I didn’t want to post this because it’s extremely biased but since you’re biased I think its ok.
All right. First let’s go by what’s cannon, ok? If we bring in stuff from the DBZ movies and DBGT it’s just going to get messed up. We’re going to have to go by the official cannon source which is the manga. The anime is full of fillers like Vegeta destroying a planet destroying the Sayain saga, the whole thing with Pikkon which made Cell look like a chump, Kuririn using the Destructo Disc on Cell, Goku struggling to lift that mountain while in SSJ2, and everything else that wasn’t in the manga is all filler, it’s not cannon and can’t be used in an actual debate. If we are to use non cannon incidents for Goku then we should be able to use non cannon Supermen like Pre-Crisis Superman who destroyed a solar system with a sneeze after he flew to another universe or his insane speed (millions of light-years spanned in seconds while he was still Superboy), and complete mastery of time travel. Or how about All Star Superman who is easily able to push against 200 quintillion tons of force, with one arm and is immune to kryptonite. Or Red Son Superman, Superman 1 Million (who’s cannon) who moved an entire galaxy with his heat vision, jumped to the moon, and punched through time while in a weakened condition.
Another thing that should be noted is that the dubbed version of DBZ is plagued with mistakes, like Raditz moving at light speed. Also in the manga it doesn’t take characters that long to charge up their attacks like in the anime.
The fight should be Post-Crisis Superman VS SSJ3 Goku. GT is too inconsistent (like SSJ4 Gogeta struggling to lift a building while SSJ4 could do it). If you do bring SSJ4 Goku into this then allow me to bring in Superman Prime who’s Post-Crisis Superman in the future (825th century) who spent 15,000 years in the sun after exploring the DCU and fighting unimaginable battles since the end of the 21st Century after he left Earth.
Ok. I believe that Superman can beat Goku for the following reasons:
Physical strength:
Superman on average without sun dipping can lift 40 billion tons. Goku at base during the start of the Buu saga couldn't handle 40 tons , that’s where he maxed out while in his base form. This is stated by AT himself so there’s no point arguing over that. In SSJ3 however Goku should be able to lift around 500,000-800,000 tons at max. This however is not enough to match Superman, now the best lifting feat Goku has is lifting 2 halves of a mountain while in SSJ2 but this is filler and isn’t cannon but even if this was cannon which it’s not. It pales in comparison to Supes physical strength feats, like moving the entire Earth with help from Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman who are both slightly weaker than him, lifting mountains is nothing for Superman who casually dropped one to close a Volcano and I think it was Post-Crisis that threw an entire mountain almost big enough to crush Metropolis into outer space. Superman was also captured at one time and forced to turn the wheels of Mahgehdun which dwarf out entire solar system in size. Strength wise Goku can’t compete with Superman, and I haven’t even talked about Superman taking a sun dip to greatly increase his strength. Speed:
The first people need to get is that the Shunkan Idō is a technique for teleporting; it’s not Goku’s actual speed. Something people need to accept is DBZ characters can’t move at light speeds. Raditz moving at light speeds was a dub error and it took Gotenks around 25 mins to go around the world over 30 times and he took a nap for say 3-4 minutes. Piccolo couldn’t get to Gotenks while he was sleeping was because Gotenks was somewhere far away from Piccolo and Piccolo couldn’t get there before Gotenks took off again. Gotenks only had 1 minute before the fusion ran out, he took more than seconds to go around the world despite what the anime will have you believe. I’ll now cite instances where DBZ character didn’t move at light speeds while traveling at their highest speeds despite what you heard in the English dub (which is crap compared to the manga).
The speed of light is going around the world 7 times in less than a second.
Goku taking days to cross Serpent Road which is roughly around 6 million miles, the English dub made it seem shorter the road is actually much longer but moving at light speed means crossing it in seconds.
Goku not getting to Vegeta and Nappa in less than a second. Tien not getting to the island where Piccolo was fighting #17 in less than a second.
Future Trunks racing to get Kuririn after his training with Vegeta didn’t, get there in less than a second.
