In previous articles, we discussed all we could about Makima. From her powers to her likability, there was more to the Control Devil than what we first thought. She is a fascinating character. Her presence elevates the story from being another Shonen manga. However, for everything that we have covered about her, there are still a few we don’t know. Her full past is one example that we cannot answer. Her capabilities though are different.
While we listed and explained her powers, we never did get around to how powerful she is. For this one, you can’t blame us! She had few combat scenes in the first place. The only prolonged fight we had with her is when she fought Denji and Pochita in the last arc. While she displayed some incredible feats during that fight, it was hard to keep track. So, in this article, we will be answering the question: how powerful is Makima?
The Rule of Cool: The Importance of Power Scaling
Before we discuss how powerful Makima is, I need to impart this knowledge first.
In the literature world, there is a little something called the “Rule of Cool”. This is when a character does something beyond their capabilities. The situation doesn’t make sense, but the scene is cool enough to excuse it. Sadly, this also makes understanding a character’s strength a little harder. The constant application of this rule often ruins a story’s power scaling. The creation of more overpowered characters is often the answer to this rule. Which makes it worse as the character would become more inconsistent. I’m looking at you, Bleach!
This rule causes a lot of misunderstandings. Debates and arguments often explode as fans debate which characters are stronger. It doesn’t help that some mangaka refuse to put a power reference for their stories. Many media under the Shounen genre fall victim to this rule. This is why power scaling is important. Without power scaling, it would be difficult to know how powerful a character is.
Thankfully for us, Tatsuki Fujimoto is consistent with his characters. From here, we will be able to tell how powerful Makima is.
How Powerful is Makima?
It is safe to say that Makima is stronger than Denji and Pochita by the end of Part 1. It is only by outwitting her that Denji was able to land the final blow. If we don’t consider that, Makima is still extremely powerful, but not strong enough to beat a god. Let’s take a deeper look into this, shall we?
Makima’s Durability and Strength
Makima’s Strength
The easiest way to determine Makima’s strength is by comparing her to Chainsaw Man. During the Control Devil Arc, we were able to see Makima fight Pochita blow-by-blow. Exchanging attacks with the latter is no small feat by itself. We have seen time and time again in the series that Denji gets battered around a lot. It takes a huge explosive force to get through his defenses.
As seen above, we have more than one situation where Denji gets blasted. According to calculations done by the community, we can infer the following:
- For the left panel, Denji was able to survive the Bat Devil’s breath attack. This attack contains 0.864 – 7.4 tons of TNT. This is a weaker version of Denji who hasn’t undergone training yet.
- In the middle right panel, we see Denji fight the Typhoon Devil. Its mere presence was able to destroy buildings around it with ease. Through calculations, people were able to quantify this destructive energy to 10.557 kilotons of TNT. Denji was eventually able to kill the latter by riding along one of its destructive limbs. This means Denji is capable of withstanding that much power.
- Finally, we see Denji surviving a blast from the Gun Fiend. While Denji lost his legs in the process, his chest was able to withstand the attack. This means that most of his durability lies on his chest to protect his heart.
With all of these in consideration, it will take at least more than 10 kilotons of TNT to fully destroy Denji. In comparison, this is as much force as a small nuke! While Denji’s defenses are ludicrous, we see during their fight that Makima had zero problems with them. The Control Devil was able to match him and even destroy his chainsaws. As a finale, she managed to tear his heart out.
This puts Makima’s raw strength at a small nuke level. Her attacks have enough force capable enough of destroying a large building.
Makima’s Durability
Determining Makima’s durability should go through the same calculations as Denji’s. However, unlike our strength calculations, this is more inconsistent. Throughout the series, we see that Makima does not have iron for her skin. Bullets can still penetrate and incapacitate her as seen on multiple occasions. The ambush in Chapter 22 comes to mind, as well as Kishibe’s attempted assassination. Both attempts used normal bullets and a rocket blast to take her out.
