5 Anime Characters Who Could Actually Beat Dragon Ball's Goku - With Ease
When it comes to iconic characters in the realm of anime and manga, few heroes are as recognizable as Goku (Masako Nozawa/Sean Schemmel) from the "Dragon Ball" franchise. The star of four (soon to be five) different series and a myriad of movies, Goku is to anime culture as Superman is to comic books and superheroes: an unstoppable force of good who nearly always triumphs over his foes.
However, considering that Superman has been depicted as being beaten by Batman, a lowly human, more than once, it's worth exploring who could defeat the character often thought to be the strongest in all of anime. But first, let's dive into Goku himself, taking a look at his strengths and weaknesses.
Though Goku has died multiple times over the course of the "Dragon Ball" saga, like many popular heroes, he never stays dead for long in any meaningful sense. After all, even with a halo floating over his head, Goku is still Goku. With that in mind, we're talking about him losing in the more traditional sense, where Goku is defeated soundly, regardless of what his current state of being alive is. So, who's got the strength and fortitude to make an embarrassment out of arguably the most formidable and tenacious Saiyan in all of "Dragon Ball?" Read on to find out.
Beerus is still stronger than Goku even at his best
Since we started this talking about "Dragon Ball," we might as well get Beerus (Koichi Yamadera/Jason Douglas) out of the way first. The God of Destruction first appeared in "Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods" before becoming a recurring character throughout the latest series, "Dragon Ball Super."
Though Beerus regularly appears as an ally to the Z Fighters in "Dragon Ball Super," fans will likely never forget one of his earliest appearances, where he soundly defeated Goku simply by flicking him in the forehead with one finger. Since then, Goku has achieved his True Ultra Instinct form in the manga and even defeated a character who is said to be stronger than Beerus.
While Goku may have become exponentially stronger since the last time he and Beerus went toe to toe, it's worth noting that we've still never seen even close to the full strength of this foe in either the anime or the manga. Though Goku could still be the prophesied warrior that Beerus has long been dreaming of facing as a true challenge to his seemingly immortal power, at the moment, most fans would agree that he's not ready to take on his feline enemy again quite yet.
Satoru Gojo is one of the most overpowered characters ever
Whenever fans debate who is the strongest character in the world of "Jujutsu Kaisen," the first person who generally comes to mind is the legendary warrior, Satoru Gojo (Yuichi Nakamura/Kaiji Tang). After all, when it came to the plan from his long-time rival, Suguru Geto (Takahiro Sakurai/Lex Lang), to take Gojo off the board, the best that even he could do was to seal the fighter away in a prison dimension.
This is because Gojo possesses not one but two incredibly powerful techniques. The first is Limitless, an ability that allows him to stop any attack, whether it be a blast of energy, a physical strike, or any other variety of attack from jujutsu sorcerers or cursed spirits.
As if this weren't enough, Gojo was also born with the Six Eyes technique, which he inherited thanks to his family lineage. This allows the formidable sorcerer to also have a superhuman perception of reality. Though Goku's attacks could still harm a character as strong as Gojo, considering that hitting him at all would be nearly impossible, the popular "Jujutsu Kaisen" character would almost certainly come out on top.
Ryuk could kill Goku before he even knew what was happening
Beerus was able to defeat Goku with a flick of his finger, but there's another character who might be able to take the Saiyan down even faster. Though Goku could potentially launch attacks on Ryuk (Shidou Nakamura/Brian Drummond) before he has the chance to write the name of Earth's mightiest warrior in the pages of his "Death Note," this would be totally uncharacteristic of how he fights.
One of Goku's best-known attributes is that he always fights fair. With that in mind, all Ryuk would have to do is ask Goku to hold on for a moment while he writes something down. That's it; Goku would be dead. Conversely, if Ryuk really wanted to play dirty, he could simply write down Goku's name in private after meeting him, giving Saiyan virtually no chance to fight back.
This choice feels especially appropriate as a way for Goku to be defeated after the events of "Dragon Ball Z." As fans of that series will recall, Trunks (Takeshi Kusao/Eric Vale) first came from the future to stop the Saiyan from dying of a mysterious heart condition. Considering that the default way someone will die when their name is written in the Death Note is via a heart attack, taking out Goku in this manner is an irony that someone like Ryuk would no doubt appreciate.
There's a reason why Saitam is known as One-Punch Man
This one is probably the most obvious choice on this list, but we'd be remiss if we left Saitama (Makoto Furakawa/Max Mittelman) out just because he comes from a show called "One-Punch Man." As anyone who has watched or read about the hero will well know, Saitama is the most powerful being on Earth and possibly in the universe.
In fact, the whole idea of "One-Punch Man" is to skewer the heroes of typical shonen and seinen anime and manga, like Goku, whose character arcs seem to be motivated by them growing stronger and stronger after each encounter. These series tend to end when the protagonist has finally become the most powerful warrior in their respective universe.
However, since Saitama has already reached this status in the first episode of "One-Punch Man," he would almost certainly come out on top in a fight with the "Dragon Ball" hero with very little effort. After all, it generally takes Goku at least a small amount of time and effort for him to reach even his lowest form of Super Saiyan transformation. That would provide all the opportunity necessary for Saitama to land a hit and end the battle just the way fans would expect him to.
Truth is an all-powerful entity that is impossible to harm
Though we've already had some heavy hitters on this list, we've saved arguably the strongest character for last. Truth (Rie Kugimiya/Vic Mignogna) is the force that Edward (Romi Park/Mignogna) and Alphonse Elric (Kugimiya/Maxey Whitehead) trifle with when they attempt human transmutation at the start of "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood." And to say that this all-knowing, all-seeing entity doesn't mess around would be an understatement.
The horrific results of the Elric brothers' alchemy at the start of the series are just the beginning. In the world of "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood," Truth is seen as the source of and reason for all things. It can control the matter of existence itself, and between its limitless power and its place beyond the pales of human understanding, it's unlikely that anything could really hurt this entity.
If Goku were to enter the realm of Truth, it stands to reason that the pale spirit could simply strip him down to the building blocks of his DNA with little to no effort. This spirit is basically God in "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood," and while it can display emotions, these seem to mainly exist as a way for mortals to understand it. For this reason, Truth is a total enigma, making its omniscience all the more frightening in the grand scheme of things while marking it as a foe that could crush Goku with very little effort.