Goku is a name that needs no introduction. Goku is the protagonist of the Dragon Ball series, created by Akira Toriyama. He trains and trains hard with gods to become the strongest warrior in the universe. The anime adaptation of the series has also been airing for over three decades. However, the fanbase just continues growing. Toriyama created not only one of the most beloved characters of all time but also one of the strongest anime characters.
In the general anime fandom, Goku is already regarded as one of the strongest of all time. In fact, many would argue that no one can really beat Goku when he fights seriously. We, however, think otherwise.
Anime Characters That Can Beat Goku
The truth is, whether fans like it or not, anime is such a wide spectrum that it cannot be easily measured. In this array of stories and arcs, there are numerous characters who are capable of shaking up entire universes.
If such characters exist in anime, then without a doubt, they can beat Goku. Here is a list of 22 anime characters who can take down Goku for good.
22. Whis
He is an angel in the Dragon Ball series and also the attendant of Beerus, the God of Destruction. Whis might look peaceful and harmless. However, it is stated his strength is far greater than Beerus. Even he is Beerus’s teacher. Later, he even takes Goku and his rival, Vegeta, under his wings and trains them in combat. But throughout the entire training, Goku could never land a single attack on Whis. Therefore, Whis is one of the characters in the Dragon Ball series that can defeat Goku.
21. Tomura Shigaraki
He is the antagonist of My Hero Academia and also the leader of League of Villains. Tomura has the quirk or ability called Decay. He can disintegrate anyone or anything if he touches them. Further, the disintegration quickly spreads throughout the body.
The only way to stop it from spreading all over the body is to amputate the decaying part. Tomura might be the worst enemy Goku can ever think of cause he has to stick only with Ki blast and Kamehameha when fighting Tomura. Because in close combat, Tomura can just touch him, which will lead to the Saiyan’s end.
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21. Father
Homunculus the Dwarf is the first homunculus in existence in the series Fullmetal Alchemist. He is also the strongest alchemist and has further created many strong homunculi. Even alchemist Izumi Curtis is like a little girl in front of Father.
Further, Father possesses literally infinite Philosopher Stones with them. He’s near-immortal and has been living for thousands of years. Goku should never underestimate this man, as he can just turn the Saiyan warrior into a single cell with just a touch. No matter how many punches or ki blasts he throws at this homunculus, he is one of the characters that can defeat Goku with ease.
20. Eri
She is a character from My Hero Academia. She might look like an innocent and “kawaii” girl. But don’t let her looks deceive you because she has one of the strongest quirks or abilities in the series. Her ability is “Reverse,” which allows her to reverse any living being to its previous state.
If Goku ever fights her, she can just turn Goku into an infant or even to the point when Goku never even existed. She is one of the characters that can defeat Goku without shedding a sweat.
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19. Nanika
It is a mysterious creature that comes from Dark Continent and possesses Killua’s younger sister, Alluka, in the anime series Hunter X Hunter. She is one of the strongest characters in the anime.
However, the extent of Nanika’s powers is unknown, but it is expected the powers are omnipotent. But we know this much that Nanika can grant three wishes, and it can easily kill Goku if someone wishes to.
18. Lelouch Vi Britannia
He is the protagonist of Code Geass. Further, Lelouch is the Eleventh Prince and the 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire. Therefore, he has the biggest army, and they are equipped with high-level tech. However, Goku can just blast the human army with ease.
Being a ruler or having an enormous army isn’t Lelouch’s true power, and he doesn’t even have the physical strength of Goku. In reality, Lelouch has the worst physical stats in the series. But Lelouch has a power called Code Geass, which allows him to implant a command into an individual. Thus, he can just command Goku to be his bodyguard or maybe just tell the Saiyan to commit suicide.
17. Saiki Kusuo
Kusuo is the protagonist of The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. This boy might not take Goku on physical strength, but he got some over-the-top psychic powers. Saiki learns a new psychic ability, like every day. He can change gender, control a person’s memory, and also he can control space-time. There are chances he might just awaken the power to cease Goku’s existence from the universe. There are uncountable tricks he has under his sleeves to defeat Goku.
