The Dragon Ball franchise has encompassed over 30 years of adventures for Goku and the Z-Warriors. Here’s how old the character is in every saga.

With so much content, many fans wonder how old Goku is in every Dragon Ball saga, including Dragon Ball Super. The Dragon Ball franchise has been around for almost 40 years now, and Goku and his friends have aged right along with it. The anime, manga, and various other sources provide enough information to keep track of the timelines, and this is how everything has played out for Goku, so far.

One unique aspect of Dragon Ball stems from how Goku has repeatedly aged over the course of the story. Goku started off as a child, but then he progressed into a teenager, a young adult with a family, and as of Goku’s storyline in Dragon Ball Super, he’s even become a grandfather. Granted, Goku’s physical appearance doesn’t usually match up with whatever stage he’s at in his life, but the fact that Dragon Ball is a story that lets its characters age is still something worth appreciating.

Goku Officially Beat The Superman Of His Universe

While not every saga outright says how old Goku is supposed to be, especially in Dragon Ball Super, there is enough information in the story to draw a workable conclusion. Also, it should be noted that except for Dragon Ball GT, only canon sagas will be referenced here, so the various movies and video games of the franchise won’t be accounted for at this time.

How Old Goku Is In The Emperor Pilaf Saga

The Emperor Pilaf saga was the very first saga in Dragon Ball that saw Goku go on his first-ever search for the Dragon Balls. There’s some potential confusion when it comes to how old Goku is in Dragon Ball‘s beginning. At the beginning of the saga, Goku told Bulma that he was 14, but that was because Goku’s lack of education left him with an inability to count properly. After studying with Master Roshi, Goku became smart enough to at least know that 12, which was his actual age in his introduction, came after 11, and not 14.

How Old Goku Is In The Tournament & Red Ribbon Army Sagas

Goku was still 12 when he competed in the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament and battled Master Roshi in the final round. However, by the time he started looking for the Dragon Balls, a full year had gone by since they were last used, making Goku 13 for the Red Ribbon Army saga. Goku’s actions during said saga would be used as the basis for many future stories, including the Android saga and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.

How Old Goku Is In The Tien Shinhan & Demon King Piccolo Sagas

After defeating the Red Ribbon Army and retrieving the Four Star Dragon Ball, Goku then began training for the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. Three years had passed during that time, making Goku 16 when he entered the tournament and had his fight against Tien. In the immediate aftermath of the tournament, the teenage Goku became embroiled in the conflict with Demon King Piccolo, which would be the first time Goku truly worked to save the world from evil.

How Old Goku Is In The Piccolo Jr. Saga

With King Piccolo having created a child to avenge his death, Goku had to train with Kami for three years to defeat him in the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. As such, Goku was 19 when he fought and defeated Dragon Ball‘s Piccolo while ultimately sparing him. Their fight would be the final fight of the Dragon Ball era and set the tone for both the Dragon Ball Z era and the rest of the franchise going forward.

How Old Goku Is In The Saiyan & Frieza Sagas

Five years pass between the end of Dragon Ball and the beginning of Dragon Ball Z, making Goku 24 when the Saiyan saga first starts. Following Goku’s death, a year passes as everyone prepares for the arrival of Vegeta and Nappa, making Goku 25 for the latter half of the saga. This would remain the case for the Frieza saga, as it took place in the same year as the fight with Vegeta and Nappa.

How Old Goku Is In The Android & Cell Sagas

Two years after the Namek saga, Goku, now 27, travels back to Earth where he meets Dragon Ball Z‘s Future Trunks and learns about the impending arrival of the fearsome androids. Three years pass before the androids appear, making Goku 30 at the time, and when both the androids and Cell prove to be too much for everyone to handle, the Dragon Team begins to use the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to gain an extra year of training in a single day. Goku, of course, is one of the people to use it, adding some complication to the question of how old is Goku. Physically, Goku was 31 by the end of the fight with Cell.

How Old Goku Is In The Buu Saga

The biggest time jump in Dragon Ball canon happened after Super Saiyan 2 Gohan’s victory over Cell. Seven years passed after that, with Goku electing to remain dead so that he could further his training in Heaven and stop drawing trouble to Earth. Goku would eventually be brought back to life by the end of Dragon Ball Z‘s Buu Saga and return to Earth a 38-year-old man, no worse for wear from when he died.

