Boros

Boros (ボロス, Borosu), also called Lord Boros (ボロス主, Borosu-nushi) by his subordinates, was the leader of the Dark Matter Thieves: a group of alien invaders responsible for the destruction of A-City. Like Saitama, Boros faced a self-imposed existential crisis, becoming so powerful that no battle thrilled him. Boros traveled to Earth because of a prophecy stating that he would find a worthy opponent. Boros is the primary antagonist of the Alien Conquerors Arc.

Appearance

Boros was a very tall, cyclops-like alien with light pink, spiky hair with bangs that framed his face, sharp teeth and pointed ears, which were adorned with multiple earrings. He had one large blue eye and light blue skin with dark blue crack-shaped markings that started from his eye and covered most of his body. He wore a special golden armor that suppressed his powers with spikes on his shoulder and forearms and matching curved boots. In the manga, his skin in him sealed form was of a purple color with darker purple stripes on his face. He also had a red orb on his chest with purple markings on his stomach and arms. He wore a pair of white harem pants, held by a magenta colored sash with silver lined purple blades hanging from it. He also had gold (silver in anime) earrings.

After the armor is destroyed by Saitama, his appearance changed. He became more muscular, and his body grew spiky plates and his spine and the surrounding tissue became exposed, while his skin changed to a navy blue color with light blue markings that emitted energy. He was shown with an additional yellow eye under his chest which moved in sync with his original, now yellow eye and his hair was completely spiked up becoming slightly darker in color.

In his Meteoric Burst form, his appearance changed drastically. His hair grew, reaching his back, his eye became completely white, though at times a black pupil became visible, and his body got engulfed in white energy, while his markings returned to their original, dark blue color.

Personality

Because of his amazing powers, Boros was both arrogant and prideful. Due to his love of battles and inability to find any opponent who has been able to match him in power, he roamed the universe looking for worthy opponents that would be able to stand against him. He was also extremely callous, indifferent to the destruction and loss of life his invasion caused to A-City, and his fight with Saitama caused to his ship and crew. He did show a certain amount of courtesy and respect, reassuring Geryuganshoop when he was concerned about the ship, greeting and exchanging names with Saitama when he arrived, and showed increasing amounts of respect to Saitama as their fight wore on and he continued to survive Boros's attacks. After being defeated, he seemed to be at peace with his imminent death, discounting the prophecy, but still satisfied that his fight with Saitama had been as exciting as he desired it to be, even if he was not the victor.

In battle, he was shown to have a very cautious and serious behavior, attempting to end fights quickly and makes sure his opponent doesn't have any chances to surprise him.

History

A prophet told Boros that on a faraway planet he would find an opponent who could fight on par with him and give him the enjoyable fight he had always desired. Boros travelled the universe for 20 years before finding the World.^[2]

Plot

Hero Association Saga

Alien Conquerors Arc

Boros first appears with his spaceship in A-City commanding a mysterious group of alien invaders and, without an apparent reason, he completely destroys the city with the sole exception of the Hero Association's headquarters, due to its high resistance to damage.^[3] Saitama, who was in the building, then broke into the spaceship and effortlessly eliminated Groribas^[4] and Geryuganshoop, two of Boros's top subordinates, much to his surprise.^[5]

Face to face with Saitama, Boros starts explaining him that he attacked A-City because of a prophecy that foretold he would find a worthy opponent^[6]. Annoyed, Saitama punches Boros, berating him for destroying A-City for a stupid reason. Unexpectedly, Boros survived Saitama's lethal punch and with his armor destroyed, he unleashed his true strength and prepares to fight a surprised Saitama, going all out.^[7][8]

During the battle, Boros hits Saitama with all of his power,^[9] including his trump card: the "Meteoric Burst" ability, and without caring for his spaceship, attacks Saitama continuously before he can even react, kicking him all the way to the moon.^[10] Saitama returns by jumping from the moon^[11] and begins to counterattack; hitting Boros with a barrage of punches. Even after being reduced into pieces, Boros's regenerative abilities are so strong that he recovers almost immediately.^[12]

