A legacy spanning over 40 years, Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball is one of the oldest and most iconic anime and manga franchises of all time. Toei Animation, the studio behind Dragon Balladapted the manga into two major parts, with Dragon Ball Z being the continuation of the original story after a time skip, where Goku is married to Chi-Chi and has a four-year-old son, Gohan. After living a peaceful life with his family for a few years, Goku and the Z Warriors face new and more powerful threats than ever before. As the villains keep approaching, Goku must tap into his true potential and come to terms with his origins.
Although the original Dragon Ball anime set up the foundation for the story, Dragon Ball Z helped the franchise gain worldwide recognition, especially in the West. Compared to its prequel, Dragon Ball Z focuses on more intense action sequences and iconic characters, raising the stakes higher than ever as the Z Warriors face powerful enemies capable of destroying the world with ease. While there are several skilled fighters in the series, these 10 are a cut above the rest.
10) Piccolo
As Goku’s former adversary, Piccolo turned over a new leaf in Dragon Ball Z and joined his side to save the planet from otherworldly threats. In the Imperfect Cell Saga, Piccolo goes to the Lookout and demands that Kami fuse with him. Realizing the danger awaiting the planet, Kami agrees, resulting in the creation of a Super Namekian. With the sudden boost in power, Piccolo is able to fight Android 17 without getting overpowered, although it is only for a brief period.
Piccolo uses the Hellzone Grenade for the first time, which is another variation of the Scatter Shot technique. This technique has Android 17 cornered, even if it is only for a brief moment. Unfortunately, the fight does not reach a proper conclusion because of Cell’s intervention.
9) Android 18
As one of the most powerful Androids created by Dr. Gero, 18 had enough skill to surpass a Super Saiyan when she was introduced. Vegeta, who achieved the legendary transformation after intense training, easily killed Android 19 after using his new form. Since it was impossible to sense the power of Androids, Vegeta was confident enough to take on 18, but reality was far worse than he imagined.
18 effortlessly plummeted him, without breaking a sweat, proving to everyone that the Androids Trunks warned them about were far more horrifying than they anticipated. Vegeta sustained serious injuries after the battle; however, the blow to his pride was greater than ever. At the same time, even a glimpse of 18’s powers was enough to show the Z warriors that they were seriously outclassed.
8) Android 17
As 18’s twin brother, he was also turned into an Android by Dr. Gero along with her for the sole purpose of helping Cell achieve his perfect form. However, 17 was even stronger than 18, as he managed to hold his own against Piccolo after Piccolo fused with Kami. By fusing with Kami, Piccolo unlocked his abilities and gained unimaginable powers, but even that wasn’t enough to stop the former villain.
While the fight lasted longer than expected, it was clear that 17 would have emerged victorious even after the sacrifice Kami made. Among his many energy attacks, his Android Barrier was the most impressive, providing a shield against Piccolo’s strongest techniques.
7) Android 16
Unlike 17 and 18, who were evil in the beginning and later turned over a new leaf, 16 was already kind, even though he was programmed to kill Goku. This is why Gero ensured that he would be stronger than both 17 and 18. It didn’t take long for 16 to join the side of the Z Warriors and go against Cell to stop him from achieving his perfect form. While 16 didn’t have overwhelmingly powerful one-on-one fights with anyone like the other Androids, his act of going against Cell alone was enough of a feat to prove his strength.
Unfortunately, at the time, Cell had already reached a state stronger than anyone in the series, including 16. In the end, 16 was destroyed at the hands of the villain, but in his dying breath, he didn’t forget to encourage Gohan, which triggered Gohan’s Super Saiyan 2 transformation, allowing him to overpower Cell.
6) Future Trunks
One of Dragon Ball‘s most shocking plot twists was time traveling, and the one who did it turned out to be the son of Bulma and Vegeta. Trunks came to the current timeline to warn Goku and the others about the impending threat of the Androids. He even joined their side when the Androids appeared and trained with Vegeta in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Future Trunks gained immense strength during that time, even reaching the point of becoming Super Saiyan 2.
