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Superman vs. Goku: In Goku’s defense

Shane Foley

Connector Editor

Death Battle, the popular online series from Screw Attack, recently posted two episodes that baffled many fans. The goal of these episodes was to settle a long standing debate that has occupied the Internet for yeas: who would win in a fight, Superman of the DC comic universe, or Goku from Dragonball Z? Screw Attack did extensive research into the lores of each respective superhero. At the end of episode one, Screw Attack had crowned Superman victorious. They did a second episode because both characters got buffs (Superman’s Infinity Punch and Goku’s Super Sayian God form). Despite these additions, however, Superman still won in Screw Attack’s eyes.

After the second video, the Internet gathered up their pitchforks and openly ridiculed this episode. Screw Attack responed in the second video as to why they felt Superman was too overpowered for anybody, save Goku. They used very sound logic as well, but in this instance, we all know Goku should have won that.

This is not to say that Screw Attack isn’t great. Most of their videos make lots of sense, save a couple other controversial ones, like when Raiden from Metal Gear beat Wolverine (let’s not talk about that). In this match up though, they make two very big distinctions that I think gave Superman a humongousely unfair advantage.

The first is their discussion of magic. In the video, when discussing Superman’s weaknesses (it was a short segment), they noted that Superman can be worn down by magic after a time. Whereas Superman can take a punch from almost any being in the universe, being that use weapons of a magical nature can penetrate Superman’s defenses. Screw Attack did not give this advantage to Goku, however. According to them, the chi that Goku masters to power his moves like the Spirit Bomb and his Super Sayian forms are considered a natural source of energy. Every human being possess chi, others just can harness its power more efficiantely.

So, by that logic, I can totally turn Super Sayian, right?

Wrong. I can’t turn Super Sayian. Trust me, I’ve tried (I was young once). Here is where I think Screw Attack gives Superman an unfair advantage. They just said that any attack Goku could throw at Superman would be like a natural force at the DC character, who would shrug it of easily. It’s almost as saying that Goku is just a very skilled man, but a man nonetheless. He is not human, though; he is a Sayian, with very  unique abilities that are found nowhere else. I think a Kamehameha wave that can blow up a planet is a little magical. Maybe it’s just me.

This leads to my second point of contention. Screw Attack says that power levels don’t matter. So when Vegeta says Goku’s power level is “over 9,000!” it doesn’t really matter because the point of Dragonball Z is that the numbers are pointless. Goku’s power is always growing, while Superman’s is already at peak form.

In a sense, this is very true, and if they made the power levels means something, it would have been an unfair advantage towards Goku. That being said, it is also true that Superman’s powers have some limits. It’s not like a fight with Doomsday (another alien) would end quickly because Superman wouldn’t be injured. He does weaken after time. The only matchups where Superman is overpowered are against humans, like Lex Luthor (without kryptonite). There are plently of instances where less powerful beings have stood their ground with Superman (Batman did in a mechanical suit). This is much different to Goku, who fights incredibly powered beings on a regular basis. The number of their power levels may be irrelevant, but you can’t say they aren’t powerfull. Frieza could blow up a planet with one of his moves, and Goku beat Frieza with Super Sayian one. That has to be taken into account.

In general, while Superman is extremely strong, I just feel like they gave him a lot of advantages because he is so overpowered. Even in the fight, specifically the first episode, Superman benefited from certain things. For instance, Goku blew up a piece of kryptonite because that would be an unfair fight. They also said that when Goku turns Super Sayian four though, he forgets about fairness and becames consumed with winning at all costs. So tell me how he couldn’t grab Superman and teleport him to the biggest storage of kryptonite on Earth? Superman also gets the benefit of charging up the Sun, which is nice for him.

There is a billion ways this fight could go, and nobody is every going to be “right” in this debate. I just wanted to point out that Goku Is pretty flipping awesome.

If you haven’t seen the episodes, watch them with a box of tissues.

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