Thinking Out Loud: Sayian Biology

So here's a weird idea that's been knocking around my head for years and won't go away; Sayians and Kryptonians have a lot in common. Now, I don't just mean that elements of the Superman story were incorporated into Goku's background when it was translated to English, but rather that there a similarities between the Sayian and Kryptonian races within their respective fictional universes. Something that doesn't come up much in DC Comics, but is there if you look for it, is that Kryptonians (and also Daxamites) are inherently stronger and tougher than humans due to their having a "higher molecular density". Now, that's comic book nonsense, because if it were true, Clark Kent would weigh much more than a human of the same size and someone would have surely noticed, but hey, we love comics because we're dumb, so let's run though this a little.

Just how strong and tough Superman would be without the Yellow Sun of Earth is never really covered, but I have to assume somewhere above the human average for a man of his build and below what we'd call truly superhuman. So where does the most over-hyped race in Dragon Ball history come in? Well, way back in the very first episode, Bulma shoots Goku with a machine pistol and whilst it really hurts, it doesn't break his skin at all. In the first episode of Dragon Ball Z, Raditz is able to catch a bullet with his finders and throw it back at lethal velocity with ease. We know that the fighters in the series can deflect blows with their ki, but right at the start of Dragon Ball, Goku hasn't learned to manipulate his ki yet, at least not consciously, so there must be something about him that prevents the bullets from doing real damage. Something like a greater density of Goku's flesh?

Yes, it's a silly idea, but it's the kind of silly I love in my supers and just sits in my head rent-free until I write these articles. Let's the crazy out, I guess? A higher molecular density would also explain why the Sayians are such strong warriors and come back stronger each time they heal. Hell, it may even help provide some answer as to where the extra mass comes from when they transform into Great Ape form, if the extra density unfolds somewhat. For the record, Hulk just pulls his extra mass from another dimension (basically super-Hell) in the comics at my last check, though it may have changed since Immortal Hulk. Umm, not sure there's anywhere left to go with this, so, hopefully something better next time.