All of the evil Gokus from Dragon Ball (arranged chronologically)
Goku is Dragon Ball’s protagonist and inspirational hero, but the series has a strange obsession with putting him up against evil versions of himself!
One of the most watched anime series ever is Dragon Ball, and Goku, the show’s ardent lead, is a big part of why it’s remained a mainstay of the industry for so long. Throughout Dragon Ball’s many years, viewers have witnessed Goku grow from an inquisitive child to a fearless adult. Goku’s journeys are never boring, especially when there are so many formidable foes to take down, including Majin Buu, Frieza, and Demon King Piccolo.
Because Goku is such a shining example of optimism and hope, people are naturally curious about what may happen if he were to become evil. Although Dragon Ball has never really forced Goku to become a villain, it has frequently examined the horrifying effects of having a “evil Goku” as his opponent. Through a variety of approaches, Dragon Ball has explored this concept, each of which has had a distinct impact on Goku and the other Dragon Ball characters.
Unleashing the Hero’s Latent Animal Instinct, Great Ape Goku
Initially, Goku is sent to Earth by his father Bardock when Planet Vegeta is in danger of being destroyed. The first Dragon Ball episode doesn’t reveal the whole tale of Goku, but later on in the show, it becomes evident that Grandpa Gohan adopts Goku after finding him as a lost infant. Later on, it is revealed that Goku was dropped on Grandpa Gohan’s head by mistake. The power of the blow appears to be strong enough to “erase” Goku’s first Saiyan inclinations. This implies that although if Goku is a happy youngster, there is still a little window of time during which Goku may be considered to be “evil” until Grandpa Gohan unintentionally leads him to the road of righteousness.This incident felt important to bring up because if it hadn’t happened, Goku would probably have turned out lot more like his evil brother Raditz.
This incident hardly registers as a blip on infant Goku’s timeline. There are, in fact, a few instances in the original Dragon Ball where Goku poses a real threat to his companions. Dragon Ball’s Great Ape transformation and the iconic Saiyan tail have been progressively eliminated from the series as Super Saiyan ascensions have become the norm. In this better state, elite Saiyan fighters like Goku can manage themselves, while lesser people turn into raging liabilities.To this extent, Goku in his Great Ape form might be considered a villain; in fact, it was during this form that Grandpa Gohan passed away. The scenes in the original series where Goku sees a full moon and this metamorphosis emerges are among the scariest. To put an end to Great Ape Goku’s horror, characters are forced to take extreme means like chopping off Goku’s tail or even blowing up the moon. Luckily, Goku’s fierce side is resolved at the conclusion of the first series, but Dragon Ball Z still uses the same techniques to make Gohan into a liability.
Goku’s Doppelgänger Doll Becomes An Intriguing Training Aid
The anime adaptation of Dragon Ball has a fascinating connection with filler episodes that feature unique tales not seen in Toriyama’s manga source material. While there aren’t many of these filler digressions in the original Dragon Ball, the ones that are make enjoyable independent stories. A particular experiment known as “Goku’s Doll” takes place in the second part of the anime, when Goku is receiving intense training at Kami’s Lookout. Mr. Popo devises a training exercise for Goku that would accurately assess his skills, and it turns out that the greatest foe for him to take on is himself. Mr. Popo creates a clay replica of Goku that eventually develops consciousness. With the exception of his beady eyes, this doll is exactly like Goku in appearance and skill set.
This ends up being a beneficial practice that helps Goku focus more clearly and decompress after a defeat in combat. This doppelgänger doll fights with an undisturbed mind, unlike Goku, which is the entire reason it has an advantage against Goku at first. This one-time episode is the only one in which Goku fights against himself, and Mr. Popo never again employs this kind of clay fighter training. Goku finally triumphs thanks to Mr. Popo’s strategy, even if it just so happens that the doll runs out of energy at the same moment. After this unusual battle, the real Goku is just as worn out and nods off.
Turles Matches Goku With A Ferocious Saiyan
Popular anime shows frequently get made into feature films, but Dragon Ball Z gets more than a dozen films made before it ends. Even though these stories are usually outside of canon, they nonetheless feature some interesting villains that become even more well-known in Dragon Ball video games and promotional animation, such as Dragon Ball heroes. In the third Dragon Ball Z film, The Tree of Might, Goku and his allies take against Turles, a renegade evil Saiyan. Every time Dragon Ball releases a new Saiyan, it’s always thrilling. Turles’ striking resemblance to Goku, though, is what makes him so fascinating.Surprisingly, The Tree of Might doesn’t explain why this “evil Goku” exists or why he resembles the protagonist of the story so much. It would have been easy to claim that Turles is Goku and Raditz’s sibling and the illegitimate offspring of Bardock. In fact, the character would be more motivated by this than by a shallow ambition for increased power.
