Anime vs DC · Cosmic
Saitama vs Darkseid
Darkseid seeks the Anti-Life Equation, the formula that removes all hope. Saitama has never needed hope. He has never been in danger.
Tale of the tape
| One-Punch Man | Universe | DC |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmic | Tier | Cosmic |
| Ends any fight with one punch | Strength | The Omega Effect: beams that track and erase |
| Crushing boredom: no one is ever a challenge | Weakness | Rarely fights himself |
| 7–0–1 | Record on Versus | 4–4 |
The Arena
Darkseid’s parademons invaded City Z, and Saitama defeated all of them on his way to the supermarket, mostly by accident. When the last one exploded against his face, he looked up at the Boom Tube still hanging in the sky and sighed. “Okay. Who sent these?” He jumped into the Boom Tube.
He came out on Apokolips, a planet of fire pits and slaves, in the middle of Darkseid’s throne room. Darkseid looked down from his throne at the bald man in the yellow suit holding a bag of groceries. “You destroyed my army.” Saitama shrugged. “They broke my eggs.”
Darkseid rose from his throne, and the entire planet trembled. Saitama checked whether his eggs had survived the trip.
Round One
Darkseid fired the Omega Beams, and they curved through the throne room and struck Saitama in the chest. The Omega Effect erases anything it touches. When the light faded, Saitama was still standing there. His suit had a scorch mark on it. He looked down at it, annoyed. “Hey. I just washed this.”
Darkseid stared. Nothing survived the Omega Effect. He fired again, dozens of beams, every one of them striking the bald man from every direction. Saitama stood in the middle of it, looking vaguely irritated, as though someone was shining a torch in his eyes.
For the first time in millennia, Darkseid felt uncertain.
The Turn
Darkseid spoke the Anti-Life Equation, the formula that strips all hope and will from a mind: there is no point, there is no future, everything is meaningless. It had broken gods. It had broken heroes. It crept into Saitama’s mind and found a man who had already felt all of that, every day, for years.
Saitama had become so strong that nothing could challenge him. Every fight ended in one punch. Every victory was empty. He had lived with the feeling that everything was meaningless for a long time. The Anti-Life Equation had nothing new to tell him.
“Yeah,” Saitama said, nodding. “I know. It’s really boring being this strong.” Darkseid stared at him, speechless.
The Finish
Darkseid charged with every ounce of his godly power, and Saitama threw one punch. A normal punch. It hit Darkseid in the chest and sent the god of Apokolips through the wall of his throne room, through the fire pits, through the planet’s crust, and out the other side into space.
The parademons stood frozen in the throne room. Saitama looked around at them. “Is there a way home from here?” One of them, very nervously, opened a Boom Tube. Saitama walked through it with his groceries, came out in City Z, and found that only two of his eggs had broken.
Somewhere in deep space, Darkseid slowly stopped tumbling, his armour cracked, staring back at Apokolips. He had spent millennia searching for the Anti-Life Equation, believing it would make him supreme. He had just met a man who had lived with its truth every day and still went to the supermarket. He did not know what to do with that.
The verdict
Saitama wins
Darkseid’s Omega Effect erases almost anything and the Anti-Life Equation breaks gods, but Saitama’s broken limiter shrugs off the Omega Beams, and he has already lived with the emptiness the equation tries to impose.
- Broken limiterThe Omega Effect only scorches his suit.
- Immunity to despairSaitama already feels the emptiness Anti-Life offers.
- One punchIt sends Darkseid through his own planet.
How the rematch could go differently: There is no rematch. Saitama wins every fight.
Who do you think wins?
Who would win in a fight between Saitama and Darkseid?
Saitama wins. Darkseid’s Omega Effect erases almost anything and the Anti-Life Equation breaks gods, but Saitama’s broken limiter shrugs off the Omega Beams, and he has already lived with the emptiness the equation tries to impose.