We are also able to see that a normal rocket blast was able to take her arm. A rocket fired from an RPG usually has 8 kilograms of TNT. Since Makima was injured at this low threshold, we can say that Makima’s durability isn’t that good. However, this is then called into question during her later fight against Pochita.
Makima did not shy away from taking blows as she fought him. We have already seen that Pochita was able to survive and kill other Devils with ease. He has at least 2.85kilotons of TNT as base strength since he was able to push Quanxi through multiple skyscrapers. This means that Makima is capable of withstanding blows with enough force to blow up a building.
In terms of cutting force, Makima doesn’t have a big defense against them. She can be cut to pieces by Chainsaw Man with ease.
Makima’s Speed and Reflexes
Makima never quite showed a lot of speed feats in the manga. However, thanks to other characters, we can at least calculate what her base speed would be.
She is faster than Quanxi, whom she was able to kill faster than she could react. In previous chapters, we saw that the latter wasn’t a pushover. Quanxi was able to blitz through Devil Hunters and Dolls at the speeds of Mach 4 to 6. This easily puts Makima at a speed higher than Mach 4. We can see further proof of this against the Angel Devil.
The Angel Devil was able to provide a feat where he blocked bullets with his wings. This is important because being able to react in time and move against bullets requires at least Mach 3 of speed. Not to mention, Makima kept up with Chainsaw Man who was able to blitz all the Weapon Hybrids, including Quanxi.
Meanwhile, Makima’s reflexes are just beyond belief. For example, the Gun Devil’s bullets can travel dozens of kilometers in a second. Calculations by the community place this at Mach 203.7 speed. Makima was able to react to the shot and even activated her ability.
Finally, she was also able to keep pace with the Darkness Devil, who was even faster.
Makima’s Powers
Now, we reach the final section to discuss Makima’s strengths. We are not counting the other Devils Makima has under her employ. Their abilities are theirs after all! However, that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have her fair share of powers. One of her important abilities is her “Bang”.
Makima’s “Bang”
The destructive concussive force behind this attack often varies in the manga. There is no real base to how weak or strong she can use this ability. However, we can see that she has a strong mastery over this ability. The strongest feat that she was able to display this ability was when she fought Pochita. It takes incredible precision to keep shooting the same target at a further distance. However, Makima was able to do so and managed to throw Pochita into space in seconds. Calculations place this attack just over Mach 100.
Makima’s Control
Finally, we have Makima’s power of Control. There are no limits shown to this ability, or how it’s used. All we can infer is that Makima can dominate anyone she sees as lesser than herself. However, strong willpower is seen to be enough to break free from her.
Why is Makima so Powerful?
The reason why Makima is so powerful is that she’s a Devil. She naturally has inhuman feats built into her body which gives her an unfair advantage. However, what truly makes Makima powerful is her Contract ability. She gains access to all the powers of the Devils she is in contract with. If you want to know more about this topic, check out our previous article on Makima’s powers!
Frequently Asked Questions About Makima
Is Makima the most powerful?
With all the feats and calculations I’ve shown here, you would think that Makima is the strongest. Funny enough, the Control Devil is barely scratching the surface of the Devil Hierarchy! There are other Devils stronger than Makima whom she refused to fight head-on. One brilliant example is the Primordial Evil, Darkness Devil. Upon her first contact with the latter, she never tried fighting it head-on. Sure, the two dealt some damage to each other, but Makima ultimately chose to flee.
Can Denji beat Makima?
Although Denji was the overall victor, Makima is just about equal to Denji. In terms of pure strength and fighting power, Denji has Makima beat. However, power versatility is the name of the game. In this case, Makima not only outclasses Denji but also outpaces him. Makima has more endurance than the boy will ever have. In a battle of attrition, Makima easily wins.
Who can beat Makima?
There are a lot of characters that can beat Makima. Goku, for example, is more than capable of defeating her with ease. Alucard is also another good contender for wiping her out. While many people think that Gojo can beat Makima, that may not be the case. Curious about this bout? Check our previous article on Makima vs Gojo!