin to the Soul King. When he does reach his full potential, he is strong enough to take on four Sternritters without much difficulty, and was able fight Yhwach — who absorbed the Soul King to effectively become a Physical God. He can also transform into his Merged Hollow form, which is able to preform a Gran Ray Cero combined with his signature Getsuga Tenshō to wound Yhwach, and later even managed to kill the Quincy King using his True Bankai. He was also listed as one of the Five Special War Powers for his Latent Ability and mixed heritage. The novel Can't Fear Your Own World reveals that Ichigo has yet to master his powers and will only grow stronger in time.
  • Played with with Baraggan Louisenbairn. As the former self-proclaimed God of Hueco Mundo, Baraggan earned that right by carving out a kingdom, declaring his sovereignty, and then defeating all challengers to his power. However, Starrk, Yammy, and (as revealed in the light novels) even Szayelaporro (before he willingly weakened himself to remove his "imperfection") all have more Reiatsu than he does at their full power. What makes him so devastating is that his power is one of the only exceptions to the rule of "greater Reiatsu can mitigate or even negate its effects", meaning he could legitimately and even easily defeat even those technically stronger than him in a direct fight, which is what let him consolidate power so utterly before Aizen came along (who in turn had to rely on trickery and subterfuge to subdue Baraggan before he could use Respira rather than win through a physical contest) and why Szayelaporro was part of his court despite being strong enough at the time to qualify as the first Cero Espada. When he goes all-out, the only reason his foes survive is because he's so arrogant he constantly indulges in Just Toying with Them, and ultimately it takes being killed by his own power turned on him to defeat him.
  • Despite being ranked fourth among the Espada, Ulquiorra Cifer is far more powerful than he seems to be. Even before the true extent of his power is revealed, Ulquiorra states that he is forbidden from releasing his sword as its immense power could potentially destroy Las Noches itself and has to take the fight with Ichigo outside of the dome. When he releases his Resurreccion, Ulquiorra absolutely thrashes Ichigo, who was at his absolute strongest at the time. When Ichigo refuses to give up, Ulquiorra transforms into his Resurreccion: Segunda Etapa, revealing himself as the only Arrancar capable of unlocking a second stage of Resurreccion. Ulquiorra states that Aizen himself isn't even aware of it. If he was, Ulquiorra would've undoubtedly ranked higher. He proceeds to further demolish Ichigo and comes the closest out of any other villain in the series to outright killing him. Ichigo is only able to gain the upper hand thanks to his Inner Hollow.
  • Coyote Starrk is the Primera Espada, and is one the few Hollows who possesses power that rivals, or even surpasses that of Baraggan Louisenbairn. Before he officially became an Arrancar, his Spiritual Power was so immense that it caused other Hollows to disintegrate just by being in his presence. He's also one of the few Arrancar in Aizen's army that became the way he is naturally rather than being amplified by the Hogyoku. He is able to fight two of the longest-serving Captains of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, and was able to effortlessly defeat two Visored that were once Captains themselves, and would've killed them as well had it not been for Kyoraku's intervention.
  • Yhwach, The Emperor of the Vandenreich, is not only the strongest Quincy in the world, but without question, the most powerful character in the entire series. As the progenitor of the Quincies, Yhwach has access to every one of their natural powers and abilities, and can use them to a greater extent. During his fight with Yamamoto, he steals his Bankai, which happens to be the most powerful one of them all. It's revealed that every time someone comes in contact with his soul, that person will eventually die, and their soul will be absorbed into him, and he will gain their memories and abilities. Each of the Sternritter have a Schrift, a ability that is unique to them, and as Sternritter 'A', Yhwach's Schrift is "The Almighty" which allows him to not only see into the future, but change it to his advantage. He eventually absorbs both Mimihagi and the Soul King into himself which makes him powerful enough to reform Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the Human World into one new world. In the end, it took the combined effort of Aizen's Shikai, Uryu shooting the Still Silver arrow at him from behind, and a well-timed slash from Zangetsu to ultimately take him down. Even after his death, his corpse contains enough Reiatsu to serve as a suitable replacement to the Soul King.
  • Lille Barro is the very first Quincy to recieve power from Yhwach. As a result, Lille became one of the strongest Quincies to ever exist. He is selected by Yhwach to lead his Elite Guard. His Schrift, "The X-Axis", enables him to pierce anything within his line of sight and become intangible. He can fight toe-to-toe with Shunsui Kyoraku, the new Captain-Commander of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, and can even overpower him when he enters his Quincy: Vollstandig. He is also one of the only Quincy who can enter into a second form of his Vollstandig, which outright transforms him into a Transcendent Being that can only be injured by a weapon that is stated to kill the divine.
  • Discussed and ultimately subverted with Uryu Ishida. Uryu doesn't appear to be any stronger than the average Quincy, but more than one character has theorized that Uryu has the potential to become one of the strongest Quincies to ever live. Yhwach himself even states that his power could possibly surpass even his own. His Schrift, "The Antithesis", allows him to reverse the situation between himself and his enemy; he can transfer any wounds he sustained in a fight to his enemy, healing himself in the process. Haschwalth believes that it is one of the only abilites that could be a threat to The Almighty itself. However, while Uryu is indeed quite powerful, he never really did reach his full potential.
• Brynhildr in the Darkness:
  • Mako "Valkyria" Fujisaki is the strongest witch known, an S-Rank who can use eleven different types of magic. The usual is one, sometimes two. As a result, she is The Dreaded.
  • After Mako dies, Hrist gets the title, and though she only demonstrates three types of magic, she is even more powerful than Mako.
• A Certain Magical Index: Accelerator holds the title as far as the general public is concerned, being the strongest of only seven Level 5 espers in existence (as he is fond of reminding everyone). There are, however, several characters who outclass him, with the actual most powerful probably going to Aleister Crowley. The most powerful confirmed entity in the series is Crowley's mentor Aiwass, but he/she/it isn't human.
• Chainsaw Man:
  • The Chainsaw Devil is the closest the setting has to the Ultimate Life Form. Not only it's much stronger than most other devils, to the the point it could fight off entire hordes during its days as the "Hero from Hell" and crush lesser devils to death by absentmindedly hugging them, the Chainsaw Devil also has the abilty to erase entire concepts from reality by devouring their respective devils, a power no other being in the setting has.
  • The Darkness Devil is the strongest devil shown in Part 1 without occupying Chainsaw Devil's unique position. It's so overwhelmingly powerful that it never experienced any form of death during its presumed millennia of existence. Its power is so extreme, that it cannot be even understood by most other beings, i.e. its attacks consist of sudden bursts of random images soon followed by the target being sponteneausly torn apart. It's later revealed Darkness is but one of the type of Devils known as the Primal Fears, representing the deepest terrors of mankind and among the strongest of their kind.
  • Makima, the Control Devil, is the strongest Devil Hunter in all of Public Safety and the most powerful Non-Primal Fear Devil on Earth at the time. She possesses a number of powers and abilities that can make short work of any monster or human that comes her way and is able to take control of any living thing she desires aside from Chainsaw Man. As the Control Devil, she embodies mankind's fear of being controlled or conquered and this qualifies her and her sisters as beings called the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Her on-panel feats include literally crushing a band of mobster's from the other side of the country, killing fiends like Power and Quanxi's harem with minimal effort, being able to fight off the Darkness Devil, even if it were temporary, and defeating Pochita in a fist fight right before the end of Part 1.
  • Among humans, Kishibe and Quanxi are the world's strongest Devil Hunters, able to battle powerful Devils and their contractors with their bare hands, fighting skills, and a little bit of insanity. Kishibe spends days beating his combat prowess into Denji and Power, and Quanxi has superhuman speed and strength even without using her Weapon form, and fears nothing except for Makima.
  • Part 2 reveals the current most powerful Devil in existence, above even the Primal Fears like Darkness, is the one known as the "Great King of Terror", who is prophesied to usher in the Age of Devils upon their descent to Earth. Its true identity is that of The Death Devil, the eldest sister of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and one who even her younger sisters are all working against in their own ways to stop her plans. The current plan leading the pack is by the Famine Devil, who plans to buff Denji and Asa as the hosts of the Chainsaw Devil and War Devil through worldwide fear so that they'll be strong enough to fight Death when she shows up.
• Claymore:
  • Teresa is known as the strongest Claymore of all generations. This is understating her capability; she's an order of magnitude stronger than anyone else, and when she goes rogue, she's capable of single-handedly curb-stomping an entire team of high-ranked Claymores.
