15 Anime Heroes Who Would Crush Goku in a Fight (2024)

Since he was a child, Dragon Ball's Son Goku has had one wish, to be the best fighter in the universe, but despite that, there are a handful of anime heroes who could destroy the Saiyan warrior. He's been fortunate in the fact that he's largely been able to fulfill his childhood dream. Having trained with and fought against the most impressive of Gods, warriors, and fighters, no one can deny he's in the conversation on who is the greatest anime fighter of all time. But all his accolades don't mean he can't be beaten.

As a lifelong warrior, with the thirst for fighting literally embedded in his DNA, finding a hero to defeat Goku is no easy task.

However, with the breadth and diversity of characters found in anime, there are more than a few capable souls whose abilities can ultimately overcome whatever skills in battle Goku may possess. Goku might be incredibly powerful, but he's absolutely not invincible.

15 Mash Burnedead's Physical Strength Rivals Even Goku's

Mashle: Magic and Muscles

While this is sure to be one of the most intense fights either combatant experiences, Mashle: Magic and Muscles’ Mash Burnedead has proven himself time and again to be the best pugilist in anime. His physical skills are so OP that they can even overcome magic – which is an ability not even Goku can conjure up consistently.

The secret to Mash’s prowess should not come as strange to Goku. He trains, eats right, and despite his naïveté, is a master tactician. Add to this the fact that his strength is practically otherworldly and that he's super-resilient, often coming back stronger than ever when he’s knocked down. Mash is one of the few heroes who can go blow-for-blow against Goku and still be the last man standing.

14 2B is Fast & Powerful Enough to Give Goku a Serious Fight

Nier: Automata Ver1.1a

NieR: Automata Ver1.1a

Action

Animation

Drama

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

See Also

These Anime Characters Could Totally Take Out Ultra Instinct GokuLets settle this once and for all: Superman vs GokuCan GER beat goku | Fandom20 Marvel Characters Who Could Beat Goku From Dragon Ball

Not available

*Availability in US

Cast

Yui Ishikawa , Natsuki Hanae , Hiroki Yasumoto , Kaoru Akiyama , Ayaka Suwa , Keiko Isobe , Meari Hatsumi , Aoi Yuki

Release Date

January 8, 2023

Seasons

1

Writers

Ryouji Masuyama , Yoko Taro

Directors

Ryouji Masuyama

NieR: Automata’s YoRHA No, 2 Type B (2B) advanced battle android has all the abilities to make quick work of Goku. She is extremely agile and fast, with abilities that do not degrade during a brawl. This would make it difficult for Goku to hit her physically or with one of his energy blasts. In actual close-quarter fighting, she is the better of the two, especially if she only had to concentrate on Goku.

Additionally, her sword and spear increase her hit distance such that she can strike Goku outside his individual striking range. Moreover, she is an extremely quick study, allowing her to learn Goku’s movements to develop an effective counter-attack or applicable defense quickly.

13 Hei - The Black Reaper's Martial Arts Combined With His Electricity Powers Make Him Deadly

Darker Than Black

The ability for Darker Than Black’s Hei to crush Goku has two elements. First, there’s his martial arts skills. Like Goku, Hei is an accomplished martial artist whose prowess in hand-to-hand fighting would surely meet with Goku’s approval if circ*mstances were different.

Hie's martial arts skills would be able to hold any initial attack Goku would present. It also gives him time to deliver the second element of Hei’s abilities, namely his ability to manipulate electricity. With this power Hei can deliver electric shocks and charges with enough capacity to fry Goku alive. In addition, Hei's use of electricity allows him to change matter at the quantum level thereby giving him the ability to destroy matter - including Goku - with ease.

12 Shigeo Kageyama is a Psychic With Devastating Power

Mob Psycho 100

Mob Psycho 100

TV-14

Action

Animation

Comedy

Supernatural

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Cast

Kyle McCarley , Jason Liebrecht , Chris Niosi , Michael Sorich , Max Mittelman , Erik Scott , Kimerer , Casey Mongillo , Cherami Leigh

Release Date

July 12, 2016

Seasons

3

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll

Franchise(s)

Mob Psycho 100

Writers

Hiroshi Seko

Directors

Yuzuru Tachikawa , Takahiro Hasui

Main Genre

Action

Creator(s)

ONE

What Mob Psycho 100’s Shigeo Kageyama lacks in physical attributes and abilities he more than makes up for through his psychic powers, and it is through those powers that Shigeo, if provoked, would make quick work of Goku.

In terms of defense, Shigeo can use his psychic powers to create impenetrable barriers around him. While he will not be able to keep these barriers “up” indefinitely, he should be able to maintain them long enough to subdue Goku. Even more frightening for Goku is that when Shigeo loses his ability to control his emotions, no one knows the true upper limits of his powers.

