Akira Toriyama's beloved Dragon Ball has introduced a whole host of Super Saiyan transformations as its characters take on increasingly more powerful opponents across the various anime series that expand the franchise beyond the stories in Toriyama's core manga.
The non-canonical anime continuation Dragon Ball GT introduced the concept of Super Saiyan 4. However, the recent anime/manga series Dragon Ball Super, overseen by Toriyama himself, kicked off by introducing a new form known as Super Saiyan God before introducing even more powerful transformations. Now, we're taking a closer look at both of these transformations to see which form is really stronger than another.
What is Super Saiyan God?
At the beginning of Dragon Ball Super, after the God of Destruction Beerus easily bests Super Saiyan 3 Goku, the longtime protagonist scrambles to achieve a higher form to save the Earth. He learns that if five other Saiyans channel their energy into him, he can unlock a mythical form known as Super Saiyan God. After receiving this energy from Gohan, Vegeta, Trunks, Goten and his unborn granddaughter Pan, Goku achieves the transformation.
Super Saiyan God causes Goku's muscle mass from Super Saiyan 3 to decrease to his normal physique while his hair turns bright red and no longer stands on end as he gains a fiery aura. In this form, Goku's speed and reflexes are significantly boosted and he is able to stand toe-to-toe against Beerus in orbit over Earth for a time, impressing the God of Destruction enough to spare Earth and agree to train him. Later in the series, it is revealed Vegeta obtained this form while training under Beerus and his mentor Whis, foregoing the ritual that Goku used to unlock the form the first time.
What is Super Saiyan 4?
Towards the end of the first major story arc in GT, Goku had regrown his tail after being reverted physically to a child, with the help of the Supreme Kai and Elder Kai. Despite this, he was still unable to defeat the Tuffle villain Baby who had possessed the body of Vegeta and recreated his home planet near Earth. As Goku lay defeated, the sight of his home caused him to transform into a giant, golden ape before Pan calmed him down, harnessing the immense power and transforming into a Super Saiyan 4 for the first time.
In this form, Goku was restored to the physical age of an adult, with most of his body covered in bright red fur while his hair grew longer and retained its natural color. Goku used this form to defeat Baby and rescue Vegeta, and later able to transform at will as he fought other opponents. Vegeta would also achieve this form after being immersed in waves simulating the moon's effects. When fused with Goku, the two formed the composite warrior Gogeta who also appeared as a Super Saiyan 4 for the final battle against Omega Shenron.
Which Super Saiyan Transformation Is Stronger?
For all extents and purposes, Super Saiyan 4 is an extension of Super Saiyan 3, albeit with a more animalistic appearance, since it harnesses the powers of the great golden ape into a humanoid form. Goku and Vegeta are able to fight opponents on a higher level, but Goku has repeatedly faced issues with power consumption, prematurely reverting to his child form due to the energy demands of fusing into Gogeta and struggling to overpower Super Android 17 in a separate encounter. Even the debut of Super Saiyan 4 required Goku to receive a power boost from Gohan, Trunks, Goten and Pan in order to simply defeat Baby, putting its supremacy in doubt.
While Super Saiyan God certainly taxes the body rapidly as well, with Goku unable to maintain it for his full fight against Beerus, the boost in speed and combat reflexes make him able to fight on relatively equal footing against gods themselves, as the form's name suggests. While even more powerful transformations were introduced later in Super, the manga still depicted Vegeta using the form to take advantage of Super Saiyan God's enhanced speed before transforming into Super Saiyan Blue to deliver crushing blows.