The 12 Strongest Dragon Ball Movie Villains, Ranked

Throughout the Dragon Ball franchise, Goku and his friends have gone up against some very powerful enemies. Ever since the franchise expanded to include space aliens and inter-dimensional gods, the threats just kept coming. Dragon Ball Z was known for escalating the threats with each arc to give Goku a new strength level to build towards and that’s been the name of the game ever since.

With a new film on the way in the form of Dragon Ball Super: Super-Hero, it’s easy to forget how powerful some of the original movie villains were. While the Dragon Ball films don’t fit snugly into the canon of the nearly 40-year-old franchise, they’re still home to some of the most iconic and powerful villains the Z fighters have ever faced.

12 General Tao

Most of the Dragon Ball movies are redone versions of the various arcs and storylines in the original Dragon Ball series, and that’s where General Tao comes in. This terrifying foe was introduced in Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure where he and Minister Shen work together to collect the Dragon Balls to take over Chiaotzu’s kingdom.

What would become Goku’s most powerful and signature attack, the Kamehameha did not affect the villain after Goku attacked him for killing Bora. Goku only had one shot at defeating Toa, and that was training with Korin. If not, then Toa would have easily gone through with his plans.

11 Garlic Jr.

Introduced in Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone, the villain Garlic Jr. shows up for revenge against Kami. Years prior, Kami had defeated Garlic Sr. to become the god of the planet Earth. Garlic Jr. desires to unite the Dragon Balls and wish for immortality so that he may replace Kami as the god of Earth. 

Since he’s one of the only villains to ever successfully wish for immortality in the franchise, beating him was no easy feat. Compared to where the Z fighter’s power levels are now, it’s hard to remember how difficult beating someone like Garlic Jr. was. If it wasn’t for Gohan’s latent energy pushing Garlic Jr. into the Dead Zone, trapping him there forever, the villain would have succeeded in his plan.

10 Lord Slug

Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug introduces the titular villain Lord Slug. The film sees an Evil Namekean come to Earth to take it over, much as King Piccalo did. The film is mostly a retread of the King Piccolo saga from Dragon Ball, but that doesn’t stop Lord Slug from being a powerful villain in his own right.

Lord Slug managed to push Goku so far that he almost reached Super Saiyan. It still wasn’t enough though, as Slug was able to grow to Kaiju-like size and devastate a city to defeat Goku. It was only through the combined might of Goku and Piccolo that they were able to defeat this nasty villain.

9 Turles

Long before the Goku Black arc of Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Z introduced Turles, a Goku look-alike. No reason is given for why the two look the same but they come to blows in Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might. This film sees an evil tree sucking the life force out of the Earth so that it can grow fruit for the evil Saiyans to eat. This is how they gain more power.

Thanks to the tree’s fruit, Turles proved to be more than a match for Goku. At the time, Goku was only able to enhance his power thanks to the Kio-ken technique, and even though it was enough to defeat Vegeta, it wasn’t enough to beat Turles. If it wasn’t for the Spirit Bomb, the Earth would have been destroyed.

8 Cooler/Meta-Cooler

Cooler has the rare distinction of appearing in two Dragon Ball films, Dragon Ball Z: Coolers Revenge and Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler. Cooler was introduced as Frieza’s older and more powerful brother and he almost made Frieza out to be the fool of the family.

One of the distinctive qualities of Cooler’s and Frieza’s race is that they can survive in the vacuum of space. When Cooler first came to Earth, his fourth form proved to be a powerful match for Goku and his friends, but things stepped up when he took control of New Namek as Meta-Cooler. His natural ability to survive, coupled with the fact that he now ran an entire planet with an army of metal clones, proved more than a match for the Z Fighters.

7 Andrew 13

The Red Ribbon Army is a big fan of Androids, Android 8, 16-20 and it looks like new ones will be coming in Dragon Ball Super: Super-Hero, but Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13 introduces yet another Android to the Dragon Ball Universe in the form of Android 13.

