East Vs West: Character Battles #2

Today, we discuss the two most powerful beings in known Media. Every time they battle, they seem to have a new ability coming out of thin air. And when doing situations like this, the overzealous fan automatically claims this person would win without giving any sort of reason. I’m talking about these two…

Superman Vs Goku

If you know me, you know I’m not a fan of Goku. A guy calling himself a warrior despite the fact he has pretty much every body helping him during his major victories. If this was against another warrior, I would pretty much try many ways to put down Goku. But this isn’t a battle of warriors.

This is a battle of heroes, and no matter my dislike for him as a warrior is, he’s still one of the greatest heroes of Anime. Putting his life on the line time and time again to save his planet and maybe the universe as well without batting an eye or even having doubts, that’s a hero for you. He’s even died to protect the planet.

You can pretty much copy and paste the above to also explain Superman. Being almost uber cheap in the sense of power, when it came down to putting his life on the line to save the planet, if not the universe, he doesn’t give it a second thought. He’s even died to stop Doomsday from laying waste to Metropolis. His power is nothing compared to his heart.

That’s what makes this fight so interesting. They’re both were sent away moments before their planet were destroyed. They’re both the most powerful of their universes. Heck, they’re so similar to each other, if you give Goku a clean haircut and tights, he can pass off as Superman’s twin.

But the outcome of this fight would have to be from their differences, few are. Can the self proclaimed warrior defeat the Man of Steel? Or is Superman too weak against a Super Saiyan?

Round One: Location Advantage

Again, as Silver Bullet Comics put it, this fight is too big to put in one planet. But sadly, it has to be on a planet. One major difference between the two is that Superman does not need to breathe in space. Goku, no matter how powerful he is, still needs oxygen (or whatever Saiyans breathe) to live. So this will be in Goku’s world for its mysteriously large and untouched landscape.

Though it is Goku’s home turf, Superman is more known to use the landscape to his advantage. He drills through the earth to get to locations faster. Makes tidal waves to extinguish fires. Moves mountains to remove floods. Goku never really did anything like this…

WINNER: Superman

Round Two: Intelligence

This is open and shut. Goku is not that smart. In fact, he just trusts people too much. Heck, he was tricked to solving a puzzle set up by Mercenary Tao, a guy who killed his friend’s father in front of him. That pretty much means Goku would fall for the “Look out behind you” trick…

Taken again from Silver Bullet Comics “Superman on the other hand has many different levels of super intellect. He is described as thinking on par with all of Earth’s most brilliant scientists put together. He has a photographic memory to the extent that he has memorized all of the files at the Daily Planet. He can calculate the longest of equations and deduct an answer to the most daunting of riddles.”

Pretty much, Goku dumb - Superman smart. And even if Goku had average intelligence, it wouldn’t match Superman’s Intelligence.


WINNER: Superman

Round Three: Strength

This is a stalemate here. They’re both pretty strong, able to break things with their fists. Most fanboys automatically assume that when Goku goes Super Saiyan (whatever), he becomes more powerful. While it is true he can become stronger in these high levels, don’t count Superman out.

If Justice League Unlimited showed us anything, is that when not holding back, his punches break the sound barrier. Pretty much if he doesn’t hold back, his attacks can do DBZ and DBGT like damage. So this is a tie.


WINNER: Draw

Round Four: Speed

This is all about how fast they can move. Superman now moves under the Speed of Light. Goku can move so fast, he seems invisible, which means light does not bounce off his surface, which means he moves faster then the speed of light. So Goku is faster then Goku.

But in terms of reflexes, Superman’s intelligence and super reflexes can compensate for that and rival Goku move for move. And unless this was a race, being able to move from one place to another is not needed for a fight.

WINNER: Draw

Round Five: Powers

They both have super strength, speed, agility, yadda yadda. But Superman has more in terms of numbers. Superman has Various Super Visions, Super Hearing and Super Breath.  Though in terms of use, Goku’s abilities have more of a use. I doubt Superman’s Heat Vision can pack the same punch a Kamehameha wave can.