  • According to trainee twins, Raki is the strongest known human.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba:
  • Yoriichi Tsugikuni was the Demon Slayer. He was so overwhelmingly powerful that even Muzan was afraid of him after a one-sided Single-Stroke Battle and surely would have died after his defeat at Yoriichi's hands had he not escaped. Literally the only reason that he didn't win his final fight against Kokushibo (his twin brother and Always Second Best Demon Slayer) was that he was at least eighty and his body just gave out on him before he could properly inflict a killing blow. To put that feat in perspective, when Kokushibo is fought in the series proper, it took multiple Hashira working together, a few Heroic Sacrifices, and Kokushibo suffering a What Have I Become? moment and a Villainous BSoD fueled by immense regret to put him down for good. This guy almost did it by himself at the age of over eighty. Likewise, the only reason he didn't kill Muzan was because he paused his onslaught to ask Muzan what he thought of all the lives he took, which gave Muzan the opening he needed to escape.
  • Gyomei Himejima is the most powerful of the Demon Slayers' current generation, and the mightiest warrior humanity has to offer against the demon threat. Kokushibo even states that Gyomei is the strongest Demon Slayer he's faced in 300 years.
  • Sanemi Shinazugawa's years of obsessive training and constant demon slaying made Sanemi an absolute monster of a super human, singular amongst his peers; to show that Sanemi's first serious fight in the series is by the endgame, against Kokushibo, the Upper Rank 1, who beforehand showed how extremely strong he is by making short work of Muichiro Tokito, a fellow Hashira with his Demon Slayer Mark activated, yet Sanemi who still hadn't awakened his mark did a far better skirmish against Kokushibo, with only Gyomei, the strongest Hashira and slayer of the present generation, displaying better prowess against Kokushibo. When Sanemi awakened his Demon Slayer Mark during the battle against Kokushibo, the demon praises him along Gyomei as the strongest Hashira of their generation.
  • On the side of the demons, Muzan Kibutsuji is the strongest demon of the entire series as well as the progenitor of the demon race. He's so incredibly powerful that no Demon Slayer was able to match him until the aforementioned Yoriichi came into the picture. Even during the final battle with his body aged 9000 years by Tamayo's drug and severely weakened, he was able to overpower and mortally wound most of the Hashira, and it required almost every member of Demon Slayer Corps to finally finish him off.
  • As the holder of the title Upper-Rank One, the aforementioned Kokushibo is as powerful as a demon can possibly become without occupying Muzan's unique position as the Monster Progenitor. And thus stronger then every other fighter in the setting excluding his brother. It says something that Muzan of all people considers him more a partner than a subordinate. During his final battle, it takes the combined efforts of three Hashira with the Mark and a Demon Slayer enhanced by eating demonic flesh, to bring him down, and even then he only lost because he got distracted by an existential crisis.
  • By the end of series, Tanjiro's demonic form, the aptly named "New Demon King", was a contender for that title. For starters, due to being created with all of Muzan's remaining blood, it has much more raw power than the average demon, possibly on top of his Demon Slayer abilities. Second and most importantly, NDK Tanjiro is immune to sunlight. While his demon king form can still be killed by decapitation or wisteria poison, his extreme strength and regenerative abilities make it practically impossible to behead or poison via coventional means. Should Demon King Tanjiro have escaped or killed his enemies, his reign of terror would have lasted until the end times and beyond... which is likely why Tanjiro was turned back into a human 2-3 chapters later.
• Tsukasa from Dr. STONE was always incredibly strong, but being one of the few to recover from the event that transformed all of humanity into stone, he's now pretty much the strongest human being left on Earth.
• Dungeon Friends Forever has Golde, "The Legendary Man". He gets his names from all the legends that have sprung up in his wake. He's conquered dungeons all over and he's arrived to take on Wyrm Hell as he lives to take on powerful opponents. However even he can't do a thing against Van, who fights him to protect Ryuuka and wins handily.
• Mr. Don from Eyeshield 21. When a guy can Worf Kurita Ryokan, Yamato Takeru, Shin Seijuro, AND Gaou Rikaya, holy crap. Hell, Gaou, the heaviest hitter on the entire protagonist team, had to use a Delta Dynamite just to knock the guy off-balance! Good Lord.
• Fabricant 100: As the last one made, No 100 is considered the most powerful Fabricant in terms of raw power, as she has destroyed several Fabricants at Yao mansion instantly.
• Fairy Tail:
  • Zeref Dragneel is regarded as the most powerful human wizard in history. His magic power is so enormous that he couldn't even control it. He loses control when he cares about living things but when he doesn't care about others, he controls his magic power and becomes the ruthless and the cold-hearted Zeref that the legend speaks of. He was already powerful with his Black Arts but he becomes even more powerful when he absorbs the Fairy Heart and becomes a Physical God able to manipulate Time Magic.
  • Acnologia is unquestionably the most powerful character in the entire series. While his soul is thrashing the other Dragon Slayers, he boasts that he is the "Dragon King" because there is no dragon that has ever been stronger than him, and dragons are (or were, in any case) the strongest species on the planet, being immune to all forms of magic except the one they helped create. Even Ignia's boasting of the five Dragon Gods being equal or surpassing Acnologia loses weight when one remembers that in one timeline, Acnologia singlehandedly conquered the entire world, and considering Acnologia's views on Dragons, it's safe to say the five of them probably didn't survive.
  • Jura Neekis eventually becomes the fifth-strongest Wizard Saint of Ishgal, with his guild master stating that the four above him are so strong they might as well be gods amongst men, thus making Jura the strongest human around. During the Grand Magic Games, he repeatedly defeats several of the strongest members of other guilds and unleashes powerful feats of magic that leave Makarov wondering if they even have a chance of victory. This ends up being subverted when he's defeated by Laxus after a hard-fought battle at the end of the games, and then he loses easily to one of Alvarez's Spriggan 12, a group of mages who stand at the pinnacle of magic.
  • Hades/Precht Gaebolg is the strongest dark wizard in Earthland before the first timeskip and Zeref returning. He was so strong he was able to defeat Makarov Dreyar (one of the Ten Wizard Saints and Guild Master of Fairy Tail), overpower Team Natsu, and fight on par with Laxus (one of strongest members of the Fairy Tail guild). His magic power was even stated to be so monsterous it terrified Team Natsu and he also has the Devils Heart which made him nearly invincible in battle, the heroes only managed to defeat him by having the Devils Heart destroyed making him vulnerable and Natsu gaining a Next Tier Power-Up.
  • Gildarts Clive holds the distinction of being the strongest member of Fairy Tail, and his achievements include defeating Bluenote Stinger, the strongest subordinate of Grimoire Heart, one of the most powerful dark guilds, easily handling Natsu in battle, facing off against God Serena and winning albeit against a weaker construct since the real one was dead, and fighting on par with the strongest of the Spriggan 12, August. It's been repeatedly mentioned that he could very well be the strongest man in the series.
  • Laxus Dreyar eventually rises to the bat when his list of achievements include matching blows with one of Fairy Tail's former masters, wiping out the elite team of an enemy guild, defeating both his father and the aforementioned Jura in combat during the Grand Magic Games, and being one of two to defeat a member of the Spriggan 12 on his own with no outside interference (the other being Acnologia). He also holds the distinction of being the second-strongest male member of Fairy Tail.
  • Mard Geer is the strongest Etherious demon in the Tartaros guild second only to E.N.D. in power, with Curse power so immense that it was enough to scare Kyôka. He's also strong enough to fight evenly with the Celestial Spirit King, who's stated to be the strongest Celestial Spirit. During the battle between Fairy Tail and Tartaros he delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle to the Dragon Slayers Sting and Rogue while not even taking them seriously. In his Etherius form, in which is Mard Geer at his strongest, he was able to contend with Natsu and Gray, and his most powerful Curse, Memento Mori, was powerful enough to destroy everything in its wake. In fact, it's stated to be strong enough to destroy immortal beings like Zeref himself.
  • God Serena of the Ten Wizard Saints is strongest of them all and the first of the gods amongst men known as "Four Emperors of Ishgal", officially recognized as the most powerful mage on the continent. It's then subverted when he runs off to join the Spriggan 12, each of whom has magic power to rival his, and it's revealed he's not even the strongest one, despite being the one who kicks Jura's ass along with the other Wizard Saints on his lonesome. And then he decides to pick a fight with Acnologia, who kills him easily.
