Copyright Screen Rant
For decades, Goku has been a constant feature of overwhelming power in anime, symbolizing limitless strength as a warrior who transcends mortality through sheer determination. Notwithstanding, within manhwa’s growing landscape, new gods of battle have emerged with worlds that operate on rules that make even Goku’s Super Saiyan Strength pale in comparison. Unlike the spiky-haired anime hero, these figures are not simply strong; they operate on frameworks where existence, causality, and time itself bend to their will. Their universes treat power as an absolute concept, not just raw combat potential. Consequently, this list examines manhwa fighters whose abilities outstrip Goku’s best transformations, from Super Saiyan Blue to Ultra Instinct. Against these opponents, even Goku’s boundless spirit would meet its first and final limit. 8 Sung Jin-Woo - Solo Leveling Sung Jin-Woo’s transformation from the lowest-ranked hunter into the Shadow Monarch defines Solo Leveling’s rise-and-conquer story. As the Shadow Monarch, His ability allows him to raise fallen enemies as loyal shadow soldiers of an infinite army bound to his will. At the end of the story, Jin-Woo is the ruler of the universe, capable of rewriting destiny and fate altogether. His skill set fuses necromancy, dimensional travel, and a limitless potential for power that puts him at the universe’s peak. Against Goku, in-Woo’s authority over life and death instantly removes the premise of an endurance-based battle, taking it away from the physical into the metaphysical. Ultimately, despite possessing enough raw power to also interfere with dimensions, Goku’s ki escalation cannot overcome a system that rewrites existence at will. Between both beings of overwhelming power, the victor can only be the one that exists beyond reality itself. 7 Lucas Traumen - The Great Mage Returns After 4,000 Years The protagonist of The Great Mage Returns After 4,000 Years, Lucas Traumen, is humanity’s greatest mage, reborn after millennia of imprisonment. Within the story, he is not only reborn but ultimately transcends the laws of the universe itself. As one of the Absolute entities of the god of creation, his mastery over divine mana allows control of elemental forces, causality, and spatial distortion. For Goku, who relies on instinctual and combative fighting, Lucas would prove a final opponent because his words alone are enough to strain the boundaries of reality. As an Absolute Being superseded only by god, Lucas’ authority is a representation of reality itself. Hence, while Goku might be a warrior without limits, Lucas Traumen is a magician who transcended into godhood and dismantles limits for sport. 6 Jaehwan - The World After the Fall Described within his world as the Nightmare of the Beginning, Jaehwan’s power stems from complete existential independence. As the only being free from the System governing his universe, he wields the Conceptual Sword. This ability cuts through metaphysical constructs, such as fate and causality, in addition to the power of negation capable of resisting even the Oldest Dream. Rather than by physical feats, Jaehwan’s strength and power are measured by his rejection of all imposed logic, which allows him to rewrite reality itself through willpower. Thus, Goku thrives under systems of challenge and growth, but Jaehwan’s world defies those systems entirely. He operates beyond measurable energy or transformation, making Goku’s ki and martial escalation meaningless. Through conceptual nullification, Jaehwan could erase Goku’s existence, essentially cutting away his very reason to exist within reality, effectively putting any confrontation to bed. 5 Mori Jin - The God of High School The one called the Bastard Child of Gaia, Mori Jin, is the reincarnation of the Monkey King and a literal god in human form. Classified as an Archetypal level being by the end of his universe’s story, his combat skill, enhanced by divine energy and cosmic speed, lets him destroy mountains and planets with ease. Mori’s divine transformations from human to the supreme god ensure that he became an Abstract Existence, a being that is the very balance of the universe itself. For Goku, Mori would not be an opponent but an insurmountable wall. While Goku reacts instinctively, Mori acts with omniscient awareness, controlling not just the flow of battle but also the laws governing it. 4 Kim Dokja - Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Within the realm of the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, Kim Dokja appears as a regular protagonist, yet he is also a meta-existential being aware of his own fictionality. Described as the Oldest Dream, Dokja is a transcendent level entity who possesses near-omniscient narrative perception, understanding every event, timeline, and possibility within his universe. Hence, he can manipulate causality, reset death loops, and influence reality across universes, all with the power of his imagination. His mind itself is a divine weapon. Goku’s power peaks at physical transcendence, but Dokja transcends the concept of reality altogether. To him, Goku is simply another written character in a cosmic narrative. Dokja would not need to fight; he could rewrite the scene, erasing Goku’s existence from reality even as a multiversal being. As the originator and creator of the World, Dokja’s weapon is authorship of life itself; something even gods cannot resist. 3 Yan Sen - Cultivator Against Hero Society The protagonist of the Cultivator Against Hero Society series, Yan Sen, is a supreme cultivator whose spiritual energy surpasses that of the gods in his universe. His cultivation transcends mortal existence, granting him abilities such as reality distortion, flight beyond dimensions, and the destruction of universal barriers. He operates on laws older than creation itself, his body and soul aligned with the pure essence of cosmic energy. While Goku’s ki is vast, it remains tied to physical exertion and transformation. On the other hand, Yan Sen’s cultivation draws from the universal flow, which is limitless and self-replenishing. Hence, he doesn’t power up; rather, he exists in a constant state of transcendence. Even a planet-shattering Kamehameha would dissolve before his spiritual pressure. Against Yan Sen, Goku would simply vanish under a level of existence he cannot reach. 2 Ananta - Kubera The first king of the Ananta Clan, Ananta, is a god of time, creation, and destruction from the intricate mythology of Kubera. Credited as the strongest of all suras, he exists outside linear time, perceiving all events simultaneously. His presence alone alters the cosmic equilibrium, and his control over the divine cycles allows her to erase or recreate worlds at will. His power operates on a scale where existence becomes optional. Against the strongest existence in the universe with total control over time, Goku’s battle instincts will prove useless. His speed, endurance, and ki mastery hold no weight against Ananta’s omnitemporal authority. Where Goku punches, Ananta rewinds. Where he moves, she resets. Before him, combat is meaningless, and even the mightiest Saiyan is nothing but a temporal anomaly waiting to be reset. 1 Phantaminum - Tower of God Phantaminum is an enigma beyond the laws of the Tower of God universe. His rank as the strongest known being is unquestioned, but his power remains unquantifiable. Classified as an Axis, which is a reality editor, his power within the Talse Uzer Story is absolute. Even within a multiverse of divine hierarchies, Phantaminum stands as an untouchable anomaly. Though Goku may be a god-slayer, Phantaminum is a reality-breaker. No transformation, no instinct, and no technique could bridge the infinite conceptual gap between them. Where Goku relies on energy, Phantaminum functions on authority. He doesn’t destroy universes through power; he deletes them from his story. Against him, Goku would not just fall in battle, he would simply stop being remembered.