WINNER: Goku

Round Six: Fighting Ability

As much as I hate to admit it, Goku DOES have training in various forms of martial arts. He doesn’t display that many in Z and up, it is maybe because he has been fighting opponents that need strength to overcome them. With Superman playing on the same level, he may rely on these skills to overcome Superman’s “I throw left, then right” kind of fighting.

WINNER: Goku

Round Seven: Invulnerability/Stamina

It’s pretty much who can take the most punishment. Both of these are willing to fight till they die to stop someone, so they’ll continue fighting until they stop breathing. Though when it comes to putting their bodies in situations, Superman has the better body to put punishment on.

Sure, Goku trained under 100 times Earth’s gravity, but that is more of a crushing effect. In Space, your head explodes in a few seconds because of lack of anything up there. Go deep enough under water and you have pressure that can crack a steel hull with ease. Both times in situations like these, Goku needed a suit to stay alive. So that’s an edge Superman has.

WINNER: Superman

Round Eight: Allies

Another draw here. Their allies are so similar. They both got magic users, aliens, fellow Kryptonians/Saiyans, robots, and such. They even have worthless allies as well (I’m looking at you Aquaman and Krillin). If you judge a man by the company he keeps, they’re both pretty much the same.

WINNER: Draw

Round Nine: Weaknesses

Superman’s weaknesses are that Kryptonite can hurt him, no Yellow Sun means no more powers, magic affects him greatly and he can’t see through lead. With weaknesses like these, many consider Goku the winner by default. But you have to look at this realistically.

Kryptonite is a rare stone to find. There aren’t many pieces on earth and Bulma doesn’t have a sample to make a Kryptonite Radar, so that’s out. If this fight takes place on any of their Earths, the sun will always be yellow. Heck, if this was on Planet Namek, Superman would probably get stronger with the many suns there. Goku doesn’t know anything about magic and who needs lead to hide in a fight?

Goku’s two known weaknesses are that if you grab his tail, he’ll be immobilized and he’s too trustworthy. The first weakness is pretty much now nonexistent depending on the timeline (he trained it to stop that, removed it, whatever). The second would work, but only once. Vegeta used this well in their fight before Majin Buu showed up. Frieza, didn’t.

So with that one shot weakness, you could give this to Superman. The one thing is, that tactic is cheap. And Superman is always about Truth, Justice, and the American way. And above all things, truth comes first to him (thank you ItsJustSomeRandomGuy). So Superman would never resort to dirty tricks like that. So it is a draw.

WINNER: Draw

OVERAL STATS: Superman: 3 - Goku: 2

So with a score of three to two, Superman pulls out a victory thanks to the ability of going into space. But like the last time, would that be how the outcome would happen if this was a story and not a battle of stats?

Round Ten: The Story

I can see how exactly this will go, word for word. Goku will fly to Metropolis, hearing about Superman. After seeing him, he goes up and says “Hi, I’m Goku. I heard you were a really strong opponent. Wanna spar with me?” To which, Superman will reply “I’m sorry, but I don’t like to fight. I only fight if it was a necessity.” Goku would be a little disappointed, but understands and then say “Okay. Sorry to bother you.” Then they’ll both fly off and return to their lives.

WINNER: Draw

That’s the thing almost everyone seems to forget. These two are not only the most powerful of their respected Medias; they’re also among the nicest people you would ever meet. If there was an old lady needing to cross the street of a cat stuck up in a tree, they wouldn’t hesitate to help. They’re both literally boy scouts.

There isn’t a situation that you can put these two to make them fight each other. Superman doesn’t fight for fun and Goku wouldn’t bother someone with a life choice like that. If their worlds were going to collide with each other and only the winner can save their planet, they’ll both try to the end to save both worlds. If Darkseid and Cell teamed up and forced the two to face each other, they’ll quickly realize it’s a trick and team up to defeat the two evil dudes.

There is no situation these two can be in that would force them to have a decisive winner! The tricking would work well enough for a few scrapes but nothing majorly definitive. Both their nature and their abilities would make any debate futile. The only way you’ll see a Kryptonian fight a Saiyan is if one of them was bad (which there are plenty of from both sides).

Like the outcome? Want to give your opinion of the events? Want to make suggestions? Then give a reply. The next match will see the King and Queen of Crime do battle, as Carmen Sandiego will take on Lupin the Third.