The key innovation in The Tree of Might is this Goku clone fighting Gohan and then Goku himself. Turles has a lot more strength and power than Raditz. But once it consumes the vitality of the Earth, the Tree of Might itself bestows upon him even more power.Turles viciously beats up Goku in a few scenes that give a glimpse of what Goku’s life would have been like if he had never left Planet Vegeta. By developing a Spirit Bomb that depletes the strength of the Tree of Might and ultimately halts Turles’ destructive schemes, Goku defeats the evil alien. Despite having a brief appearance in Dragon Ball Z, Turles has grown to become a beloved antagonist.
Captain Ginyu takes Goku’s body in order to fulfill his evil revenge.
When the Dragon Ball Z heroes arrive on Namek, they have their work cut out for them in retrieving the Dragon Balls of the planet in order to bring their dead comrades back to life. The cosmic dictator hires mercenaries and goons to handle his dirty job while the fight against Frieza drags on for some time. The Ginyu Force are intriguing characters that perfectly capture the clichés of sentai series and shonen, but they did it in a way that made their debut seem authentically new. Every member of the Ginyu Force has a special talent, and Captain Ginyu, the group’s captain, has a deadly power that lets him switch bodies. Whenever Ginyu faces a more formidable opponent, he seems to have found success by constantly leveling up and switching off his host body.Many people believe that the body he uses to battle the heroes isn’t even his true form. Goku arrives to save the day after Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta have to deal with the lesser members of Ginyu Force. But Ginyu’s “Change Now!” move is an easy target for Goku given his recent power upgrades.
Goku and Captain Ginyu have a trademark ability that allows Ginyu to go wild in Goku’s body while Goku is compelled to survive within Ginyu’s fragile shell. This leads to an extremely tense series of episodes. Dragon Ball Z receives a great deal of mileage from Gohan being made to face his father, much like in the fight against Turles. For a brief moment, he even imagines a future in which he comes to embrace Goku as Ginyu as his father.The heroes have to neutralize the menace, but if they kill Ginyu-as-Goku, there is no way to undo this, making the confrontation terrifying. In the end, strategy matters far more in this battle than just brute might. In Episode 74, “Captain Ginyu…The Frog,” Goku finally regains his body early on, but not before being compelled to live out the rest of his days imprisoned in the worthless body of a Namekian frog. In Dragon Ball Super, Ginyu does make an unexpected comeback, but happily, Goku isn’t fooled by Ginyu’s antics.
The culmination of a dangerous scheme to eradicate all mortals is Goku Black.
Dragon Ball Super achieves success by combining a delightful blend of well-known memories with whole new concepts. The Red Ribbon Army, Frieza, and Cell—along with other former antagonists—return, but there are also fearless new foes that drastically broaden the scope of the story. When Future Trunks unexpectedly reappears and declares that an evil Goku is destroying his timeline, Dragon Ball Super delves into a real mystery and intrigue. At first, there was conjecture that this may be Super’s attempt to include Turles canonically or that it might even be a different Goten who has matured into a villain.
Eventually, Dragon Ball Super reveals that Goku Black is actually the culmination of a convoluted scheme in which Zamasu, a future Supreme Kai apprentice from Universe 10, uses the Super Dragon Balls to take the body of Goku from his reality. Finding out that this enemy is Goku under the worst possible circumstances rather than just someone who looks like him is terrifying. When Zamasu and Goku trade bodies, one of Dragon Ball Super’s most unsettling scenes shows Zamasu killing Goten and Chi-Chi while they are unable to understand what is happening.
It takes Goku Black 21 episodes to eventually defeat this menace, in Episode 67, “With New Hope in His Heart – Farewell, Trunks.” Even with strategies like the Demon Containment Wave and Super Saiyan Blue Vegito, Goku Black and Future Zamasu are too formidable a combination to defeat. In addition to using several of Goku’s tactics against the heroes, Goku Black also learns new skills, such as the ki-based Sickle of Sorrow and Super Saiyan Rosé, his own Super Saiyan Blue variant. Goku Black is the most powerful and modern evil form of Goku in Dragon Ball Z.It’s likely that the franchise won’t revisit this concept because of his devastation. But, there is a vast universe full of possibilities, so it’s not out of the question that another wicked Goku may appear. Maybe Super will add Dragon Ball GT’s Baby to canon, but this time he will have Goku rather than Vegeta. Time will tell.