16. Baraggan Louisenbairn
No matter how strong someone is, if it is against time, defeat is inevitable. The same goes for Goku against Baragann Lousenbairn of Bleach. Goku may be the strongest being, but if he fights against someone who can manipulate time, then Goku might be at a disadvantage. Baragann is also intelligent, and he has great experience in battles. This is the reason he can be a tough match for Goku.
15. Light Yagami
Light Yagami is the major protagonist and the antagonist of the famous series Death Note. He may not be the guy who can challenge Goku in a one-on-one battle, but he has other ways to send Goku to another world. Light Yagami possesses a magical note called Death Note which allows him to kill anyone just by writing a name on it. Light can easily kill Goku, given that he knows his name. This is the reason we put Light into this list.
14. Usagi Tsukino
From the magical series, Sailor Moon Usagi is yet another character who may be stronger than Goku. She is the sailor guardian of love and justice. Usagi has brilliant healing powers along with magical abilities that many overpowered beings may find hard to deal with. Her different forms give her many different abilities too. In one of her forms, she achieves the ability to use the power of rebirth. Even her cries are strong enough to wreak havoc from the wavelengths.
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13. Arale Norikami
Arale from Toriyama’s other series, Dr. Slump, has been confirmed to be stronger than Goku by the creator himself. A special spin-off between the two series even proves it right. Arale is a robot that was created by Senbei Norimaki. The character appears as a bubbly and cheerful little girl. But do not be deceived because this little girl can take down huge threats, which include Goku too.
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12. Shigeo Kageyama
The protagonist of Mob Psycho, Shigeo Kageyama, might be a middle schooler, but he definitely stands high on this list. He is no character to be underestimated and has often proven it in his series. Shigeo’s powers grown with the negativity of his emotions.
Primarily we see bits of his powers that appear quite strong already. However, that power might not be able to defeat Goku yet. At his 100% strength, we see the true power of Shigeo Kageyama in all his glory.
The character is highly unstable, true, but his psychic outbursts are not going to be easy to handle, even for the Saiyan. To add up to his strengths, Shigeo Kageyama also has psychic energy manipulation abilities that make him an even more powerful, thus troublesome opponent to face.
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11. Satoru Gojo
In today’s anime community, Satoru Gojo’s name is far from being unknown. He is known to be one of the most powerful characters from Jujutsu Kaisen but is he stronger than Goku? One of Gojo’s strongest cards is his infinity, which does not allow any of his opponents to even touch him. Adding on, Gojo is not just strong, but he is also very smart. Gojo’s elite abilities also include Domain Expansions. Within his created domain, Gojo will always have the upper hand, even against the likes of Goku, unless he can create another domain over Gojo’s.
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10. Saitama
Saitama is a parody character from the anime One Punch Man. The debate of Saitama Vs Goku has gone on forever. Some claim that a serious punch from the baldy would end Goku’s life swiftly. While others argue that Saitama can’t come close to Goku because of his sheer speed.
In any case, Saitama is a parody character after all. He was created as the strongest character in his universe. And that says a lot. We are sure that an official showdown between these two would attract a lot of attention. Fans would literally pay to see these two go up against each other.
To say the least, Saitama would finally get his worthy opponent, and Goku will finally get the chance to become stronger. Because defeating Saitama would not be a small feat.
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9. Anos
From the anime The Misfit of Demon King Academy, we have the Demon King himself. Anos is simply too powerful for Goku to rival. True, if he lets Goku play around a little, it’ll probably make a more interesting fight.
One has to remember, Anos is basically immortal. With his ability to regenerate himself from the dead, there’s no way for Goku to actually kill him. Anos killed all the Gods of his universe 2000 years prior to the current timeline in his story. He also has a sword that can destroy all reality. And against a weapon like that Goku has no chance.
8. Broly
At number 8 we have Broly. Broly is from the Dragon Ball universe itself and has already made Goku sweat in battle. Takao Koyama, a screenwriter for Dragon Ball Z has himself admitted that Broly is, in fact, the strongest warrior in the universe.
Legendary Super Saiyan Brolly is more powerful than Goku in his most powerful Super Saiyan form. Goku might be able to do some damage with his Hakai. But his Hakai isn’t all that perfect. A point-blank range Kamehameha from Goku wasn’t able to even scratch Broly. And with so much power, Broly can defeat Goku. There’s a reason even Vegeta fears the villain.
