What is Goku's God Bind technique in the Dragon Ball franchise, and how does it work? Despite garnering numerous hair-changing transformations over the decades-old Dragon Ball story, Goku has mostly stuck to old favorites when it comes to fighting moves. Possessing an aptitude for instantaneously replicating techniques, Goku learned the Kamehameha and Afterimage from Master Roshi. Goku later trained under King Kai, who taught him the Kaio Ken and Spirit Bomb, and learned Instant Transmission from the people of Yardrat. Since then, Goku's move set has remained relatively unchanged.
Recently in Dragon Ball Super, Goku and his friends fought a losing battle against the evil wizard Moro. Following this crushing defeat, Vegeta left to train on Yardrat, while Merus agreed to help Goku master Ultra Instinct, but when the second round against Moro began, Goku was only able to access an incomplete version of Ultra Instinct, which proved insufficient in taking the villain down. Vegeta didn't fare much better, even with a new move under his belt, and he mistakenly allowed Moro time to power-up. Only when Merus intervened, breaking the divine prohibition of angelic involvement in mortal affairs, did the tables turn. Merus claimed that Goku needed an extra push to master Ultra Instinct, and sacrificed himself to provide that catalyst.
Thanks to Merus, Goku attained true Ultra Instinct and faced his goat-like opponent with a calm vengeance. But the Saiyan exhibited another new technique in the process - God Bind. Similarly to the Kamehameha, the God Bind begins with palms outstretched, facing the opponent. Goku then channels his inner God ki to restrain the target in mid-air. Employing the God Bind against Moro, Goku skillfully rendered the wizard helpless and delivered a brutal, gut-wrenching uppercut to his prone opponent. This is the second time Goku has demonstrated the divine God Bind technique, having previously used it against Dragon Ball Super: Broly's title character, though Broly managed to reverse the move's paralyzing effects onto Goku.
Goku may not be the first person to use God Bind in Dragon Ball. During the Majin Buu saga, Supreme Kai restrained Gohan in very similar fashion at the World Martial Arts Tournament, allowing Babidi’s henchmen to steal the half-Saiyan’s energy. At this time, Shin adopted the same stance as Goku, with extended hands aimed at his target. Unlike Moro and Broly, however, Gohan seized up completely, arms bound to his sides by an invisible force. Although this scene played out decades ago and hasn't been directly acknowledged as God Bind, it was used by a divine being and bears an undeniable resemblance to Goku's new technique.
Since Goku is proficient at mimicking abilities in Dragon Ball, why didn't he attempt recreating the God Bind after witnessing Shin use it on his own son? The name suggests that only Gods can utilize the move, indicating that Goku couldn't use God Bind before achieving his red-haired Super Saiyan God transformation. After Goku broke through the God barrier in 2013's Battle of Gods, strange, divine techniques such as this became available. From there, it's unclear whether God Bind shows the fruits of Goku's training with Whis, or whether he recalled the Supreme Kai incident and was able to reproduce the technique from memory.