History Recap / DeathBattleS10E15GokuVSSuperman

Both sides' powers were tricky to define fully, but Superman had the decisive edge here to take the overall debate. Goku boasted some great variety, but all of them could be countered since his ''ki'' is reliant on physical strength and not necessarily magic; god ''ki'' is simply ''ki'' in its purest form - even if it were considered magical, Superman has defeated magic users in the past. As such, Superman could easily break out of things like the God Bind and Mafuba with his strength alone, and more potent techniques like the Spirit Bomb would take too long to set up. Hakai was something Goku could fall back on, but even ignoring how he hasn't mastered it, Superman is outright immune from being wiped out of existence. Much like their earlier debates, the hosts also point out that Goku could not just use Instant Transmission to teleport Superman to a red star, as while Goku would be likely to survive being in the vacuum of space, Superman could still easily fly to another yellow star or hotter to regain his lost power; this is to say nothing of how Goku needs another person to teleport to rather than him being to take Superman anywhere he wanted to. Superman could also time travel to counter Instant Transmission's similar ability in ''Heroes'' or just outright phase through any of Goku's attacks.[[note]]Superman is also noted to win battles of attrition. Factoring in ''Dragon Ball Heroes'', Goku could summon backup with his cards, but Superman's robotic duplicates are comparable to his allies in the Justice League. Superman's bioelectric aura has also been ruled to shut down technology like Lex Luthor's Warsuit, giving him means to deny Goku his reinforcements outright. In addition, Goku only has a finite amount of ''ki'' to fight with or Senzu Beans to heal, whereas Superman can fight indefinitely provided he is exposed to sunlight. Superman could also likely resist any of the debuffs Goku could inflict on him like Dimensional Domain, as he has resisted similar tactics like Doomsday's decay field and other power-draining/nullification abilities. The Mafuba would also not likely work at all, as Superman could break out of it similar to how he's handled time stops and even Vandal Savage's Hypertime prison. Lastly, while Goku could obtain items from ''Heroes'' that can warp reality like the Key Sword or the Dragon Balls themselves, Superman could easily create the Miracle Machine, which can warp the DC universe's entire cosmology.[[/note]]

* CameoCluster: Amidst the fragmented reality at the end of the fight, several other Gokus and Supermen can be seen having fights of their own with varying levels of intensity.

''DEATH BATTLE!'' attempted to answer that question [[Recap/DeathBattleS01E25GokuVsSuperman not once]] [[Recap/DeathBattleS02E25GokuVsSuperman2 but twice]] in the past, but now, the show - an entirely different beast from what it was back then - is set to re-examine these legendary heroes once more to see if the tenacious Z Fighter can finally break his limits to surpass his rival, or if the Last Son of Krypton's near-limitless might is simply too much to contend with. With every version of ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' plus ''VideoGame/DragonBallHeroes'' and all of the mainline ''Superman'' comics in DC's near 100-year history examined to provide the most definitive take on this match-up in the show's history, Son Goku and Clark Kent have one more date with destiny waiting for them; who will win [[TitleDrop a death battle?]]

* PyrrhicVictory: Superman wins! But the universe has been destroyed...