“Can he beat Goku, though?”
This phrase is so popular that even non-anime fans are familiar with it.
Over the years, we have to put up with dragon ball fans raving about how strong Goku is and how he is the strongest anime character.
Which is far from the truth!
While Saitama is the go-to character fans think can take down Goku, he isn’t the only one – let’s take a look at the characters stronger than Goku.
20. Chi Chi (Dragon ball)

Even if you are the strongest person in the entire universe, when it comes to your wife, you are just a hopeless husband trying to make her happy, and Goku is no exception.
Despite having numerous Saiyan levels and being the best fighter throughout multiple universes, against his wife Chi-Chi, even his ultra-instinct can’t rescue him.
Inside a home, a tiger (husband) is really just a cat waiting to be fed by the tigress (wife).
Never underestimate the power of a housewife!
By simply yelling, she can make the strongest man cower in fear.
19. Shigeo Kageyama (Mob Psycho 100)

Do you think Goku is insanely overpowered? Then you haven’t seen Shigeo in his ???% mode.
Shigeo, often referred to as Mob in the series, is a shy kid with psychic powers.
His powers, unlike those of other espers, are based on his emotions and are measured on a scale from 0 to 100% – hence the name Mob Psycho 100.
When his emotions exceed 100%, he loses control, goes unconscious, and enters the ???% mode, where he’s basically a god.
Even the Mighty Goku doesn’t stand a chance against him in this mode!
18. Eri (My Hero Academia)

Eri might look like a cute, harmless girl; you shouldn’t underestimate her capabilities.
Even if she isn’t physically strong and can’t fully control her abilities, she can still defeat Goku using her quirk, rewind.
Rewind, just as the name implies, allows Eri to rewind the state of a living being to the point of no existence.
We witnessed her completely disintegrating her father from existence, proving there is no turning back from her powers.
Let’s just suppose that instead of wiping Goku out of existence, she rewinds him to an infant. Now, that would be cool!
17. Lelouch – Code Geass

Even while Lelouch lacks Goku’s physical strength, he possesses the power of the Geass, also known as the power of complete obedience, which is more than enough to take out Goku.
The Geass grants Lelouch control over his subject with just eye contact – sufficient to eliminate Goku.
16. Nanika (Hunter x Hunter)

Nanika is a demon spirit that inhabits the body of Killua’s younger sister, Alluka.
While its precise power and capabilities are unknown at the time, it appears to be omnipotent.
She’s like a genie that grants wishes, but unlike normal genies, you must fulfill three of her requests to get a wish.
Defeating Goku is a small feat for Nanika, even without engaging in combat!
15. Alucard (Hellsing)

Alucard is undoubtedly the strongest vampire in the entire anime verse.
He is a vampire that hunts his kind for amusement and to test his abilities.
Alucard works under Hellsing, an organization that fights against supernatural forces – He is subjected to restrictions by this organization, which prevents him from using his full strength.
While Goku might be to fight Alucard with his restriction in place, he is nowhere near him at restriction level 0!
Goku just can’t rival Alucard’s strength, immortality, and range of other abilities.
14. Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto)

All it takes for Sasuke to defeat Goku is his sharingan and rinnengan.
Goku doesn’t stand a chance against his visual prowess – the Sharingan abilities are on another level, not to mention the Rinnegan’s.
Even now that Sasuke has lost both his Rinnegan and his left arm, it’s still safe to say he will defeat Goku – I mean, he doesn’t really use the Finnegan in the first place.
Also, don’t underestimate the powers of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan!
13. Gilgamesh (Fate Series)

Gilgamesh is, without a doubt, the strongest servant in the entire fate series.
He is a demi-god, regarded as history’s first hero and the source of all later heroic narratives.
Since Gilgamesh has access to everything ever developed in human history, it would be simple for him to get some bizarre gadgets that Goku would never have encountered and wouldn’t know how to handle.
That aside, his signature sword, Ea (heaven and earth), is alone to take out Goku.
Nothing in Goku’s vast skill set can defeat this demi-god, not even close.
12. Broly (Dragon Ball)

According to Takao Koyama, there’s no Saiyan stronger than Broly, not even Goku.
Broly is a wild beast born a legend – Broly was born with a power level of 10,000, which exceeds the average power level of an elite-class warrior.
While Goku was born with power level 2, an average power level for all newborns.
In other words, Broly was born a prodigy with unique abilities who was already strong enough to destroy worlds, unlike Goku, who was born a low-class warrior with no special abilities.
Even in the most recent Dragon Ball Super film, we saw that Goku needed to merge with Vegeta to beat Broly after exhausting all of his transformations.
11. Sagittarius Seiya (Saint Seiya Omega)

Seiya is a god-tier character possessing an unlimited supply of energy and power.
He gathers and harness energy from the entire cosmos, causing his every attack to pack a tremendous level of force capable of destroying Goku in seconds.
Plus, Seiya rivals’ god’s way out of Goku’s league. That alone says a lot!