11 Boruto Uzumaki Has The Potential To Be The Strongest Ninja of All Time

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

TV-14

Action

Adventure

Super Power

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Cast

Yûko Sanpei , Kokoro Kikuchi , Ryuichi Kijima , Yuma Uchida , Hidenori Takahashi

Release Date

April 5, 2017

Seasons

6

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll

Franchise(s)

Naruto

Writers

Makoto Uezu , Ukyo Kodachi

Directors

Noriyuki Abe , Hiroyuki Yamash*ta

Main Genre

Animation

Creator(s)

Masashi Kishimoto

Boruto Uzumaki has a history of overcoming incredible odds to defeat opponents no one ever thought he’d be capable of subduing. While Goku’s skill and experience make him a better melee fighter against Buruto currently, the son of the Seventh Hokage has plenty of abilities that will make up for his lack of pugilistic prowess. For instance, he mastered the Shadow Clone technique to launch multiple hard-hitting attacks on Goku.

Boruto can also tap into his Jougan, a dojutsu ability that allows him to track Goku’s movements in real-time. Finally, he has Rasengan, a spinning ball of chakra energy with immense damaging and destructive power. Perhaps most importantly, his connection to Momoshiki Otsutsuki gives him a range of other abilities, not the least of which is advice from a battle-experienced star-traveling, dimension-hopping alien. It's also worth considering that Boruto's abilities in Two Blue Vortex make him one of the strongest shinobi ever.

10 Saitama Only Needs One Punch to Take Goku Down

One-Punch Man

Considering One-Punch Man’s impressive history of effortlessly defeating a plethora of different types of opponents, and his means of melee success, a singular punch to the head or body, he is one individual on the list that Goku would likely come up against in a fight to see who is best.

Unfortunately for Goku, since he rarely arrives at a fight already in a “powered up” form Saitama should be able to knock Goku out fairly quickly and thus avoid a transformation that might prove more difficult to beat. Ending fights quickly seems to be a common One-Punch Man strategy, which would work well in this case.

9 Daemon's Abilities Are a Perfect Counter to Goku's Powerset

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

Fans should not mistake the youth and immaturity of Boruto’s Daemon as weaknesses. Engineered to take down the best of the best shinobi, Daemon is nearly invincible in any fight. His invulnerability stems from the fact that he can boomerang any attack that is initiated against him back to the opponent.

Moreover, Daemon’s reflected counter-attack will be as punishing as the opponent’s original intent. Accordingly, any strike Goku thinks about making on Daemon will result in Daemon striking him first with the same strike and the same level of lethality. Moreover, even with a reflected counter-strike, Daemon has shown himself to be so adept in martial arts to defeat men twice his size.

8 Tatsumaki is One of Anime's Strongest Psychics Ever

One-Punch Man

Despite her diminutive stature, One Punch Man’s Tatsumaki is physically one of the strongest members of the Hero Association. Considering its other members, that fact in and of itself suggests that she should be more than able to handle herself against Goku. However, she wouldn’t even need to lay hands on the Saiyan for her to summarily dispatch him.

Tatsumaki is a God-level psychic. Besides more common psychic abilities such as controlling objects with her mind, TatsuMaki can also use her abilities to fly, create psychic barriers of protection, and manipulate gravity to literally compress people and things into nothing. Most dangerously for Goku, Tatsumaki can even attack his life force, thereby smashing his will to fight before a punch is thrown.

7 Satoru Gojo Lives Up To His Title As Strongest Sorcerer

Jujutsu Kaisen

Jujutsu Kaisen

TV-MA

Animation

Action

Adventure

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Cast

Junya Enoki , Yuma Uchida , Yuichi Nakamura , Adam McArthur , Asami Seto

Release Date

October 3, 2020

Seasons

1

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll

Franchise(s)

Jujutsu Kaisen

Writers

Hiroshi Seko

Directors

Sunghoo Park , Shōta Goshozono

Main Genre

Animation

Jujutsu Kaisen's Satoru Gojo would dominate Goku in battle would come down to three of his basic techniques: Domain Expansion, Hollow Technique: Purple, and Limitless With Domain Expansion, Gojo will be able to lock Goku in a set space that he would not be able to escape from and where any technique that Gojo uses would never fail to hit Goku with maximum effectiveness.

Purple is a high-energy blast that obliterates anything in its path. Conversely, with Limitless, Gojo would be able to prevent Goku from being able to land a punch, kick, or strike on him. If additional evidence is necessary, there is also the fact that Gojo is also an expert-level hand-to-hand fighter with decades of experience fighting some of history's most heinous abominations.

6 Featherine Augustus Aurora

Umineko & Higurashi (07th Expansion)

Originally appearing in Umineko: When They Cry and later returning as the being "Eua" in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou, Featherine is one of the most powerful individuals in the When They Cry universe, and perhaps one of the strongest fictional characters ever created. Featherine is technically ranked among the franchise's other witches with godlike abilities.