  • August of the Spriggan 12 is considered the strongest male member and leader of the group and is The Archmage of the highest caliber, being the equal of his fellow Spriggan Irene Belserion who's a dragon, and he's a normal human. He's the only person aside from Acnologia who can give Gildarts a run for his money, and he ultimately only falls by his own hand.
  • Irene Belserion of Alvarez's Spriggan 12 is considered the strongest female member of the group and in general can make a case for being the World's Strongest Woman, being an incredibly powerful Reality Warper able to transform a continent and who can claim to be one of the few people who are capable of defeating Erza Scarlet in a straight fight with no outside forces hampering Erza's abilities (while Erza even had back-up from Wendy). Like Acnologia, she too is a Dragon Slayer who eventually turned into a Dragon, albeit unwillingly, and ultimately falls by her own hand when she realizes that she can't bring herself to kill her daughter Erza.
  • Natsu Dragneel presumably gains this title at the end of the series, after the death’s of both Zeref and Acnologia, and both of whom Natsu defeated in battle. However, both of Natsu's victories over them were only made possible through outside interference: Natsu would have died fighting Zeref if Lucy hadn't been supporting him through writing in his Book of E.N.D. combined with Zeref's own conflicting desires, and even then it took Mavis Vermillion sacrificing herself to finally kill Zeref after Natsu knocked him down. In regards to Acnologia, Wendy had to enchant the Dragon Slayer magic of herself and the other Slayers into Natsu for a final power-up while Lucy casted Fairy Sphere with the help of every mage on the continent to immobilize Acnologia long enough for him to deliver the finishing blow. As a result, Natsu's ability to lay claim to the title is rather suspect, given the strength of others on this list.
  • The sequel Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest adds the Five Dragon Gods as contestors for the strongest beings alive, being said to have power capable of challenging that of even Acnologia and even claimed to surpass the Dragon King. Although it's quite possible Acnologia was more powerful than them, as he was said to have conquered the world entirely in a Bad Future and likely killed them, and he definitely exceeded their powers after absorbing the magic of Space Between Time, with him gone, they are currently the most powerful beings alive. Even at half power and reduced to a mindless beast, the Water Dragon God Mercuphobia easily overwhelmed Natsu and the other members of the strongest team in Fairy Tail and it takes the intervention of the Fire Dragon God Ignia to give Natsu the boost needed to defeat him. Later on, the power of the Wood Dragon God Aldoron harnessed by his main avatar easily overwhelmed Natsu despite again only being at half power from his recent awakening and it takes him losing more power via the destruction of his other avatars by the rest of Fairy Tail alongside Natsu unleashing Dragon Force and drawing upon the power of every dragon he had defeated and consumed to finally deal the fatal blow.
• Kenshiro of Fist of the North Star is the most powerful practitioner of Hokuto Shinken in general existence. Only a handful of warriors have given him a proper fight, much less been able to defeat him.
• From Frieren: Beyond Journey's End:
  • During her lifetime, the Great Mage Flamme was at the very least the most powerful human alive, being on par with elven mages who were many times her own lifespan.
  • Serie is the most powerful being in the series thus far. Her heavily suppressed mana aura reads as equal to Frieren's fully revealed mana level. When she dueled Macht, the unquestioned strongest of the Seven Sages of Destruction, she could have and would have eviscerated him if not for her disciples requesting that they seal him away instead. She is considered a walking magical encyclopedia, has hundreds or even thousands of spells layered all over her body for protection, is seen by Richter as the closest entity the world has ever had to an omnipotent and omniscient Goddess, and has likely never been so much as scratched in thousands of years, if ever.
  • The unnamed Hero of the South is a Long-Dead Badass with this exact reputation. Stark thinks it's an exaggeration, but Frieren thinks it was a fitting title as he managed to eliminate the Demon Army's frontline in only one year and pushed them back to the Northern Plateaus. There he faced all Seven Sages of Destruction and the Demon King's right hand and managed to kill three of the Sages of Destruction before he presumably died.
• Nuriko, the strongest Seishi in Fushigi Yuugi.
• In Gintama Umibozu is known as "the strongest man in the universe", being considered the strongest out of the Yato clan, themselves seen as the strongest species of the universe. He work as a mercenary tracking and killing the most dangerous aliens and even a few armed starships are no match for him.
• In Hellsing, Alucard is the world's strongest vampire, not only in magical power but physical strength as well. And Abraham Van Helsing was the one who defeated him. In the modern era, the strongest human was Father Alexander Anderson, until he discarded his humanity for the power to kill Alucard.
• America of Hetalia: Axis Powers seems to be a fairly benign variation of this, in comparison to the rest of the cast, being the world's last superpower; he's seen lifting cars and swinging buffalo with little discernible effort. Of course, this isn't always so harmless.
• High School D×D:
  • Ouroboros Dragon Ophis is introduced as the most powerful character seen in the series when she's also revealed as the leader of the Khaos Brigade, with only Great Red as her rival in power. As a Dragon God, Ophis has power far exceeding even the Heavenly Dragons Ddraig and Albion whist both where in their prime. Even after Samael's poison took away a vast majority of her power, she's still twice as strong as the both of them.
  • Apocalypse Dragon Great Red is the second Dragon God in the series and the only Dragon that can rival Ophis in power, and in fact has power on the level of the Biblical God. Just a mere fraction of his power allowed Issei to defeat Jabberwocky, a being that several of the strongest Ultimate-class Devils had trouble defeating.
  • Archangel Gabriel is a woman and has the title "The Strongest Woman in Heaven" but of all the angels, Michael is the only angel that is stronger so the title is warranted.
  • Unfortunately for our protagonists, the most powerful beings currently in the story belong to the invading mechanical aliens from the world of ExE. The eldest of their leaders was able to defeat Great Red easily but what's the real kicker? His top general (called a Prime) could have done the same thing.
• Hunter × Hunter:
  • Isaac Netero is seen this way by pretty much everyone in the series, hailed as the most powerful Nen user. In his own opinion, he's gotten too old for the title to truly apply to him, but it's hard to tell whether this is true or not. Netero's true strength is seen when he battles the Chimera Ant King Meruem and uses his 100 Type Guanyin Bodhisatta, a summoned multi-armed construct which takes the form of a Guanyin.
  • The Chimera Ant King Meruem was literally born to be the strongest Chimera Ant of all. Meruem is able to shatter walls and kill both humans and other Chimera Ants in a single blow. During his battle with Netero, Meruem was able to fight him on even grounds and overpower him by ripping off his leg and arm, as well as surviving Netero's Zero Hand blast. He becomes more powerful and ascends to Physical God status after Netero's Poor Man’s Rose nuclear bomb fails to kill him.
• Inuyasha:
  • Tōga, better known as Inu no Taisho, was said to be the world's strongest demon until his death, having defeated some of the most powerful demons in combat. Just one of his fangs turned into an extremely powerful demonic sword recognized as one of the strongest is enough to slay 100 lesser demon in a single swing. Only the extremely powerful demonic dragon Ryukotsusei was able to deal the finishing blow to him and in return he managed to seal away the dragon. He was also said to be significantly stronger than both his sons, even Sesshomaru, at the beginning of the series. Even dying, he still managed to defeat an entire castle of soldiers with ease before succumbing to his mortal wounds in order to save his son. Though, it turns out in the sequel series Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon that there was actually one demon in existence who rivaled Inu no Taisho's power, Kirinmaru.
  • Sesshomaru, Inu no Taisho's son, who has trained himself relentlessly in order to follow the legacy of his and Inuyasha's powerful yokai father, is the strongest demon alive after his father's passing. Throughout the series, he has proven himself to be much more powerful than his younger half-brother and repeatedly delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle on not only his brother (only ever losing due to outside interference or unexpected circumstances), but even the foes who give Inuyaha and his friends a decent struggle. Even the Big Bad Naraku, who had acquired great powers solely from absorbing other demons and the Shikon no Tama, instead of his own powers, acknowleged him to be much more powerful than himself and a fight between them has Sesshomaru pushing him onto the defensive entirely and he only couldn't kill him due to Naraku's immortality acquired from casting away his human heart and his special barrier. While Magatsuhi, the evil spirit of said Jewel, proved to be stronger than both him and Inuyasha at first, Sesshomaru kicks Magatsuhi's ass the moment he gains his very own Infinity +1 Sword (one of the most powerful weapons in the story). The abilities of said sword also happen to be the perfect counter to Naraku's From a Single Cell regeneration. At this point, it was stated that he could very well be equal to, if not, even more powerful than his father. By the time his daughters were born, more than a decade later, he's specifically stated to be the only demon who can match Kirinmaru, his father's equal, single-handedly, which is a feat not even his brother, wife and niece as well as his niece and his daughters working together can pull off, and ultimately defeats him in their final match, taking the title of the strongest demon in existence.
