Just as Goku’s characterization isn’t identical across all Dragon Ball series, the same is true of his power level. In Dragon Ball Super, he’s undoubtedly become stronger than ever before, especially in the manga. What’s less clear is which of the other two Dragon Ball Z sequel series he’s more powerful in.
Goku uses Super Saiyan 4 in both Dragon Ball DAIMA and Dragon Ball GT, but his strength in these anime is far from equal. This comes down to the difference in experience these Gokus possess, their performances against the enemies they fight, and their performances in battle when not using Super Saiyan 4. When taking this all into account, one of these Gokus proves to be much closer Dragon Ball Super‘s Goku than their Super Saiyan 4-using counterpart.
Goku in Dragon Ball GT Is the Most Experienced Version of the Character
Goku Spends 5 Years Training Uub Prior to the Beginning of Dragon Ball GT
By far the most unique thing about Goku in Dragon Ball GT is his age. As a 50+-year-old grandfather, he’s had more time to train, gain experience, and raise his Base power level than any other version of the character. Thanks to his Saiyan biology, being older doesn’t at all negatively impact his physical capabilities. However, it isn’t as if he spent the fifteen years in-between DBZ and Dragon Ball GT wholly focused on himself. He spent at least some of the first 10 years helping to raise Goten and generally being present for his family, and he spent the last five years focused on training Uub. He’s still substantially stronger at the start of Dragon Ball GT than he was during the fight against Kid Buu, but it’s been consistently shown throughout the franchise that a focus on training a weaker fighter minimizes one’s own growth.
At the start of Dragon Ball GT, Goku’s strongest transformation is Super Saiyan 3. Due to him being turned into a child in Episode 1, his full power in this form is never shown, but that doesn’t mean he never scores victories in his de-aged, weakened body. Most notably, Kid Goku overcomes Ledgic, General Rildo in his weaker forms, and Super 17, all of whom are leagues more powerful than Majin Buu. It’s also Kid Goku who ultimately defeats Omega Shenron, using the most powerful attack in the entire series: the Universal Spirit Bomb.
Goku achieves the peak of his power in Dragon Ball GT after unlocking Super Saiyan 4. Not only does the transformation temporarily return him to his adult body, but it offers a far more substantial boost in strength than even Super Saiyan 3, and it isn’t a rapid drain on his energy. Using this form, he defeats Golden Great Ape Baby Vegeta, as well as multiple Shadow Dragons. Super Saiyan 4 does struggle a number of times, though, and he outright loses to the far stronger Omega Shenron.
Goku in Dragon Ball DAIMA Is 15 Years Younger Than His GT Counterpart
Super Saiyan 4 Goku Breaks Through Dimensions in Dragon Ball DAIMA
Dragon Ball DAIMA is set only a short time after the fight against Kid Buu at the end of Dragon Ball Z. He’s barely had any time to train and grow stronger since he lost his direct conflict with the embodiment of destruction. Despite this, Goku demonstrates an enormous amount of growth. This is especially emphasized by the fact that, like his GT counterpart, he achieves most of what he does while in a substantially weakened, de-aged body.
Mini Goku spends the majority of Dragon Ball DAIMA only using his Base form, Super Saiyan, and Super Saiyan 2. Glorio, a fighter stronger than the Supreme Kai, proves helpless against his Super Saiyan form, a momentary switch into Super Saiyan 2 allows him to defeat Tamagami 3, who is stronger than Dabura, and he doesn’t need more than Super Saiyan to fight evenly with Majin Duu, who is potentially stronger than Kid Buu. While his Super Saiyan 3 form proves no match for Gomah, after the Supreme Demon King is enhanced by the Evil Third Eye, the fight as a whole demonstrates the difference between the «Mini» forms that define the series, and the Z-Fighters’ true selves.
After Glorio uses the Demon Realm’s Dragon Balls to restore everyone to their proper ages, Vegeta fights Gomah one-on-one. With his proper body and the power of Super Saiyan 3, Vegeta performs far better against Gomah than the united force of Mini Goku, Mini Vegeta, Mini Piccolo, Glorio, Nahare, Majin Duu, Majin Kuu, and Tamagami 1 had been earlier in the fight. Making this more impressive is the fact that, in-between these fights, Gomah receives multiple additional power-ups from the Evil Third Eye. Super Saiyan 3 Adult Vegeta even outright defeats Gomah, and only loses the battle due to the Third Eye making Gomah immortal.
