Goku has been able to achieve great feats that we mortals can only dream of. He's fought against Gods, can preform energy attacks that can cut through planets like they were butter, and has unlocked powers that we can only imagine. In many ways, he's a god amongst us. Goku has proven time after time he's one of the most powerful beings across all of space and time... but he's also proven to be no different from the rest of us.
So, we'll be looking at five times Goku was Godly across the Dragon Ball franchise, as well as five times he wasn't.
10 Godly: Super Saiyan Transformation
While Goku is an alien, he hasn't been able to do anything that other fighters on earth could do with years of training. However, that all changed when he went up against Frieza. After seeing his best friend in the whole universe, Krillin, die at the hands of the evil Frieza, Goku had finally had enough of the evil tyrant and was ready to kill him.
In a burst of rage, Goku transformed into the legendary Super Saiyan, a feat that only occurs every thousand years. With the new power he's gained, Goku becomes the very thing that Frieza fears and defeats the cold-hearted villain.
9 Not So Godly: Learning To Drive A Car
Goku is a godly fighter, but that doesn't mean he can overcome any challenge that comes his way. Take that time when he and Piccolo had to overcome a problem that makes every mortal shiver in fear: get their drives licenses. To be fair, the two warriors don't have to sit in the waiting room for hours and take a written test, but they do have to impress their driving instructors enough so they can get drivers licenses. Let's just say this was one challenge Goku and Piccolo couldn't overcome.
8 Godly: Turning Super Saiyan 3
It's been seven years after Goku sacrificed himself to save the earth from Cell self-destructing himself. While Gohan has given up fighting, Goku has been keeping up his training in Other World so well that he's able to surpass his son's strength when the boy defeated Cell.
Not only has Goku learned to transform into a Super Saiyan 2, but he's also able to ascend to Super Saiyan 3. When he first achieved this transformation, the planet itself began to shake. Buildings crumbled, and people were in terror of the immense power Goku let out to transform.
7 Not So Godly: Suffering From A Heart Virus
After becoming a Super Saiyan, there's nothing that can stop Goku, right? Alas, after obtaining this Godly transformation and training for three years, Goku succumbs to a heart virus. In Future Trunks' timeline, Goku dies and leaves the world helpless against the android menaces. Meanwhile, in the main timeline, Goku suffers the heart virus during his fight against Android 19. It might not have killed him this time, thanks to the antidote Future Trunks gave him, but it does leave Goku out-of-commission, and his Super Saiyan transformation made the illness even worse.
6 Godly: Obtaining Super Saiyan God
With Beerus about to destroy the earth and kill Vegeta, our hero appears just in time and uses the dragon balls to learn how to summon a Super Saiyan God. With the help of Vegeta, Goten, Trunks, Gohan, and Videl, the defender of the earth transforms into the legendary Super Saiyan God. While Goku loves the power that has been bestowed onto him, he's angry that he was able to obtain it through the help of others, rather than push himself to go beyond his limits. At least he was able to turn Super Saiyan Blue on his own terms.
5 Not So Godly: Getting A Farming Job
Goku may be the strongest warrior in the cosmos, but that doesn't stop him from getting a job like every one of us. Throughout Super, we see our favorite hero having to provide for his family by taking up a career as a farmer. He has to grow his food and pull it from the ground so he can sell to make some money so he can make sure his wife is happy.
It's pretty standard stuff, but the real kicker is that he can't do any training to get stronger. Meanwhile, Vegeta can do whatever he wants cause he married the female version of Steve Jobs.
4 Godly: Taking On Beerus As A Super Saiyan God
After getting defeated by Beerus with ease, Goku goes into battle with his new Super Saiyan God abilities. Now, he's able to match Beerus blow for blow. We've seen Goku go up against aliens, androids, and demonic beings, but never had he gone up against a God before. Though Goku is unable to keep his transformation up for long, he's still able to go Super Saiyan and keep up with Beerus. He even shortly becomes a Super Saiyan God again on his own. He may not have defeated Beerus, but he put up one hell of a fight. So much so that Beerus decided to spare earth.
3 Not So Godly: Losing To Beerus As A Super Saiyan 3
Before Goku became a Super Saiyan God, he decided to ignore the warnings of the Kai's and take on Beerus the Destroyer. The battle doesn't go Goku's way, and Beerus quickly overpower him. Even when he transforms into Super Saiyan 3, Beerus simply gives Goku the Vulcan Nerve Pinch, and it knocks him out in seconds. Beerus is a god, sure, but he didn't have to humiliate Goku so severely in front of King Kai.
2 Godly: Achieving Ultra Instinct
With Goku being the only fighter from Universe 7 left standing, he was able to tap into the power of Ultra Instinct once again to take on Jiren. For every punch each warrior performs, the other could match it blow-for-blow.
When Goku countered one of Jiren's most potent attacks, the mighty Saiyan achieves something that not even the Gods have been able to do; Master the Power of Autonomous Ultra Instinct. It's an achievement so monumental that the remaining Gods of Destructions, the Angels, and Grand Master Zeno are speechless and stand in awe.
1 Not So Godly: Dealing With Chi-Chi
Goku can fight against the most vigorous opponents in the entire cosmos, but there's one opponent that he's yet to overcome: his wife. Chi-Chi is always pushing him to do something other than fighting all the time and wants her children to grow up to have decent lives that don't have to involve saving the earth every other day. She succeeds with that goal, but she can't seem to domesticate the man who grew up in the wild who wants to fight every opponent he sees. Meanwhile, Goku can't help but quiver in fear whenever he has to face Chi-Chi's wrath.