  • The sequel series Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon adds Kirinmaru as another demon who could be the strongest demon alive. Being the equal of Inu no Taisho, who in the previous series was acknowledged to be the strongest demon alive, his power along with his rival's maintained the peace between the western and eastern lands, with Inu no Taisho ruling the former and Kirinmaru ruling the latter as equals, and they would periodically destroy the Grim Comet that would plague the lands every 500 years. Indeed, he proves his power by delivering a Curb-Stomp Battle to the main trio composed of two powerful half-demons and one quarter-demon who happened to be the granddaugthers of his rival. Though said fight happened to be with their powers sealed, in Kirinmaru's most recent fight with them, even having suffered injuiries and the protagonists having grown stronger and acquired more abilities, he is still able to come out victorious and ends up killing Setsuna and ultimately overpowering Towa and Moroha after they had unlocked their own full powers. Most prominently, he repeatedly proves to be equally matched with Sesshomaru, the strongest demon in the prevous series after he's grown even stronger, with the two of them being the primary competitors for the title of the strongest. It's only after he's suffered a Worf Had the Flu that Sesshomaru is able to defeat him and even then not without a serious struggle.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Jotaro Kujo from Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders is a weird case. While there have been Stands that are considered stronger than his (prior to the world being re-started) in terms of abilities, Star Platinum not only is insanely strong, fast, durable and precise, but his power, if used well, would take away the chance for other Stand Users to use their abilities. As such, even other people who have been barely introduced to the world of Stands know and are wary of his abilities. In Part 6, though Enrico Pucci manages to kill Jotaro, he not only had to wait years to plan how to reach the Heaven that DIO wanted, but also had to wait in order for Jotaro's strength to be diminished by age, and even then he had to lure him out and did not dare to confront him directly until he had Made in Heaven, and even with that Stand, if Jotaro had not tried to save Jolyne, then the fight almost certainly would have gone in his favor.
  • It's clear Jonathan Joestar was the strongest human at the end of Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Phantom Blood; he's so strong even Stand Users (like Jotaro above) comment what an absolute freak of strength Jonathan is in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle. Characters are even glad in their win quotes that Jonathan never awakened a Stand, and considering what DIO did with his body in Stardust Crusaders, it's probable he'd be utterly unstoppable with one.
  • DIO, the Big Bad of the franchise, can be considered one due to him becoming a vampire with his advanced physiology and unique powers and no normal human besides Jonathan was able to overpower him or even defeat him. However, with the introduction of the Pillar Men, practically being a more powerful version of a vampire with their own more unique abilities, Dio is ultimately outclassed in their department. This changes once more in Stardust Crusaders, where he arguably has the strongest Stand to his advantage, one that can stop time itself along with having the strength, speed, and durability to back it up. Finally, when he absorbs Joseph's blood to regulate his bodily functions, he becomes even stronger and is able to outclass Jotaro in all departments to where he nearly killed him in the end, and his time stop ability rapidly increases in duration with each usage during the fight. Unfortunately for him, due to his arrogance and recklessness, Jotaro ends up defeating him while taking advantage of his gloating and finally puts an end to his reign.
  • Possibly surpassing Jotaro, Jonathan, and DIO and possibly the entire franchise is Kars from Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Battle Tendency, who becomes the Ultimate Life Form, i.e. completely unstoppable and unkillable. Joseph Joestar only survives against him by pure luck, and a volcanic eruption launches Kars into space where he's no longer a threat.
• Jujutsu Kaisen:
  • Satoru Gojo is the unquestionably strongest sorcerer in the series, born with the almighty Limitless along with the Six Eyes as the most powerful member of the Gojo family. He was so strong as a child that curses naturally grew in strength to compensate for the power imbalance. In any fight he's been in, he's easily beaten any of his foes. Suguru Geto, who used to be his best friend and equal until Gojo left him in the dust as he grew much more powerful as well as another Special-Grade Sorcerer, even stated that he could kill all of humanity by himself, which he admitted to be impossible for him, and he has stated himself that he could overthrow the Jujutsu society had he wanted to. He even claims that he can defeat Ryoumen Sukuna, the strongest Curse, at full strength, although whether or not it was just an arrogant boast was uncertain until Sukuna ensured he experienced the Mentor Occupational Hazard.
  • Ryoumen Sukuna, regarded as the King of Curses, is acknowledged as the most powerful Cursed Spirit ever. In the Golden Age of Jujutsu, he was an imaginary demon who had defeated and killed many Jujutsu Sorcerers who had sharpened themselves against him and after he is finally killed himself, his curse is so strong that no Jujutsu sorcerer, not even the aformentioned Satoru Gojo, can destroy his remaining fingers and Gojo even actually admits a fight between them would be difficult. Even with only fractions of his power recovered, he is able to deliver a Curb-Stomp Battle to anyone he fights, even the most powerful of Curses. He even defeats Mahoraga, a Shinigami that not even a member of the Gojo Family with the Six Eyes, an individual with similar skillset to Satoru, was able to beat, with 75% of his power. The other villains all describe him as being capable of assuring the completion of their goals just as much as they believe him capable of killing them all.
  • Yuta Okkotsu can also qualify. He was born with insane amounts of Cursed Energy, actually being even more powerful than Gojo, and that strength is used to curse his dead girlfriend into the Queen of Curses who Wordof God confirms is second only to Sukuna himself and is deemed capable of destroying the Jujutsu society. Despite his inexperience, summoning Rika is more than enough to casually take down powerful Cursed Spirits, and when he's using all the strength he could muster at the time, he proved able to beat Suguru Geto, a Special Grade sorcerer regarded as the worst Curse user (apart from Sukuna). Although Geto was handicapped, he freely admits Yuta would have won had he been able to use the full extent of his strength even had he been able to use all that he had against him. In the present, he's second to Gojo only because Gojo can use his Cursed Energy much more efficiently than him, and is regarded as being capable of handling Sukuna at 75% of his power, with Sukuna actually being willing to come out himself and fight him after Yuji loses. Whereas Yuji and Megumi struggle with their part of the Culling Game against comparatively weaker enemies, Yuta single-handedly defeats all the four pillars of the much more intense Sendai Colony.
  • As for the strongest physical character, Toji Fushiguro held that title due to his Heavenly Restriction being one of a kind, his physical prowess being beyond even the supernaturally enhanced sorcerers. He hands Suguru Geto and Satoru Gojo their asses when they try to fight him using purely his physical prowess alone, only losing to Satoru when he pulls off his ace card and fights from a distance rather than taking him head-on. In the present, Maki Zenin has taken the title of the physically strongest being after her sister dies and she is freed from Cursed Energy... And she single-handedly massacres the entire Zenin Clan.
• Kengan Ashura has no shortage of insanely skilled fighters who can deflect bullets with their bare hands, but in terms of raw strength, two contenders for the strongest character are Julius, who is able to drag a racecar driving full speed to the opposite direction, and Wakatsuki, whose super dense muscles allow him to pack punches that can smash through concrete and steel.
• Hayato Furinji in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is called as such on several occasions, when he isn't being called the Invincible Superman. While using 0.002% of his full power, he can crush trees like twigs and split the earth without problem.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • The last Sankt Kaiser, Olivie Sägebrecht, who was known as the queen deemed second to none in combat when she was alive. That was hundreds of years ago, so there are multiple contenders in the modern era.
  • Sieglinde Jeremiah of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid is known during the series as the "strongest teenage girl in all of the worlds and dimensions" who had never been defeated in battle (her one recorded loss was by default due to not showing up for the match). Einhart learns first-hand that the title was not just for show.
  • Hayate Yagami is the only SS ranked mage in the TSAB, making her the strongest human mage. However, her rank is only based on raw magical power and the fact that she can only use nuke-level spells disqualifies her from being the World's Best Warrior.
  • In the original Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Presea Testarossa is also SS rank. As such, she might well have been the most powerful mage of the modern era until she died.
• Sinbad in Magi: Labyrinth of Magic by virtual of holding seven Djinn and having a supernatural amount of magoi for a regular human. Even Kouen has four fewer Djinn than him.
• Maoyu has The Hero (no, that's his name according to the books) being capable of curb stomping any army. This is how he is even introduced before meeting Maou.