By the time Goku becomes an adult again, he’s already unlocked the power of Super Saiyan 4. In his de-aged body, this transformation already allowed him to overpower a version of Gomah stronger than the one who’d defeated the entire time of heroes. Super Saiyan 4 Adult Goku, meanwhile, defeats an even stronger version of Gomah than the one barely beaten by Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta. During the climax of this fight, Goku also performs his most notable fear in all of Dragon Ball DAIMA. With his Kamehameha, Goku blasts through the dimensional barriers of the Demon Realm. The only other character in the franchise to perform a similar feat has been Super Saiyan Blue Gogeta, the strongest of all heroes in Dragon Ball Super.
Dragon Ball GT Goku Is Stronger Than Dragon Ball DAIMA Goku
Dragon Ball DAIMA Goku's Only Major Victory Is Against a Villain Weaker Than Every Big Bad in Dragon Ball GT
While both Gokus prove to be absolute powerhouses in their own right, Goku in Dragon Ball GT is unfathomably stronger than Goku in Dragon Ball DAIMA. Goku in DAIMA may be impressive when viewed on his own, but everything he achieves needs to be examined from a wider perspective. His lack of time to train post-DBZ is a major strike against him, Gomah is significantly weaker than any main villain in Dragon Ball GT, and their feats in their Base de-aged forms are worlds apart.
For every character not named Gohan, training has always been exceptionally important. And the longer the series has gone on, the more easily Goku and his friends have been able to make massive gains in strength in only a short time. While this can justify Goku being so much stronger in Dragon Ball DAIMA than he was in DBZ, it also emphasizes just how substantial an advantage GT Goku’s 15 additional years of training are. In his Base Mini form, DAIMA Goku is only able to mildly overpower Glorio, and fight a losing battle against Tamagami 3. Base de-aged Goku in GT, on the other hand, defeats Super 17. Using the Dragon Fist, Goku is able to launch himself through Super 17 in one clean blow, despite the fact that Super 17 is stronger than Golden Great Ape Baby Vegeta.
Baby Vegeta, at his weakest, completely outclassed Super Saiyan 3 Goku. His Golden Great Ape form is even stronger than his Super Saiyan 2 form, which defeated Majuub. The Tuffle parasite thoroughly outclasses the Supreme Demon King, and yet Goku is able to defeat him as his strongest using his Super Saiyan 4 transformation, just as he defeats the even more powerful Super 17. This is all without even mentioning the way Ledgic is far stronger than Tamagami 3, and yet GT Goku only needs Super Saiyan to defeat the former, while DAIMA Goku requires Super Saiyan 2 to finish off the latter.
Dragon Ball DAIMA‘s Super Saiyan 4 Goku’s most impressive feat may be his blasting through the Demon Realm’s dimensional barriers, but this doesn’t at all deserve to be compared to Super Saiyan Blue Gogeta’s display of strength in Dragon Ball Super: Broly. The Demon Realm isn’t nearly as large as the main portion of Universe 7, and the divides between the three Demon Worlds are relatively insignificant. This hardly compares to GT‘s Super Saiyan 4 Goku being able to survive in battle against Omega Shenron. While Goku never has a chance of winning this encounter on his own, just being able to hold his ground against an opponent who withstood the power of Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta speaks volumes.
Goku in Dragon Ball DAIMA is stronger than every single character in Dragon Ball Z. However, this doesn’t mean much when even GT‘s Uub is also stronger than everyone in DBZ, and even GT‘s Pan is nearly as powerful as DBZ‘s Majin Buu. Dragon Ball GT‘s Goku might not be as strong as Dragon Ball Super‘s, but he’s much closer to his level than DAIMA‘s.
Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball tells the tale of a young warrior by the name of Son Goku, a young peculiar boy with a tail who embarks on a quest to become stronger and learns of the Dragon Balls, when, once all 7 are gathered, grant any wish of choice.
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Dragon Ball GT
TV-PG Adventure 24
Cast
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Masako Nozawa Oob (voice)
Yûko Minaguchi Uncredited
After Goku is made a kid again by the Black Star Dragon Balls, he goes on a journey to get back to his old self.
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Dragon Ball DAIMA
PG-13 Action Adventure Animation Fantasy Martial Arts 9 10 146
Due to a conspiracy, Goku and friends are transformed into children. They intend to travel to a mysterious new world to undo this change
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