Dragon Ball Z: 10 most powerful characters ranked

Get those Scouters at the ready, because we’re ranking the 10 most powerful characters in Dragon Ball Z.

Dragon Ball Z is one of the biggest anime on the planet; whether you grew up with the show or just started watching it recently, no one can deny the popularity of these powerful characters. Dragon Ball Z did something quite dangerous by introducing “Power Levels,” a method of measuring the power of a character down to a number.

Any Dragon Ball fan can tell you that power levels were explicitly created to be broken, to be an unreliable method of tracking used by the villains to hype their own strength up.

This doesn’t mean that any character who gets the power-level treatment is a pushover, far from it. With all that said, here are our picks for the 10 strongest characters in Dragon Ball Z. Fair warning: spoilers ahead!

Most powerful characters in Dragon Ball Z ranked

We’ll be focusing on ranking the strongest characters from Dragon Ball Z specifically, so expect to avoid any movie or further universe characters appearing. Otherwise, Broly would be stealing the spotlight.

10. Krillin

In last place is the strongest human on Earth; yes, he’s officially earned that title, and he is the vertically challenged Krillin. Krillin is a fan favorite as one of the few definitive humans in the Z Warriors, keeping the fights grounded. Even though death has little consequence by the end of the series, Krillin’s involvement brings real stakes to any situation where the big man Goku isn’t involved yet.

Krillin’s ranking on this list is more of an honorable mention more than anything else. Even though he isn’t much in a fight, Krillin genuinely puts himself in the line of fire even when he knows he doesn’t stand a chance to gain the hero’s time, which, at the very least, earns him a spot on this list.

9. Frieza

In ninth place is the most iconic villain in the entire Dragon Ball series, Frieza. Dragon Ball Z took a significant risk by including science-fiction elements in its story. Whereas the original Dragon Ball, while having gag physics at points, was more down to earth than Z. So having an alien intergalactic overlord, who’s as deadly as he is sassy, definitely paid off with some of the best action we ever see in Dragon Ball.

Few characters can live up to the impact Frieza has on the Namek Saga; imagine a force so powerful that the entire cast needs to play hide and seek, and whenever they appear on Frieza’s radar, he delegates forces almost as powerful as he is to deal with it. We can’t forget Frieza is the reason Goku turns Super Saiyan by killing Krillin; the heroes have to fulfill an ancient alien prophecy to even stand a chance.

8. Piccolo

Up next is everybody’s favorite green alien named after a woodwind instrument, the mighty Piccolo. Going from the biggest Dragon Ball villain to one of Goku’s strongest allies and becoming Gohan’s adoptive father in Z is a dramatic change of pace for the “villain” with an iconic attack repertoire only the main character can rival.

While a powerhouse, Piccolo has a bad habit of getting sidelined as soon as he gets a boost back into power relevance: fusing with Nail on Namek only to be outgunned by Frieza’s forms, and fusing with Kami on Earth to stand a chance against the Androids, only to come up short when Cell arrives on the scene. Thankfully, Piccolo has earned his place.

7. The Androids

We’re going to cheat a little by including Androids 16, 17, and 18 within the same rank. Until Cell appears on the scene, they are a force to be reckoned with. Few can forget about Android 18 putting Vegeta in his place, Android 17 and Piccolo’s standoff, and, of course, Android 16 defending the pair against Cell.

Those in the know will understand that the Android Saga was chockful of editor interference. It’s why the main villain keeps changing throughout this part of the series. While the Androids only appear briefly and can be overshadowed by Cell, we must mention again how they handed the Z warriors their collective behinds even though they had time to prepare.

6. Trunks

Sticking in the realm of science-fiction is the time-traveling son of Vegeta and Bulma, Trunks. This son of a Saiyan makes an immediate impression by going super and, literally, cutting a rebuilt Mecha Frieza on the warpath down to size. Few other characters can claim they have as powerful an introduction as Trunks.

While Trunks is a much-needed boost to the Z Warriors’ power pool going into the Android Sage, he has a bad habit of making mistakes from the moment he appears. Yes, he takes Frieza to school, but doing so makes the Androids more powerful; he becomes strong enough to take down Perfect Cell but physically cannot land a hit on the villain. Trunks is a newbie to the past and, while powerful, struggles to measure up whenever faced with a threat.

