Goku Fights in Dragon Ball:
Goku has fought countless villains in the Dragon Ball Universe. Amongst all those battles are some fights that are truly magnificent and the crown jewels of Dragon Ball. This list is dedicated to those fights. Let us see if your favorite Goku fight made it to this list.
10. Goku vs. Piccolo
This fight took place way before the events of Dragon Ball Z. It was during Dragon Ball when Piccolo Junior, the son of Demon King Piccolo, entered the World Martial Arts Tournament where Goku was also a fighter. Piccolo wanted to kill Goku while Goku just wanted a fun fight. Piccolo injured and took out one of Goku’s arms. Goku then used his Super Kamehameha attack to push Piccolo off the edge and end the fight. Piccolo was still alive even after all that punishment. Goku being Goku, showed his signature mercy to his mortal enemy Piccolo and gave him a Senzu Bean. Piccolo would then join the ranks of the Z Fighters just like Vegeta did years later.
9. Goku vs. Hit
Hit is a rather underrated warrior in Dragon Ball Super. As the greatest assassin of a parallel universe, Hit had so many tricks up his sleeve. He showed them all in his fight against Goku in the Tournament of Power. At first, both Goku and Hit fought with a laid back approach. Halfway through the fight, Hit realizes Goku is someone who should not be taken lightly. Goku has trouble defeating Hit and his Time Skip ability. He later almost manages to defeat Hit by transforming into Super Saiyan Blue and using Kaio-Ken in conjunction. Hit still manages to evade the strike. The Battle ends in Hit’s favour when Goku intentionally steps out of bounds as an act of defiance against Beerus.
8. Goku vs. Kid Buu
Many would second this statement – Kid Buu is not the strongest form of Majin Buu. Sure he was the last and final transformation of Buu but the strongest transformation is still Super Buu. That does not make Kid Buu any less dangerous though. Goku still had trouble defeating Kid Buu even in his Super Saiyan 3 form. Kid Buu may not be as powerful as Super Buu but he surely was the most evil and dangerous of Buu’s transformations. Kid Buu was chaos incarnate. One of the first acts he did was destroy the entire human civilization.
The fact that he could pull it off right in front of Goku and Vegeta is a testament to his skills. Kid buu was such a menace that Vegeta had to put aside his grudge and admit that the only way to defeat him was to work with Goku. It was Goku’s Spirit Bomb that actually helped defeat Kid Buu once and for all.
7. Goku vs. Broly
After Vegeta embraced the Light Side of the Force, fans kept asking the writers to come up with an evil-natured Super Saiyan who could take on the Z Fighters. The answer came with Broly. Living his life in a harsh, desolate planet, Broly has had no formal training in martial arts and yet he proved to be nigh-unstoppable. Broly is the only known Legendary Super Saiyan of Universe 7.
What made this fight especially unique was while villains like Buu and Cell had special regeneration powers to heal themselves Broly was just like a walking Tank. Point Blank Kamehameha attacks did not even tickle him Broly’s popularity surged so high that Dragon Ball made two sequel movies featuring him as the antagonist but the most interesting fight was in The Legendary Super Saiyan movie.
6. Goku vs. Jiren
Jiren was the greatest warrior of Universe 11. In fact, he was being considered the most powerful warrior to ever enter the Tournament of Power. Nobody expected Goku to actually put up a fight with Jiren, whose powers were so great that his aura could be sensed from another universe. Jiren was confident he would in that fight with ease. But Goku just kept going. He was too stupid to know when to quit.
When his body finally reached its absolute limits, Goku unlocked a Gift of the Gods – Ultra Instinct. The fight with Jiren then was one glorious firework of a show. Punches landed on Jiren, who had never fought someone that could even put a scratch on him. For the first time in his life, Jiren was actually scared to lose in a battle.
5. Goku vs. Golden Frieza
The second entry of a Goku vs. Frieza fight on this list is actually from a movie. Goku fought Frieza again in Dragon Ball: Resurrection F. Frieza had trained for the first time in his life and unlocked a new never before heard of form called the Golden Form. This form put him at an even greater power level than Super Saiyan Blue. It actually took a surprise attack from Vegeta who had also achieved Super Saiyan Blue, to tilt the odds. Frieza then changed strategy and decided to blow up the Earth then and there rather than let Goku and Vegeta run all over him like they did on Planet Namek. If not for Whis rewinding time, Goku would have been dead by now.
4. Goku vs. Beerus
Goku had gone pretty arrogant by the time Beerus arrived on Earth. Goku’s power had reached a level where he believed each fight he fought was just for fun and as a result, the stakes went lower every time a big fight was on the horizon. And then came Beerus, Universe 7’s God of Destruction.
Beerus showed Goku his place. Even in his Super Saiyan 3 form, Goku barely managed to put a scratch on the Cat God. Beerus promised to return and if Goku loses again, he will destroy Earth as payment for his defeat. Goku unlocks the power of Super Saiyan God. With the power of six pure-hearted Saiyans, Goku manages to unlock the God Ki and fight Beerus on an equal footing. What was surprising was the end result of the fight. Beerus still won but spared Earth not because he was impressed with Goku but because he liked Earth’s food.
3. Goku vs. Majin Vegeta
It was the Majin Buu saga that proved to be the turning point in the anime series. After this storyline, Dragon Ball started going a little out of hand. But within the Majin Buu saga, there exists a fight that has always been overlooked because it was a sub-plot. The Sorcerer Babidi takes control of Vegeta and gives him Majin Powers. Vegeta lives and breathes only to surpass Goku as a warrior.
When Goku was killed by Cell, Vegeta was depressed that he can no longer prove his power in a fight against Goku. Majin Vegeta was the epitome of all the untapped emotions of Vegeta, which he had kept hidden all these years. The fight was epic and was much anticipated. Vegeta won that round, even though some would claim it was a cheap shot. Later it is revealed that Goku was holding back since he never used his Super Saiyan 3 form in that fight.
2. Goku vs. Frieza
One word – Super Saiyan! This fight gave us the template based on which all future fights of Dragon Ball would be worked with. The fight is one of the longest in Dragon Ball. As a matter of fact, it probably is the longest fight in the history of anime. The fight’s climactic ending was undone by the show’s writers mere episodes later since most of the people who died during the saga returned later, including Frieza himself. Why this fight occupies the second place in our list is because this was the fight that finally pushed Goku beyond his limits to achieve the mythical Super Saiyan form. This fight could have been ranked the highest if it hadn’t been for the fact that it did not have any long-lasting impacts on the Dragon Ball lore.
1. Goku vs. Vegeta
This was the most perfect ever fight in Dragon Ball history. Before Dragon Ball introduced concepts like the Senzu Beans that could heal back any wound or the Dragon Balls that could resurrect the dead (something that is being used as a Deus Ex Machine more often than not since DBZ), death was a very real thing and held some water. If you die, there was a very little chance you would be brought back.
Most of the Z Fighters were either killed or wounded grievously in their fight with Nappa and Vegeta. Goku has amassed great power but he still fell short when fighting Vegeta. It was with the help of Krillin and the Spirit Bomb technique that Goku finally managed to win that round. This was also the last fight that ever let the fans see the Great Ape transformation in action.
