Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-33556368-20170618032235/@comment-31691140-20170618203357

Context for this debate for people who aren't superfans of both works:

For Superman, If you aren't a DC reader and base his strength off the animated show, you don't know superman. Superman, Flash, and MMH are all so powerful they need to have writers ignore their full power to have anything but a universe-ending event challenge them at all. Superman is the easiest of the big three for DB characters to defeat, since Flash exceeds light speed and Manhunter is far smarter than DB fighters and has plenty of abilities that ignore enemy durrability. Superman usually restrains his unlimited strength, but it is in fact unlimited. If an action is acheivable through brute force, he can supply sufficient force. Superman's speed is hard to measure based on inconsistancies in writing. In one random comic, a writer with no knowledge of astrophysics casually can give him feats like getting from Andromeda to earth in a matter of minutes, which would make him over a billion times faster than light. Ignoring bad writing like that, Superman is at the very least bound by the speed of light, 3*10^108 m/s. In DB, speed seems to not be limited to light as evidenced by Popo's ship and carpet, plus instant transmission. It's clear that Goku can't reach the max speed of his universe, so he could be above or below Superman in this regard. Eye lasers can pierce nearly impennetrable surfaces, it's safe to assume it is at least as strong as Sorbet's blaster. Aside from Frieza, most DB character's energy attacks inflict concussive damage, which doesn't work on superman. Goku has been written to always have strong opponents to fight and increase his power, and superman was created to be unbeatable. In that regard, Superman has built in weaknesses while there was never a need to make weaknesses a key part of Goku's character. There are ways to make Superman beatable, while Goku is either tricked or outmatched. Superman is a genius and could trick Goku, but if we assume Goku is 100% serious that possibility diminishes.

In summary/TLDR(level one):

Strength: Edge Superman

Speed: unknowable in DBS universe, Superman>=Goku in reality based phyics but offset by instant transmission, more or less tied here.

Energy Attacks: Superman can basically destroy planets with heat vision, but his energy projection is probably less powerful. However, Superman can't be hurt by attacks like Kamehameha, while Goku is vulnerable to heat vision. Edge Superman

Durability: Huge edge Superman, minor edge superman if Goku gets himself something like a magic sword. The powerpole might count, but I doubt it is durable enough to last in this fight.

Weaknesses: Goku would never take advantage of his opponents weaknesses, but if he did he would have a few ways to have reletively easy win conditions, huge edge to a ruthless Goku, minor edge to real Goku.

Basically, unless Goku instant transmissions Superman to a planet near a red sun or a red sun prison room created by Bulma, he won't win. He has a slight chance with a magic item against a kryptonite weakened Superman as well. Biggest advantage Superman has is his solar powered stamina and invulnerability. In a one on one fight with no tricks, you need to manipulate reality to stand a chance against Superman. If I had to name odds I'd say that in a realistic fight between the two where they both have their bad habits impairing them, 99% chance Superman wins.

Realistically though, Goku isn't who you want to be fighting Superman. If Superman fought Buu (Vegito absorbed), I'd say 90-10 Buugeto. I'd also give Hit a 50/50 chance because Hit would surely abuse Superman's weaknesses in brilliant fashion. Note that different versions of Superman have different powers, but he's pretty consistantly described to have strength, speed and durability at the physical limit. As someone who has studied physics undergrad with a huge interest in the subject, at the end of the day none of this could exist in any universe in a way that makes sense. It mostly comes down to abstract reasoning with almost no root in reality, making it sufficiently subjective to say there are no right answers. That being said, I think that my answer makes the most of available, verifiable information so I stick to it.

TLDR(level 2): Superman wins. Read the rest if you want to know why.