Eager to end the fight, Boros decides to use his other trump card: the "Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon" to destroy the planet. But before the beam could hit the planet, Saitama used his own trump card: the "Serious Punch" which repels Boros's beam and critically damages him. Defeated and incapable of regenerating from the heavy damage, Boros compliments Saitama for the splendid battle.^[13]Boros's last words show that he knew Saitama never showed his full potential during the battle, saying that Saitama is way too strong, and that as a result, the prophecy that he had gambled on was a lie. Boros dies while a victorious Saitama leaves the ruins of the star ship.^[14][15]

Abilities and Powers

As the leader of the invading force of aliens, Boros has authority over the entire armada, his rule being absolute while being extremely powerful in his own right. According to Boros, as an adaptation to living on a planet that have harsh climates, his species has developed the greatest regenerative ability in the entire universe. Boros also appears to be able to sense peoples' energy levels, which manifests itself as an aura around the said person. Notably, Boros is the first enemy which survived a normal punch from Saitama, a notable fact since all of the previous threats had been obliterated while Boros simply had his armor destroyed in the first punch. In fact, Boros got hit with 3 Normal Punches, 1 Consecutive Normal Punches and 1 Serious Punch. This puts Boros on a whole new level of all the other enemies Saitama has faced before, with the hero stating he was the most powerful foe he ever faced.

Physical Abilities

Boros was gifted with superpowers since his birth and vastly increased his powers with time and experience. He claims that he in particular, possesses regeneration, physical prowess and latent energy that far surpasses all other members of his race. Saitama even said that he was the strongest opponent he has ever fought thus far.

Immense Strength: Boros displays extreme amounts of strength during his fight against Saitama. He was able to knock Saitama through several pillars with only one punch, the alien's various strikes easily damaging the place. Boros's punch possesses so much strength behind it, that the sheer pressure of the collision of his fist drove away an immense smoke cloud created by his energy blast.

Immense Speed and Reflexes: Boros has absolutely amazing speed and agility, as he was able to keep up with a casual Saitama. He uses the latent energy shunted from his body as a means of propulsion, making him so fast to the point that his path of movement often zig-zags. Even inside the ship, the two were so fast that normal human eyes wouldn't have been able to see their fight.^[1]

Immense Durability: Boros is shown to be amazingly resilient, to the point of being the first opponent of Saitama to survive after being hit directly by his usual punch, despite having his full powers sealed by his armor. Even after receiving a direct punch from Saitama in his Meteoric Form, he was intact, despite bleeding and injured. When he had his planet-destroying attack repelled back at him by Saitama's Serious Punch, he was strong enough to remain conscious for a short time.

Regeneration: Like the rest of his race, Boros has an incredible rate of regeneration, with Boros himself surpassing all others of his race as stated before. Boros has been shown to regrow an arm in seconds just by concentrating his energy on it. When struck by Saitama's consecutive punches, he was blown apart but was able to regenerate his whole body in an instant. However, Boros' regeneration ability has a limit, as it shows in the end, he lost to Saitama and was unable to regenerate again after being struck by Saitama's Serious Punch.

Energy Projection: Boros can use the latent energy that his body produces to fire large energy blasts from the eye in his chest with great destructive power. He also combines his energy projection with his physical attacks, resulting in shockwaves and blasts capable of destroying city-sized areas. The invader has stated that the resulting blasts are so powerful that the weak will find even their bones vaporized instantly.

Power Release (パワー解放, Pawā kaihō): Boros wears an ornate suit of armor that is designed to keep his immense powers in check. When the armor is removed his body becomes black and spiky and begins to glow from the released energy. Boros praised Saitama for being the first to last that long against his power in that state, suggesting that even in this form Boros is immensely powerful compared to other enemies.

Fighting Style

Highly Experienced Combatant: Boros is an extremely skilled fighter with decades of combat experience and not a single loss in combat, making him an extremely dangerous and powerful fighter. As such, he tries to end fights quickly and doesn't hesitate or hold back, presumably as a strategy to avoid giving chances to his enemies.

Trump Cards: Boros has several techniques which he uses when he wants to finish a fight quickly or thoroughly destroy an opponent.

