Goku is the shining example of a hero. He always puts the safety of the innocent above his own personal well-being, going so far as to sacrifice his own life on numerous occasions in order to protect those around him. He has saved the Earth, and indeed the universe, on countless occasions, and his strength, perseverance and kindness will be remembered for generations.
Except they that he's not and they shouldn't, because Goku is actually a terrible, terrible person. Time and time again throughout the Dragon Ball franchise's impressive run, his negligence and downright idiocy have put the lives of his friends and indeed the very fabric of existence in jeopardy.
Though his decisions do often end up saving the day, many of them are so heinous that sometimes it's hard to argue that the ends justified the means.
Here are the 15 Worst Things Goku That Has Ever Done.
Offered Up his Rival's Wife in Exchange for a Favor
Buu had blown up the planet after killing all of its inhabitants. In the Kaio Shin Sanctuary, the situation looked as dire as it ever had for our heroes as Buu set his sights on them. They needed the Dragon Balls, and fast. The problem was that the Grand Kaio Shin believed the Dragon Balls to be an affront to nature and therefore would not help them locate the original set on the Planet Namek.
So, what did Goku do? He offered a kiss from Bulma as compensation. That's not even the worst part of it. When Vegeta (Bulma's husband) became angry and confronted him about it, he said it was because Chi-Chi, his own wife, was not attractive enough to offer. He even had the gall to try to spin the whole thing as a compliment towards Bulma and Vegeta. The nerve of this guy!
Sent his own son to fight Cell
Two things are true about Goku: he's as stubborn as they come and he always sees the best in people, even when no one else does. So when even he, the strongest member of the Z fighters, found himself incapable of matching Perfect Cell's awesome power, he made a move that surprised and angered not only Cell, but all of his friends and allies: he tapped out and called in his son Gohan, who was barely a tween at the time, to replace him.
Now, granted, Gohan had years of exponentially more intense training than Goku had ever had at his age, and he had shown potential before, but the worst part of all of this is that the potential he had shown had always come from a place of intense anger and pain. In Laymen's terms, Gohan, a child, had to go through intense emotional trauma in order to unleash the power that would eventually defeat Cell.
Sure, the world was saved, but at what cost?
Gave Cell a senzu bean so that the fight was "fair"
This moment comes part and parcel with the previous moment on the list, but it adds so much insult to injury that it deserves its own entry. If you're unfamiliar with the Dragon Ball world, let us explain to you what a Senzu bean is: it's a bean that heals not only any and all wounds that might exist on your physical body, but also returns your spirit and energy level to prime condition.
Ever since they discovered it, the Z fighters have used these magical beans to avoid death on numerous occasions, and they never enter a fate-deciding fight without a bag of them. When Goku, drained from his battle with Cell, asked for Krillin to throw him a senzu bean, nobody batted an eyelash.
But Goku's obsession with honor led him to not eat the bean himself, but instead throw it to Cell. You remember Cell, right? The evil Android bent on destroying literally everything...
Didn't kill Frieza before he blew up Planet Namek
Frieza is, without a doubt, the worst person in the entire Dragon Ball canon. That's why it's so mind-boggling that Goku has spared his life not once, but several times. The first of which came when, after being faced with a real life Super Saiyan, Frieza found himself in a real panic for the first time in his life.
Goku should have taken his chance then. "Kill him now!" King Kai screamed in Goku's ear. But no, Goku had to play around with Frieza because even though this tyrant had killed his friends, committed genocide and destroyed his home planet, the newly minted Super Saiyan was having Fun.
Frieza, not being a complete idiot, seized the opportunity and blew a hole into the planet's core. Once the Nameks were wished back to life with the Dragon Balls, they were forced to find a new world to make their home. That one's also on you, Goku.
Didn't kill Frieza before he blew up Planet Earth
Goku and Vegeta have rarely been able to work as a team. They started out as bitter rivals and, though Vegeta has always shown grudging respect for Goku, he's never quite been able to get past the fact that a common Saiyan could be stronger than one from the royal bloodline.
During Frieza's third attempt on the heroes, the pair decided to take turns fighting the villain in his new golden form. Frieza cheats, of course, and upon being beaten down by Goku, orders his minion to shoot him.
