There are very few characters in Dragon Ball who get to go the whole series without fighting. As the story progresses, action only becomes more predominant, eventually turning into the main way that Dragon Ball tells its story in the likes of the Frieza and Majin Buu arcs. This isn’t a bad thing by any means, but it does mean quite a few characters get to fight before all is said & done.
That doesn’t mean they get to win, though. Although there aren’t many, a few Dragon Ball characters have the distinction of losing every single fight they’ve been in. While some of these characters make sense– mainly owing due to their lack of relevancy and Battle Power compared to the rest of the cast– others are fan favorites who logically deserve a win or two.
Victory isn’t everything in Dragon Ball, but it’s still surprising for a character to get through the whole series without a single win. It should be pointed out that “actual” fighters don’t include skirmishes, sparring sessions, or one-off panel encounters (like the Tenkaichi Budokai preliminaries.)
5 Chaozu
Chaozu has always been more of a prop than a character, living to solely serve Tenshinhan’s character development. Outside of the preliminary match he would have needed to win to participate in the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, Chaozu is never shown winning a single fight throughout all of Dragon Ball.
His first battle is against Krillin in the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, where despite having a psychic advantage, Chaozu loses because he doesn’t know basic math. Even then, Chaozu wasn’t putting up all that great of a fight as he left Krillin with no lasting damage. Following the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, Chaozu is unceremoniously killed by King Piccolo and is later defeated off-screen by Tao Pai Pai in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai.
Chaozu’s last fight in Dragon Ball is against Nappa in the Saiyan arc. Desperate to help any way he can, Chaozu kills himself while clinging onto Nappa, intending to take the Saiyan with him. Once the dust clears, however, all that’s left is an irritated Nappa. Chaozu becomes so weak comparatively that Tenshinhan doesn’t even bring him to the Cell Games.
4 Chichi
As the mother of Goku’s children and the main character’s wife, Chichi is a fairly important character in Dragon Ball. She’s not very present, but Goku makes sure to mention his wife often enough throughout the Z-era, reminding audiences that he’s not only a married man, but an attentine one too. How could he not be considering how he and Chichi reunited?
Although Goku didn’t initially remember her, Chichi was his first opponent in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. This marks Chichi’s only fight in Dragon Ball, but it’s a solid one all around. Chichi never manages to hit Goku, but the fight choreography is splendid and their banter is very charming.
From this point on, Chichi spends the rest of Dragon Ball more or less in the background. The anime plays up her worst qualities for filler, but Toriyama keeps her a loving– if at times overbearing– mother and wife for the remainder of the manga’s run.
3 Android 16
Android 16 only fights twice in Dragon Ball, both times against Cell, and both times ending in disaster. Had Android 16 fought Imperfect Cell before he absorbed a good chunk of the Earth’s population, he could have likely defeated Cell without much effort. Even fighting a powered up Cell, 16 rips off his tail and deals some serious damage.
It isn’t enough, of course, and Cell is able to absorb Android 17. 16 is barely alive at this point and by the time Vegeta lets Cell absorb Android 18, there’s little 16 can actually do to fight back. Android 16 intends to kill Cell at the Cell Games in a kamikaze attack, but the bomb inside his body was removed by Bulma during his repairs.
Cell shatters Android 16’s body, leaving him just a head. In a rare act of bravery, Mr. Satan carries 16’s head over to Gohan and gives him the confidence he needed to tap into Super Saiyan 2. 16 is killed by Cell on the spot, unable to come back to life due to his lack of a soul.
2 Son Goten
To be fair, Goten does have one clear victory on-screen, but it’s against a 25th Tenkaicih Budokai punk who was never going to give him a real fight. In every single real battle Goten participates in (even as Gotenks,) he loses. Goten loses to Trunks in the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai and then goes on to lose to Buu every single time Gotenks fights him.
It’s odd just how unremarkable Goten ends up being in the grand scheme of things. Even the End of Z suggests that Goten’s gotten weak, putting girls over his training. As Goku’s son– and his splitting image, at that– you’d expect Goten would go on to do great things, but he ends up conceding to Trunks virtually every time they’re on-screen together.
Goten’s only real big character moment in the original Dragon Ball is when he sees Buu kill Chichi and starts taking his training seriously. This doesn’t amount to anything, though, as Gotenks loses and Goten never so much as punches another character from this point on.
1 Future Gohan
Future Gohan has the single worst life of any character in Dragon Ball. He spends his entire adult life fighting a losing battle against two Artificial Humans who are gradually wiping out all of humanity. By the time of his death, Future Gohan’s lost his arm and failed to win a single fight against Androids 17 and 18.
In both the anime and manga, Trunks arrives at the scene too late, finding Gohan’s dead body in the rain. It’s a heavy sight, but it doesn’t signal the end of hope for Trunks’ future. Bulma is able to develop time travel, send her son back in time, and set right what went wrong. Gohan may have lost every battle he fought, but that’s what let Trunks win the war.