Kratos vs. Goku: Who Would Win in a Fight?
In terms of the most powerful characters, Dragon Ball‘s Son Goku and God of War‘s protagonist Kratos are among the strongest you can find, without a doubt. Sure, both of them are exceptionally strong and are, as such, comparable, but they are also very different. Namely, the world of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball is vastly different than the world of God of War. Regardless of that, we can still compare the two characters to try to determine who would win in a fight.
This is one of the closest fights in the world of fiction, without a doubt, but we think that Goku would be able to defeat Kratos. Namely, Kratos is known for being able to kills gods and whereas Goku is a deity, the Saiyans are unlike anything Kratos has ever faced and we think that Goku’s experience and willpower would help him overcome Kratos in the end.
Now that you have the short version of the answer, the rest of the article is going to be divided into three sections, with the first two introducing the characters, their powers, and their abilities. In the end, we’re going to give our final verdict and explanation on why Son Goku would ultimately be able to defeat Kratos in a direct fight.
Kratos and his powers
Kratos is the main protagonist of the God of War series. A Spartan warrior, born in Sparta, Kratos was a respected soldier and general until he lost his wife and daughter to the deception of Ares, whom he then served. Once he killed Ares and gained forgiveness from the other Olympian gods, he became the new God of War.
Zeus then betrays him, but Kratos survives and decides to take revenge on the God of Gods, unleashing the evils on Earth in the process. After achieving his revenge, Kratos escaped to the world of the Norse gods by settling in Midgard in ancient Norway where he married another woman named Faye who gave birth to Atreus, their son.
As the demigod son of Zeus, Kratos possesses incredible superhuman physical prowess, surpassing that of any mortal or beast and surpassing all other Greek gods, the exact limits of which are yet to be determined. His absorption of many powers from the gods apparently enchanted his powers. Using these abilities, Kratos was able to defeat monsters, magical beings, Titans, and even the gods themselves.
His old age does not hinder his physical abilities, as he has demonstrated the ability to surpass the most powerful of the Norse gods, such as Baldur and Magni. Using the Spartan Rage, he was able to scare Modi. Knowing that Kratos is involved in Ragnarok enough for Odin to fear the Ghost of Sparta, it seems like Kratos’ strong rivals, if not, surpass those of Thor and Odin, two of the most powerful Norse gods.
Kratos is an extremely accomplished fighter who is proficient in both armed combat and hand-to-hand combat. His skills were already enough to allow him to be one of Sparta’s finest warriors, while he was one of Spartan’s most respected generals. After discovering his powers and being trained by the gods themselves, Kratos becomes far more formidable than ever, allowing him to easily slaughter many opponents and defeat the gods.
His age didn’t hamper his skills at all, allowing him to effectively hunt monsters, showing himself capable of overpowering Magni and Baldur in combat.
Kratos possesses incredible superhuman strength, which seems to fluctuate depending on the situation. He can easily subdue and tear apart many large and powerful beasts and creatures such as undead legionnaires, infected humans, monsters, and magical beings, using only his bare hands and can easily rip Helios’ head off and is able to overpower the Hydra, throwing down the Colossus of Rhodes after he tries to crush it under his foot and stopping Cronus and Atlas from crushing it.
In his battle against Hercules, considered incomparable in terms of strength, Kratos proved to be stronger, capable of ending his pursuits and even knocking him back, and also capable of freeing himself from his bear hugs and beating him to death despite his brother’s invulnerability. He always physically overpowered all the other Greek gods he fought with brute force.
His strength remains intact with his age, as although he is now older in the Norse world, Kratos was able to easily snap a troll’s neck with his bare hands, lift, throw, and even smash huge boulders, and to become physically equal and ultimately surpassed between the strongest of the Norse gods such as Baldur, one of Odin’s sons and Magni, the strongest of Thor’s children.
Before serving Ares, Kratos’ primary weapon was his sword. During the reign of Ares, Kratos’ primary weapons became the Blades of Chaos, a gift from Ares as a sign of servitude. They are essentially two Falchion-like blades on long chains, permanently fused together and scorched at the wielder’s forearms.
Once Kratos killed Ares, Athena replaced them with a pair of nearly identical blades called the Blades of Athena, then replaced them again in God of War III with the very similar Blades of Exile. Kratos demonstrates proficiency with all of his weapons. This implies that he learned many of his battle skills from Ares and other gods, the ancient god of war himself.
Initially, Kratos also had a massive Spartan army under his command, used both before and during his servitude under Ares. While in the Norse Realm, Kratos appears to have lost all of the weapons he obtained from his quest for revenge, having been destroyed by Zeus while fighting him. But the Blades of Chaos are still in his possession, but decides to hide them under his cabin. This is probably a way for him to move on while remembering the atrocities he committed.
Son Goku and his powers
Son Goku is the main protagonist of the manga Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Super, and their animated adaptations, Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z / Dragon Ball Kai, then Dragon Ball Super, as well as the alternate animated sequel to the first two series, Dragon Ball GT.
