Goku is the Japanese equivalent of Superman, the American icon. Whilst Superman traces his origins in DC, Goku comes from the world-popular franchise of Dragon Ball Z, survived an apocalypse on his planet and was sent to Earth by his race, hoping he would overtake the Earth. Goku hit his head in a childhood accident and turned into a savior of not just Earth, but the universe. Superman, on the other hand, was born as Kal-El on the dying Krypton, again sent to Earth by his parents and the rest you know is history.
Goku vs Superman is the hot debate in the world of pop culture since decades now. Essentially the debate has divided the fan bases of the two heroes into an endless debate of who wins over whom. Here are 5 ways in which Goku is better than Man of Steel and 5 in which he is actually worse.
10 BETTER: KRYPTONITE
First off, Superman's home, Krypton has radioactive remains called Krypton with destructive effects on Superman. It gets worse, with each Superman tale, Kryptonite also has developed into furthermore poisonous form for the Superhero, such as making him human, or reckless or weak or dizzy, or even in some cases turn him into a wild-beast without any restraint.
This obviously has to be the most basic criterion to place Goku on a higher pedestal than Superman. Superman has lost to Batman, who has no special powers just on account of this weakness. Hence if a day comes that these two fight it out, Goku can slice Superman with Kryptonite into two.
9 WORSE: FORGIVENESS
One of Goku's glaring weakness is his quality of practicing forgiveness. While Kryptonite restrains Superman, Goku has his own inner mechanism of forgiveness that on multiple occasions has been detrimental to his own interests. In Resurrection of F, Goku chose not to fight back Frieza and almost lost his life, if it wasn't for Vegeta he'd have been pretty much dead.
8 BETTER: ADAPTABILITY
As Superman travels to Kryptonian environment in Zod's ship, his body fails to adjust to the new atmosphere causing him to vomit out blood. The other Kryptonians on board, are doing just fine. But Superman hyperventilates. Superman isn't used to the dense atmospheric pressure on Krypton, so his body collapses under immense pressure.
Goku, on the other hand, has traveled through various dimensions and worlds such as Planet Namek, King Kai's planet, and has remained unfazed throughout.
7 WORSE: PENCHANT FOR FIGHTING
Goku belongs to the Saiyan race of warriors who are known to be zealous fighters, therefore it is natural that Goku possesses the same traits. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and this can be best cited as proof of the time when a tournament of power is held.
Although Goku helps Android 17 in winning and saves universes, this could have easily gone out of hand with apocalyptic consequences for all. Superman on another hand is seen as a beacon of hope who won't plunge universes into fighting battles just to become abler by the day.
6 BETTER: NO KNOWN DEPENDENCY
This is one of Superman's physical limitations, his inability to function without the rays of the sun. The Man of Steel flies towards Earth's sun to recharge his powers. It so happens that solar energy from the yellow sun is the source of energy for Kryptonians. For Goku, on the other hand, no such dependency on Earth's yellow sun has been known.
5 WORSE: PROMISES RESURRECTION TO FRIEZA
Frieza was the evil force, the worst threat to planets at the time, and Goku promises him resurrection simply because he needed formers to help in saving the entire universe from erasure.
Although Beerus resurrects Freiza, Goku's promise to resurrect the evil alien cannot be ignored. Upon resurrection Frieza does what he is best at, colonizing planets and wreaking havoc.
4 BETTER: UNAFFECTED BY MAGIC
Superman is vulnerable to magic, in that he does not possess any special defenses against magic. Whilst this accounts true for any DC hero, it is just that Superman has no specific ability to ward off magic. Sometimes Man of Steel can ward it off, but sometimes he badly fails to do so.
After decades of reading Dragon Ball and watching Dragon Ball Z, Goku's no magical vulnerabilities are known.
3 WORSE: NO MATCH AT RAW POWER
Both Goku and Superman are strong, Superman though surpasses the former. He has been bench pressing the weight of the Earth for some time now. The Man of Steel also helped saved Brainiac's spaceship from colliding with Earth, sneezed the solar system and whatnot. There are countless examples of Superman's raw muscular strength and stamina. In many versions of Superman, such as Superman Prime one million, Goku can be easily outweighed in raw strength. Although, it is important to mention here that Superman in DCU has been written by many writers in respective arcs.
2 BETTER: NO KILL POLICY
Usually, Goku spares his foes and doesn't go for the kill, like for example he spares Vegeta for the first time. Goku is also reluctant to kill Frieza, though he does beat him to pulp and Frieza gets cut into two. Goku pressed on Krillin not to kill Vegeta because he wanted to fight and beat Vegeta himself.
Is it attributable to Goku's moral code of conduct, is it attributable to his pride? Whatever his reasons are, Goku is averse to killing, picking a fight over spilling blood any day. We can't say the same for Superman though, the guy has significant amount of blood on his hands.
1 WORSE: OVERCONFIDENCE
Goku when in Super Saiyan self, will display oodles of overconfidence. The higher Goku ascends, the distinctive his personality becomes. It also tends to get weary for watchers, because over confidence contributes to his arrogance. From Buu Saga to Battle of Gods, Goku's overconfidence is hard to digest.
In Dragon Ball Super, Goku's cockiness puts the entire universe at stake. He chooses to fight it out with Beerus without coming to grip with the repurcussions of it. Goku pokes at Freiza too, loses badly and causes significant damage to Earth. Superman is the do good, be good guy who wouldn't wreck Earth and universes just to display his prowess.