Death is a common occurrence in Dragon Ball as early as the Red Ribbon Army arc, but no single event in the Pre-Z series could have resulted in Son Goku’s demise. He’s the main character, after all. While the Dragon Balls can bring someone back to life, can the series really afford to kill off its lead? As it turns out, yes, and it often leads to great results.
Perhaps Goku’s purest literary foil in Dragon Ball, Vegeta quickly cemented his role in the franchise and now shares the role of co-lead with Goku as of Dragon Ball Super. One of the strongest characters in the series, Vegeta’s deaths are as significant as Goku’s– if only because they always signal when everything’s about to fall apart. Goku & Vegeta don’t die as often as their contemporaries, but their deaths are always extremely important for Dragon Ball.
10 Goku: Killed By Piccolo
The start of the Saiyan arc might have the most twists in the shortest amount of time for Dragon Ball. Not only is it revealed that Goku is actually a space alien with a Saiyan brother, he ends up killed during the fight with Raditz. Raditz proves to be far too powerful for both Goku & Piccolo, forcing them to strategize around killing him with one attack.
Unfortunately, Goku is forced to hold Raditz into place so Piccolo’s Makankosappo can connect and the two brothers end up dying violent, painful, and gruesome deaths side by side. That said, God’s keeping his eye on Goku and he isn’t content with death being the end for the Earth’s strongest martial artist.
9 Vegeta: Killed By Frieza
Vegeta surviving his battle on Earth ends up being a blessing in disguise for the main cast. Come the Namek arc, Gohan and Krillin are hopelessly outclassed, leaving Vegeta to clean up Frieza’s Forces in their stead. Come the halfway point, they’re even all begrudgingly working together.
Vegeta fills the role Goku usually does by driving the Namek arc’s story forward and clearing out most of the supporting villains (very comparable to Goku in the Red Ribbon Army arc,) but his luck runs out eventually. Frieza proves too overwhelming for the Prince of All Saiyans and he dies a humiliating death, begging Goku to avenge the Saiyans.
8 Goku: Heart Virus
Upon becoming the legendary Super Saiyan and defeating Frieza once & for all (twice over,) Goku returns to Earth to live out the rest of his days. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have many left in the original timeline. Not long after, Goku contracts a rare Heart Virus– of which there is no cure in his era– dying a rather morbid and realistic death.
Goku dying at the hands of the Heart Virus is a reminder that death doesn’t always come through glory, and that even the “Strongest Under the Heavens” can pass on from something so… normal.
7 Vegeta: Killed By Future Androids
Goku’s death also leaves an unfortunate void in the original timeline that’s not filled until Trunks returns to his future at the end of the Cell arc. With no Goku to lend support, the future’s Artificial Humans kills the main cast one by one.
PIccolo is the first to fall, with Vegeta dying soon after. The anime shows that Vegeta already had access to Super Saiyan at this point, but it clearly wasn’t enough. Without Goku alive, Vegeta likely stagnated in his training (especially since the Cell arc is what really developers their rivalry.)
6 Goku: Sacrifices Life Against Cell
Heading into the Cell Games, Akira Toriyama wanted to retire Goku as a character and pass the torch onto Gohan. It’s thematically appropriate considering just how much early Dragon Ball focused on the next generation (framed through Muten Roshi’s lens,) and regardless of how the Buu arc undoes this, the Cell arc does move Goku out of the story with a considerable amount of grace.
Rather than dying at Cell’s hands, Goku dies on his own terms this time. He realizes that the series’ villains have always come after him, and maybe the world would be just a bit safer if he were gone. It’s another sad, almost real moment for the Cell arc, but that’s what makes Goku’s sacrifice so poignant.
5 Vegeta: Sacrifices Life Against Buu
With Goku dead, Vegeta spends seven years allowing himself to acclimate to Earthling culture. Come the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai and he’s a very different man– a fact Vegeta himself doesn’t appreciate. The moment he catches wind that Goku is stronger than him, Vegeta allows himself to be possessed by Bobbidi.
Through his rematch with Goku, Vegeta comes to realize the magnitude of what he’s done: notably threatening the lives of a family he’s genuinely come to love just to settle a petty rivalry spurred by a midlife crisis. As penance, Vegeta sacrifices his life to save Majin Buu in one of Dragon Ball’s most powerful moments.
4 Goku: Assassinated By Hit (Super)
There’s really no such thing as “filler” when it comes to Dragon Ball Super, but the anime does feature content that’s clearly exclusive to the anime adaptation with a clear lack of input from Akira Toriyama. These moments come in-between story arcs, usually as a means of allowing the supporting cast to stretch their legs.
Between the Goku Black and Universe Survival arcs, Goku hires Hit to assassinate him so that the two can have a proper rematch. While Hit does end up killing Goku, this is all according to plan and Goku had a workaround to revive himself.
3 Vegeta: Blown Up By Frieza (Super)
Resurrection F kicks off with an interesting enough premise and does a decent job at putting the focus on the oft forgotten martial artists, but things fall apart fast once Goku and Vegeta show up. Goku’s fight against Frieza is just a slog, but Vegeta’s does have a cathartic factor to it.
Already exhausted, Vegeta lays into Frieza with minimal effort. Pushed to his breaking point, Frieza impulsively destroys the Planet Earth. Vegeta is killed in the blast, but Whis ends up keeping Goku & the rest of the supporting cast alive. By turning back time, Whis gives Goku the chance to make things right.
2 Goku: “Moves On” During The Final Battle (GT)
Something very strange happens during the final battle with Omega Shenron in Dragon Ball GT. By all accounts, Goku is very much killed before he can drop the Genki Dama on Omega, but he comes back in the finale no worse for wear. But from there, he’s treated more like a mythological figure than a man.
There’s an eerie quality to Goku’s depiction at the end of GT, but considering he flies off with both Shenlong and the Dragon Balls when all is said & done, it’s clear Goku passed on at some point during the final battle. How he’s present for the finale is another question entirely; but one that needs no answer.
1 Vegeta: Old Age (GT)
Vegeta leaves Pan with some very poignant words at the end of Dragon Ball GT, telling her to cherish her grandfather’s gi. It’s a reminder of how much Goku & Vegeta have been through, and the connection only they share. Goku may be gone, but Vegeta shows no signs of confusion. He knows what happened to Goku.
Vegeta doesn’t follow after him, though. At least not in Dragon Ball GT. Time passes without much conflict and Vegeta dies of old age like most of the supporting cast. That said, his lineage lives on through Vegeta Jr. at the end of the series.