Why did God give Garou powers in OPM?

God is the most enigmatic character in One Punch Man. He is a powerful deity, and he has the ability to grant powers to people.

His goal is to eradicate mankind, so fans have speculated that perhaps he is the shadow ruler of the Monsters Association. He grants people powers, like in the monster arc.

God gave Garou powers as he was strong enough to defeat Saitama, whom God viewed as his opponent and even referred to him as “The Fist That Turned Against God.”   

How did God give Garou powers?

God gave Garou powers by impersonating Bang to help Garou out when Saitama had defeated him in the Monster Association Arc.

Garou had seen through this act, knew it wasn’t Bang, and slapped God’s hand away. Yet this mere form of contact led to Garou getting powers and being influenced by God.

With this, Garou’s body had a surge of energy and appeared to be a void of stars and galaxies.

What kind of powers did Garou get?

Garou’s awakened form is called the “Cosmic Fear Mode,” where he is not only powered up in terms of speed but also in strength, durability, etc. He becomes a worthy opponent for Saitama.

Here are the abilities that Garou got from God:

I. Time Manipulation

This one is the coolest and gets to be number one here. Garou has the ability to manipulate time and move back and forth in it.

At the time, though, he couldn’t fully master it, and when he lost to Saitama, he taught him this ability to go back in time to stop this disastrous result, as he was remorseful after losing Taero.

II. Universal Energy Projection and Cosmic Knowledge

After getting in contact with God, Garou tapped into the knowledge of how energy flowed in the universe and learned how to harness and inculcate it into his attacks.

III. Cosmic Radiation

Garou’s body in his awakened form caused him to emit lethal radiation from his body. It was so dangerous that it could have killed all life on earth.

This is a reason why Saitama took all his attacks head-on and took their fight to Lo, Jupiter’s moon, as he knew that it could destroy Earth and poison all living beings.

It was so harmful that after Garou reverted back to a human being, he lost his hair and bled a lot.  

IV. Power Mimicry

Garou earned the ticket to mimicking his opponent’s powers and abilities. It’s like copy-paste. This is how he was able to face blast.

He even copied Saitama’s “Consecutive normal punches”, it was a sight to see someone standing up against Saitama.

However, after a while, Saitama was able to increase his power level, unlike Garou.

Where to read One Punch Man Manga?

About One Punch Man

One-Punch Man is a Japanese superhero webcomic created by the artist One in early 2009. It has a manga adaptation illustrated by Yusuke Murata, as well as an anime adaptation. Following its publication, the webcomic quickly went viral, surpassing 7.9 million hits in June 2012.

On an unnamed Earth-like supercontinent planet, powerful monsters and villains have been wreaking havoc in the cities. To combat them, the world’s government created a Hero Association that employs superheroes to stop them. The heroes are ranked from Class C to Class S.

Saitama, an unassociated hero, hails from the metropolis of City-Z and performs heroic deeds for his own entertainment. He has trained himself to the point where he broke his “limit” and can effortlessly defeat any opponent with a single punch while slaying monsters the same way. But he is now bored with his omnipotence and frustrated by sensing he lacks a challenge.