Dragon Ball is one of the most famous and watched anime in history, and a huge 2025 blockbuster was secretly a live-action remake in disguise. It would seem that James Gunn’s new Superman movie has some surprising similarities to Goku that go beyond the basic premises behind the characters.
While Goku was based on Sun Wukong from Journey to the West, it is also easy to see the similarities between the Dragon Ball hero and Superman, another alien sent to Earth to become its hero. However, Goku and Superman had one significant difference. That said, the 2025 Superman movie copied Goku’s origin, eliminating the divide between them.
Superman (2025)’s Parents Twist Turns Kal-El’s Backstory Into Goku’s
What initially set Goku apart from Superman is that Goku’s parents sent him to Earth to prepare it for destruction. It has a similar origin to Invincible, where Omni-Man was sent to Earth to prepare it for a hostile takeover. Five years after his rise as a fighter, Goku learned the truth about his mission.
As a child, Goku had a short temper and was prone to fighting, a Saiyan trait. A head injury made him more laid back and helped turn him into a hero. When Goku met his evil brother Raditz, he learned that his race was almost extinct, and they planned to destroy all life on Earth to prepare it for sale.
Goku’s discovery that he was sent to Earth as a destroyer, not a hero, was shocking, but he never changed and remained a hero. The same thing happened in the Superman movie, as Kal-El believed he was sent to Earth to be a hero, and then learned his parents wanted him to conquer and rule the planet.
While Dragon Ball borrowed heavily from Superman’s story in the manga and anime series, DC’s movie seemingly drew inspiration from Dragon Ball when revising Superman’s Kryptonian origin story. Superman learned the truth, but refused to change the mission instilled in him by his adoptive parents.
It is important to note that Akira Toriyama eventually retconned the Goku origin story and changed the canon in Dragon Ball Minus. In this story, Goku’s parents were kind people who sent him to Earth for his protection, much like Superman. It’s unknown if Superman will discover his parents did the same in future DCU movies.
Superman 2025’s Tone Is A Lot Closer To Dragon Ball’s Than Previous DC Movies
Not only did James Gunn’s Superman movie veer closer to Goku’s original origin story, but it also played out a lot closer to Dragon Ball than previous Superman movies. This is especially true concerning Gunn’s attempts to course correct from the overly dark version of the DC Universe that Zack Snyder created.
Gone were the dark and serious storylines that made Snyder’s Superman nothing like its comic book counterpart. Instead, James Gunn focused on classic DC Comics and the looser stories that put fun ahead of gritty drama. Like Dragon Ball, Superman has a lot more humor and a tone more similar to the anime.
Superman also has an emphasis on giant monsters and aliens, and it is very much a comic book movie. This makes the new Superman movie more of a live-action Dragon Ball adaptation than a follow-up to any DC movie. However, it is also a love letter to fans of DC Comics, showing how Superman is supposed to act.