• In Mother Keeper, Zelik Lindemann is the strongest man in the slums and most likely the world as no one in Eden seems to be likely to fare well against him. Even when Syal fights him in insanity mode, she's barely managing to keep up against him once the initial surprise wears off.
• My Hero Academia has a few Heroes and Villains that have the title of the strongest.
  • All Might, the Number One Hero and Symbol of Peace, is this thanks to One For All, which is the most powerful strength augmentation Quirk in existence. That being said, thanks to the injury he received from the other contender for the title, he was only able to use his super-powered form for three hours at the start of the series. After he passes the Quirk on to the protagonist Izuku Midoriya, that time begins to decrease until the last dregs of One For All finally leave him after the Kamino Ward arc.
  • Endeavor is an interesting case. As he begins the story as Japan's #2 Hero, eventually becoming #1 following All-Might's retirement. He trains like crazy to one day surpass #1, and has the incredible bulk and firepower to prove it. What makes him a strong contender for this title is that since All-Might's near infinite strength and other abilities comes from One For All, which he received from Nana Shimura, for multiple years Endeavor was the strongest Hero through his own power, and was this for the brief time before Tomura Shigaraki had his power up during the War Arc.
  • Deku will become this once he masters One For All and thereby become stronger than All Might ever was, with Deku as the narrator flat-out saying this is the story of how he reaches that point. This is showcased when he's enabled to use 100% against Overhaul with no drawbacks: Overhaul, an extremely dangerous villain who multiple Pros struggled with, doesn't stand a chance against him, even after going One-Winged Angel. And that isn't even as strong as he'll actually be once he reaches his true potential, as Deku begins unlocking the Quirks of One For All's previous Torch Bearers. As he will likely be the last user due to it being too dangerous to easily pass on at this point, Izuku's status as this trope will likely never be exceeded. Even at around 45 percent of his full power, Bakugo puts him as already being on par with the likes of Endeavor and the strongest Pros still around.
    • The story dives deeper into this over time as it feeds into Izuku's absurd lack of self-worth. Once he drops out of school to pursue All For One and Shigaraki, Izuku's desire to save grows madder and madder until he's operating on no sleep, little sustenance outside of nutrient bars, and caked in blood and filth. Several characters like Hikage and Tsuyu note that Izuku is chasing the impossible fantasy of becoming a true superhero out of a comic book. The second user, by contrast, is in favor of this new drive out of the boy and believes that desperation will be the only way to stop All For One for good.
  • All For One, All Might's Arch-Enemy and Japan's top supervillain before he was finally defeated and captured at Kamino Ward. This is because his Quirk allows him to forcibly take the Quirks of others and use them himself. The only reason All Might and his predecessors were able to oppose him at all is because One For All can only be passed on to another willingly, making it the one Quirk All For One cannot steal. Even after All Might crippled him in their first battle, All For One remained a dangerous threat, and their second battle forced All Might to use everything he had to finally beat him.
  • Tomura Shigaraki becomes one after gaining the All For One Quirk and a bio-engineered body with abnormal physical prowess. Even in his incomplete state, he can easily destroy entire cities with a mere touch and even the top 10 pro heroes are no match for him. In practice, however, he is a puppet to All For One. Ultimately, he's so strong that it took America's own No. 1 hero, armed with a Quirk that alters the very rules of reality in her favour, pulling a Heroic Sacrifice to damage his Quirk factor from the inside out. This permanently destroys an untold number of his accumulated abilities, giving the heroes a viable chance of beating him. The only one who could possibly take the title from him even after all that is Izuku, who's starting to master the full variety of powers One For All grants him. Not to mention they are destined to fight for it. And it has been stated that Shigaraki has long since surpassed All For One.
  • America's #1 pro hero, Star and Stripe, is stated to be the World's Strongest Woman. This is because she's a Reality Warper thanks to her Quirk, New Order. Even All For One is wary when he learns that she's on her way to Japan, knowing he needs to take her down immediately or else she'll be a major obstacle in his plans. Also, while her Quirk doesn't naturally enhance her body, it does let her put rules on herself... namely one that makes her almost as powerful as full power All Might.
• Naruto:
  • Hashirama Senju, the first Hokage and the God of Shinobi is acknowledged In-Universe to be the strongest shinobi in the world thanks to his immense power and chakra reserves, even by Madara Uchiha himself who is famous for his ego. He was the only natural user of the incredibly powerful Wood Release, and many characters sought to replicate his power but none could ever match him. He was in fact so powerful, his power and chakra were enough to rival that of a Tailed Beast and he can use his Wood Release to create and change entire landscapes. Hashirama even has Sage Mode that he can enter in a matter of seconds and it made him nearly unstoppable in combat. His reputation doesn't stop there either: Kabuto states that, even long after his death, there hasn't been a single shinobi alive since then that was stronger than him. When we saw him in action while he was still alive, he didn't disappoint, being able to fight and overpower Madara without tiring using both his Wood Release and Sage Mode despite the latter having the Nine-Tails under his control. It's only until the Fourth Shinobi World War that reveals there are beings stronger than him and that Naruto has managed to surpass him in power near the end of the series.
    • Hashirama was so unbelievably strong and blessed in life that his cells carry a not insignificant portion of his power. Hashirama Cells are an artificial compound created from the First Hokage's body that are used to grant other characters Wood Release, and they also grant you a Healing Factor, along with a general increase to strength and speed. All just a drop in the ocean compared to the real thing.
  • Everyone In-Universe seems think that, Hagaromo Ōtsutsuki aka the Sage of Six Paths, the man who invented ninjutsu (or rather Ninshu) and the only person so far who could defeat the Ten-Tails was the strongest man to ever live.
  • Jiraiya for a time held this title. He was flat-out said to be the only one strong enough to defeat Orochimaru during his invasion by Ebisu. Itachi and Kisame both considered him too great of a threat for both of them (this is huge since, despite Itachi's allegiance, it's possible he would kill Konoha shinobi to keep his cover if he had to), with Kisame even saying he was on an entirely another level. Not only that, he defeated Naruto's Four-Tailed Version 2 form within base (though he did nearly die doing so). Compare this to Orochimaru, who couldn't do anything to Naruto in that form (though the fight had no conclusion). And then his student Nagato considered Jiraiya strong enough that he would not have been able to win if Jiraiya had known his secret.
  • Tsunade was likely the World's Strongest Woman. With her Super-Strength, she can wield Gamabunta's BFS to take out Manda then deliver a Megaton Punch to Orochimaru that forces him to flee. In the Fourth Shinobi World War, Tsunade breaks through Madara's Susanoo in a couple of hits. While Tsunade technically falls behind Kaguya when it comes to the title of most "powerful" woman, Tsunade still has more skill and physical strength. She was eventually overtaken in this department by her pupil Sakura.
  • Nagato/Pain arguably qualified for this, being the strongest member of Akatsuki as well as stronger than the five Kage. In fact, when he is brought back as an Edo Tensei zombie, he is explicitly stated to be the strongest member of the army outside of the real Madara Uchiha, even though said army includes many past Kage and other (in)famous shinobi from days long past. And Madara had the caveat of being tampered with by Kabuto to possess powers that he did not have until he was nearly dead of old age in his first life (Rinnegan and Wood Style) in a physically restored youthful body.
  • The Third Raikage, has been acknowledged to be the most powerful shinobi in the Hidden Cloud Village. When he was still alive, he was so strong that he was a literal One-Man Army during the Third Shinobi World War who was able to stop an army of 10,000 ninjas for three days before dying. When The Third Raikage was resurrected as an Edo Tensei zombie, he was able to fight on par with Naruto (who was in his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode) before he impaled himself.
  • Onoki, the third Tsuchikage, was acknowledged by Madara to be the strongest of the living Kages and the most difficult to break. Despite being almost a century old, he was able to stop one of Madara’s meteors with Gaara's help. He was unable to stop the second meteor from crashing into the the first one, but he still manages to survive that.
  • Obito Uchiha manages to become the strongest shinobi on the planet since the Sage of Six Paths by becoming the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki. All of the former Hokage, including Hashirama himself, acknowledged that Obito had become stronger than any of them. Even Madara Uchiha started to fear him. The only reason he lost to Naruto and Sasuke was due to his internal conflict; if it weren't for that he would have been unstoppable.
