Dragon Ball 10 Times Goku Could Have Died

It's safe to say Goku was in over his head rather frequently, and it's incredible he's still alive today...even though he's been killed twice.

It's not easy being in the world of Dragon Ball Z. As impressive as all the power-ups and new techniques are, they tend to come from people learning to use them in response to having been one-sidedly beaten into the dirt. Even Goku experiences defeat more than a few times throughout his time in all the different Dragon Ball series.

The character rises above them, often with a new Super Saiyan mode, but that doesn't mean it was easy. Goku was a child going up against trained assassins and people who'd already conquered the world for centuries in the past. In his twenties, he's fighting Frieza, a galactic emperor who controlled most of the galaxy and blew up planets if they annoyed him slightly. It's safe to say Goku was in over his head rather frequently, and it's incredible he's still alive today...even though he's been killed twice.

10 When He Fought Mercenary Tao

After learning from Master Roshi, Goku proved himself one of the strongest people in the world by competing in the Budokai Tenkaichi. And after that, he started doing battle against the Red Ribbon Army and tore through countless members of their group...until he ran into Mercenary Tao.

Despite his training, Tao actually defeats him easily. He hits Goku with a Dodon Ray and believes him to be dead, and the only reason he survived is because the Four-Star Dragonball absorbed most of the impact.

9 When He Fought King Piccolo

After the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, Goku’s next opponent was King Piccolo. Someone who intended to wipe out every powerful martial artist in the world to make sure no one could oppose him, Piccolo went against a Goku who was enraged because Piccolo had killed his friend.

But no matter how angry Goku was, it didn’t stop King Piccolo from giving Goku a royal beating. By the end of it, the only reason Goku was alive, was again because his opponent thought he was dead. Fortunately, Yajirobe figured out he was alive afterwards and got Goku out of there.

8 When Vegeta Went Giant

After just narrowly beating Vegeta in their beam struggle fight, Goku was left with literally no more energy in the tank. But Vegeta had plenty of tricks to resort to, and decided to transform into his Great Ape form to battle against Goku.

With his strength multiplied ten times over, Goku had no chance against Vegeta. All he could do was run away, and attempt to charge the Spirit Bomb. Vegeta very nearly killed Goku, and it was only thanks to Gohan, Krillin, and Yajirobe that any of them survived.

7 When He Underestimated Ginyu

None of them knew that the Ginyu Force was capable of saving Vegeta, and even Goku had no knowledge of Ginyu’s power. When Goku arrived, he had no problem taking out Recoome in a single elbow to the chest, and similarly took down Burter.

But afterwards, he seemed to take the remaining members of the Ginyu Force as more of a joke. There really shouldn’t have been a way back after Goku swapped bodies with Ginyu after Ginyu injured himself. Ginyu should’ve beaten Goku with his own body and won, but he couldn’t control Goku’s power.

6 When the Spirit Bomb Failed

When Goku used the Spirit Bomb on Frieza, it involved him creating an energy attack with more power than anything he’d ever amassed before. He gathered power from neighboring planets for this attack, and planned to use it on Frieza to put him to an end.

Instead, he mostly just scuffed the alien’s body some. In the end, Frieza’s actions caused Goku to go Super Saiyan, but what if Frieza had simply come back and killed Goku? Or what if there wasn’t a Super Saiyan? The legend being true just happened to be a happy coincidence.

5 When He Did Not Take Cell Seriously

Goku’s arrogance during this arc was a problem. After introducing Vegeta and Trunks to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he allowed everyone else to spend days in their training. But Goku and Gohan barely finished a year out, simply mastering Super Saiyan before moving on.

That’s because Goku didn’t have a plan—he simply wanted to fight Cell to gauge his strength, then let Gohan have it. If Cell hadn’t had so much Saiyan influence, this would have been over much faster.

4 When He Fought Android 19

Goku went up against Android 19 in a fight that should have been an easy victory for him. Vegeta destroyed Android 19 with ease and that was after letting Android 19 absorb much of his energy.

But Goku allowed the very threat Trunks came back in time to warn him about ruin him. If Android 19 had been more bloodthirsty, that could’ve been the end of Goku right then.

3 When He Fought Beerus

Beerus really did humor Goku and the others for far longer than he should have. By this point, Toriyama isn’t really interested in doing a serious action series as much as he is bringing back some comedic elements.

The first Super arc is more about fun as a result, and so Beerus is around for a lot of jokes and gags. But make no mistake—Beerus was there to blow up Earth if he couldn’t face the Super Saiyan God. But Beerus had already faced Goku once and beat him with only a couple moves, which means Beerus could have ended Goku whenever he wanted.

2 When He Fought Zamasu

Goku technically did die to Zamasu, which is how they wound up with Goku Black to begin with. Zamasu transferred himself to Goku, implanted himself in Goku’s body, and killed the old Goku. During the Future Trunks arc, Zamasu several times inflicts dangerous blows onto Goku that should have meant the end.

The group is only able to survive because they got back to the past, where they’re able to come up with new answers to fight against Goku Black and Zamasu.

1 When He Fought Golden Frieza

Frieza has always been a sore loser. After Vegeta easily dominates him in a match, Frieza gets fed up with the idea of losing to another Saiyan. His next plan? Destroy the Earth. Not in a five minutes sense, but immediately.

Frieza gets destroyed by Vegeta once his power starts to wear off, and in response blows up Earth. Everyone immediately dies except for Goku, Beerus, and Whis. This rewinds time so Goku can have another chance at beating Frieza, and that’s the only reason he or any of the rest of the cast is able to make it.