Sweet Mask

Handsomely Masked Sweet Mask (イケメン仮面アマイマスク, Ikemen Kamen Amai Masuku) is the A-Class, rank 1, superhero for the Hero Association.

Appearance
Sweet Mask is a tall and lean-built young man with messy, shoulder length light blue hair and yellow eyes. He is considered to be very handsome by the public. He wears a white jacket over his grey shirt with a green circle necklace and black trousers. During the battle against the Sea King, he was sporting a shorter hairstyle with his hair parted to the left. He is seen with longer hair when he addresses the Hero Association official and in his most recent appearance, he is again shown with his short hair. Interestingly, Sweet Mask's eyes seem to turn from a yellow into a blood red when extremely angered.

Personality
Sweet Mask has stated that he believes that heroes are to protect the citizens, and if they can't do that, they must become strong enough to be able to do so. He appears to be quite popular and has quite a charismatic way of talking.

However, befitting the darker side of Sweet Mask's name is his hidden merciless nature. He is shown to have a burning hatred for anything that he sees as evil. Anything that he declares as evil must be swiftly and thoroughly exterminated.

This is shown when he mercilessly dispatches a group of captured aliens whom he declared to be evil, claiming to have merely executed justice on the spot, and again when he was ordered to bring an escaped caveman back to the lab. He ignored his superiors' orders and killed the caveman instead.

Sweet Mask is shown to adhere to any method that makes heroes popular. He notes that only promotions to S-Class or A-Class are fit for his attention, as they are the heroes who draw the most attention from the public, and hence, any heroes in those ranks who earn themselves negative reputations would drag his reputation down as well. Because of this, Sweet Mask stays in the A-Class Rank 1 position to prevent unworthy heroes from promoting to S-Class.

Sweet Mask seems very narcissistic about "beauty overwhelming the power," as he said about his philosophy that "heroes have to be beautiful as well". This became obvious when he showed interest in a worthy S-Class Hero like Genos, who has both a beautiful appeal and having doing more heroic deeds as a main priority, fitting Sweet Mask's philosophy.

Hero Association Saga
Sweet Mask appeared to get a call from his superior about the test of the prodigious cyborg hero, Genos for successfully entering the S-Class. Sweet Mask finds Genos at the Udon restaurant and wants to have a little chat in private outside. At first, Genos thought Sweet Mask wanted to pick a fight with him, but Sweet Mask meant no harm and wanted to congratulate and welcome Genos into S-Class. Sweet Mask is really interested in Genos on not wasting time in order to do heroic deeds, and sees him fit as Sweet Mask's philosophy he shared to the cyborg, about the heroes having to be beautiful as well as serving justice.

Blowing Fresh Air
Sweet Mask makes a brief appearance on a news report encouraging others to become heroes. The report also mentions that he will be appearing in a new movie.

Sea Monster Arc
While the Seafolk invade J-City, Sweet Mask makes a guest appearance on a television show to promote his new song. The host of the show asks Sweet Mask what he thinks about the current situation, to which Sweet Mask replies that he is only a hero when he fights evil and that currently he is here to promote his new song as a singer. However, he goes on to say that heroes have to be tough, strong and beautiful at all times in order to ease the fear and worries of the people. He states that he finds it regrettable that there were heroes who were defeated by evil and says that if it were up to him he would make every hero undergo strict training so that no hero would die in vain in the future.

Alien Conquerors Arc
After the defeat of the Dark Matter Thieves and the fall of their spaceship Sweet Mask appears and mocks the S-Class Heroes for being unable to stop the destruction of A-City much to Metal Bat's anger. Later when they found the remaining minions of Lord Boros while the other heroes wonder what to do with them he mercilessly kill them saying that "evil" must be eliminated without doubts. The other heroes watch shocked while Genos thought about how, before meeting Saitama, his way of thinking was similar to Sweet Mask's. It is revealed here that the only reason that he is staying in his current position of A-Rank is solely to stop other A-Ranks from going higher. Later, he and Metal Bat continue argue and is challenged to a fight by Metal Bat. However, before they can fight, they were interrupted by a phone call from Sweet Mask's manager and Metal Bat's sister. While Sweet Mask ignores his manager's call, Metal Bat does not ignore his sister's, this causes Sweet Mask to leave the scene to return to his schedule with his manager, but not before Metal Bat asks Sweet Mask if he can give his sister his autograph.

The Blizzard Group Arc
Sweet Mask encounters Suppon, a caveman test subject who escaped from his laboratory and had begun to brutally assault civilians. Sweet Mask deemed Suppon as 'evil' and informed him that he was under orders to bring him back alive, but going against these orders, he defeats and brutally kills Suppon in short order, amidst a cheering crowd.

Abilities & Powers
Not much is known of Sweet Mask's abilities, but he claims that his skills are strong enough to put him in S-Class. He chooses not to advance so as not to allow weaklings to rank up. Fubuki describes him as a monster much like her sister, who is the second highest-ranked hero within the association, and even after witnessing Saitama's display of power in the fight against her, she was convinced it would be impossible for him to surpass Sweet Mask. Besides his combat abilities, Sweet Mask is a talented actor and singer.

Physical Abilities
Immense Speed: He appears to be extremely fast as he was able to murder a group of captured alien invaders, apparently slicing them through with his bare hand in a flash; with none of the nearby S-Class heroes being fast enough to stop him. He effortlessly evaded Suppon's barrage of attacks and maneuvered behind him, striking him down with only two blows before the caveman could retaliate.

Immense Strength: It is revealed that he possesses brute strength, and his veins are shown whenever he's extremely angry. He quickly and effortlessly defeats Suppon, breaking both his legs with one kick and smashing his head with a one-inch punch.

Fighting Style
Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Sweet Mask defeats his opponents with swift movements and powerful blows, which makes him an extremely impressive fighter. When he fought against Suppon, he first moved in the latter's blind spot, incapacitated him, and then delivered a lethal strike, suggesting his fighting style is very centered on efficiency and killing-oriented.

Hero Rating
Sweet Mask's rating determined by the Hero Association.

Anime and Manga Differences

 * In the manga, Sweet Mask neither had a call from his superior about Genos' pass on the test and entering the S-Class nor did he have a private conversation with Genos.


 * In the manga, Sweet Mask didn't witness Saitama's true strength and appears to have doubts about his unlimited strength, as well as looking down on him, due to his social status or plain appearance.

Quotes

 * (To reporter) "Anyone can become a hero if you feel the desire for peace in your heart!"


 * (To interviewer) "In order to ease the worries and fears of the people... We heroes have to be tough, strong, and beautiful at all times... Always able to defeat evil swiftly and skillfully. That's what being a hero means."

Trivia

 * Sweet Mask is the most popular hero in the world of One Punch Man.
 * His eye colors can change depending on whether he is angry or not. It is noteworthy considering that his voice actor, Mamoru Miyano, also voices Death Note's infamous Light Yagami.
 * His narcissistic traits of beauty overwhelming power and ruthless personality is based on Street Fighter's Vega (Balrog in Japanese version) and Light Yagami (a Death Note character voiced by Sweet Mask's voice actor).
 * Genos, after seeing his methods and mercilessness on the alien survivors, believes Sweet Mask to be a reflection of himself before he met Saitama.