  • Madara Uchiha was considered this during his era alongside Hashirama. Even before awakening the Rinnegan and intergrating Hashirama's DNA into his body, he was already an incredibly powerful shinobi. Once resurrected and enhanced beyond his physical prime, Madara becomes one of the most powerful shinobi to ever walk the earth, to the point that he needs all Five Kage to face him together. Even then, they weren't enough when he starts to get a little serious, at which point he trounces them. Only Naruto is able to go blow for blow with him, which makes him of the few shinobi Madara regards as a serious threat. Later, when he is fully resurrected and reclaims one of his Rinnegan, Madara becomes far stronger than he's ever been (as in his first life he did not have Rinnegan and Wood Style until he was a decrepit old man, and as an Edo Tensei zombie his power was mildly surpressed and some of his Rinnegan abilities couldn't be used). He then takes on Naruto and Killer Bee in their Tailed Beast Modes while backed by Gaara and all the other Tailed Beasts together before swiftly defeating them with a Living Shadow cast after regaining just his left Rinnegan. He then revives the Ten-Tails and becomes its third and far more complete jinchuuriki, though he is put on the defensive by both Guy with all Eight Gates unlocked and Naruto and Sasuke (each wielding half of the Sage of Six Paths' power). Madara even acknowledges Guy would've likely killed him if not for the benefits afforded by his status as the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki. When Madara more or less matches and even becomes stronger than them by absorbing the God Tree, recovering his left Rinnegan, and awakening the Rinne Sharingan, he gets undone by Black Zetsu to revive the much more powerful Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
  • Might Guy has been outright acknowledged as the best taijutsu user alive, and this is coming from Madara, who personally fought the First Hokage and judges everyone by that goalpost. This is notable because in his Eighth Gate of Death form, Guy was the only one who was able to deliver significant damage to Madara in a straight fight.
  • Kaguya Ōtsutsuki is stated by her son, The Sage of the Six Paths, to be the most powerful being that ever lived, since she was the one who claimed the power of chakra in the first place. She was a Physical Goddess while he was a "mere" demigod in comparison. And she doesn't disappoint when she shows up in person. And even then she is holding back, as she is trying to absorb Naruto and Sasuke's chakra, plus she's an utter novice at actual fighting. Without both of those caveats, she'd have killed them in seconds. She can even transform into a monstrous rabbit form of the Ten-Tails that's extremely fast and can absorb everything that it grabs, and she can create an enormous Truth Seeking Orb so powerful, it was stated to destroy an entire dimension.
  • By the end of the series, among people who are still alive it's pretty much considered to be a tie between Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, with the two of them working together being roughly equivalent to the Sage of Six Paths alone.
  • In Boruto: Naruto the Movie and the Sequel Series retelling, members of the Ōtsutsuki Clan of Kaguya's generation are this when compared to the shinobi of the earth.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
  • Jack Rakan seems to currently hold this position. When you can blow up a mountain by accident or destroy a barrier dimension by flexing your muscles, you earn the position. On a scale in which an ordinary, non-magical human being is the baseline, and an expert magical warrior might break 1000, he estimated himself at 12,000 (he also likes to joke around, though, so it's possible he was exaggerating).
  • Nagi Springfield was also one of these, being even more powerful than Jack, at least until he mysteriously disappeared.
• One Piece:
  • During his lifetime, the Pirate King Gol D. Roger was considered to be the strongest man in the world, and Whitebeard was considered to be his equal. When he died, that is when the title, by default, went to...
  • Whitebeard, who is called the actual world's strongest man... and it's probably not an exaggeration. He is powerful enough that the World Government find it necessary to pool pretty much their entire military might in preparation for his onslaught when a single crewmember of his is caught and scheduled for execution. Even with all their powers combined, they aren't certain of the outcome. This is partially because his long unknown Devil Fruit power is to create shockwaves. Big ones. As in "punch an island in two." However, his mere strength alone is still insane, with him stopping an entire ship that was pushed along the ground with his arm and not budging a bit, holding off the strike of a giant with one hand, defeating another giant, also with one hand and beating down Power-Nullifier Blackbeard, a very strong and powerful pirate in his own right, through strength alone. This is while he was suffering from a terminal illness, as well as being half deaf, half blind, missing half his face, and at death's door. It is implied he was way stronger twenty or so years ago, so, if anything, strongest man in the world is an understatement for him.
  • Don Krieg thinks he is this. Compared to everyone else on this list, he's not even close. Notably, he's one of the few characters to wear armor. The rest don't need it.
  • In general the Four Emperors, of whom Whitebeard was a member, are considered the strongest people in the world, to the point where Admirals are called in at the merest hint of any movement.
    • To put this in perspective, Donquixote Doflamingo was given a Sadistic Choice where he would either be hunted down by the Admirals or incur the wrath of one of the Four Emperors (in this case, his business partner Kaido). The Admirals are nigh-invulnerable combatants whom only the strongest of pirates don't start screaming and running for their lives at the mere sight of. When his attempt to Take a Third Option fails, Doflamingo almost immediately chooses to take his chances with the Admirals. That's how terrifyingly strong the Four Emperors are.
  • Kaido, one of the Four Emperors, is described as the strongest "creature" in existence, and that his chances of defeating him, even with his alliance with Luffy, are 30% at best. This moniker of "Strongest Creature" is also used in the narration upon his first appearance in the flesh. The novels explain that this comes in reference to his own raw strength and durability, implying that even Whitebeard could lose to him. The only person who is known to have given him pause is Shanks, who made him back off and drop his plan to ambush Whitebeard as he traveled to Marineford, and even that was more likely a matter of Kaido just not wanting to go through the trouble of dealing with him and then being too worn-out to tackle Whitebeard after him. This is reinforced by the reveal that he currently has the highest bounty of all the Emperors, meaning that he is considered the greatest threat among them by the World Government, and thus the most dangerous living pirate in the world. His defeat in fact in a weird way emphasises this, it took nearly all heavy-hitting warriors in Wano to even bring him to become tired and exhausted, with him still throwing Curb Stomp Battles to them, and even then he would have won if not for Luffy's Devil Fruit awakening and him not being able to catch up as soon.
  • Another member of the Emperors, Charlotte Linlin is likely the World's Strongest Woman, as she has Nigh-Invulnerability and her Super-Strength was pronounced since childhood seen when she killed one of the greatest Giants by flipping him over. Oh and Linlin is a freak even by One Piece standards being labeled a "Natural Born Destroyer." As an old woman, Big Mom, like Kaido, effortlessly defeats Luffy and proves to be The Juggernaut before she gets the cake she wants. Big Mom also gave birth to decuplets (ten babies)... Truly the strongest woman.
  • With Whitebeard dead and Kaido and Big Mom dethroned, Shanks has the best claim to this title out of any of the current Emperors. As the defining Martial Pacifist in the series, he does not call unnecessary attention to his strength, and tries his best to talk people out of fights - almost everyone knows enough to heed his warnings. Some of his feats include splitting the sky in a casual clash with Whitebeard (and threatening the structural integrity of his ship with his Haki alone), ending the battle at Marineford just by showing up and threatening to fight anyone who wanted to continue (after making Kaido back off when he tried to intercept Whitebeard on his way there), and making Aramaki abandon his attempts to kill off the Straw Hats and flee the Wano Country just by sending a blast of Haki his way. At the same time, he is far from all talk, and anyone who calls his bluff tends to find that No Kill like Overkill is his usual standard of force when he's serious. After Eustass Kid goes too far with trying to get Shanks to fight him despite many attempts by Shanks to talk him out of it, Shanks annihilated Kid and Killer in a single attack before ordering his entire fleet destroyed.
  • This is basically the goal of The Hero Monkey D. Luffy, who wishes to beat all competitors and claim the mythical treasure One Piece for himself. Subverted as it's revealed in Zou, Luffy doesn't technically need to be the strongest to become the Pirate King; he just needs to find Raftel, as Usopp is quick to point out. Judging by Luffy's reaction to this idea, he thinks that's a lame way of becoming Pirate King and wants the required strength to be "the person with most freedom in the world."
  • Like Luffy, Roronoa Zoro also wants to become the strongest, but his goal is a little different — he wants to become the World's Greatest Swordsman by defeating Dracule Mihawk, who is currently the greatest and strongest swordsman in the world, as well as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Some of Zoro's impressive feats were destroying a giant meteor (with Mihawk's help) and blocking a combined attack from Kaido and Big Mom long enough for his friends and allies to escape.
    • In Wano, Zoro along with Vinsmoke Sanji (another immensely strong fighter) defeats Kaido's lieutenants King and Queen, both of whom had bounties in the billion belly range and could match Marco (Whitebeard's Number Two), meaning they are both stronger than the strongest henchmen of the strongest creature in the world. Undoubtedly Zoro and Sanji are/or will be at least the strongest Pirates after their captain Luffy himself. Nico Robin even claims they're "Luffy's wings" that will help him fly to the top.