This android operated a lot like Cell did before Cell was introduced. By destroying his fellow androids, he could absorb them and grow his power. The androids have an unlimited energy reserve and don’t tire out like the Z fighters tend to, and this one was able to wipe the floor with a Super Saiyan.

6 Bojack

When Cell was about to destroy the Earth, Goku sacrificed himself by transporting himself and Cell to King Kai’s planet, which was destroyed instead. Thanks to those actions, the evil space pirate Bojack was freed from his prison. Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound introduces the space pirate that not even Goku could defeat.

At the time when this movie takes place, only one character had truly achieved the level of Super Saiyan 2, and that was Gohan. No other Z fighter could come close to matching Bojack’s power at the time and he was even able to easily dispose of Vegeta. If Gohan hadn’t been able to tap into Super Saiyan 2, then Bojack would have surely destroyed the Earth.

5 Hirudegarn

Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z introduced a lot of creatures to this weird fantasy/sci-fi world, including some who can grow to Kaiju-like sizes, but never a full-on Kaiju. Until Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon, that is. Hirudegarn is a unique villain to the Dragon Ball canon that proved to be a threat that Goku and the Z fighters were not prepared for.

Hirudegarn was an ancient monster trapped by a warrior named Tapion, who knew of a way to defeat the monster, but only if Goku could master it. The combined might of the Z fighters were useless when battling Hirudegarn because of his unnatural agility. While it’s unthinkable that Goku wouldn’t master any technique or form put in front of him if he hadn’t, that movie might have been far grimmer than it ended up being.

4 Jenemba

Jenemba was introduced in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, where he starts as a Demon tasked with cleaning up some of the exes evil that’s laying around. Due to an accident, he merges with it and becomes a major threat to the afterlife and the universe at large.

Jenemba’s initial form was that of a giant blob-like creature who could open portals to anywhere. He destabilized the afterlife so much that many former Dragon Ball villains escaped. His second form proved to be so powerful that Goku’s most powerful form, Super Saiyan 3 was no match for him. If Vegeta hadn’t swallowed his pride so he and Goku could fuse, the world surely would have ended.

3 Golden Frieza

Frieza was a long time ago in the Dragon Ball canon. By the time Dragon Ball Z had ended, everyone had surpassed his power level. But he proved a popular enough villain to get an upgrade. Not only did he get stronger when he was brought back from Hell, but he also reached a new form.

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F introduces Golden Frieza, Frieza’s fourth form. Goku, Vegeta, and Frieza all reached new forms to have a fair rematch, but Frieza’s hubris got the better of him, he couldn’t control the new power, and he burnt out. Luckily, he can still destroy a planet and survive.

2 Broly

The original Broly from Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan is a very strong foe. He proved so popular and powerful that he’s one of the few villains to show up in multiple movies. But the version introduced in Dragon Ball Super: Broly is infinitely more powerful.

This version of Broly was strong enough to go toe to toe with both Vegeta and Goku in their Super Saiyan Blue forms. Broly could tap into the power of the Great Ape for some extra boost. The Dragon Ball villain’s transformation into Super Saiyan is a chilling scene that almost spelled doom for Vegeta and Goku. If he could ever learn to control his powers, he could be the most powerful being in the Galaxy.

1 Beerus

After a very long hiatus, Dragon Ball returned in the form of a big-screen movie. Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods introduces a new threat for Goku to face, one that’s more powerful than anything he’s faced before, a God of Destruction. Introduced as a companion to the Supreme Kai, he has the power to destroy anything in the universe.

Beerus comes to Earth looking for a Super Saiyan God, and after learning how Goku could achieve that form, the fight begins. Even with Goku having reached this new level of Super Saiyan, he was no match for Beerus. Luckily, Beerus gained a soft spot for the Earth and its food, or that would have been the end of everything.

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