The power scaling in Dragon Ball is undoubtedly one of the most spread out. Akira Toriyama created a wide variety of forms and moves to make sure no amount of power creep would keep him from exploring more of what his characters could do. The potential is only limited to the mind, if you are a writer as creative as Toriyama.
With the many characters he has introduced, there are also various types of beings as well. Saiyans, Gods of Destruction, Androids, and much more are introduced in the series, giving glimpses upon glimpses of just how powerful these fan-favorite characters can become. Amongst the lot is a certain human with extraordinary potential, Mr. Satan. Although he lacks the strength of beings as strong as Goku, that is not to say he is not formidable either.
Akira Toriyama’s Acknowledgement of Mr. Satan
Akira Toriyama, during an interview with Saikyō Jump in 2014 (via Kanzenshuu), talked about the power scaling that gets born with Mr. Satan’s existence. Despite being Earth’s strongest defender, he often gets overlooked in front of the other characters, considering that he was around during the era of the Z fighters.
Mr. Satan really is strong. On an ordinary human level, that is. If a monstrously strong opponent turned up, he’d pretend he wasn’t feeling well and sit out the match.
Mr. Satan Found His Motivation and Learned a Lesson
When talking about Mr. Satan, it also becomes important to under how he became so strong to be considered one of the strongest humans on Earth. As specified by Akira Toriyama, both his strength and wisdom towards his opponents came after one incident that left him tragically scarred. After joining the Satan Castle Dojo, he quickly rose to the ranks but was pushed down just as fast.
When Mr. Satan was young, he attended a fighting dojo called ‘Satan Castle,’ Through a combination of considerable power and good luck (his rival fighting opponent would get food poisoning, for instance), he quickly became world champion and was called “Mr. Satan” after the name of his dojo.
One day, at a bar in South City (where they were on tour), Satan and his martial-arts master made the mistake of making fun of Tao Pai-pai’s hairstyle. His master was killed, and Satan was heavily injured. From then on, Mr. Satan solemnly swore never to fight anyone whose true identity he didn’t know, or anyone who seemed crazy strong.
He and his master found themselves in a pickle very quickly after underestimating Tao Pai-Pai’s strength and mocking his hair. Out of rage, a fight broke out that resulted in his master’s demise. Taken aback by the events that took place, Mr. Satan decided never to judge an opponent’s strength based on his prejudice.
Moreover, he quickly came to terms with the fact that while he had to become more strong, he didn’t have to constantly get into fights just because of it. He never rushed into fights and quickly, strength came with responsibility.
