The anime fandom has widely hailed Goku as “the strongest," even beyond the Dragon Ball universe. His popularity is unrivaled on a global scale. However, is he really worthy of the title? What if I tell you that Goku is NOT the Strongest, not even in his own franchise?
Sounds odd, right? Let’s dig deeper into the theory proving that the late mangaka Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, perhaps never intended to make Goku his most powerful character.
Goku never actually defeated any canon villain one-on-one
Goku was and is indeed an impactful figure in the entire series. However, you could argue that he was never meant to be the strongest; author Toriyama hinted at this multiple times in his work. One of which is Goku's inability to defeat a canon plot villain in a one-on-one interaction.
For those who need more than just words, let’s revisit some of Goku’s iconic times from his first fight with Vegeta to his clash with Jiren in the Power of Tournament, breaking down the true potential of our hero of Universe 7.
Goku didn’t defeat Raditz (from Dragon Ball Z):
The family reunion doesn’t fit well for Goku when his older brother Raditz visits him for the first time. He came to Earth to recruit Goku for the Frieza Force in his quest to conquer planets. Raditz met with Gohan, Goku’s son, and things got dramatic, starting a blood battle between the brothers.
However, Goku managed to defeat him, but not alone. It was actually Picollo who ultimately killed Raditz, restoring Earth’s peace.
Goku lost to Vegeta in their first fight-to-death battle (From Dragon Ball Z):
This is a controversial topic among fans, but a user on tumblr.com has a well-detailed explanation. Let me simplify it for you. Goku won solely because Vegeta underestimated him. It’s unlikely for Vegeta, a Prince of the Great Saiyan Race, to go all-out on an earthling on their first meet. However, he was surprised to see Goku’s power over 8000 (Yes, it’s 8000. Not 9000; that was a Dubbing mistake) since no human should have that much power.
Plus, Vegeta knocked out Yajirobe and Krillin after they cut his tail. It was then Gohan who finally concluded the epic showdown by accidentally becoming Oozaru and defeating the already exhausted Vegeta, while Goku laid down in pain after using 3x Kaoiken against him.
Unlike Goku, Prince Vegeta was nurtured from a young age with Saiyan power. So, Goku wasn’t the strongest at least in that period.
Goku lost to full-powered Cell (from Dragon Ball Z):
It was a well-known fight where Goku’s sacrifice pushed Gohan to his true potential to go into Super Saiyan 2 mode against the Cell (final form). Yet again, a canon villain but not defeated by Goku. So, at that stage, Cell and Gohan were above Goku’s power level.
Kidd Buu gave Goku a tough time (from Dragon Ball Z):
Buu Saga is one of the best storylines of Dragon Ball Z. A worthy enemy for whom Goku has to go beyond SS2. He fought in his newly acquired all-powerful Super Saiyan 3 against Kidd Buu, but that wasn’t enough.
After a string of back-and-forth, Kidd Buu was spirit-bombed by Goku. But that Spirit Bomb’s energy came from everyone, so it wasn’t a one-on-one per se.
Goku was killed by Hit of Universe 7 (from Dragon Ball Super)
Goku wasn’t satisfied with the victory over Hit in the battle tournament between Universe 6 and 7. So, Goku hired Hit, a professional assassin of Universe 6, for himself. This was a perfect one-on-one situation for Goku to prove himself. But he failed as Hit did a flawless job in killing him.
However, Goku’s quick thinking gave him another chance to see daylight. And the rest of their battle became a casual clash between two fighters. So, once again, Goku was left out on defeating a main-saga villain, despite being "the strongest."
Goku won against Jiren? (from Dragon Ball Super)
Long story short, NO — Goku didn’t win against Jiren. He may have utterly obliterated Universe 11’s strongest in his MUI form, but in the end, he ran out of gas before Jiren could. In fact, it took him and his arc nemesis, Frieza, to team up and take Jiren off the stage to win the tournament. So, it doesn’t look worthy to me to tag Goku as the most powerful in all of the universe, when he all did was push (with help).
Although Goku won against a full-powered Frieza in Dragon Ball Z and defeated Mojo (spoiler alert on search) one-on-one in Dragon Ball Super, that is not enough to make him the all-mighty in DB Universe if combined with his overall records.
The new strongest in the Dragon Ball universe
Without revealing much, the DB Super’s latest chapters revealed Freeza in a new black form, which was hailed as “the strongest in the universe” by the creator himself. Except for him, there are also two others, Granolah and Gas, who are above MUI Goku right now.
Also, Vegeta’s new Ego Mode is yet to be tested against Goku, while the new Beast Gohan already questioning the power rankings, and don’t forget about Broly, who has immense potential waiting to be revealed.
Plenty of other characters are time-tested to be better than Goku in his own franchise. So, next time you go to a comments section with a will to state your point, make sure to read this first and source your confidence to say that, no, Goku isn’t actually the strongest in the Dragon Ball universe.