Dragon Ball: Can Goku move in stopped time? Explained

Goku is often considered as one of the strongest characters in not just Dragon Ball, but across all of anime. He has powers that transcend beyond what any human or Saiyan is capable of and has the capability to reach levels that even surpass a God of Destruction.

Therefore, the question often arises on whether he can manipulate time and move when the same is completely frozen (Time Freeze). Thus, in this article, a brief analysis has been done on whether Goku can move through stopped time.

However, it is important to remember that in most cases, logic does not work very well in Dragon Ball. There is a lot of randomness and several plot-holes to how things are done. Thus, most of the discussion is based on how it is shown in the anime.

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Can Goku surpass time stop by overpowering himself with Kaioken times 10 or beyond in Dragon Ball?

Before moving on with the discussion on whether Goku can fight back or not, it is important to mention what it means to stop time in the Dragon Ball universe. Time stop or Time Freeze is an ability that allows users to completely halt the progression of time.

This ability can allow someone to escape from a very risky situation or escape from near-death moments to hide from their opponents. Only a few characters can use this technique, including Hit, Guldo, Fu, Dogidogi and others. However, Hit's usage of this is probably the most prominent up until this point.

During the Goku vs Hit arc, Goku fought out of stopped time when he fought against Hit. The latter mostly used Time Skip, which Goku was able to counter, but the former also used Time Freeze as well.

Now, in general, Goku will not be able to move within complete Time Freeze. However, if he can overpower himself, then it is possible.

Once Goku reaches the power level of 'Super Sayian Blue Kaioken times 10', he can surpass all forms of time-related barriers as well.

In that state, Goku actually broke through all the time-related abilities that Hit threw at him and was able to move on without any issues.

This also means that in Ultra Instinct mode, which is stronger than Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken times 10, Goku will be able to break past complete Time Freeze.

Regardless of Goku's god-like strength, he has not been able to manipulate time in any way until now. He has only been able to break stopped time by pushing his limit to 'Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken times 10'.

Therefore, Goku's ability to break past time barriers is related to his power level at that point. This is because even in 'Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken times 1', Goku can be affected by Time Freeze.

However, one very essential thing to consider is that reaching the power level to negate Time Freeze is not very easy. Goku has to put in an enormous amount of pressure on his own body if he has to reach the power levels of 'Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken times 10' or beyond.

In fact, the last time he reached Ultra Instinct, he was unable to hold onto the power for very long as divinity on a mortal body comes at a huge cost. Therefore, even if Goku breaks past Time Freeze, he will need to win the fight fast. Otherwise, his energy levels will die out fast in Dragon Ball.