Could One-Punch Man Actually Beat Goku?
Because there are so many different anime titles featuring insanely powerful characters, fans often love to debate who would win if their favorite protagonists decided to duke it out. One particularly bitter debate is whether Saitama from One-Punch Man could beat Goku from Dragon Ball Z. Fortunately, we didn’t need to even take out our scouters to figure this one out: Saitama could knock the blonde out of Goku’s hair with a single punch if he had to.
Even though it’s not his usual style, couldn’t everybody’s favorite Saiyan take Saitama out with a single blast if he really wanted to?
Why are we so convinced that the protagonist of One-Punch Man could clean Goku’s clock? For one thing, Saitama’s superpower literally involves ending fights with a single swing of his fist. Compare that to an average Dragon Ball Z or Super fight that won’t end without several battles, a few transformations, and some really weird banter from the characters.
That brings us to the next important point: even though it’s not his usual style, couldn’t everybody’s favorite Saiyan take Saitama out with a single blast if he really wanted to? In our opinion, the only way that would really work is if the alien warrior snuck up on Saitama, perhaps attacking him in his sleep.
It’s the kind of sneaky move we’d expect from someone like Frieza, but we think the hero of One-Punch Man is safe because Goku is simply too honorable to fight that dirty.
[W]hile both Saitama from One-Punch Man and Goku from Dragon Ball Z aren’t the brightest warriors to ever raise their fists, Goku is a character that learns from every punch and then develops ways to counter what his enemies are bringing to the table.
Plus, if Dragon Ball fans were honest with themselves, they’d realize that it has never been Goku’s destiny to cleanly defeat really powerful foes when he first faces them. Instead, what usually happens is that Goku gets his ass kicked, trains harder, and then comes back stronger than ever before.
It’s how he went from being the guy who died fighting Raditz to someone who can keep up with a Destroyer, but we don’t think Saitama from One-Punch Man would leave Goku much room to learn from the battle and grow into a stronger warrior.
And “learn from the battle” is key here: while both Saitama from One-Punch Man and Goku from Dragon Ball Z aren’t the brightest warriors to ever raise their fists, Goku is a character that learns from every punch and then develops ways to counter what his enemies are bringing to the table. When facing a foe that could level Goku with a single punch, Goku would lose this battle in an embarrassingly short amount of time.
Goku Is Still Amazing
By the way, before you decide to hop on Flying Nimbus to track us down, you should know that our verdict on Saitama from One-Punch Man beating Goku in a head-to-head fight doesn’t mean that we have any less love or respect for this Saiyan Warrior. Goku is basically the international ambassador for anime, and more than a few people became fans of Japanese animation simply from watching Goku battle against increasingly crazy threats on Toonami after school.
Goku is one of the greatest anime warriors to ever do it, but until he makes it through a major fight (against someone of his own strength or higher) without taking a single hit, we’re confident Saitama would win the fight immediately. And that would just leave him more time to start talking shop with Krillin about haircare tips.