5. Perfect Cell

Toei Animation

Cell, specifically in his perfect form, is one of the strongest villains in Dragon Ball Z, and he knows it. A culmination of the DNA of the strongest warriors in the universe, from Goku to even Frieza, being as cocky as to throw a tournament to give Earth a chance at being saved from his uncaring nature. He may have gotten this amount of pride from Vegeta’s side.

Cell in his perfect form doesn’t even begin to try in his fights, even against Goku, until Android 16’s noble sacrifice makes Gohan give Cell a run for his money, pushing him back into his semi-perfect form after Gohan makes the bugman upchuck Android 18, taking Goku with him in a self-destruction that he survives by sheer luck. Perfect Cell bounces off of our heroes so well in both fights and conversations he instantly becomes a memorable fan-favorite powerhouse.

4. Gohan

The Super Saiyan bookworm, Gohan, ranks fourth in our list of most powerful characters. While he is more often than not reluctant to fight at all, being the pacifist he is, the poor boy is only around 11 when he fights Perfect Cell after all; it takes a lot for Gohan to finally stand up and genuinely fight since he relies on powerful bursts of rage.

Gohan rarely gets moments to shine until the Android Saga. Still, ever since Piccolo picked him up, Gohan has thrown himself into the fray repeatedly, getting stronger and stronger until he gets pushed to the edge and displays his power during the fight against Cell, where he makes short work of the so-called perfect being.

3. Kid Buu

Buu’s final form, Kid Buu, puts every Z Warrior on edge as this mindless, powerful beast of a fighter destroys Earth and follows the heroes to the Other World as they try to make their escape. Destruction follows suit as Buu appears out of sheer will to finish the fight. No one could escape Buu’s wrath until Goku put him down using the Spirit Bomb.

Kid Buu presents a unique threat in the Dragon Ball universe: whereas he could almost be negotiated with, in his other forms, Kid Buu has no goal other than straight-up destruction. He doesn’t want to rule over anyone like Frieza or see how his powers measure up like Vegeta and Cell. Kid Buu’s simplicity may make him a mixed villain, but you cannot deny his sheer power.

2. Vegeta

Toei Animation

In second place is the menace of Dragon Ball Z, the prince of all Saiyans: Vegeta. The prideful prince is in a league of his own as soon as he appears on Earth; Goku barely stands a chance against Vegeta during their first battle and only wins with help from the Z Warriors. Vegeta has every opportunity to win each fight he partakes in until Frieza puts him in his place on Namek, driving him to become stronger.

Vegeta may have a bad habit of playing catchup with another certain Saiyan, but he’s given enough moments to stand on his own legs. Being a massive threat against Goku when he appears on Earth with Nappa, he makes short work of most of Frieza’s goons on Namek, puts down second form Cell until his pride gets in the way, and blows both the in-universe and at-home audience away in his Majin form.

1: Goku

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone as he is the franchise’s main character, but looking at Goku, specifically in Dragon Ball Z, he struggles with almost every main fight he partakes in. Goku technically didn’t defeat Raditz and Vegeta; he could only beat Frieza by becoming a Super Saiyan and had to call up Gohan as a ringer against Cell.

While the plot of the Buu Saga weighs Goku down at his most powerful (Super Saiyan 3), he ultimately earns every other feat of power through his willingness to get stronger. His rise to the most powerful character in Dragon Ball Z is natural and justified with every fist thrown, energy beam blast, and excessive training session. Goku works for his strength and will only use it to defend his homeworld; that’s why he’s the most powerful character in Dragon Ball Z.

Those are our rankings of the most powerful characters in Dragon Ball Z did we miss your favorite that you think deserves a spot? Like Yamcha? Anyway, all Dragon Ball fans will want to know all the can about the upcoming series Dragon Ball Daima following a story leak. If you’re looking forward to the next big Dragon Ball game you may be interested in the massive roster leak from Dragon Ball Sparking Zero.