Akira Toriyama is a much better writer than anime fans give him credit for. The man may not have created the shonen genre, but through Dragon Ball, Toriyama redefined what shonen series are capable of. Dragon Ball is best known for its fantastic art and action, but there’s a real magic to the series’ character development: especially when it comes to the villains.
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Dragon Ball villains are the perfect mix of great character designs, strong motivations, and strong writing that’ll keep you thinking about them for years to come. Between the original Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, and even Dragon Ball GT, Akira Toriyama, Toyotarou, and the writers at Toei are responsible for creating some of the best-written villains in anime and manga history.
10
Baby is the Best Villain in Dragon Ball GT
An original character created by Toei for Dragon Ball GT, Baby is the only villain in DBGT who feels at home with the likes of Frieza, Cell, and Majin from Dragon Ball Z. Created by Dr. Myuu near the end of the Black Star Dragon Ball Saga, Baby is driven by a sole purpose in his eponymous story arc: revenge. Baby is the last Tuffle, a race wiped out by the Saiyans prior to the start of Dragon Ball. Upon discovering that Goku and Vegeta are two of the last Saiyans, Baby makes it his mission to destroy them and everything they care about.
Part of what makes Baby so compelling is how slowly he infects the Earth, possessions the Saiyans one by one, leaving only Goku and Pan left to fight him off. Baby taking over Vegeta’s body has a lot of weight to it considering his backstory, and his subsequent battle with Goku is one of the best in Dragon Ball GT, resulting in Goku’s epic Super Saiyan 4 transformation. Notably, Baby is the only main villain in DBGT who Super Saiyan 4 Goku actually beats.
9
Majin Buu Has Surprisingly Great Character Development
Majin Buu loses some of his luster when he becomes Super Buu and later Kid Buu, but his original Fat Buu persona has some of the strongest character development in Dragon Ball Z. Introduced as a childish monster who doesn’t understand the difference between right and wrong, Majin Buu is slowly rehabilitated by Mr. Satan, of all people, when the so-called Champion of the Earth fails to kill him.
Slowly, Mr. Satan and Majin Buu become close friends, and even adopt a dog together, Bee. When humans shoot Bee and nearly kill him, Majin Buu can no longer control his rage and dispels all his evil into Evil Buu. Fat Buu comes back later in the Saga to fight off Kid Buu, fully bringing his arc full circle. Majin Buu may be Dragon Ball Z‘s weakest villain, but it’s telling that even Toriyama’s worst villain is still extremely well written with a very touching and emotionally charged arc.
8
Cell Mirrors DBZ’s Main Characters Perfectly
Cell is one of Dragon Ball Z‘s most interesting villains, not only in terms of his design, but specifically in how Akira Toriyama writes him. Taking influence from most of the main Z-Fighters, Cell also mirrors the different main characters during the Cell Saga. When he’s first introduced, Cell has a mysterious, demonic presence meant to emulate Piccolo. Once Cell becomes Semi-Perfect, he adopts an arrogant overconfidence that plays off Vegeta taking control of the narrative.
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After Cell becomes Perfect, he becomes calm, collected, and interested primarily in having the best fight possible. Akira Toriyama even starts drawing Cell with Goku-like expressions in the Dragon Ball manga to fully illustrate the fact that Goku and Cell are literary foils. Come the Cell Games, Super Perfect Cell’s childlike nature and emotional instability play perfectly off of Gohan, who’s own emotional issues end up driving his character development in the arc after he unlocks Super Saiyan 2.
7
Akira Toriyama Turned Broly From a Mindless Grunt Into One of Dragon Ball’s Most Nuanced Villains
Broly in his original Dragon Ball Z movies doesn’t have much going on beyond being an absolute powerhouse, especially in Broly – The Second Coming and Bio-Broly. Fans were understandably anxious when it was announced that Akira Toriyama would make Broly canon in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, but the end result was better than anyone could have expected. Toriyama turned Broly from a villain with zero depth into a misunderstood, manipulated young man who never had a chance at normalcy.
Toriyama made Broly a genuinely tragic character, whose relationship with his father Paragus is as complex as it is pained. Along with finding friends in Cheelai and Lemo, Broly’s fight with Goku and Vegeta slowly rehabilitates him, and shows him that there’s more to this life than mindless violence and fighting for survival. Toriyama even ends the movie with Goku introducing himself as ‘Kakarot’, a callback to Broly’s hatred of Goku in his original trilogy and showing that he’s no longer going to be the same monster he was before. Broly’s since become an anti-hero set to be the Z-Fighters’ trump card in the Black Frieza Saga.
6
Beerus Changed Dragon Ball For the Better
Beerus has the distinction of being the first Dragon Ball villain no one could beat. Even after unlocking Super Saiyan God, Goku failed to defeat Beerus in their final battle during Battle of Gods. In one short film, Beerus reiterated Dragon Ball‘s main theme that there will always be someone better than you, gave Goku a new benchmark of power to reach for, and expanded Dragon Ball‘s world building with the introduction of Gods of Destruction, God Ki, and the multiverse.
Beerus didn’t stay a villain for long, becoming a hero by Resurrection F, but he’s not exactly a Z-Fighter. Beerus will not bail out the heroes, and doesn’t always have the best relationship with Goku. Beerus will likely never be a villain again, but considering Goku has spent all of Dragon Ball Super trying to surpass Beerus, it’s more than likely the two will fight again one last time before the series finally comes to an end.
