Since Dragon Ball is primarily Goku’s story, it stands to reason that he gets most of the spotlight in the series proper. Dragon Ball quite literally begins and ends with Son Goku, following his martial arts journey from his humble origins all the way to him finally taking on a student at the end of the series. Goku has to be front and center for Dragon Ball to work, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t overstayed his welcome – especially in the movies.
The Dragon Ball Z movies have a very nasty habit of throwing Goku into fights he realistically can’t or shouldn’t win. Most of Goku’s movie fights involve him confronting impossible odds that require nonsensical finishers to keep him alive. Goku’s movie career is defined by battles he should have lost.
10 Vs Garlic Jr
Given that Garlic Jr. wishes for immortality, Goku and Piccolo stood no real chance fighting him at the end of Dead Zone. Both martial artists do a great job at syncing up their attacks, but the best they can do is battle Garlic Jr. to a stalemate – they’ll never actually win so long as he cannot die. Goku and Piccolo would have been sucked into the Dead Zone had Gohan not knocked Garlic Jr. into it first.
9 Vs Tullece
The first real instance of “Evil Goku” in Dragon Ball, Tullece is memorable if only for his design and cruel personality. He also stands out for being one of the earliest movie villains to put Goku in his place, more or less winning their main fight without too much effort. It’s a battle that’s framed similarly to Goku’s fight against Vegeta in the Saiyan arc, complete with a life or death beam struggle – the key difference here being that Goku somehow manages to overwhelm Tullece whereas Vegeta realistically survives Goku’s “finishing” move.
8 Vs Lord Slug
It’s hard not to question why Pseudo Super Saiyan is even in Lord Slug to begin with. The actual Super Saiyan transformation hadn’t been introduced in the manga yet and Pseudo Super Saiyan doesn’t even do anything in Slug’s actual defeat.
Goku ultimately loses the form, can’t do much with Kaioken, and exhausts most of his energy just trying to keep up with Slug. It’s only thanks to Piccolo and Gohan that Slug’s defeated. Without them on this side, Goku would have lost.
7 Vs Cooler
Goku actually has a lot of trouble during the events of Cooler’s Revenge. Not only does he spend a decent chunk of the movie waiting for Gohan to deliver him a Senzu, he doesn’t get a real hold of his fight with Cooler until turning Super Saiyan – which he can’t trigger manually for whatever reason.
Up until Goku picks up a dying bird and feels enough emotion to turn into a Super Saiyan, Cooler locks him into a worse beatdown than Frieza delivered. Just like on Namek, though, being a Super Saiyan is more than enough for Goku to take full control of the battle.
6 Vs Meta-Cooler
The Return of Cooler makes it very clear that Goku & Vegeta are out of their element on New Namek. The two Super Saiyans struggle beyond belief as they fight Meta-Cooler only to see an entire army of them on the horizon. Goku and Vegeta are immediately defeated, remaining Cooler’s prisoners for the rest of the movie.
Logically, there should be no way for Goku and Vegeta to defeat Cooler in his state, especially since the Meta-Coolers were strong enough as is. Bafflingly, there’s no real trump card to save the day. Both characters seemingly exhaust all their energy before Goku manages to land a Super Saiyan Ki attack that finishes off Cooler with little fanfare.
5 Vs Super Android 13
The main problem with Goku winning his fight with Super Android 13 is how nonsensical the actual victory is. Super Android 13 is so powerful that Goku has no choice but to depower out of Super Saiyan, charge up one of the largest Genki Damas in the series up to that point, and then somehow absorb the energy into his Super Saiyan transformation. There’s a difference between a character being creative with their skill set and randomly inventing new abilities in a moment of desperation. In any other fight, Goku would have lost.
4 Vs Broly
Broly’s defeat in his debut movie is often criticized and for very good reason. After building up Broly’s character for half the film and then dedicating the rest to a brutal battle where the Legendary Super Saiyan puts the strongest characters in Dragon Ball in their place, Goku saves the day by punching Broly really hard after borrowing everyone’s energy.
Ignoring the fact that Broly keeps getting stronger through battle (to the point where Goku shouldn’t have been able to beat him so worn down), this is just an unsatisfying conclusion. It makes sense to give the win to Goku, but the actual death blow is as poorly built up as it is executed – especially since the fight makes it painfully clear how hopeless Goku’s chances are against Broly.
3 Vs Broly (Second Coming)
To be fair, Goku doesn’t fight Broly long enough where there’s any point he should have lost in The Second Coming – but that’s kind of the problem. Goku has no real role in this movie. While the first half centers on Goten, Trunks, and Videl before conceding to Gohan’s point of view for the second half, Goku’s presence in the finale feels off. Beyond ripping off the Father/Son Kamehameha from the Cell Games, Goku logically shouldn’t be able to lend a hand for any Earth shenanigans.
2 Vs Hirudegarn
Everyone struggles so much fighting Hirudegarn that it’s almost nonsensical when Goku uses the Dragon Fist to finish them off. Not only is Goku not a major character in the film – conceding important character work to Tapion, Trunks, and even Bulma – he shouldn’t even be the strongest character at this point: Gohan should.
If anyone was going to defeat Hirudegarn through raw power alone, it should've been Gohan. Otherwise, Tapion and Trunks should have played definitive roles in defeating him while Goku either sat out or lost along with the rest of the supporting cast (which he ostensibly is in Wrath of the Dragon.)
1 Vs Golden Frieza
Goku only has himself to blame for losing his chance to defeat Frieza. Even though Golden Frieza is technically stronger than Super Saiyan Blue, he can’t maintain the form’s stamina for long. Goku, on the other hand, is comfortable enough with SSB where he’s able to simply wait out Frieza’s worst attacks, gradually turning the fight in his favor.
Instead of finishing off Frieza, though, Goku lets down his guard and gets shot through the heart by Sorbet for it. In the Dragon Ball Super anime, Goku even depowers out of Super Saiyan Blue to speak with a Frieza who’s very much still a threat.
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