Goku and Superman switch places

[The Overlord]

What would happen Goku and Superman switched places?

[The Drunkard Kid]

Depends on when they do it, and which versions of Superman, really.

For example, if this was Clark replacing Goku from birth, then he'd be dead fairly early unless he has a strong potential for ki. He doesn't really have a natural lust for battle to keep himself super-fit for the sake of super-fit, and Clark didn't really come into his powers fully until his late teens in most instances of the character.

[StupidMoniker]

Switch places at the beginning of each of their respective stories, or switch places now? I see the problem as the opposite of Drunkard Kid. Superman is going to bounce anything from Dragonball, but Goku starting out is going to get pasted by early Superman villains and has no way to get to levels where he can survive Superman villains like Zod, Brainiac, the Sun Eater, White Martians, Bizzaro, Hank Henshaw, and so on (no trainers that allow for getting beyond say Cass Cain level skill, no senzu beans, no hyperbolic time chamber, etc.).

[The Overlord]

Switching places now.

[BlackWind]

Superman being raised in isolation with Grandpa Gohan? GG will not die early. Superman will still be raised by a caring and humble man with morals. And if he ever meets and travels with Bulma, pretty much every difficulty that was ever running to during the first part of Dragon Ball will be steamrolled. The sun will still be there. Superman skill be only marginally different.

Asssuming the Kent's find Goku and can keep him from running wild, he will probably grow up a bit smarter. But he will be stuck at lower levels of power. No DBZ style fighters will exist who can train him. And he will absolutely not survive in the DCU. No Dragon Balls to bring him back.

Ultimately Superman will have a much easier time.

[Anarchist]

A Kryptonian with Ki training.....just imaging the insane power up Clark will get, considering that the average Kryptonian is >>>>>>>> the average Saiyan.

[The Drunkard Kid]

Goku's ability to remember plot devices, OTOH, makes him the greatest tactical genius in the DCU by default.

/tongue-in-cheek

[Bluekey]

Switching places now.

Superman gets murked by Bills. Goku bests Lex Luthor's complex plans only to be beaten by a simple one.....IE " A super powerful being lies beyond this portal, you must beat him to save the world." Except the "portal" is a black hole or something lol.

[The MunchKING]

And he will absolutely not survive in the DCU. No Dragon Balls to bring him back.

A) He only really died when his "Ally" for the fight double-crossed him to kill both of the other fighters.

B) It's COMICS. There may not be Dragon Balls, but through weird magic, supertech, or God actually sending him back from Heaven, He'll find a way to come back.

[abmccray]

A Kryptonian with Ki training.....just imaging the insane power up Clark will get, considering that the average Kryptonian is >>>>>>>> the average Saiyan.

Kryptonians don't necessarily get the near death ki boosts, though, to punt them ahead quickly.

- Basically, Goku starts off stronger and more durable than Superman as a baby. Goku fell off a mountain onto his head when landing on earth. Superman doesn't survive that. Goku basically outpaces Superman until puberty.
- Superman normally starts getting his powers around puberty. So, basically around the first Tenkachi Budokai, Superman starts to outpace Goku, and then most/all of the villains (Piccolo would probably come at a point where Superman already was too fast and durable for him).
- This would last until around the Saiyan/Freeza sagas. Then you would run into problems when it comes to Freeza, who has more than Superman durability and can casually bust planets, and Superman getting no near-death boosts to match up with him. It starts shifting backwards again.
- If he somehow beats Freeza, he's probably done for by the Android period, because, again, no huge jump powerups based on new levels of SSJ. Superman's curve post SSJ era starts to resemble the humans, with no new "thing" to get a jump from (Piccolo could at least merge with his other half for one). His only way of keeping that kind of pace is basically sundipping instead of training, which is a possibility I guess. So yeah, he sundips for three years instead of training and maybe beats the androids. But now Cell has Kryptonian cells and, can do it too - uh oh.
- When Babadi comes, he's kind of screwed because the majin thing should work on him, being magical mind control and all. Even if not, if Buu shows up, he's utterly and totally screwed.

Of course, the OP said -right now- meaning that Bills shows no interest in him due to being so weak and just blows up the planet or something. Or, post Bills, he might be fine since not much danger is out there, except a Freeza that trained or something, which would cause Post Crisis Superman problems, but probably not New 52.

Goku, on the other hand, I'm not really sure. Luthor would probably trick him into working for him or something over and over.

[Anarchist]

Well, no Zenkai, no, but he can still learn how to use KI (and create attacks like KI-boosted Heat Vision f.e.), train in higher Gravity and use the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to get power-ups.

[master of read]

goku is more of a reactive hero than a proactive one. he doesn't actively patrol like clark does nor do i actually see him doing that, at least not as much as clark.

also, his willingness to kill might turn a lot of heroes of him. goku would have to adapt to the life of a superhero really quickly.

[Nik Hasta]

When it comes to threats like this, Gohan would actually be a much better choice to switch since he is already down with the superhero thing.

[Hazard]

When it comes to threats like this, Gohan would actually be a much better choice to switch since he is already down with the superhero thing.

He's even getting the completely useless Clark Kent glasses.

[Anarchist]

Oh and

- This would last until around the Saiyan/Freeza sagas. Then you would run into problems when it comes to Freeza, who has more than Superman durability and can casually bust planets, and Superman getting no near-death boosts to match up with him. It starts shifting backwards again.

Post-Crisis Superman, alright, won't get into discussions, but NuSuperman?
He has enough oomph to put Frieza quickly down via blitz.