Goku and Vegeta are one of anime and manga’s most iconic rivals. They’re so inseparable that fans sometimes forget they have wives supporting them from the background. The debate on who’s stronger, Goku or Vegeta, will go on till the end of time, even years after Dragon Ball Super ends. While fans of each character will argue with some bias, there’s no doubt that each of them has their own strengths and weaknesses.
Fans know quite well that series creator Akira Toriyama loved Goku and disliked Vegeta initially, but as the story progressed, he grew to like Vegeta more. Invariably, he gave the Saiyan Prince a key advantage over his rival that Goku fans cannot help but accept.
The key difference that makes Vegeta a more skilled fighter than Goku
Despite Goku’s genius when it comes to fighting, it’s a well-known fact that Goku’s moves are borrowed from his friends and allies, starting from Grandpa Gohan and Roshi. He hardly has any techniques that he could call his own (maybe Dragon Fist, but that’s not canon). Team Four Star described this fact in a hilarious way in Dragon Ball Z Abridged:
GOKU: Sorry, Cell. I’m here to win! And you’re never gonna beat me with your stolen techniques!
PERFECT CELL: And what, are you gonna beat me with your stolen techniques?
GOKU: What!? I don’t steal techniques!
PICCOLO: Actually, Goku…yeah, you do.
GOKU: Whhaaaaaa? What about the Kamehameha?
KRILLIN: Naw, that was Master Roshi.
GOKU: The Solar Flare?
TIEN: That’s mine, thanks.
GOKU: The Spirit Bo–?
KING KAI: (over on his planet) Goku, I’m watching the tournament, don’t think you can pull that sh*t!
GOKU: Oh hey, King Kai! Quick question: Did I learn the Kaioken on my own?
KING KAI: My f*cking name is in it…
On the other hand, Vegeta has almost all of his techniques developed by himself on his own. This includes the Galick Gun, Final Flash, Big Bang Attack, Final Shine, Photon Bomber and the Gamma Burst Flash. Sure, most of them are just variations of Ki blasts but atleast he’s trying, unlike Goku.
Even in Dragon Ball Super, Goku copied Beerus and used Hakai in order to stop Fused Zamasu as a last resort. Whereas Vegeta knew how to use the Instant Transmission technique, he refused to use it because he didn’t want to copy Goku’s signature move. The only technique Goku activated on his own is Ultra Instinct and the giant Ki avatar state that he used against Moro and Gas.
Whis notified both Goku and Vegeta that they needed to know how to use Ultra Instinct. But during the Tournament of Power, Vegeta realized that Ultra Instinct isn’t suitable for him and wanted to go on a different path. Hence, he asked Beerus for help and got the inspiration to activate Ultra Ego for the first time against Granolah.
But that doesn’t mean the Prince of all Saiyans doesn’t copy at all.
Vegeta is one step below Goku because of one fundamental flaw
Vegeta grew up listening to his dad, King Vegeta, and imbibed the idea of Saiyan Pride from him. However, the director of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Tatsuya Nagamine, stated in an interview in Jan 2019, that the Saiyans lost their original pride as a warrior race when King Cold and Frieza tamed them.
Despite being from a warrior race, even King Vegeta doesn’t challenge Frieza to a fight or anything like that. Instead, he just bows and scraps before Frieza and uses underhanded tactics against his own subordinates. This means that King Vegeta himself had no idea what Saiyan Pride really meant.
This is where Nagamine clarifies that out of all the Saiyans in the flashback, Bardock is really the only pure warrior race Saiyan. Broly, Goku, and Vegeta left Planet Vegeta as children, so they’ve gone on living with that pure Saiyan aspect intact. Vegeta lived on Planet Vegeta from his earliest memories, so he has princely pride that interferes a bit, but he considers Goku and Broly to be truly pure Saiyans and have depicted them as such.
However, Goku still hadn’t an idea who he really was and where his place in the Saiyan race was until the Granolah arc. It was only then did both he and Vegeta know what Saiyan Pride really was through a Pure Saiyan called Bardock. So far, Vegeta’s princely pride, which is false, has been affecting his progress but now that he knows his true identity, he can actually break his limits properly and may even be the one to defeat Black Frieza and surpass Goku.
Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super are available to watch on Crunchyroll.