5
Zamasu is the Most Complicated Villain in Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball villains tend to have simple to understand motivations befitting the shonen genre, which makes Zamasu such an interesting antagonist. Zamasu is a complex character with his own hypocrisies, insecurities, and demons that haunt his story arc. He truly believes that mortals are beneath Gods, and goes into flight or fight once he realizes that humans like Goku have the power to effectively surpass the Gods.
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Zamasu’s relationship with himself as Goku Black leads to a unique dynamic, showing how different circumstances can fundamentally alter a person’s personality. Watching Zamasu slowly unravel and develop a God complex – to the point of killing all other Gods in his multiverse – only makes him more compelling. And unlike other Dragon Ball villains, Zamasu essentially wins by pulling off his Zero Mortals Plan with only a few hiccups.
4
Tien’s Villain Arc Set the Mold For Dragon Ball’s Best Characters
Tien is one of the most underrated characters in Dragon Ball, especially since he essentially created the archetype both Piccolo and Vegeta end up following in Dragon Ball Z. Tien is originally introduced as a villain and foil to Goku. Where Goku has a genuine love of martial arts and fighting stronger opponents, Tien has never been challenged and wants nothing more than to be a ruthless assassin. That all changes when he fights Jackie Chun.
By battling Roshi and Goku, Tien slowly realizes he not only has a real future as a martial artist, he genuinely loves the thrill of the fight. In the span of just a few episodes, Toriyama takes Tien from the series’ most despicable villain up to that point into a hero who goes on to become Goku’s right-hand man in the Demon King Piccolo and Piccolo Jr. Sagas.
3
Frieza is a Masterclass in Writing a Villain Fans Love to Hate (& Straight Up Love)
Frieza is a phenomenal villain. Disarmingly polite, charismatic, and pure evil, Frieza is responsible for driving multiple species to near-extinction, including the Saiyans and Namekians. He’s one of the few villains with a strong personal connection to multiple heroes in his story arc. Frieza committed genocide against the Namekian, giving Piccolo a personal reason to want to stop him; enslaved Vegeta for years after killing off most Saiyans; and develops a strong dynamic with Goku during their battle in just the span of a few episodes.
What makes Frieza such an amazing villain is the fact he can actually back up all his talk and arrogance. If it weren’t for Super Saiyan, Goku would have died on Namek. Frieza is also one of the few characters who’s just as well-written, if not even better, in Dragon Ball Super. Turning Frieza into a reluctant ally in the Tournament of Power was one of the smartest things the series ever dead, along with forcing Goku and Frieza to actually work together.
2
Piccolo Went From Dragon Ball’s Greatest Villain to One of DBZ’s Greatest Characters
King Piccolo was Dragon Ball‘s first real super villain. In the span of just a few episodes, Krillin, Master Roshi, and even Shenron all died. Goku had finally met his match, and even after becoming stronger by drinking the Ultra Divine Water, he still just barely managed to defeat the Demon King. That’s not what makes Piccolo such an amazing villain, though. Demon King Piccolo’s reincarnation, Piccolo, may start out evil, but he slowly becomes more human thanks to his relationship with Goku and Gohan.
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Piccolo’s character arc in the Saiyan Saga is nothing short of brilliant. Training Gohan brings out Piccolo’s inner humanity, as he slowly starts to care about his first friend in the world. Piccolo sacrificing his life for Gohan against Nappa still stands out as one of the most emotional moments in Dragon Ball Z. The way Toriyama writes Piccolo during the Frieza Saga is also quietly genius, contrasting his own relationship with his Namekian heritage against Goku’s difficulty reconciling his Saiyan background.
1
Vegeta is the Best Written Villain in All of Dragon Ball
Vegeta’s not only the best-written villain in Dragon Ball, he might very well be the best-written character Akira Toriyama ever created and wrote. Toriyama famously did not love Vegeta during Dragon Ball‘s original run, but kept him around because of how organically Vegeta’s action and motivations could drive the story. The Prince of All Saiyans was a larger-than-life figure who could motivate heroes and villains alike, all while grappling with his own insecurities in an incredibly dynamic way.
Vegeta arguably remains a villain all the way from his introduction up to the Cell Saga (briefly relapsing as Majin Vegeta in the Majin Buu arc). Vegeta has so much personal baggage he fights through in Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super. Super, in particular, does an amazing job building off of Vegeta’s development in DBZ, forcing him to come face to face with his past sins and accept the fact he’s grown into just as much an Earthling as Goku.
- Release Date
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2015 – 2018
- Network
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Fuji TV
- Showrunner
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Tatsuya Nagamine
- Directors
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Ryota Nakamura, Masanori Sato, Kenichi Takeshita, Takao Iwai, Hideki Hiroshima, Masato Mitsuka, Kazuya Karasawa, Ayumu Ono, Takahiro Imamura, Tatsuya Nagamine, Kôjiro Kawasaki, Kouji Ogawa
- Writers
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Ryu King, Hiroshi Yamaguchi
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Masakazu Morita
Whis (voice)
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Masako Nozawa
Son Goku/Goku Black/Son Gohan/Son Goten (voices)
