With the power of being the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball franchise, Goku has gained the power of plot convenience armor. No matter how bad things get and the amount of punishment he endures, Goku will be able to get back up and fight against the big bad of the week and take him down.
Sure, he hasn't been able to take down every major villain, but he's been able to get away from his greatest foes with only a few bruises. So, we decided to take away that plot armor and take a look at ten beatdowns Goku should have never survived.
10 Crushed by Great Ape Vegeta
Goku and the gang have fought'en plenty of weird monsters in their day, but nothing could have prepared him for Great Ape Vegeta. Not only was the giant form of Vegeta able to break Goku's legs, but the giant monkey also followed it up by squeezing the life out of Goku.
Not only is Goku all out of energy, but he's taken a lot of damage from using the Kaioken technique. Yet, despite this disadvantage, Goku is still able to survive this ordeal. The guy was killed only 20 something episodes ago by Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon, but survives an alien King Kong Crushing every bone in his body? That's just wrong
9 Blasted by Piccolo
When Goku and his friends believe that Earth's Savior has defeated the Evil Piccolo, the reincarnation of King Piccolo comes back up and shoots Goku in the Right Peck and leaves our hero screaming in Pain. A blast that went straight through may have killed him in his fight with Raditz five years later, but yet this blast he endured from Jr still let him get back up?
No, he should have been dead. But, to make matters even dumber, Piccolo lays an even bigger blast on Goku only for our hero to come out of the sky and ram Piccolo out of the ring(or what's left of it).
8 Shot through the heart by Sorbet
Apparently, Goku can only be killed if shot through the gut or hit with a self-destruct explosion right in front of him, cause this "fatal" blast didn't kill him either. After Goku has defeated Frieza for the umpteenth time, Frieza's newest right-hand man, Sorbet, uses a laser to blast Goku in the heart.
Keep in mind; this isn't just a blast that hits his left peck. It goes straight through where the heart is located. We even see Goku's damaged backside, which indicates where he was shot through.
7 Beaten up by Syn Shenron
After Goku kills Eis Shenron, he and Nova Shenron are assaulted by the last Shadow Dragon, Syn. This mighty Shadow Dragon kills Nova in two-hits, leaving the blinded Super Saiyan all on his own. Remember that we said blinded, as Goku is still able to lay a few blows on Syn, while also being able to hide from the powerful Shadow Dragon.
Not only that, but Syn then let's loose a powerful homing blast that merely knocks Goku out and has him powering down. Not only should Goku be dead, but he should not have been able to hit Syn at all. He may be blind and have his other senses, but the guy ain't Daredevil
6 His fight with Jiren as a Super Saiyan Blue
While the Tournament of Power prevents its contestants from killing one another, there are still a few fights where you have to ask, "how did X survive that fight with Jiren." Be it Hit, Vegeta, or whoever else, anyone who went up against Jiren should be dead. During Goku's first fight with Jiren, the Super Saiyan throws everything at Jiren and isn't able to land a single blow.
Goku even launches a Spirit Bomb at him, which Jiren throws right back at him. Either Universe 7 didn't give Goku that much energy or King Kai taught Goku a useless attack, cause the giant explosion it produces doesn't end up killing Goku, but it lets him unlock Ultra Instinct.
5 Stabbed by Goku Black
Just like his pal, Vegeta, Goku somehow can survive getting stabbed by an energy sword from his evil doppelganger, Goku Black. We're not saying that people aren't able to survive stab wounds but look at that blade.
It's as big as Trunks's, and that thing was able to slice Frieza into pieces. Something like that should've killed Goku and Vegeta within seconds.
4 Drowned by Frieza
After Frieza decides to show Goku a bit of his real power, the galactic tyrant lays the smackdown to our hero. It then leads to Frieza tossing Goku into the lake, only for him to drown Goku, knocking him out in the water.
However, our hero wakes up and uses his Kaioken attack to lay some damage on Frieza. No. That shouldn't have happened. Goku was out cold and underwater. He should be back in Other World, cursing himself for dying at Frieza's hands.
3 Blasted point-blank by Turtles
In this movie-only fight, Goku takes on the mighty Turtles. While Goku seems to have the advantage, He gets overpowered by Turtles when the Saiyan Look-a-Like eats a piece of fruit from the Tree of Might. Turtles does short work of Goku; he even pulls a Frieza and beat's Goku's Kaioken x20.
Turtles then steps on our hero before blasting him with a barrage of energy balls right in the back, at point-blank range. Later on, we see Goku able to get back up and use his Spirit Bomb... Which is blasted away by Turtles. If that Point-Blank barrage didn't kill him, that second energy attack should have kept him down.
2 Getting Loki-ed by Broly
Remember that scene in Avengers, where the Hulk grabs and smashes Loki around like a ragdoll before walking away?
Yeah, Broly does the same thing to Goku, and he manages to get back up, unlike the God of Mischief... Puny Super Saiyan God.
1 Hit in the heart by Hit
Goku wanted to have a rematch against Hit after the two fought in the Tournament of Destroyers. Well, Goku got his wish as he paid Hit to come and try to kill him. Goku tries to launch an energy attack, but Hit seemingly fulfills his contract after he launches a new attack on Goku that hits him right in the heart.
Just like that, Goku launches his energy attack in the air and dies... Only for this attack to come back at him and revive him. Saiyan Heart's must be made of something like Vibranium or Adamantium, cause they keep getting hit in the heart and survive.