Godzilla vs. Superman: Who Wins in a Fight?

The best thing about comic books and the fantasy genre is how it can transport us to another world with creative and imaginative characters and their backgrounds. With that, I often find myself wondering about what would happen if I could make different characters meet. How would they act? How would they match up? And I have often asked myself if Superman were to take on Godzilla, who would come out on top? 

Superman would definitely beat Godzilla quite easily. Sure, Godzilla is huge, tough, and can tear down a city. But, Superman is a demi-god who is almost impossible to defeat. A small and powerful target means he can bring Godzilla to its knees through sheer strength alone! Not to mention all his other abilities.

Superman has fought plenty of large strong opponents, and Godzilla’s best chance would come from using atomic breath. That doesn’t pose much of a threat given Superman’s invulnerability to nuclear-radiated beams. 

Unless Godzilla has some Kryptonite running in his blood while fighting the Man of Steel, it’s not even a contest. 

Superman’s Path to Victory

There are actually a number of ways for Superman to beat the overgrown lizard that is Godzilla. But it will be key for him to remain out of harm’s way. Not because he may lose, but rather to have an easier day at the office. 

Superman is tiny compared to Godzilla, and he is almost infinitely faster. If the Last Son of Krypton is alert enough, he can very easily avoid any physical blows from Big Z. Does anyone call Godzilla Big Z? I have no clue, but I just did. Big Z is slow and not that bright compared to our Man of Steel and will have a very hard time locating his exceptionally small target.

Avoiding damage is only part of the task for Superman. He needs to properly attack Godzilla. This isn’t exactly easy given that Godzilla’s skin is nearly impenetrable. It has been known to crack in some of its fights, but it isn’t easy to do so. 

Superman could easily fly into Godzilla’s mouth and fly back out through him, as we have seen many heroes do when fighting a big baddie. But with Godzilla’s destructive breath, that wouldn’t be the wisest option.

Superman essentially has to make it a fistfight. No matter how tough your armor is, a strong enough blow to the head, and it will be lights out. With Superman’s speed and power, that shouldn’t be difficult at all. 

Superman just needs to aim right because, given his size, his blow will cause more pressure than it will a blunt force. But I think, with the right maneuvers, he could have Godzilla flat on his back within minutes. 

Similar Opponents that Superman Faced

Our Man of Steel has faced his share of big bad guys. But because Superman is so powerful, his enemies are always written with more than just brute force in mind. So I wouldn’t place any “monsters” in Superman’s top 10 foes list – with Doomsday being the exception. 

While Doomsday does kill Superman, it is nearly invincible. Doomsday is able to evolve and can’t really be killed the way we think monsters should. Doomsday is also considerably more powerful than Godzilla in the way the character fights Superman. 

But in certain depictions of the beast, Doomsday has been as big as Godzilla and Superman definitely puts up a fight, only losing to non-size-related factors. 

While I would love to see Superman pull Godzilla by the tail into space and just throw him into a never-ending path away from our galaxy, the Space Godzilla is a real thing that is said to have evolved from just a few Godzilla cells that were exposed to a black hole. 

I would love to see Superman and Space Godzilla go toe to toe in the middle of space, but Superman draws energy from the sun and would probably even more handily best Big Z. 

Who Can Beat Superman?

This is a relatively short list depending on how you define “beat.” Given the range of comics, Superman appears in, many characters have beaten him, or are implied to be able to beat him. 

Many of these are “good” guys and likely will have no quarrel with the Man of Steel…but then again, I still imagine them squaring up just for the sheer fun of the fight.

Most famously, Batman beat Superman in a fight. Sure, one on one, in a cage, with no tools, like it were a UFC fight, Superman would obliterate Batman. It would be as competitive as the Rock swimming against Michael Phelps. 

But in many storylines, using his cunning wit, ability to plan ahead, and quite frankly his sheer will, Batman has bested Superman – regardless of his ability to be faster than a speeding bullet or stronger than a locomotive. 

The Flash reaches a God-like level of power in certain comic book storylines and Superman wouldn’t be able to put up a fight given that he likely wouldn’t be able to see the scarlet speedster. In certain storylines, calling flash a “speedster” is a downright insult. He transcends being “fast” and can manipulate matter and deliver infinite momentum with his blows. 

In such scenarios, The Flash can probably best Superman and Godzilla if they were on the same team faster than we could process it. 

Having Superman fight big monsters is great fun for the visuals. It would be exciting, to say the least. But Godzilla just offers no real competition to the Man of Steel. There is a reason his main foe is a genius human and not some overpowered alien. 

Superman is just so powerful that fights based on strength are predictable and redundant. Unless Godzilla was being controlled by Lex Luthor, or any other villain with the ability to manipulate Superman like a piece on a chessboard, the fight is a blowout with Superman standing tall at the end. 

It is not impossible to defeat the last son of Krypton in a battle, but Godzilla simply does not have the intelligence for it.