Growing up, Goku becomes the strongest warrior on Earth and faces numerous increasingly powerful adversaries who threaten the peace of the planet and the universe. Goku transforms into Super Saiyan for the first time when Frieza kills Krillin on planet Namek. As the series progresses, Goku reaches other levels of Super Saiyan, which, depending on the stage, make him change his appearance and increase his fighting strength.
The following stages reached by Goku after the first level are, in order: the second, the third, and the fourth stage of the Super Saiyan, the Super Saiyan II, and the Super Saiyan III. Goku also reaches an intermediate state between the normal Saiyan and the Super Saiyan I, called False Super Saiyan.
In the 195th episode of Dragon Ball Z, Goku confronts the members of the Ginyu Squad in hell. On this occasion, Goku’s hair appears raised as in the Super Saiyan stage but black, and the aura appears golden: it is not the False Super Saiyan (which is devoid of pupils and irises) but the consequence of a late script change (initially it was expected that Goku would face the Ginyu Team transformed into Super Saiyan, then it was decided to keep this form for the clash between the Saiyan and Paikuhan in the four galaxy tournament), which prompted the designers to limit themselves to recoloring Goku’s hair rather than redrawing the scene.
In Dragon Ball GT, Goku reaches the stage of the Golden Giant Monkey (the equivalent of a Super Saiyan in the form of a Giant Monkey) and Super Saiyan IV. In Dragon Ball Super, thanks to the energy of five other Saiyans, Goku reaches the level of the Super Saiyan God, which he later internalizes and manages to reach without the help of his companions.
In the movie Dragon Ball Z – The resurrection of ‘F,’ and also in Dragon Ball Super, after training with Whis, Goku reaches the stage of a Saiyan beyond a god, obtained by maintaining the power of the Super Saiyan God in the basic stage. Still, in the same film and in Super, he reaches another stage, the Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan or simply “Super Saiyan Blue.”
In the Dragon Ball Super anime, he manages to combine the devastating power of the Kaiohken with the transformation of the blue Super Saiyan, giving rise to the blue Super Saiyan Kaiohken, in order to face Hit. In the Dragon Ball Super manga, Goku also manages to reach the final blue Super Saiyan stage in order to face molten Zamasu.
During the Tournament of Power, Goku manages to obtain Ultra Instinct, a particular condition that makes the body capable of reacting and adapting autonomously to threats, thus eliminating reaction times. The acquisition of Ultra Instinct provides Goku with two new transformations. The first, called incomplete Ultra Instinct, is the consequence of a raw and incomplete use of Ultra Instinct.
Goku’s irises turn gray, his body gives off a silver aura, and his hair sways upward. In addition to this, Goku’s gaze becomes more severe, and his voice deeper and more aggressive. The second, called Complete Ultra Instinct, is acquired by Goku as a result of the experience acquired using Ultra Instinct in the previous state. In this form, both irises and hair become silver in color.
Also, in this case, in the manga, the build corresponds to that of the Super Saiyan God. In this form, Goku’s power grows with anger, and in addition to enabling him to powerfully overcome the might of a God of destruction, it makes him virtually the most powerful mortal in the Seventh Universe.
Kratos vs. Son Goku: Who would win?
And now for the most important and interesting section of our article – the analysis. Here, we are going to use what we have found out about these two characters and analyze how all these facts would (or would not) help them in a fight against each other. Let us continue.
In all honesty, this was one of the most complex comparisons that we have done here on Fiction Horizon. The fact is that where Goku is strong, here lies Kratos’ specialty. On the other hand, Goku is objectively stronger than Kratos. So, how would this epic clash end?
For one, Goku is a deity and we know that Kratos is a specialist in killing gods. He single-handedly killed the whole Olympian pantheon, the Titans included. He is currently doing a similar thing to the Norse deities. So, in that aspect, Kratos definitely has the upper hand as he has more experience with fighting the likes of Zeus, Ares, and others.
Yet, Goku is a Saiyan. He is not a typical god, which certainly gives him some leverage in this fight. Goku is a noble warrior with exceptional skills. He is not a god in the traditional sense of the word. He doesn’t behave like a god and he doesn’t actually have any exceptionally divine powers; he uses his martial arts skills and the techniques he has mastered over the years.
Goku is a better fighter than Kratos. Sure, Kratos has the experience and the brute strength to defeat Goku, but Goku has the techniques to counter Kratos. Kratos has not, and that is a fact, fought an opponent like Goku. And we’re not even talking about Goku’s transformations. If we added them to the equation, Kratos would have even less chance of defeating the Saiyan warrior.
Sure, Kratos would have an advantage with his weapons, as Goku is not a weapons expert, but Goku would definitely find a way to counter Kratos’ weapons. It is a very close call and it would be a very close fight, but we think that ultimately, Goku would be able to defeat Kratos in a direct fight. He just seems to be the better fighter of the two, but don’t ever count Kratos out – never.