One senzu bean later, it was Vegeta's turn. Whis and Beerus, who had been watching from the sidelines, told Goku that he should probably step in. Goku, having learned absolutely nothing from the last time he let Frieza live during a fight, rejected their advice allowed and Vegeta his turn.
Frieza blew up the Earth, and it took Whis turning back time for Goku to finally jump in and kill Frieza. Had Whis not been there, this would have been Goku's most fatal mistake yet.
Didn't teleport back to earth to kill Freeza when he came back as a cyborg
If it is not abundantly clear at this point, Goku's judgement when it comes to Frieza, if ever, is never the most sound. When Goku was on his way back from an intergalactic training session, his friends couldn't have been happier. There was another group that was also happy to see the Saiyan on his trajectory to Earth though: King Cold and his son Frieza.
Frieza, having lost most of his limbs in his last fight with the Super Saiyan, had barely made it back to his daddy alive, but was now rebuilt and ready for a second shot. His plan was to arrive on Earth, kill everyone, and then wait for Goku to show up to a land full of dead friends.
Had it not been for the intervention of and adult Future Trunks and his own Super Saiyan power, Frieza might have succeeded. True, Goku had mastered the art of instant transmission, but he was still a solid four hours away from work otherwise, and any number of things could have gone wrong.
Didn't tell his friends and family that he was alive
Usually, friends and family like to know when their loved ones make it off a planet after a fight with the most powerful being in the universe ended in its destruction. Goku doesn't take these things into consideration though, and instead opts to let his entourage live under the assumption that he died for months.
They find the Dragon Balls and ask the eternal dragon Shenron to wish him back to life, only to be informed that not only has he been alive the whole time, but he doesn't want to come home because he's off learning new things about the galaxy.
We're talking about a guy with a wife and a kid at home, not to mention scores of others who had been needlessly mourning him.
Saved characters he barely knew instead of his friends
You can maybe chalk this one up to a quick decision and poor timing, but it was still a pretty weak move on Goku's part. After Goku and Vegeta had made their way in and out of Super Buu and successfully rescued their friends as well removed the gentler fat Buu portion from the evil blob's clutches, Buu reverted to his original, more childlike form.
This form was also pure anger, hatred, and unadulterated power. Like so many villains before and after him, he decided that he preferred the Earth in pieces. He powered up a huge ball of energy and launched it at the third planet.
With only seconds to make their escape, Goku grabbed Vegeta, Mr. Satan, and his dog, Bee, before performing his instant transmission. The problem was, all of their other unconscious friends were still lying helpless on the doomed planet's surface, just feet away. Yes, they were eventually wished back to life with the Dragon Balls, but it still doesn't excuse the obvious neglect.
Blew up King Kai, his home planet, and his pet monkey
In yet another spectacularly selfish bid to play the hero, Goku teleported a Cell who had transformed himself into a nuclear bomb to King Kai's planet in order to save the Earth. In a very like-father, like-son moment, a super-powered SSJ2 Gohan found himself massively over-powering the evil clone's perfect form. Instead of finishing him off, Gohan decided he was going to toy with him and strip him of his pride.
Cell's final bid for victory involved activating a bomb function which his created, Dr. Gero, had planted inside him from birth. He then began to swell up like a giant weather balloon, announcing that though yes, he would die, so would all of the Z fighters along with the rest of the planet, and this would give him the satisfaction he so desperately craved.
So Goku decided that his own life, along with King Kai's, and his monkey Bubbles, were not worth as much as much as the citizens of Earths', and that's where he took Bomb Cell to explode.
Chose to fight Majin vegeta and wake up Buu
If the point hasn't been driven home yet that Goku generally prefers the violent route to the sensible one, here's the final nail for that coffin.
Goku, Vegeta, and the others had been informed of the evil wizard Babidi's plans to resurrect the ancient evil monster Majin Buu by gathering energy to feed his cocoon from the Earth's strongest warriors. Goku was further aware that Vegeta had allowed himself to succumb to Babidi's form of evil mind control so that he could return himself to his former Saiyan pride and murderous glory.
He was equally aware that the energy expelled by the two of them in their SSJ2 forms would be more than powerful enough to wake up probably the most evil and most powerful thing any of them had ever faced. He just didn't care. The opportunity to fight his rival at his strongest and most unhinged was too enticing for Goku to pass up.
