Since Dragon Ball is primarily Goku’s story, it stands to reason that he gets most of the spotlight in the series proper. Dragon Ball quite literally begins and ends with Son Goku, following his martial arts journey from his humble origins all the way to him finally taking on a student at the end of the series. Goku has to be front and center for Dragon Ball to work, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t overstayed his welcome – especially in the movies.
The Dragon Ball Z movies have a very nasty habit of throwing Goku into fights he can’t or shouldn’t win. Most of Goku’s movie fights involve him confronting impossible odds that require nonsensical finishers to keep him alive. Goku’s movie career is defined by battles he should have lost.
Updated on April 27, 2022 by Ritwik Mitra: Dragon Ball Z is one of the most popular anime of all time and is arguably responsible for generating a wave of interest in anime on western shores. There's no better show that could introduce people to the magic of shonen anime, with Dragon Ball Z's awe-inspiring fights and amazing transformations being pretty legendary indeed.
The show was so massively popular that a string of movies was made to cash in on the series' hype. Thankfully, the vast majority of these films are pretty excellent, featuring riveting and dastardly antagonists of their own that can bring the pain indeed. Here's a list of all the movie fights in Dragon Ball Z that Goku won... Even though he shouldn't have since the odds were immensely stacked against him.
12 Vs Garlic Jr
- Movie: Dead Zone
Given that Garlic Jr. Wishes for immortality, Goku and Piccolo stood no real chance of fighting him at the end of Dead Zone.
Both martial artists do a great job at syncing up their attacks, but the best they can do is battle Garlic Jr. To a stalemate – they’ll never actually win so long as he cannot die. Goku and Piccolo would have been sucked into the Dead Zone had Gohan not knocked Garlic Jr. Into it first.
11 Vs Dr. Wheelo
- Movie: The World's Strongest
Dr. Wheelo is a pretty interesting protagonist. His identity as a mad genius who preserved his brain until he managed to take over the body of the world's strongest man is pretty engaging, although the movie itself is pretty by the numbers and does nothing to really justify this threat as being anything but pointless filler.
That being said, Dr. Wheelo does end up beating Goku around quite a bit and even prevents him from unleashing his patented Spirit Bomb attack! It takes the combined efforts of his friends to distract Dr. Wheelo until Goku manages to charge up a powerful Spirit Bomb that takes care of this threat once and for all.
10 Vs Tullece
- Movie: The Tree of Might
The first real instance of “Evil Goku” in Dragon Ball, Tullece is memorable if only for his design and cruel personality. He also stands out for being one of the earliest movie villains to put Goku in his place, more or less winning their main fight without too much effort.
It’s a battle that’s framed similarly to Goku’s fight against Vegeta in the Saiyan arc, complete with a life or death beam struggle – the key difference here being that Goku somehow manages to overwhelm Tullece whereas Vegeta realistically survives Goku’s “finishing” move.
9 Vs Lord Slug
- Movie: Lord Slug
It’s hard not to question why Pseudo Super Saiyan is even in Lord Slug to begin with. The actual Super Saiyan transformation hadn’t been introduced in the manga yet and Pseudo Super Saiyan doesn’t even do anything in Slug’s actual defeat.
Goku ultimately loses the form, can’t do much with Kaioken, and exhausts most of his energy just trying to keep up with Slug. It’s only thanks to Piccolo and Gohan that Slug’s defeated. Without them on this side, Goku would have lost.
8 Vs Cooler
- Movie: Cooler's Revenge
Goku actually has a lot of trouble during the events of Cooler’s Revenge. Not only does he spend a decent chunk of the movie waiting for Gohan to deliver him a Senzu, but he also doesn’t get a real hold of his fight with Cooler until turning Super Saiyan – which he can’t trigger manually for whatever reason.
Up until Goku picks up a dying bird and feels enough emotion to turn into a Super Saiyan, Cooler locks him into a worse beatdown than Frieza delivered. Just like on Namek, though, being a Super Saiyan is more than enough for Goku to take full control of the battle.
7 Vs Meta-Cooler
- Movie: The Return of Cooler
The Return of Cooler makes it very clear that Goku & Vegeta are out of their element on New Namek. The two Super Saiyans struggle beyond belief as they fight Meta-Cooler only to see an entire army of them on the horizon. Goku and Vegeta are immediately defeated, remaining Cooler’s prisoners for the rest of the movie.
Logically, there should be no way for Goku and Vegeta to defeat Cooler in his state, especially since the Meta-Coolers were strong enough as is. Bafflingly, there’s no real trump card to save the day. Both characters seemingly exhaust all their energy before Goku manages to land a Super Saiyan Ki attack that finishes off Cooler with little fanfare.
6 Vs Super Android 13
- Movie: Super Android 13!
The main problem with Goku winning his fight with Super Android 13 is how nonsensical the actual victory is. Super Android 13 is so powerful that Goku has no choice but to depower out of Super Saiyan, charge up one of the largest Genki Damas in the series up to that point, and then somehow absorb the energy into his Super Saiyan transformation.
There’s a difference between a character being creative with their skill set and randomly inventing new abilities in a moment of desperation. In any other fight, Goku would have lost.
5 Vs Broly
- Movie: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan
Broly’s defeat in his debut movie is often criticized and for very good reason. After building up Broly’s character for half the film and then dedicating the rest to a brutal battle where the Legendary Super Saiyan puts the strongest characters in Dragon Ball in their place, Goku saves the day by punching Broly really hard after borrowing everyone’s energy.
Ignoring the fact that Broly keeps getting stronger through battle (to the point where Goku shouldn’t have been able to beat him so worn down), this is just an unsatisfying conclusion. It makes sense to give the win to Goku, but the actual death blow is as poorly built up as it is executed – especially since the fight makes it painfully clear how hopeless Goku’s chances are against Broly.
4 Vs Broly (Second Coming)
- Movie: Broly – Second Coming
To be fair, Goku doesn’t fight Broly long enough where there’s any point he should have lost in The Second Coming – but that’s kind of the problem. Goku has no real role in this movie.
While the first half centers on Goten, Trunks, and Videl before conceding to Gohan’s point of view for the second half, Goku’s presence in the finale feels off. Beyond ripping off the Father/Son Kamehameha from the Cell Games, Goku logically shouldn’t be able to lend a hand for any Earth shenanigans.
3 Vs Janemba
- Movie: Fusion Reborn
Fusion Reborn is considered by many to be one of the greatest Dragon Ball Z films ever made, in no small part due to the much-beloved inclusion of Gogeta in an official piece of Dragon Ball media. It wasn't until Dragon Ball Super: Broly that fans would be able to witness this beloved transformation once again!
Without this fusion, both Goku and Vegeta didn't stand a chance against this powerful foe. Given the number of times they messed up while trying to fuse, it's genuinely surprising to see that they somehow managed to nail it the third time around and beat Janemba in a resounding fashion.