  • Monkey D. Garp is the strongest Marine and physically one of the strongest characters ever seen in the story. He doesn't have any powers outside Haki, owing his tremendous strength to things like punching mountains and battleships for a workout. He used to chase Roger around back in his prime and it's indicated that Roger often barely escaped from him, clearly never managing to overpower the Hero of the Navy. Garp is so strong that during a raid on Pirate Island to retrieve Koby, he singlehandedly flattens a good chunk of the island with one attack, beats down the Blackbeard Pirates stationed there and tanks a sword through the gut. Even after that stab wound, he still goes blow for blow with a former Admiral and then has enough strength to nearly punch out a living mountain.
  • Before Kaido, before Whitebeard, and before even Gol D. Roger, there was Rocks D. Xebec, a man so balls-out powerful it took the combined forces of Garp (the strongest Marine alive even now) and Roger to bring him down, and his crew not only held three of the future Four Emperors, but a whole lot of other similarly strong and infamous pirates that utterly despised each other, and were only held together by Rocks' own will and power. The man nearly collapsed and usurped the World Government entirely in a single stroke.
• One-Punch Man:
  • Saitama. Like the name of the manga suggests, he is a hero that can defeat any villain with one of his normal punches. This extends from genetically modified monsters, to a city-destroying giant, and it's made him bored of the hero life because there's no one alive who can give him a challenge. Only two major villains so far can hold up against his normal attacks, one being a regenerating space pirate Piccolo/Vegeta/Frieza Expy who shared his problem of being bored of life for being too powerful and a self-proclaimed Hero Killer who ran roughshod over every Hero he went up against and got stronger every time he was defeated. Saitama dealt the former a One-Hit Kill after deciding to take their fight more seriously (and was still holding back even then), and he wasn't even trying to kill the latter.
  • Tatsumaki takes the title of the World's Strongest Woman on account of holding Rank 2 in the S-Class of the Hero Association and thus being the highest ranked female hero in the series (and since the #1 rank is a no-show most of the time, she essentially is the Association's ace in the hole). She regularly curb-stomps monsters that give even her fellow S-Class heroes trouble, and it says something that when going up against the more powerful Monsters of the Week she's the only other hero aside from Saitama who can actually be counted on to win. Much like Frieza in the Dragon Ball entry, Terrible Tornado was born this way, with the implication being that she's never actually had to train or improve her powers. Her natural powers are so vast that she comments that her closest competition; her sister Fubuki and supervillain Psykos, who both are nothing to sneeze at, are only about as strong as she was when she first became aware of her powers...as a toddler.
  • Rank #1 of the Hero Association belongs to a man called BLAST. Details about him are virtually nonexistent, but what we do know seems to be setting him up as a foil for Saitama.
  • Meanwhile, #7 in the Hero Association is King, who is specifically called out as the world's strongest man, said to be comparable to Tatsumaki in raw physical power. His reputation is such that he can turn the tide of a battle just by showing up, instantly terrifying monsters into submission. The secret of his strength is that it's all a fluke. King is a completely average guy with downright divine levels of luck who's constantly in just the right place at the right time to receive credit for Saitama's kills. It's always a complete coincidence. It won't stop happening. He hates it.
  • Garou becomes this in his Awakened/Monster Mode, he's already at least as strong as Lord Boros because he's strong enough to wipe the floor with the entire S-Class of the Hero Association and was capable of lasting a significant amount of time in a one on one scrap with Saitama. At the apex of his power, Cosmic Fear Mode, he was able to go toe to toe with Blast and last long enough to witness Saitama's evolution. In the webcomic, it's ultimately unclear how strong he is really because he purposely fights in a way that ensures the people he attacks don't die and only obtain serious injury. In the manga, his full strength is also unclear, considering he simply kept getting stronger, just not as fast as Saitama did.
• Outlaw Star:
  • One epsiode of the anime focuses on a "Universal Strongman Tournament" held between martial artists every year, which no one has ever won ten in a row. And despite C'Tarl C'Tarl being banned from participating (thanks to an ugly incident in the past), Aisha sneaks in to the Women's Competition with a disguise, battles her way to the top, and even defeats a Werewolf-C'Tarl who was likewise in disguise in the final bout, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt she truly is the titular "Strongest Woman in the Universe."
  • Before Aisha, the previous holder of the title on the women's side was Reiko Ando, who had won the tournament four times in a row and was going for a fifth when she had the misfortune of running into Iraga (the aforementioned werewolf), who ended her apsirations in under thirty seconds. From the ease at which she blew through the competition (including a Disguised in Drag Gene), it's implied Reiko would've won the tournament again if not for the presence of Aisha and Iraga. Even more impressive is the fact that she's a Terran (read: Earthling), meaning Reiko accomplished all this with nothing more than Charles Atlas Superpower.
• Peter Grill and the Philosopher's Time:
  • Peter Grill gains the title "The Strongest Man in the World" when he wins a fighting tournament. While he wins every fight he's in, he starts to regret this because several females want the seed of the strongest man and he doesn't have the discipline to refuse them, so they keep forcing him to cheat on his fiancee Luvelia.
  • Peter's sister Lucy is called "The Strongest Little Sister in the World". She is a mighty warrior roughly as strong as Peter.
• In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Madoka turns out like this, one-shotting Walpurgis Night and all. Too bad it's that kind of show, and the only thing left after defeating the most powerful witch is to become an even more powerful witch and destroy the world. It's at this point where Madoka surpasses mere physicality when, in accordance with her wish, destroys her own witch and becomes the concept of hope.
• Lu Bu and Thor from Record of Ragnarok both share the title of the strongest with Lu Bu being the strongest hero in the history of mankind and Thor being the strongest of the Norse gods. Ironically, they're the first combatants to fight.
• In The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World, Rosie Mist is a former S-Rank Adventurer who retired to become the bodyguard of Princess Teltina. He's the strongest swordsman in the world and wields the sword that once used by the hero to seal away the demon king. Red compares him to the Ender King's top brass, only even stronger, resorting to using the Maximum Kizuna Kaiser to defeat him.
• In Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers, Adlet often calls himself this but it's known that Chamo is the strongest of them all. The worst part is that Chamo is a little girl.
• Sailor Moon:
  • Sailor Galaxia is the strongest woman in the universe, capable of destroying Tokyo with a warm-up without even bothering to transform and access her full power (nearly happened in the manga). When she transforms, she can depopulate the world with a small gesture (she did in the anime) and kill Sailor Senshi and similar enemies without even trying. Cue Oh, Crap! moment when she's found out to be the legendary hero the Sailor Starlights hoped would avenge them...
  • In the manga, Eternal Sailor Moon is eventually able to claim the position after beating Galaxia, depending on one counting Sailor Cosmos (who comes from the future) or not. In terms of physically strongest in the universe, however, it's either Sailor Venus or Sailor Uranus, both of which have defeated Sailor Jupiter (usually considered the physically strongest after them) with the same ease—one hit (a kick from Venus, and a judo move from Uranus). Which of them is strongest, however, remains a mystery, as they never had any reason to fight.
• The anime of Sengoku Basara awards this distinction to its incarnation of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, whose ability to punch things turns "physics" into a sad joke. Most named characters in the series show the ability to crack the earth with their blows. Hideyoshi uses one to split the inland sea.
• The Seven Deadly Sins:
  • Meliodas is easily the strongest member of the Seven Deadly Sins and one of the strongest characters in the series, possessing massive power that makes him a worthy heir to his father the Demon King. Throughout the series he was able to grow stronger despite already being powerful in his own right, and during the final battle against his father, he absorbs all of the Ten Commandments and gains a Demon King-like final form, making him a Physical God. And was capable of fighting the Demon King who was possessing his younger brother Zeldris.
  • Escanor is said to be the strongest member of the Seven Deadly Sins (at least, he is from late morning to early afternoon, as his strength waxes and wanes as the sun rises and sets); even Meliodas admitted that Escanor was more powerful than him. He easily defeated two members of the Ten Commandments, and his strength is even considered to be monstrous to both ally and enemy alike. His most powerful form is The One, in which he becomes the embodiment of invincibility for one minute at midday and was able to deliver a One-Hit Kill to Meliodas's Assault Mode. During his fight with the Demon King in Zeldris' body, he was able to achieve a new form called The One Ultimate which has him circumvent the time limit by using his own lifeforce to power it, which eventually kills him.
