Dragon Ball 10 Times Goku Wasn’t The Strongest Character

Goku lives to meet and fight stronger opponents, but that can only happen if he’s not the strongest fighter around.

Given Dragon Ball’s reputation for obscenely powerful characters and out of control power scaling, it’s easy to assume Goku is not only one of the strongest characters in fiction, but the outright strongest in Dragon Ball. Of course, neither sentiment is exactly true. Goku’s not even the strongest character in his own series, let alone fiction.

Dragon Ball makes it a point early on that Goku being the strongest person alive shouldn’t be his sole motivation. Goku’s constantly meeting characters stronger than him over the course of Dragon Ball, which has since become his main drive in the franchise. Goku lives to meet and fight stronger opponents, but that can only happen if he’s not the strongest fighter around.

10 A Student Of The Turtle School

It’s not clear when exactly Goku surpasses Master Roshi (though logic would dictate either the Red Ribbon Army arc or 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai,) but he spends a healthy chunk of the series weaker than his master. This makes sense, however, and Dragon Ball uses Roshi’s character to instill into Goku important virtues: the value of self-betterment for self-betterment’s sake and the universal recognition that there will always be someone better.

This is meant not to discourage Goku, but actively push him into a life of healthy martial arts. Master Roshi even enters the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai specifically to defeat Goku and ensure he doesn’t gain an ego from winning the tournament.

9 The Sacred Land Of Karin

Goku is the strongest character for most of the Red Ribbon Army arc, but there’s one section in the saga where he’s very much outclassed. Goku’s touchdown on the Sacred Land of Karin coincides with Tao Pai Pai’s introduction, an assassin hired by the Red Ribbon Army to assassinate Son Goku and reclaim his Dragon Balls.

Tao Pai Pai is so overwhelmingly powerful that he’s able to tank a Kamehameha and nearly kill Goku with a Dodonpa. Goku spends the next three days training with Karin– an even greater martial arts master than Master Roshi– and becomes strong enough to utterly humiliate Tao Pai Pai in their rematch.

8 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai (Debatably)

It’s not exactly clear whether or not Goku was actually stronger than Tenshinhan during the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai. Looking at the arc at a purely surface level, it’s easy to see Tenshinhan as the stronger character since he ends up winning the tournament itself. Not just that, the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai specifically centers itself on Tenshinhan’s development.

At the same time, Tenshinhan specifically notes Goku as the better martial artist, which Goku brushes off since he still lost the match regardless. Whether or not Goku is the strongest character at this point doesn’t last for long, as Piccolo Daimao begins his quest for world domination.

7 The Demon King Arrives

King Piccolo is a game changer for Dragon Ball. His introduction sets off a chain reaction that leaves Krillin, Chaozu, Roshi, and even Shenlong dead. While Goku is stronger than Piccolo’s minions, he’s woefully outclassed by the older Piccolo alone. Goku’s forced to go to Karin for training yet again, this time suffering divine poison to get stronger.

Despite this, Goku’s only about as strong as the Demon King. Their final fight is a back & forth battle that nearly goes in Piccolo’s direction. The only reason he loses is because Piccolo fails to cripple all of Goku’s limbs, giving the boy a chance to Kamehameha his way through Daimao’s body.

6 Heavenly Training

Goku understandably starts to think highly of himself about defeating Piccolo Daimao. The Demon King was responsible for the deaths of some of the greatest martial artists alive, and Goku just barely defeated him by the seat of his pants. Mr. Popo ends up reminding Goku of a critical lesson Master Roshi once taught him: there will always be someone better.

Piccolo wasn’t the end all, be all and Goku was foolish for thinking so. Mr. Popo and God humble Goku over the course of three years, nurturing a martial artist who sincerely manages to surpass them both with none of the ego he once showed upon defeating the Demon King all those years ago.

5 Raditz’s Arrival

Upon defeating Piccolo Junior at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai and being deemed Strongest Under the Heavens, Goku more or less disappears for five years to start his family with Chichi. While he doesn’t slack off in his training– managing to stay firmly ahead of Piccolo the entire time– he doesn’t push himself as hard now that he’s a husband & father.

Unfortunately, the end result is that he’s completely outclassed when Raditz arrives to remind Goku of who he really is. Even teaming up with Piccolo isn’t enough to stop Raditz. Goku is forced to give his life, dying alongside the brother he never wanted to know.

4 The Fight Against The Saiyans

Death isn’t the end for Goku in Dragon Ball as God pulls some rare strings for the martial artist to keep his body in the afterlife. Goku spends the next year running across Serpentine Road and then training with Kaio on his planet, leaning both the Genki Dama and the Kaioken. When the Saiyan arrives on Earth, Goku is a considerably stronger fighter, ready to take Nappa and Vegeta on.

Although Goku’s strong enough to subdue Nappa without too much effort, Vegeta proves to be an enormous problem. Goku has to push Kaioken to 4x just to win his beam struggle with Vegeta. Where this leaves Goku completely out of energy, Vegeta has more than enough Ki to go a few more rounds.

3 Namek

Frieza is introduced so early into the Namek arc, and with such an overwhelming Battle Power comparatively, that absolutely no one comes close to outclassing him until the very end of the arc. Goku’s easily the strongest of the main heroes throughout most of Namek– in large part due to his efficient training on the way– but even he’s little compared to Frieza.

Goku needs to use Kaioken 20x just to keep up with Frieza throughout their fight. Right when Goku thinks he’s starting to gain the upperhand, Frieza reveals he’s only been using 50% of his power the entire time. Goku has no choice but to throw everything into a last ditch Genki Dama.

2 Cell Games

The Cell arc’s second half puts a lot of focus on the idea of Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks evolving Super Saiyan as a form. All three Saiyans come up with their own interpretations, but Goku’s is arguably the best. He simply masters Super Saiyan as his base state, training Gohan alongside him. In truth, however, Goku was mainly just training Gohan.

Goku recognizes that Gohan has potential he never had. Goku also recognizes he can’t beat Cell. Putting all his faith in his son, Goku trains Gohan into a martial artist who likely could have defeated Cell in Super Saiyan 1 alone. The fact Gohan triggers Super Saiyan 2 ends up being overkill more than anything.

1 The Rest Of The Series

From this point on, Goku never reclaims his lead as the strongest character. Almost every variation of Majin Buu is stronger than Goku, as are all the fusions and Ultimate Gohan. This is the case for Dragon Ball Super as well, where the existence of Angels and Gods of Destruction mean there’s a good chance Goku will never be the strongest character again. Of course, that’s just the nature of Dragon Ball.