How Old Goku Is In The Battle Of Gods Saga

Dragon Ball Super superseded the non-canon Dragon Ball GT, and it, naturally, began with a timeskip. Dragon Ball Super moved Goku’s story forward by four years in the Battle of Gods saga, thus making Goku 42. The Battle of the Gods saga saw Goku seeking to become a Super Saiyan God both for the thrill and to stop Beerus from destroying the Earth. The events of Battle of Gods would set the stage for the rest of Dragon Ball Super and the franchise, as a whole.

How Old Goku Is In The Golden Frieza, Universe 6, & Future Trunks Sagas

One year goes by between Goku’s fight with Beerus and the return of Frieza in Dragon Ball Super, which places Goku at 43 years old. Shortly after saving Earth from the rebuilt Frieza Force, Goku and his friends fight under Beerus against Champa’s team of warriors from Universe 6. Since Goku and Vegeta spent three years training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, that would put Goku at about 46 years old for the fight against Universe 6. The Future Trunks saga takes place an unspecified amount of time after that, but a year doesn’t appear to have gone by, so Goku’s age should be the same.

How Old Goku Is In The Universal Survival Saga & Dragon Ball Super: Broly

While only a few months go by between the Future Trunks saga and the Universe Survival saga, the events of Dragon Ball Super: Broly do confirm that Goku should have aged again. Dragon Ball Super: Broly takes place shortly after the Tournament of Power, and since the Dragon Balls were used in Broly, that means at least one year has gone by since they were used to resurrect Frieza. Thanks to that, it can be concluded that Goku is about 47 during the Tournament of Power.

How Old Goku Is In The Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga, Granolah The Survivor Saga, & Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

The next stories to follow Dragon Ball Super: Broly were the Galactic Patrol Prisoner and Granolah the Survivor Sagas of the manga and 2022’s Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. While the exact progression of time in the manga arcs is unclear, Pan is three years old in Super Hero, meaning that two years have passed since Broly by Super Hero, thus making Goku about 49. Goku is absent for most of Super Hero, letting Gohan and Piccolo show that they’re more than capable of saving the world without him, but even well into what would be middle age for a normal human, Goku is still a formidable force.

How Old Goku Is At The Very End Of Dragon Ball Z

With so much analysis being put into Goku’s age, another point of discussion is, naturally, his age at the end of Dragon Ball Z. The end of Dragon Ball Z still takes place 10 years after the Buu saga, and with Goku’s use of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in Dragon Ball Super taken into account, that would now make him about 51. Considering how much use newer material has gotten out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, it’s likely that Goku will end up aging even further before reaching the original ending, but at the time of writing, there’s no full way of knowing if that will happen.

How Old Goku Is In Dragon Ball GT

While Dragon Ball GT is non-canon, Goku’s age during it is still worth discussion. GT starts five years after Dragon Ball Z, so with Dragon Ball Super taken into account, Goku starts off as 56 years old. Everything in the first half of the series takes place over one year, making Goku 57 after defeating Baby, and he stays that age for the second half, as there isn’t a significant passage of time there. Finally, assuming that Goku truly appeared in the epilogue and Dragon Ball GT: A Hero’s Legacy, that would mean Goku aged another 100 years to be 157, the highest age he’s ever been in the franchise.

Why Goku Doesn’t Age

The most noticeable aspect of how old Goku is in Dragon Ball is that Goku seems to stop aging after hitting adulthood at the end of Dragon Ball, his physique, strength, stamina, speed, and other abilities staying just as sharp as ever despite the fact that he’s technically approaching 50. According to Vegeta this is because pure-blooded Saiyans stop physically aging once they reach their physical prime, so they can fight longer, with muscle mass being the only thing that changes. Dragon Ball Super further emphasized this by revealing that 80 is considered young for a Saiyan, so it’s clear that Goku’s Saiyan physiology is the biggest factor behind his youthful appearance.

Dragon Ball Needs To Age Up Goku

While there’s plenty of canon justification for Goku’s seemingly eternal youth, in terms of the ongoing story of Dragon Ball it creates some awkwardness. Dragon Ball has created multiple generations designed to succeed Goku, all the way back to Gohan being poised to take over after Goku’s death in the Cell Saga, but the character has become so iconic he’s never permanently ridden off into the sunset. Stories like Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero need to justify Goku being somewhere else just so that other characters can get their moments in the sun. It also creates a strange impression when Goku appears approximately as old as his adult son.

To help Dragon Ball move forward, it might be helpful to showcase how old Goku is by giving him a more grizzled appearance. This could be justified through a device like Hyperbolic Time Chamber, as the result of some enemy’s attack, or in any number of other ways. An older Goku who takes on more of a mentor role, such as Master Roshi did in earlier Dragon Ballstories, could be a fruitful avenue for the franchise to explore in future releases.

Source: Screenrant.com