Featherine boasts a number of over-powered abilities – and, at her peak, was capable of instantly killing a fellow witch named Lambdadelta. Despite her vast power, Featherine prefers the role of an observer, and as of the most recent animated installment in the Higurashi series, it seems as though Featherine has lost some of her memories, which could have potentially subdued some of her more powerful abilities. Regardless, she's still capable of thrusting mortals into seemingly never-ending timeloops and affecting their memories, maintaining her position as a dire threat against someone like Goku.

5 The Truth

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

One of the more abstract entities from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Truth is an omnipotent figure in the series that is recognized as a God that will initially be rather jovial and friendly toward its visitors before turning them into victims of their own hubris. By using the "Gate", Truth punishes the selfishness of a number of alchemists and the Seven Deadly Sins throughout the series, and has abilities that emulate existential discussions like what the meaning of life is.

While not a traditional combatant for Goku to face off against, Truth's unique propensity to feed off of and punish one's hubris and lack of self-awareness would be capable of doing serious harm to a character like Goku, who, depsite his heroics, often struggles with the exact traits Truth preys upon.

4 Father Enrico Pucchi's Control of Time Would Make Him a Tough Opponent

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 6: Stone Ocean

Though there is debate among JoJo fans about who the series' strongest character is, the one most likely to give Goku trouble is Father Pucci. Pucci cycles through a few stands throughout Stone Ocean, and though his first two probably wouldn't give Goku much trouble, Made in Heaven was powerful enough to restart JoJo's universe. With Made in Heaven, Pucci has the ability to accelerate time at an incredible rate. Pucci can exploit this time acceleration to move so fast that his opponents barely have time to react, if they do at all.

Using Made in Heaven, Pucci could easily outpace and outlast Goku. The Saiyan fighter is incredibly tough, but many of his best techniques and forms take a great deal of chi, meaning that, unless he has a senzu bean or a new form to debut, Goku's power wanes over time. Pucci is one of JoJo's most powerful characters, and he might be one of the few who are able to take Goku down.

3 Madoka Kaname

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

TV-14

Action

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

Not available

*Availability in US

Cast

Christine Marie Cabanos , Cristina Vee , Carrie Keranen , Sarah Anne Williams , Cassandra Lee Morris

Release Date

January 7, 2011

Seasons

1

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll , Hulu

Franchise(s)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Writers

Gen Urobuchi

Directors

Akiyuki Shinbo , Yukihiro Miyamoto

Main Genre

Action

Creator(s)

Akiyuki Shinbo , Gen Urobuchi , Ume Aoki , Shaft

One of the most powerful contenders that could easily face off against Goku is the perfect example of not judging a book by its cover. Madoka Kaname, the lead protagonist from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, a seinen magical girl series that is commonly recognized as being one of the most notable subversions of the popular genre, has abilities that would even make the most diehard Goku supporters wince.

As revealed in the series, Madoka has the potential to be so powerful due to another character in the series, Homura, traveling across multiple timelines to attempt to stop her from becoming a magical girl – a task that inadvertently caused Madoka to be at the center of multiple timelines, generating her a massive amount of power. In the series' main lore, young girls are required to make wishes in order to become magical girls. In the original series, Madoka makes a wish to eliminate all witches before they're born – past, future, and present. This wish causes Madoka to ascend to Godhood, and while her main abilities are still technically unknown, she gains control of the 'Law of Cycle' and is capable of controlling and manipulating light to deliver devastating attacks/

2 Usagi Tsukino

Sailor Moon

One of the most iconic female anime characters brought up in discussions regarding who could be capable of taking down the legendary Saiyan warrior, the bubbly and airheaded Usagi from Sailor Moon is a fellow magical girl contender that could easily overpower Goku. While her cheery personality doesn't make her seem relatively threatening at a glance, the leader of the Sailor Scouts is one of the most overpowered characters ever created.

Usagi has a number of high-powered abilities when she takes up the mantle as Sailor Moon, including the ability to fly across an entire galaxy in mere seconds; having the potential to completely alter reality as Sailor Cosmos, as well as controlling space-time in its entirety; she is also capable of healing the destruction of her body, mind, soul, and even abstract, otherworldy concepts. In the manga, she even managed to shrink an omnipresent force down to an infinitesimal small size to suppress the harm it was originally capable of committing.

1 Ryomen Sukuna

Jujutsu Kaisen

One of the most terrifying villains in Shonen Jump history, Sukuna's over-the-top power has made the ending of Jujutsu Kaisen uncertain. Known as the "King of Curses" in-universe, Sukuna has been effectively built up throughout the horror action series' run as a catastrophic threat to humanity. While he was still alive in the Heian Era, Sukuna was regarded as the world's most powerful sorcerer, and possesses a vast amount of cursed energy and is able to flawlessly control it.

Even early in the series, Sukuna is shown to be a threat to the powerful mentors and other sorcerers that Yuji meets. After consuming fifteen fingers, Sukuna devastates Shibuya with a level of power on par with Gojo – albeit, far more sinister. The threatening figure is capable of using a number of powerful jujutsu techniques as well as activating his own cursed domain, which would make him more than a formidable threat if he were to be pit against Goku.