As the protagonist of the expansive Dragon Ball franchise, Goku has fought literal armies of enemies across the various anime series and films in Akira Toriyama's beloved story. And while the powerful Saiyan warrior is far from the most ruthless of the main characters in the manga and anime series, Goku isn't afraid to employ lethal force if he deems it necessary to save the day. As such, the unstoppable martial artist has racked up quite the body count across the entire history of the franchise and doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
Here is a full list of all the human (and humanoid) opponents that Goku has terminated with extreme prejudice over the years, from the original anime series to its popular sequel Dragon Ball Z, its non-canonical follow-up Dragon Ball GT, the recently concluded Dragon Ball Super and the fan-favorite animated films in the franchise.
Dragon Ball
Introduced at the age of eleven at the start of the franchise, Goku was still a powerful warrior as a child, saving the world from despots and participating in tournaments against the most skilled martial artists in the world. One of the most recurring foes in the original series is the Red Ribbon Army, a terrorist organization planning to conquer the world. For much of the middle section of the original series, Goku battled against the Red Ribbon Army, dispatching their soldiers by the dozen, often to lethal effect from knocking back explosives against them, knocking pilots like Captain Yellow from their aircraft and blowing up vehicles piloted by soldiers, including their final leader Staff Officer Black. Even before becoming a teenager, Goku had logged more kills than the Punisher by singlehandedly wiping out an entire extended army. A surprise survivor was Mercenary Tao, who survived his mortal wounds from Goku through extensive cybernetic implants.
The final opponents Goku faced in the original series was the Demon King Piccolo and his various offspring, including his own reincarnated son of the same name. The first minion of Piccolo's Goku killed was a demon named Tambourine, obliterated by a single Kamehameha Wave. After drinking the Sacred Water, Goku was able to kill Piccolo's minion Drum with a kick to everyone's visible shock. During Goku's final fight with King Piccolo, the Demon King's minion Piano is killed by falling rubble from the skirmish while Goku propels himself through Piccolo's torso to kill the demon once and for all.
Dragon Ball Z opened with Goku assisting Piccolo in killing his evil older brother Raditz, albeit at the expense of his own life. Goku would exercise more mercy initially, sparing Nappa, Vegeta and the Ginyu Force only for many of his defeated opponents to be killed by Vegeta himself. Goku would nearly kill Frieza during their encounter on Namek, with the tyrant saved later by his father and also fitted with cybernetics. As such, the first person Goku actually kills in Z could be argued to be King Kai, with Goku transporting himself and Cell to King Kai's planet seconds before Cell self-destructs, in a last-ditch bid to save Earth.
Upon Goku's return from the grave a second time, the Saiyan overwhelms the ravenous Yakon attempting to feed on his energy by overloading him after briefly transforming into a Super Saiyan 2. The only other opponent Goku kills in the remainder of Z is Kid Buu, annihilating the evil Majin Buu with a Super Spirit Bomb on the Supreme Kai's planet.
Dragon Ball GT
Goku surprisingly has a higher body count in GT than Z, first killing the machine mutant General Rilldo, with the help of Trunks and Goku's granddaughter Pan in a combined Kamehameha Wave. The genetically engineered Tuffle Baby would seek his revenge on the Saiyans by possessing Vegeta's body but, after being defeated by Goku, attempt to flee only to be blasted into the sun by Goku's 10x Kamehameha Wave while the hero was transformed as a Super Saiyan 4.
One year later, Goku destroyed Super Android 17 with his Dragon Fist while 17's twin sister Android 18 provided covering fire. After the Shadow Dragons were unleashed from the Dragon Balls, Goku killed Oceanus, Rage and Naturon Shenron each with a Kamehameha Wave. Haze Shenron would be killed by Goku and Pan teaming up together for a joint Kamehameha Wave. The last Shadow Dragons would prove more difficult, with Super Saiyan 4 Goku forced to use his Super Dragon Fist to brutally punch through Eis Shenron while Omega Shenron was killed by a Universal Spirit Bomb.
Dragon Ball Super
Dragon Ball Super actually began with Goku killing two different iterations of his old foes from Z: A resurrected Frieza who had returned to Earth for revenge and a clone of Vegeta created by Commeson. In his Super Saiyan Blue form, Goku would destroy both opponents separately with his God Kamehameha Wave.
After summoning Grand Zeno in the divergent future timeline to erase Zamasu, the remainder of Super is dedicated to the Tournament of Power, where Goku and the Z Fighters are expressly forbidden from using lethal force against their opponents.
The Movies
Goku is more lethal in the films than the anime series, usually killing the main antagonist by the climactic finish. Dead Zone has him destroy Garlic Jr.'s henchmen Ginger and Nicky with a Kamehameha Wave, while The World's Strongest had Goku kill all of Dr. Wheelo's minions with the Kaioken technique before killing Wheelo himself with a Spirit Bomb. This trend would continue in Tree of Might, with Goku killing all of Turles' men with a single blow apiece before destroying Turles and the titular tree with a Spirit Bomb. Similarly, Goku would kill Lord Slug with a Spirit Bomb in the subsequent film after singlehandedly killing his henchmen.
The latter films had Goku destroy Super Android 13 after absorbing the energy of his own Super Spirit Bomb while Dr. Lychee's henchmen would be destroyed by Goku and the Z Fighters in The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, culminating in Goku, Gohan, Trunks, Piccolo and Vegeta using a combined attack to destroy Hatchiyak. While fused with Vegeta into Gogeta, the Saiyans would destroy Janemba in Fusion Reborn while Goku's final kill in the films would be Hirudegarn in Wrath of the Dragon, destroyed by Super Saiyan 3 Goku's Dragon Fist.