Death is a mainstay of Dragon Ball, with most characters dying twice before the original series finished its run. While death was seldom ever permanent in the franchise, that doesn’t mean it didn’t have weight. Krillin dies multiple times over, but his first two deaths are some of the most emotional moments in Dragon Ball, period.
Villains also die in abundance, but unlike the heroes, they only die once. Goku’s killed a lot of baddies over the years (along with taking an innocent life or two,) but only when necessary. Goku doesn’t enjoy killing, but he goes through with it when he needs to– and this being Dragon Ball, he often needs to.
10 Grandpa Gohan
There are several mentions made to Grandpa Gohan and his death before it’s actually revealed how he died. Goku’s quick to mention his grandfather in passing, and the fact that he’s since passed away, but no one questions Goku on what happened. Until the end of the arc where Goku reveals that a monster killed his grandfather on a full moon.
Bulma and co. suspect this might be Goku, but they brush it off. Only for Goku to look at the full moon and transform into the Oozaru that killed his grandfather. Everyone agrees to keep this fact a secret from Goku, but he puts the pieces together when he sees Vegeta transform into an Oozaru.
9 Tao Pai Pai
Tao Pai Pai ends up coming back as a cyborg during the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai– suggesting that perhaps Goku did not really kill him– but it’s impossible to deny the fact that Tao Pai Pai died on screen. The logistics of Tao Pai Pai’s return don’t really matter, because it’s his death that stands out.
Just as Tao Pai Pai was the first character to genuinely threaten Goku’s life, he’s the first life Goku ends up taking on screen. Kicking Tao Pai Pai’s grenade back into him, the assassin is blown up into smithereens and Goku rushes off to dismantle the Red Ribbon Army piece by piece.
8 The Red Ribbon Army
Goku’s assault on the Red Ribbon Army is nothing short of incredible and an arc highlight. Never again does he take such an inconsiderate approach to life, killing soldier after soldier. But they are indeed still soldiers working for the worst military on the planet. At this point, they’ve earned Goku’s wrath.
It’s also worth noting the Red Ribbon officers Goku could have killed by circumstance: Murasaki, White, Yellow. The Red Ribbon Army arc is Goku at his most violent, but it’s not unearned. That’s really just the nature of storytelling when an evil army is at the center of the plot.
7 Adjutant Black
Adjutant Black in no way finds Commander Red gathering the Dragon Balls to wish himself taller humorous. For Black, the Red Ribbon Army was a point of pride. While Red and Black aren’t all that present as characters, Black is consistently depicted as a respectable figure with Red a figurehead.
Killing Red point blank, Black fashions himself the new commander of the Red Ribbon Army, but his inauguration is interrupted by Goku. Black offers Goku a spot in his new army, but he should have known better than to try to appease a boy the Red Ribbon Army had been actively antagonizing for weeks. Black dons a suit of armor to fight back, but Goku simply kills him in it.
6 Tambourine
The Piccolo Daimao arc opens with Goku finding Krillin’s dead body and immediately rushing off to confront his killer. Unfortunately, fresh off exhausting himself in the final match of the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, Goku is swiftly defeated by Tambourine– even losing Kintoun in the process. Goku plummets to the Earth and it’s only by chance that he survives.
But he does indeed survive, and after eating a nice meal, Goku gets his chance to fight Tambourine again. This time, Goku kills Tambourine with minimal effort, getting revenge for Krillin. Tambourine’s death signals Piccolo Daimao to Goku’s location, however, and the Demon King nearly kills Goku as punishment.
5 Drum & Piano
Piccolo Daimao stopping Goku’s heart puts into perspective just how dangerous the Demon King is. Goku’s heart quite literally stops with only a miracle starting it back up again. Beaten beyond submission, Goku pleads with Yajirobe to take him up Karin Tower in hopes of gaining some insight on how to defeat Piccolo.
Drinking divine poison and bringing out his innate limits, Goku gains a power boost that puts him on equal footing with Piccolo Daimao. Before he can defeat the Demon King, however, Drum and Piano stand in his way. Goku kills Drum as a means to save Tenshinhan, while Piano dies of collateral damage.
4 Piccolo Daimao
Powered up and exactly as strong as Piccolo Daimao, Goku puts up an incredible fight against the Demon King. This is arguably the fight the entire arc was building up to and it by no means disappoints. That said, Goku isn’t stronger than Piccolo and it very much shows. By the end of the fight, Goku is crippled and near death.
Goku is pushed to a point where Tenshinhan needs to swoop in and save him. The only reason Goku survives at all is because Piccolo lets his hubris get the best of him. Failing to fully cripple Goku ends up being Piccolo’s undoing.
3 Future Frieza
This fight never happens in the main canon, but that’s only because Future Trunks misreads the situation and jumps the gun. With no way of knowing that Goku knows Instantaneous Movement and Frieza already landed on Earth, Trunks rushes in to save the day. Trunks believes he’s caused a butterfly effect, but his intervention is what really throws the timeline out of whack.
In Trunks’ timeline, Goku presumably teleports as soon as Frieza and King Cold land on Earth, killing them with no casualties. In the main timeline, Goku ends up sensing Trunks’ Ki while in space. With no need to save the day, Goku sits back and enjoys his ride home.
2 Yakon
Goku’s fight against Yakon seems inconsequential at first, but it’s actually the straw that breaks the camel’s back for Vegeta. Back in the realm of the living for a single day, Goku is set to fight Vegeta at the quarter-finals in the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai only for the tournament to be hijacked. Goku assures Vegeta they’ll have their fight once the situation with Bobbidi is settled, but things escalate fast.
Realizing that Yakon is absorbing his energy, Goku quickly flashes into Super Saiyan 2– killing Yakon. While swift, Vegeta is able to catch Goku’s trigger, realizing himself that even if he and Goku fought, the gap had grown too wide in the seven years since the Cell Games.
1 Majin Buu
What’s notably about Majin Buu’s death is that Dragon Ball refuses to let it be final, with Goku’s request for reincarnation actually honored by the end of the manga. In a series where death is anything but straightforward, it’s fitting that Dragon Ball’s final death– and Goku’s final kill– isn’t permanent.
That said, Majin Buu’s death isn’t dressed up as sentimental or emotional as he’s still a villain dying. Pure Buu was chaos personified, but it’s exactly this which allows Goku to connect with the Djinn. Facing down the universe’s greatest threat, Goku’s greatest concern is whether or not he’ll get to fight Buu again.