• Meteoric Burst (メテオリックバースト, Meteorikku Bāsuto): It is Boros's trump card which he resorts to when he wishes to settle a fight quickly. He uses his latent energy to boost his body to speed and power beyond its limit, at the cost of putting immense burden on his body and even shortening his lifespan. This also completely changes his appearance.

Augmented Strength: Along with his other attributes, Boros's strength grows to preposterous levels. Boros, in this form, lifts an immense part of his ship and throws it against Saitama making it pierce through several layers of the massive fortress. One of Boros's kicks had so much strength behind it that it had enough force to send Saitama rocketing through space, all the way to the moon. The kicking technique envelops the opponent in energy and moves them at almost the speed of light.^[16][17]

Augmented Speed: Boros's speed is also shown to increase drastically with the activation of Meteoric Burst. He moves so quickly he appears as just a purple streak and causes the ship around him to melt just by moving within its vicinity.

• Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon (崩星咆哮砲, Hōsei Hōkōhō): While in his Meteoric Burst form, Boros can launch a massive beam of energy from his chest-eye which is much larger than his average Energy Beam. The color is also different, instead of being only blue, it has golden tones to it. Boros states that he needs to concentrate and release the entirety of his latent energy to perform this technique. The beam is powerful enough to be able to destroy a planet, while in the manga it is stated to be powerful enough to destroy the surface of the planet.^[1]

Equipment

• Boros's restraining armor: Boros wears a restraining armor to keep his power in check. It is shattered by Saitama's first blow.

Major Battles

Quotes

• (Introducing himself to Saitama) "Wonderful. Before we fight, let us exchange names. I lead the pirate band known as Dark Matter, and I am the Dominator of the Universe. My name is Boros."
• (To Saitama) "There exists a prophecy. I was once a traveler, exploring the universe, ravaging everything in sight. But I was too strong; eventually, I found there were none left that could face me. I came to know the torment of utter, all-encompassing boredom. Then one day, a great seer told me somewhere on a faraway planet, a being exists who is my match; one who could rekindle my passion for battle. That was nearly 20 years ago; have you any concept of the distance I've traveled to get here? My men thought the prophecy was a ruse, a fairy tale meant to focus my attention and lure me away. But now I am certain it was true! Come, and give stimulation to my existence! That, is why I am here!"
• (Referring to Saitama) "This state... It burdens my body immensely, similar to anaerobic exercise. It's supposed to be a trump card I only use to settle a fight quickly... but this man, makes me wanna go all out!"^[18]
• (To Saitama) "That's the way, Saitama. You are indeed worth defeating!"

• (To Saitama) "You lie. You had strength to spare. I never stood a chance. It wasn't even a battle. So much for prophecies. You were too strong... Saitama..."

Trivia

• 

  Boros is ranked 11th in the character popularity poll.
• In the first release of the manga, Boros looked more human and had a steel-plated looking armor with a skull ornament. His design was later redrawn by Yusuke Murata in order to look more alien.

• Boros was the first opponent of Saitama that survived after getting punched, much to Saitama's surprise. In fact, he is the very first of Saitama's opponents that took more than one punch to kill, Saitama even considers him to be the strongest person he ever fought so far. 

• The origin of Boros's name is from a game ONE played.^[19]

• In an interview where ONE is questioned about who would win in a fight between Boros and Garou, ONE says it would be a "good match"; however, Garou is stronger in close combat.^[20][21]

• ONE has stated that Boros' disaster level is "Dragon or higher", but did not outright say God. A similar statement was also made about Orochi's disaster level by Murata.^[22][23]

• Boros is one of the few opponents that has deduced Saitama's immense power without first underestimating him based on appearance, the other two being Carnage Kabuto and Orochi.

• Boros is actually an allusion to one of ONE's previous works that has never been officially released, Taiyo Man (Sun Man). In the story, the final boss was too strong for the plot to progress and it took 20 years in real time before ONE came up with an opponent strong enough to fight him.^[24]

• Murata states he and Deep Sea King are his favorite monsters due to the impact they've had on the series.^[25]

• He is the only monster so far that can destroy a planet.

References

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