7. Lain
Lain Iwakura from Serial Experiments Lain. Lain is not exactly human, she is officially described as a sentient computer program who bridges the wired world to reality. Without trying to exaggerate much, Lain is basically a god.
Lain can manipulate and alter the whole universe and reality. She can manipulate minds. She can manipulate time. She is omnipresent and is immortal. We hardly need to expand on her abilities to show how she can easily beat Goku. She can effectively remove his existence as a whole if she wants to. That is unless she decides to use less lethal methods before that. Against literal gods like Lain, Goku stands no chance.
6. Kami Tenchi
From the series Tenchi Muyo! We have Kami Tenchi. Tenchi is a God who lost all his memories and became the unassuming protagonist of the story. He comes across all sorts of people who teach him the ways of the universe.
All these people are simply trying to make him remember his true origin. As it turns out, Tenchi was the creator of his own entire universe. And against someone who can create and destroy universes at a thought, Goku pales in comparison. So Kami Tenchi wins with little to no effort.
5. Ryuk
At number 5, we have the Shinigami from Death Note. Ryuk is a god of death. He lives for the sake of living. He can add more and more years to his age by writing names in his Death Note. The law is simple. The person whose name is written in the Death Note shall die. Ryuk steals a new Death Note and drops it to Earth just so he could have some entertainment.
As he is a Shinigami, Goku cannot quite see him. All Ryuk has to do is write Goku’s name in his note and see him die in under a minute. The only way to kill a Shinigami is to make them expand a human life at the cost of their own. And there’s no way Goku would ever be able to do that. Ryuk gets an easy win here though he might not be entertained by it.
4. Truth
From the famous series Fullmetal Alchemist, we have Truth. Truth is the manifestation of the universe itself. So he cannot be erased nor defeated. He is intangible and it would take Goku some extraordinary alchemy skills just to come face to face with this being.
Even if that technical limitation was removed, Truth is simply too powerful to be killed. Physical attacks would have no effect on him since he’s literally the universe itself. Truth would probably give Goku a good lesson and disassemble him atomically in no time.
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3. Haruhi Suzumiya
Getting closer to our number 1, we have Haruhi Suzumiya from the series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. This list does include a lot of gods and goddesses. Haruhi is just one of them. We must admit. Goku is too strong when it comes to the physical and spiritual realm. But what if he were to be permanently erased from the universe?
Enter Haruhi Suzumiya. A Goddess who does not quite know who she is. Haruhi is clueless about her powers of altering reality on a whim. In fact, she does so all the time with mere thoughts without realizing it. Goku could go and challenge her to a fight but if she is in a bad mood, Haruhi could just think about it and erase Goku’s very existence. He may be unbelievably strong, but against such basic omnipotent powers, Goku stands no chance.
2. Zeno
At number 2 we have the god of universes from the Dragon Ball series itself, Zeno. Zeno is the childlike ruler of so many universes. He likes to have fun and play games and is not someone who appears to have so much power.
Beware, if in a bad mood Zeno can destroy an entire universe with little to no effort. Goku might be a great fighter, but Zeno could destroy his entire universe if he declines a game with Zeno. With such frightening powers at his disposal, Zeno easily beats Goku and returns to his boardgame in no time.
1. Anti-Spiral
And finally, at number 1, we have the Anti-Spiral. From the series Tengan Toppa Gurren Lagann, Anti-Spiral is a species of beings who are basically omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. They were able to cease their own evolution and can appear anywhere in time and space.
They’re strong enough to destroy entire Multiverses! And they exist as a single collected consciousness. So to cover it up in short. The Anti-Spiral are all-powerful, they know everything and they exist everywhere. Little needs to be said about what they can and cannot do against Goku.
For someone so as powerful as the Anti-Spiral, Goku is not even a tiny little bug. They are on number one because of their striking abilities. While the others on the list like Zeno and Haruhi can shake and break apart entire universes, the Anti-Spiral can basically destroy all of existence in all of the universes. That is a frightening amount of power. And that makes them the ultimate gods on this list.
And these were the 22 anime characters who can defeat Goku. Do you agree with this list? Let us know in the comments.
