Can Saitama Beat Goku?

This is the most important question of our age.

After Neil deGrasse Tyson was able to use astronomy to chart the location of Barbieland, I realized something: humanity is doing it all wrong. We shouldn’t be using science to do harmful things like make bombs, nor should be we doing useless things like sending billionaires to space in dick-shaped rockets. We should be using our collective intellectual might to BETTER humanity. But not in trivial ways like “curing diseases” or “ending world hunger.” We need to focus our resources on what ACTUALLY MATTERS.

We need to use science to determine who would win in a fight: Goku or Saitama.

Saitama vs. Goku

This Dragon Ball Z vs. One-Punch Man matchup has been a long time in the making. After all, these two men are arguably the strongest people in all of anime. Armchair scientists and anime nerds alike have been plagued by the question of who would win in a fight between these two titans. So how do we solve this conundrum? Let’s break down the power levels of each individual … starting with Goku.

To find the strongest iteration of Goku, we must look no further than Dragon Ball Super. After having unlocked Ultra Instinct and Super Saiyan God, Goku is on par with other cosmic powerhouses such as Lord Beerus, a literal god of destruction. In Goku’s battle with Beerus, the narrator claims that the pair’s blows are so powerful that they have the potential to shatter the universe itself. Meanwhile, the most powerful punch that we’ve ever seen Saitama use was the Serious Punch, which was able to destroy Lord Boros. This punch was so strong that it was able to part the clouds of Earth’s atmosphere and split the oceans. Universe destroying, however? I think not.

So Goku has this in the bag, right?

An armchair scientist would say yes. A meteor strike could part the clouds and split the oceans of our planet (and has before) but the universe just kept chugging right along. Hell, there are other natural phenomena that are ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE more powerful than planet-cracking meteors, but the universe is just fine! A wayward gamma-ray burst from a star collapsing into a black hole could vaporize the Earth in an instant, but would the universe be okay? Yes, it would. Hell, even SUPERMASSIVE black holes themselves don’t break the entire universe, even if they do rip apart space-time at a more local level. Saitama’s punch seems like a widdle baby hit in comparison to these titanic cosmic forces. And Goku is able to marshal more force than the most powerful naturally occurring things in the universe. Surely Goku wins this round!

Or does he …?

Here’s the thing about Saitama … he’s a slacker. He doesn’t put effort into any battle because he knows that the battle is over before it begins. During his battle with Boros, he wasn’t able to beat the regenerating alien with half-assed punches. Once he gave a “serious punch” to the leader of the Dark Matter Thieves, Boros was obliterated. Goku throws a “serious punch” EVERY SINGLE TIME HE SWINGS HIS FIST. In fact, the only reason why Goku is so powerful is that he follows the Shonen Golden Rule: Give it all you’ve got 100% of the time and you will prevail.

But Saitama isn’t even PLAYING by Shonen rules. Saitama’s universe is governed by separate laws entirely. Whereas Goku has to spend most of his time training against universe-killing foes in order to power up, all Saitama had to do was 100 pushups, 100 situps, 100 squats, run 10km, and eat three meals a day every day for three years. That’s an intense workout schedule, but it’s NOWHERE CLOSE to what Goku had to put himself through. Yet by the laws of his universe, Saitama was granted Godlike power regardless.

My friends … while it is tempting to believe that this question can be answered using cold, hard scientific principles, we must come to understand that the outcome of Saitama vs. Goku is not a question of science whatsoever. It is a question of philosophy.

Put simply: the philosophy of Goku’s universe states that one must push oneself to the absolute limit in order to gain power. The philosophy of Saitama’s Universe is that—through a combination of training and a cosmic fluke—one man was given the ability to defeat any foe with ONE PUNCH. While we have witnessed the peak of Goku’s power time and time again, and seen him increase his power levels over time, we have NEVER seen Saitama actually PUSH himself. Saitama used LESS force to defeat Boros than Goku had to muster in his fight against Beerus, but that doesn’t mean that Saitama is only CAPABLE of planet-cracking punches alone. Saitama, the eternal slacker he is, only uses the amount of force NECESSARY to defeat a particular foe and no more. If Saitama is able to squish most of his foes like ants, then a being like Boros may have been no more powerful the a cockroach. More powerful than an ant, surely, but not at all an actual threat.

What I mean to say is that the rules of Saitama’s universe dictate that he can defeat ANYTHING in one punch. That is the CONCEIT of his character. It’s a fundamental LAW of his nature. While Goku may be a powerful, potentially universe-destroying foe, the laws that govern Saitama effectively make the power of the One-Punch Man INFINITE. He has never NEEDED to throw a universe-destroying punch, but that doesn’t mean that he is not ABLE to do so. If Saitama found himself in a battle where, like Goku, he needed to give 110% of his might, then he may be able to punch through the universe—or even the multiverse—after all.

In fact, if the laws of Goku’s universe apply to Saitama as well, then, like Goku, Saitama could reach NEW LEVELS OF STRENGTH if he actually TRAINED FOR THEM. If Saitama doubled his daily workout regimen, it’s theoretically possible that he could become the One-Look Man, able to destroy any enemy with a SINGLE GLANCE. Goku may be able to break the universe at the height of his power, but Saitama may be able to do that on a regular Tuesday night if he actually cared enough to try. Therefore, bearing powers with no theoretical limit, we must preemptively name Saitama the victor. We must also pray that these two never come to blows, for the sake of reality itself.

(featured image: Madhouse Animation/Crunchyroll)