Since his introduction within the pages of Dragon Ball, Goku has been compared to DC’s Superman for more reasons than one, however, it’s clear that Goku is a better hero than the DCEU’s version of the Man of Steel.
Superman and Goku became two comparable heroes due to the similarities in their origin stories as well as their shared purpose on Earth. Goku is a Saiyan from Planet Vegeta who was sent to Earth as an infant to avoid dying along with the rest of his species as his world was on the verge of total annihilation. Superman is a Kryptonian from Planet Krypton who was sent to Earth as an infant to avoid dying along with the rest of his species as his world was on the verge of total annihilation. Then, when they landed on their respective Earths, both Goku and Superman were taken in by kind-hearted people who taught them what it meant to be a hero. As they got older, Goku and Superman decided to commit themselves to the protection of Earth and even formed their own teams made up of super powered people to fight in that effort. Obviously, there are a lot of broad-stroke similarities between Goku and Superman that don’t involve their respective power sets, motivations, intelligence levels, and personalities. However, Goku and Superman do have one more thing in common aside from the previously stated similarities–and Superman’s side of this particular parallel played out in live action during the DCEU film Man of Steel.
In Dragon Ball chapter 227 by Akira Toriyama, Goku is gearing up for his fight against Vegeta as the Saiyan villain came down to Earth for no reason that is beneficial for humanity. Before facing off against this otherworldly threat, Goku quickly and efficiently took care of the other Saiyan who came with Vegeta on his world-ending conquest, Nappa, which definitely took Vegeta by surprise as none of the other Z Fighters came close to wielding Goku’s level of power. At this point, both Goku and Vegeta were excited to see what the other could do, though they didn’t jump into battle right away. Their location at the beginning of this chapter was on the outskirts of a city, which was too close to civilization for Goku’s liking. So, Goku tells Vegeta to follow him, at which point Goku leads them to the desert, far away from the rest of humanity.
Goku Avoids the City-Wide Destruction Superman Causes
Goku had the foresight to not have an all-out battle against someone as powerful as Vegeta even within eyesight of a city, let alone right in the middle of one, which is more than can be said for DCEU’s Superman. Just as a member of Goku’s alien race arrived at Earth looking for trouble, Superman was met by the evil presence of Zod, which was depicted in live action during Superman’s most recent solo film. In Man of Steel, Zod and his troop of villainous Kryptonians have come to Earth to colonize the planet, and they want Superman to join them on their mission. Superman refuses and he and Zod have a huge god-like battle right in the middle of Metropolis, resulting in massive damage and loss of life.
Goku took the proper precautions before fighting Vegeta because he knew what kind of power he and his opponent were about to unleash and didn’t want to see anyone get hurt or killed. When a villainous member of Superman’s original species shows up on DCEU’s Earth and wants to fight, however, he had no problem doing so in a heavily populated area–proving that, even with all of their similarities, Dragon Ball‘s Goku is a much better hero than DC’s Superman.