Convinced the omni king to throw an inter-universe tournament
In the most recent example of Goku only caring about curing his boredom and not thinking about the consequences his actions might have on other life forms, Goku decided it was a good idea to greet the Omni King in the most informal manner possible. As Goku is generally a likable guy, the king took an immediate shine to him, much to the surprise of others.
Having recently learned of the existence of other universes and the possibility of stronger versions of himself and his friends, as well as new and exciting warriors and techniques he may well have never encountered, Goku asked if the Omni King would throw a tournament between all the universes to see which one housed the strongest fighters.
The Omni King agreed, but with a catch: he would throw the tournament, but all losing universes would be annihilated. Needless to say, upon meeting Goku, the denizens of the other universes were none too happy with the saiyan, and he and his universe became the prime target once the tournament commenced.
Inappropriate with Bulma
When our story began, Goku was merely a child. He had lived a secluded life with his martial artist grandfather Gohan (after whom he named his son) until the old man's death and now lived a simple, solitary, hunter gatherer life.
Except that Goku wasn't really a child at all. At 15 years old, he was halfway through his teens and old enough to experience sexual feelings and curiosity, whether he understood them or not. At one point, he decided that Bulma's private area would serve as a nice pillow to lay his head. Upon doing so, he noticed the distinct lack of...well, lack of balls, and became so panicked that he woke her, screaming that the balls had disappeared.
Sadly, this was only the first moment in a saga which, had it not been named Dragon Ball, could have easily gone under the moniker of "People Who Have Spied on or Touched Poor Bulma Without her Consent."
Inappropriate with Chi-Chi
Chi-Chi was the second woman Goku ever met, and having just learned about them, Goku was still fascinated by their lack of male genitalia, so he decided to use his hands on inspection of hers as well. Initially, her reaction was much the same as what Bulma's was and what any other young woman's should always be to such an affront.
However, in a somewhat hilarious backfire, Chi-Chi decides that this is the man she wants to marry, and asks him right there if he would one day take her as his wife. Goku, having no idea what any of this means, replies with a big smiling yes.
Years and lots of experience later, the two meet for the second time in a world championship martial arts tournament, where Chi-Chi reminds Goku of his promise. Always true to his word, Goku marries Chi-Chi and the pair went on to raise two relatively happy if not constantly emotionally-scarred children.
He cried, creating the most powerful evil force of all time
Even baby Goku isn't innocent of being so selfish that he puts countless lives in danger. In the film Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan, we meet the eponymous villain who would go on to become a fan-favorite behemoth.
Broly's story is a very sad one. As a baby, displayed a power level higher than anything the race had ever encountered. In fear, Vegeta's father King Vegeta ordered him to be executed. The attempt failed, but the boy was forever scarred and never truly learned to control his unfathomable power.
The real tragedy, though, comes from the fact that he was forced to sleep in a crib next to baby Goku, who apparently never stopped crying. This scarred Broly so much that even decades later, faced with a grown Goku, he was unable to contain himself and released the Legendary Super Saiyan form in order to wipe this inconsiderate stain off the map for good.
It didn't work.
His mission was literally to kill all humans, but then he hit his head
Everybody seems to forget that when Goku initially came to Earth, his mission was actually to kill everybody else on it. The Saiyans were an evil warrior race whose universal function was essentially to find nice planets, wipe out their populations and then sell them to the highest bidder. An argument could be made that they were only doing it to appease the evil tyrant Frieza, but most of them seemed to enjoy their work.
We learn at the very beginning of Dragon Ball Z from Goku's lost older brother Raditz that Goku had been sent as a baby to Earth for such a mission. Because even baby Saiyans vastly overpower the average human, the Saiyans didn't think it was necessary to send an adult. However, we learn from Master Roshi that Grandpa Gohan had once recounted to him the story of finding Goku and then having difficulty rearing the little tyke until he fell and hit his head.
From that point on he was the Goku we all know and... tolerate.
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Dragon Ball Super is part of the recent simulcast agreement that sites like Crunchyroll and Funimation have scored. Dragon Ball Super airs on Crunchyroll Saturdays at 7:15 p.m. CST. Toonami airs the English dub on Adult Swim Saturdays at 11:30 p.m.
Are they any awful things that you can think of that Goku has done that we might have missed? Let us know in the comments!