Future Trunks flying to tell the Z fighters about the Cell’s proposition, didn’t get there in less than a second. Tien not getting to the island where Piccolo was fighting #17 in less than a second.
Trunks flies off in a hurry to find the Dragon Radar while Goku fights Buu but doesn’t get to his location in less than a second.
Mystic Gohan not getting to his location in less than a second when flying to assist Gotenks after he reached Earth.
Yeah that’s about it regarding the Speed of the Z characters, now on to Superman.
After the reboot following COIE Superman was largely depowered but since his return from death he has been reaching pre-crisis levels once more but not at the same ridiculous level. Superman at one point said he could only travel at 99% light speed but has since then exceeded this speed. Proof of this is shown when he flies to Saturn in less than 4 minutes, it takes light 1 hour to go from the Sun to Saturn and it takes light 20-40 minutes to go from Earth to Jupiter (which is closer to the Earth than Saturn). Another instance is during the Heavens Ladder saga where it’s stated “Superman can race a photon to its target”, in the vacuum of space a photon moves at light speed. Another instance is when Superman goes to Saturn in seconds from Earth, another instance is going 90% of the way to the sun and returning to Earth in under 2 minutes during his fight with Wonder Woman, it takes light 8 minutes to go from the Sun to Earth. And finally Superman took Darkseid to the Sun in seconds and beat him there (even though he shouldn’t have since Darkseid>>>>>>>>Superman). So Superman is faster, he also has some speed feats like vibrating his body invisible and even intangible (meaning attacks would just pass right through him). Superman does not travel at light speeds while on Earth because unlike the Flash he does not have a connection the speed force and would thus destroy surrounding areas by moving at light speeds while in Earth’s atmosphere. Superman has also on occasion flown by so fast that he sucked out all the air in that area, this happened once when he was fighting the Authority and they started to suffocate.
Stamina:
This is a no brainier. Goku at SSJ3 can last for around an hour at max, Superman has fought at the level he wanted to for days, fought a hundred year old war against Gog with Doomsday helping him (Doomsday obviously stronger than Supes and really helped Supes out), Superman and Wonder Woman also fought a 1000 year old war in Asgard. I don’t feel the need to explain who has more stamina any more since it should be quite clear.
Durability: Superman outdoes Goku here as well.
Goku has taken a hell of punishment but so has Superman.
Goku was killed by Cell with an explosion that would have destroyed the Earth, that’s the most powerful thing that that has killed Goku. By the end of the Buu saga I’m sure Goku can handle more than that but not much more as he had to be teleported when Earth was going to be destroyed by Buu.
Now Superman has taken planet destroying attacks without difficulty, he actually 2 in a row once shrugged it off. Superman was punched halfway across the planet and all he said was “ouch” and this was by a magical foe (Supes is affected by magic), Etrigan punched Superman all the from Earth to the Moon and Supes just shrugged it off, Supes took the equal of a million nuclear blasts (during his second fight with Doomsday and this was before his upgrade) and shrugged it off. Supes also took an island destroying nuke while standing on Kryptonite laced sand, he was totally unaffected. Supes has survived been thrown into a Red Sun twice in the same issue (Red Sun radiation drains Superman’s powers). During Infinite Crisis Post-Crisis Superman and Golden Age Superman took Superboy-Prime right through a red sun and flew through fields of kryptonite. And finally, Superman absorbed an attack that was at minimum going to destroy half the galaxy, it looked as if Superman was going to die but instead he smiled at the end and was unharmed. Misc:
Superman’s heat vision is more powerful that people think, it’s hotter than the heat generated from Stars, the pits of Hades, and at one point was used to reheat the entire Earth. If Goku can catch on fire, heat vision will kill but Superman can control the power of his heat vision and calculates every opponent’s melting point before using it.
Now lastly let me say:
SUPERMAN IS NOT UNBEATBLE.
Superman is not the strongest comic book character just like Goku is not the strongest anime character. There are plenty of characters that can beat Superman and if you want me to list them then just ask.
Biased bullshit for biased bullshit. 😘