Who killed Genos' family in One Punch Man? Explained

In One Punch Man chapter 173, Genos was finally shown revealing Saitama's power to his fellow heroes in the Hero Association.

It was fun to see Demon Cyborg being infatuated with his master, the Caped Baldy. However, webcomic fans were much more focused on the possible interactions between Genos and Metal Knight, aka Dr. Bofoi, both of whom were connected to each other from an incident in the past.

Now that Dr. Bofoi has finally learned about Saitama's extent of strength in One Punch Man, the manga is set to focus on him keeping an eye on the Caped Baldy in case the two ever end up becoming enemies.

With the S-Class hero set to draw some focus, here we look into another major incident that made him responsible for the death of Genos's family.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the One Punch Man webcomic.

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One Punch Man: How was Dr. Bofoi responsible for killing Genos's family?

Dr. Bofoi as seen in the manga (Image via Yusuke Murata)

Genos's family was killed by the Mad Cyborg, who happened to destroy his city, during which he also murdered his family. Since then, the Mad Cyborg had been Genos's archnemesis, with all his actions focused on making himself stronger to one day avenge his family's death.

However, based on what S-Class Hero Drive Knight revealed to Genos, Dr. Bofoi was the one who created the Mad Cyborg. Along with this, Drive Knight also claimed that similar to Genos's past, the Mad Cyborg had previously destroyed his village as well.

While Metal Knight might seem like the culprit Genos must focus on, Drive Knight revealed how the Mad Cyborg had also attacked the scientist's family in one of its attacks in the surrounding villages.

Drive Knight as seen in the One Punch Man anime (Image via Madhouse)

Drive Knight also revealed to Genos how he had previously tried to learn the history behind Dr. Bofoi and the Mad Cyborg. What he learned was that there had been no records of the Mad Cyborg having gotten involved with any heroes for a long time, as long as a few years.

According to Drive Knight's intuition, the Mad Cyborg must have been hidden away in sleep mode with the rest of the robotic creations by Dr. Bofoi.

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What is Genos's backstory?

Before the events of the anime, i.e., four years before Genos first met Saitama, Genos's hometown was attacked by the Mad Cyborg. As the Cyborg was on a rampage, it destroyed everything, during which it murdered several innocent lives, including Genos's family, leaving him as the sole survivor.

Dr. Kuseno as seen in One Punch Man (Image via Madhouse)

This is when an elderly scientist, Dr. Kuseno, in search of the Mad Cyborg, arrived in Genos's city and happened to find him. Given the severity of Genos's injuries, Dr. Kuseno had to perform surgery on him to turn him into a cyborg. In doing so, the scientist saved Genos's life, and also gave him a chance to avenge his family.

However, given how wise the scientist was, he could notice how Genos was driven by his desire to take revenge, which would often lead him into endangering his life. Thus, playing a parental figure, Dr. Kuseno would advise Genos to keep his emotions in check.