After Cell’s defeat, he returned to his timeline and easily defeated Androids 17 and 18, who were destroying his world. However, his most impressive feat is still how he easily sliced through Frieza and King Cold, who were feared across the galaxy. Since Goku wasn’t there at the time, no one else was strong enough to stop the villains, so Future Trunks’ arrival was somewhat of a miracle.
5) Cell
Cell was already unstoppable before, but after absorbing 17 and 18, he became practically untouchable. None of the Z Warriors were strong enough to defeat him, and if it hadn’t been for the ridiculous Cell Games, the heroes wouldn’t have gotten a chance to train more. Despite that, even Goku was unable to surpass him, leaving the fate of the world in the hands of his 11-year-old son. Even when forced into a corner, Cell decided to have the last laugh by blowing himself up in the hopes of destroying the planet.
However, Goku used Instant Transmission to take him to King Kai’s planet and died there, which was a major turning point in the story. Goku asked his friends not to wish him back to life so that more villains wouldn’t show up again to target him.
4) Vegeta
As the Saiyan Prince, Vegeta’s pride and his desire to grow stronger are second to none. This is why he couldn’t bear to see Goku, one of the low-ranking Saiyans, surpass him at every step of the way. In the Buu Saga, Vegeta’s thirst for power compelled him to turn to the dark side again by allowing Babidi to place a Majin seal on him to boost his power. The seal was supposed to overwhelm Vegeta’s senses and force him to do Babidi’s bidding, but he refused to take orders from anyone.
His only purpose was to defeat Goku, regardless of how many lives he had to trample on in the process. However, when the planet faced an overwhelming threat after Majin Buu’s awakening, Vegeta realized what he must do to save others. His sacrifice wasn’t simply an effort to save others, but also a form of atonement for the lives he had taken. He converted his entire life force and energy into a massive Final Explosion, destroying his body in the process, hoping to kill Buu along with him.
3) Gohan
Ever since he was four years old, Gohan showed incredible potential as a fighter, which didn’t go unnoticed by Piccolo, who took the kid under his wing. During the Cell Games Saga, Gohan was only 11 years old, but he was stronger than any fighter there, even his own father. After his emotions ran rampant upon seeing the brutal death of Android 16, Gohan transformed into Super Saiyan 2 and easily overpowered Cell, shocking everyone in the vicinity.
Unfortunately, a moment of Gohan’s carelessness and arrogance gave Cell an opportunity to self-explode, causing Goku’s death. Despite the guilt and his own injuries, Gohan pushed past his limits and, with his father’s help, launched a powerful Kamehameha that destroyed the villain once and for all.
2) Goku
As the protagonist of the series, Goku has countless achievements under his belt. He is the first Saiyan to transform in over a thousand years, reaching unprecedented heights of power that no one from his race has ever achieved. His initial transformation during his fight against Frieza was only the beginning, and by the Buu Saga, he achieved Super Saiyan 3. However, while all his transformations are iconic, it can easily be argued that Goku’s best feat in Dragon Ball Z is throwing the gigantic Spirit Bomb at Super Buu.
Thanks to Mr. Satan’s vouch, Goku gathered the energy of all living things on Earth for a massive Spirit Bomb, which was powerful enough to obliterate Super Buu. While the power itself is borrowed, no one other than Goku could have pulled off an attack like that and saved the world once again.
1) Kid Buu
Unlike Majin Buu, Kid Buu was an embodiment of evil, and he was the pure form of the ancient magical creature. Kid Buu was able to separate himself from his counterpart and became stronger than ever, overwhelming everyone in sight. He only had a brief screen time compared to the original Majin Buu, but that was enough to show how deep in trouble the Z Warriors were.
Kid Buu even toyed around with Goku in his Super Saiyan 3 form. However, the most shocking thing he did was reach the Sacred World of the Kais by mimicking the instantaneous movement technique of Kibito Kai. Even though he was destroyed by Goku’s Spirit Bomb, the Saiyan couldn’t surpass him in Dragon Ball Z.
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