Truth goes by various names – the world, universe, god, everything, one, and YOU.
How do you defeat someone who is the existence itself?! Definitely not by a mortal being like Goku!
Even if they engaged in a face-off, none of Goku’s attacks would affect the truth since he doesn’t have a physical form.
If Goku still needs his limbs, his only option is to avoid Truth at all costs.
9. Madoka Kaname (Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica)

You don’t want to underestimate the powers of this cute magical girl.
Madoka is a goddess with various abilities in her arsenal, but she only needs one of them to take out almighty Goku – Void manipulation.
Void manipulation grants her the ability to rewrite an entire universe out of existence.
Goku’s powers won’t do much if they don’t exist. It’s as simple as that!
8. Suzumiya Haruhi (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)

It may surprise some that a high school student could defeat the formidable Saiyan warrior Goku. But it is indeed true.
Suzumiya is a high schooler with god-like powers that allow her to create, destroy, or alter the universe in any way she sees appropriate. She only needs to erase Goku from existence.
At this stage, we now have a clear pattern to defeat Goku – Don’t engage him, just simply erase him from existence.
7. Ryuk (Death Note)

“You can’t fight what you can’t see” – that’s what a battle looks like when you go against a death god like Ryuk.
At least Goku can see and observe other characters and attempt to devise a winning plan, but Ryuk eliminates all possibilities.
Ryuk is a death god who kills those whose names are entered in his book.
With just a pen, notebook, and some apples, you can kiss your favorite Saiyan warrior goodbye.
This isn’t a battle; Ryuk will erase Goku!
6. Anti-Spiral (Gurren Lagann)

The Anti-Spiral is a species of beings that exist as one collective consciousness – they are omnipresent, Omnipotent, and omniscient.
They are all-powerful, strong enough to destroy the whole multiverse with just a pinky finger.
Goku doesn’t stand a chance against this god!
5. Simon (Gurren Lagann)

The fact that Simon defeated the anti-spiral, known to be omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, is more than enough to prove his strength.
Simon is basically a god with the super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
The Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is an 11-dimensional mecha that contains an eleven-dimensional Super Spiral Space within it.
Goku can’t stand Simon for even a minute. Given the Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann’s extensive range of abilities.
4. Annos Voldegold

Anon, popularly known as the Demon King of Tyranny, is one of the overpowered characters in the anime verse that Goku can’t rival.
Despite having almost equal physical strength, Annos closes the gap with his magic skills.
As the demon king, Annos possesses tremendous magic unmatched by any other creature in the universe.
He is immortal, faster than the speed of light, has the power to manipulate and destroy the mind, and the list continues.
It’s not even debatable; Annos Voldegold is far stronger than Goku and will deal him some serious whooping!
3. Saitama (One PunchMan)

We’re sure you saw this coming!
Over the years, Saitama has been the go-to character usually used in comparing Goku, and that hasn’t changed.
Saitama is invincible because of his immense strength and would unquestionably defeat Goku if serious.
Saitama is popular for knocking opponents out with only one punch, but that doesn’t mean Goku will succumb to the same fate.
Goku is more likely to withstand a series of heavy hits from Saitama before losing the fight.
True, Goku can transform on various levels and possesses Ultra Instinct, but each form has its limitations.
Saitama, on the other hand, has no restrictions of the sort and is always free to exert all of his strength.
2. Rimuru Tempest (Last Time I Got Reincarnated as A Slime)

If you are unfamiliar with Rimuru Tempest, we can assume that you are not a great lover of the isekai genre.
Rimuru is one of the strongest characters in the isekai realm.
Initially, he was a helpless average salary man until he died and reincarnated into another world as a slime.
He was endowed with several strong abilities upon his reincarnation, making him the powerful being he is today.
These abilities include great sage, predator, and gluttony, to name a few.
Goku’s combined powers are no match for the almighty Rimuru Tempest.
1. Zeno (DragonBall)

Zeno is the perfect illustration of the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” – Despite looking funny and weak, he is a dangerous adversary.
He is the strongest being in the Dragon Ball universe even stronger than the Angels and the Grand Priest.
As the god of all, He possesses the power to destroy everything in the universe in a matter of seconds.
Despite his might, Goku knows better than to challenge a foe he will never be able to defeat.