There is only one person who can transform into Goku

Akira Toriyama once said that young Jackie Chan was the most suitable person to transform into Goku.

Akira Toriyama - the man behind the iconic Dragon Ball work expressed an interesting wish in a 2013 interview, when releasing "Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods". According to information from Kanzenshuu - a famous repository of knowledge about Dragon Ball, Toriyama clearly has a preference for the role of Goku in the 2009 film adaptation - "Dragonball Evolution".

Author imagines Jackie Chan - a Hollywood star famous for his roles in action and comedy films such as "Police Story" (1985) transformed into a Saiyan.

Jackie Chan also showed interest in "Dragon Ball" as early as 1995, mentioning in an interview that he found the comic series "interesting" and wanted to turn it into a film.

Toriyama's involvement and the final result

Despite participating as a co-writer with director James Wong in Dragonball Evolution, Toriyama did not foresee disastrous results at the box office, although he defended the film. The film, with a modest budget of 30 million USD, only grossed 56 million USD and was heavily criticized by critics, only receiving a score of 15% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Justin Chatwin played Goku but did not receive a warm reception from critics and audiences. During this same period, Jackie Chan was busy with other projects such as Rush Hour 3 (2007), The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) and voice acting in Kung Fu Panda (2008).

Toriyama and Jackie Chan: Shared vision

The mutual admiration between Toriyama and Jackie Chan is remarkable. Toriyama revealed on the Japanese show "Kobayashi" in 2013 that, if he could choose an actor to play Goku, he would choose a young Jackie Chan because he believed that no one else could represent this hero better.

On the contrary, Jackie Chan expressed his love for Dragon Ball after the manga ended, in an interview with "Dragon Ball Daizenshuu". Jackie Chan revealed that after watching the anime and reading the Chinese version of the Dragon Ball manga, he was fascinated, especially with the character Goku, and saw the potential for a film adaptation with full effects and epic adventures.