Garou's History
As a child, Garou was unpopular and a social outcast. At school, while he was reading a book, a popular boy named Tacchan and another student were playing heroes, after Garou tried to make Tacchan realize it was dangerous to kick another student from high ground, Tacchan declared Garou to be the new villain and himself as Justice Man. He tried to kick Garou, Garou dodged, but after Tacchan missed and hurt himself, to which Garou apologizes. Tacchan asked him what was he doing, pointed out that Garou was the monster, and then kicked him in the face while making others kids to restrain him. Later Garou tried to stand up for himself by making Tacchan fight him to make him realize that he cannot bully Garou anymore, but the other children gathered around and started defending Tacchan, saying it was just how the game works. Tacchan then cowardly asked other children to pin Garou to the ground and called the teacher while running away. Garou noticed how Tacchan was the one always smiling, liked by everyone, and was good at everything, even though he was a jerk; while Garou was alone, gloomy, and had no friends. When talking to his uncaring and unsympathetic teacher, he ignored Garou and simply lectured him on how he should not be fighting and what might have happened if it had continued as well as reprimanding him for not distinguishing reality and game. After he was done, he forced the crying Garou to apologize and then notified his parents. Garou eventually snapped, coming to see the fraudulent heroes as nothing more than a bunch of self-important bullies who are preying on the weak and outcast of what he believed to be a reviled social order like him. All while receiving praise from other people who equally hate said undesirables.
On another occasion, Garou watched the Justice Man TV show and was rooting for the villains to win. He became frustrated every time Justice Man comes and stops them. He asked his father when there would be a villain that could defeat Justice Man, but only to hear the negative; he believed it did not make sense, as he reasoned that the monsters were the ones who are always trying their best, but no matter what, they were always killed off unfairly in the end simply because they were monsters. Unwilling to accept the status quo, Garou resolved to become the strongest monster and never lose to anyone, seeking to change such a dilapidated scenario.
Sick of being a helpless kid throughout his childhood, he became determined to be stronger. Because of this, he decided to venture to Bang's dojo during his adolescence, traveling very far to meet the martial artist. When he arrived at the dojo, he rudely demanded to know if Bang was strong. Sour Face chimed in and asked who the arrogant child is when Garou passed out from the exhaustion of venturing to the dojo. Sour Face asked Bang if he should throw Garou out, but the hero was impressed by Garou's determination, telling Sour Face to feed him until he was full when he woke up. After this, Bang accepted Garou as a student, and Garou quickly became the top student in Bang's dojo. After observing Sour Face's difficulties in smashing ceramic tiles during training, Garou outperformed his senior by successfully smashing all but one tile, even after adding extra tiles to the already considerable tower. Bang was impressed by Garou's performance, yet he noted the one tile missed at the very bottom. This served as a reminder to Garou that he still had much ground to cover in perfecting his technique.
Six months prior to the Super Fight martial arts tournament that Saitama attended, he decided that he has nothing left to learn and rampaged through the dojo, disabling many of the students, including Sour Face. He then received a beating from Bang and was expelled from the dojo. While fleeing the dojo, Garou broke into a safe that contained the scrolls of secret techniques, and got a grasp of Exploding Heart Release Fist.
After his expulsion, Garou attended the Super Fight, disguising himself as Wolfman after incapacitating the real one and taking his mask. Garou won the tournament, although his identity remained unknown.