  • The Demon King, the father of Meliodas and Zeldris, is another contender. Since he's the first of his kind and the ruler of the demons, this makes him not only the undisputed strongest member of the Demon Clan, but also one of the strongest beings in the world and the Supreme Deity is considered to be his equal in power. It does make sense, as he and the Supreme Deity were both born from the primordial being Chaos during the world's creation.
  • The Supreme Deity is easily the most powerful member of the Goddess Clan, being the first of her kind and the one of the most powerful beings in the world. She is also considered to be equal in power to the Demon King himself and strong enough to be the Final Boss of the series.
  • Mael stated to be the strongest member of the Four Archangels and the strongest member of the Goddess Clan second only to the Supreme Deity herself. He was also the original wielder of Sunshine, a magical power that is currently used by Escanor. He was so powerful, in fact, that the original Gowther had to wipe all memories of him in order to end the Holy War.
  • Perhaps the strongest character in the series is none other than King Arthur, who was resurrected as the King of Chaos, the suitable vessel for Chaos a primordial entity that has created the world and leaders of the Demon and Goddess Clans. As the King of Chaos, Arthur has the power to warp reality, even letting him change the shape of his sword Excalibur at will. At first he didn't have any control of this power but in time he will learn how to better control his newfound powers under the tutelage of Merlin, accepting his new title as the King of Chaos.
• Hao Asakura from Shaman King is so strong, no one else even close, which is why he (and almost everyone else) treats his victory as a foregone conclusion. Even at the end of the series, the 5 Elemental Warriors (Yoh, Ren, Horohoro, Lyserg, and Chocolove) put together don't measure up to half of his strength (though he was Shaman King at that point, with the Great Spirit backing him up).
• Soul Eater:
  • Lord Death/Shinigami is stated by Word of God himself to be the most powerful being in the series, what we see of him show it's real. He is the only being capable of defeating Asura and is the leader of the godly Great Old Ones.
  • Black☆Star becomes this by the end of the series, to the point that even Big Bad Eldritch Abomination Asura compliments his strength that declares that he's transcended humanity to become some kind of warrior god (to which he shoots back that he's a human who surpassed godhood instead).
• In Sword Art Online, Kayaba/Heathcliff is considered as the game's most powerful swordsman, thanks to his incredible reflexes, his impossible speed, his truly invulnerable shield, and his incredible sword. "The Strongest Man" is also one of his titles. Kirito is the only one who can contest him in this status.
• Symphogear has Genjuro Kazanari, a man who is so strong that he can go toe to toe with the Symphogear users and their enemies with nothing but his bare fists. He doesn't often get to show this off, however, because not only is he The Leader, but he's still a squishy human when everything is said and done.
• Tokyo Ghoul:
  • The One-Eyed Owl, the legendary SSS ghoul. She is famous for murdering numerous strong Investigators, and leaving carnage in her wake as a serial cannibal. She is eventually dethroned by Kaneki, who defeats her in battle and leaves her seriously wounded. This all seems to have been according to her plans, though...
  • Special Class Kishou Arima, the undefeated Ghoul Investigator and strongest (known) character in the series. He is described as a genius prodigy, and people seem to either worship him, fear him, or envy him.
  • Tsuneyoshi Washuu is said to have been the strongest in his prime, earning him the title of "Demon Tsune." He has since settled into his role as a leader and patriarch of The Clan.
  • Nimura Furuta, aka Souta, aka Kichimura Washuu, is the strongest villain of the series. Originally a failed Human-Ghoul hybrid, after being impaled with Rize's kagune he turned into a full-fledged one-eyed Ghoul, making him strong enough to defeat Eto with ease. Furuta was also said to be combative with remarkable skills by Kishou Arima, as he trained under the Washuu Clanhis own family, was able to rip Matsumae's kagune with just his hands and throw it at a wall hard enough to crack it, and even fought on par with Kaneki.
  • Near the end of the series, Ken Kaneki becomes the one of the most powerful Ghouls in the series, if not the most powerful, surpassing the likes of Eto, Furuta, and even Arima. And it's all thanks to Rize granting him his powers and learning how to control them.
• Toriko:
  • Acacia's three disciples are said be the strongest Gourmet Hunters in the world trained under the Gourmet God Acacia himself.
    • Ichiryu, the president of IGO, was acknowledged by both his allies and his enemies as the World's Strongest Man. He was implied to be able to defeat many of the Gourmet Corps top fighter simultaneously and was shown to effortlessly defeat multiple Gourmet World Beasts with capture levels in the hundreds. During his fight with Midora, Ichiryu was holding back and was not trying to kill his opponent, only using a fraction of his real power and refusing to use his Appetite Demon even in his last moments.
    • Master Jirou is physically the strongest human character, so strong that Acacia had to put Knocking on him and teach him techniques to balance it. His Guinness Punch after having some of his Knocking removed is strong enough to travel 1/5 of the Toriko world's circumference and would have destroyed the Human World if not for Setsuno's Pressure Barrier.
    • Midora is stated by Toriko to be the most powerful person on the planet and can easily destroy it if he wished. During the Cooking Festival arc, Midora uses a powerful attack called Meteor Spice to annihilate all of the ingredients of the Human World, and even Jirou himself believes he is no match for Midora.
  • The Eight Kings of the Gourmet World are the mightiest beasts in the Gourmet World. One of them is a Battle Wolf like Terry whose capture level is 6090. Another is a giant horse with From a Single Cell functional immortality whose hoofprint is the size of a mountain range.
  • Acacia the Gourmet God, the master of Ichiryu, Jirou, and Midora, is without question the most powerful being in the series, and becomes even more powerful after eating his Appetite Demon Neo. His power was so immense he almost killed all of the Eight Kings and Toriko's group with ease, and the only thing strong enough to defeat him is Toriko's White Demon.
  • At the end of the series, Toriko himself seems to have become the most powerful Gourmet Hunter in the world after awakening his Blue Appetite Demon, eating GOD and CENTER and awakening the massively powerful White Appetite Demon during the Gourmet World Act. These new powers and abilities made Toriko strong enough to fight on par with a few of the Eight Kings and his own father, Acacia, though with a little help. Unlike most Gourmet Hunters, Toriko has three Appetite Demons, the Red, the Blue, and the White Demons, the latter of which was his original Appetite Demon and was inherited from his mother thanks to the white Gourmet Cells. With it, he was able to easily defeat Neo Acacia with a single blow.
• The☆Ultraman has main Ultra Ultraman Joneus, who bears the title of the strongest Ultraman of Planet U40.
• Thorkell the Tall in Vinland Saga, who is able to lift massive tree trunks with his bare hands and throw them hard enough to pierce right through ships, impale three men with a single javelin he threw from over a kilometre away, send Thorfinn flying above the treetops with a single kick, wrestle bears (and easily win), and stop a galloping horse in its tracks by punching it out. And yet he's not the World's Best Warrior. (Or at least, he wasn't for as long as Thors was around, he's a pretty good candidate after Thors died.)
• YuYu Hakusho:
  • Sensui was the world's strongest human in the setting and one of the strongest beings period, outright admitting that he had to hold back his true power because letting it all out would devastate the human world as a side-effect. He managed to defeat all of the heroes with ease while still holding back his true power and killed Yusuke, and when Yusuke came back stronger, Sensui was still winning the fight. His defeat only came because Raizen took over Yusuke and powered him up, and even then, Sensui didn't bother to dodge the final attack. He also was already slowly dying due to illness, meaning he was not as strong as he could have been.
  • Yusuke mistakenly thought he held this position after defeating Toguro, only to receive a lesson in humility from three average-seeming high schoolers under the instructions of Genkai. After defeating Sensui, Yusuke finally did assume this position in the human world, to the point where he wanted to go to the demon world just to find a good fight.
  • Raizen, Yusuke's distant ancestor, was this in his prime. The demon world is stated to be an infinite plane where demons who dwarf even the likes of Yomi and Mukuro in sheer power exist, and Raizen at his best is all but stated to be the most powerful demon period. Raizen's old sparring partner Enki states that Raizen's full strength would make the other two kings piss their pants, and even during his self-imposed starvation he still possesses far more power than his peers. The only thing keeping him from steamrolling Yomi and Mukuro is that his stamina and defensive abilities have greatly diminished from severe malnutrition, turning him into a Glass Cannon.
  • Mukuro, according to Yomi's data, is the world's strongest demon, at least now that Raizen is starving. Mukuro was defeated by Enki, but at the time she couldn't give it her all in such a peaceful contest.

---