How Strong Is One-Punch Man’s Saitama Compared to Superman?

Saitama and Superman both sit at the top of the cosmic food chain—but how they got there couldn’t be more different. Saitama became incredibly overpowered by following an impressive routine of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10-km run every single day for three whole years. That absurd grind broke his “limiter,” turning him into a bald-headed beast who can reduce meteors to stardust with a mere punch. But the real tragedy he faces is that he’s bored out of his mind because nobody survives long enough to make him break a sweat.

Meanwhile, Superman’s flex comes from his alien physiology. His cells absorb yellow-sun radiation, unlocking a full cheat code of powers: flight, super strength, near-invulnerability, laser eyes, and freeze breath. He’s got experience, strategy, and a heroic moral compass. But he’s not invincible. Kryptonite renders him weak and vulnerable; red-sun radiation leaves him power-drained; and, strangely, magic can bypass his invulnerability. The bottom line is Saitama’s got pure, limitless power while Superman’s got a whole Swiss Army knife of galaxy-saving tricks. So what would happen if these two titans ever threw hands? Let’s find out.

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First Off, Their Greatest Feats

Saitama has many incredible accomplishments under his belt. When a city-killing asteroid zoomed toward Z-City, he didn’t panic—he just punched it into space dust and still made it home in time for a grocery run. And when Lord Boros unleashed a “Meteoric Burst” powerful enough to blast planets into oblivion, Saitama took the hit and responded with enough force to split clouds around the globe. What’s even more impressive is that even against this universal-level threat, Saitama was holding back significantly to try not to make Boros “feel bad.”

On Jupiter’s moon Io, one “Serious Table Flip” cracked the entire moon effortlessly. His follow-up “Serious Sneeze” expelled half of Jupiter’s gases into space. His most noteworthy accomplishment, however, comes when Cosmic Fear Mode Garou went full throttle on Saitama. Saitama casually double-punched him so hard that the shockwaves likely sterilized entire star systems. And while this is technically a gimmick, Saitama has never been hurt by anything in the entire One-Punch Man manga, making him essentially invulnerable. This includes being unphased by a dimension-cutting blade bearing down on him, wielded by a top S-Class Hero-level

But Superman is no slouch either. In the 1978 movie, he managed to rewind time by flying around Earth faster than light, all to save Lois Lane. While in the comics, he once held up the entire sky to give Atlas a chance to attend his daughter’s wedding; that too without breaking a sweat for the first half. He also managed to fly through multiple star systems at breakneck speed, shrugged off supernovas, and, when Darkseid set his eyes on Earth, Superman bested him as the main trump card of the Justice League. Superman has taken Atlas’ place to hold all of existence upon his shoulders, and in All-Star Superman, with his powers heightened, was able to lift objects weighing in excess of 200 quintillion (18 zeroes!) Whereas Saitama sneezed off Jupiter’s gases and massively damaged Io in his fight against Garou, Superman once obliterated an entire solar system with his sneeze. While different iterations of Superman have shown him having different limitations or feats, many of his versions have comfortably shown he can easily match or outdo Saitama’s wildest achievements.

Next Up, Strengths, Weaknesses, and Gimmicks

Saitama’s fighting style is simple: one punch that leaves no survivors. In the anime, his power is basically infinite—but it’s played more as a gimmick than actual stats. He doesn’t strategize or overthink. He waits for the right moment, throws a punch, and heads to the grocery store to catch a bargain sale.

If we talk about speed, which will be a big deciding factor, Saitama—after being kicked to the moon at near-light-speed by Boros—returns to Earth in seconds, implying he can move as fast as at least 25 percent of the speed of light, or 0.25 c. Superman, on the other hand, crosses multiple star systems in seconds in Justice League #25, placing him at massively faster-than-light speeds and easily outpacing Saitama’s 0.25 c ceiling.

Superman also has a lot more options when it comes to ranged combat. Heat vision enables him to engage his opponent from a distance. Freezing breath enables him to paralyze enemies. X-ray vision makes evasive tactics useless. Super-hearing gives him the chance to evaluate any opponent’s strategy by eavesdropping on their conversation. While super-intelligence helps him improvise on the fly.

But unlike Saitama, who has no known weaknesses, Superman is weak to various forms of kryptonite. Green and red kryptonite render him powerless and vulnerable, while gold kryptonite can strip him of his powers permanently. Red sun radiation has a similar effect, weakening him so much he basically becomes a normal human. Plus, Superman’s moral code means he holds back—a lot. Saitama, on the other hand, mostly holds back when enemies aren’t a real challenge. Even then, he will nonchalantly obliterate enemies wreaking havoc on the populace without too much afterthought, and will readily deal out a Serious Punch if the occasion calls for it.

Finally, Who Throws the First Punch? (And Who Throws the Last?)

Picture this: Saitama sneezes too hard and cracks Io in half. Superman hears the destruction with his super-hearing and zips across space, only to find our bald, fashion disaster of a hero dusting off his cape. As Superman tries to ask him where he is from or how he is so strong, Saitama waves off his questions and starts telling him about his unbelievable training routine.

Superman finds the lack of information suspicious. And when Saitama accidentally creates a tornado with his serious sneeze, Superman takes it as a sign of aggression, shooting a low-grade energy beam at him as he keeps his distance. The beam harmlessly bounces off Saitama’s head but the bald hero welcomes the challenge, though he’s not sure why they’re fighting. He wonders if Superman is looking down on him for being bald. 

As Superman zips around faster than light, Saitama will be unable to keep up thanks to his sub-light-level speed. Meaning if Superman plays it smart—using heat vision for offense, freeze breath to hinder mobility, and sonic booms to disorient—he can chip away at Saitama’s health without ever giving Saitama a clean shot. But if Superman decides to slow down for a more hands-on experience, Caped Baldy’s fist will be waiting—and it only takes one punch on universal-level threats. If things play out this way, Saitama won’t lose, but without landing his game-ending punch, he won’t win either, leaving fans without any decisive conclusion.