In the early days of Dragon Ball, the threats that Goku and friends faced were much more tame, but throughout Dragon Ball Z and eventually in Dragon Ball Super, the enemies got stronger and stronger. As the threats got crazier, a select few of the main characters got stronger to combat these new opponents. In Super it has gotten to the point that not only has Goku obtained the power of a god, he has almost surpassed it. The biggest side effect of the ever-raising stakes of Dragon Ball is that quite a few characters have been left in the dust of Goku and Vegeta.
As a result, characters that would otherwise be considered incredibly strong are tossed aside and thrown into the "weak" category, comparatively speaking. Of course, some of these characters were always weak, but there is more than one kind of strength in the world of Dragon Ball, the franchise just doesn't always do a good job of showing it. It is for these reasons that we decided to take all the Dragon Ball characters that people consider weak and provide a couple of reasons to prove otherwise. Here are 15 weak Dragon Ball characters who might actually be overpowered.
15 YAMCHA
Here's a hot take: Yamcha isn't weak. Everyone uses Yamcha's death by the Saibaman as both meme fodder and to prove how weak the characters is. While this claim is backed up by the fact that Yamcha would be sidelined as the series went on, there's one thing that everyone forgets about the infamous scene, and that's that the Saibaman only self-destructed because he couldn't beat Yamcha fair and square.
Yamcha was strong enough to take on an opponent he had never faced and didn't know how to face, but was able to take it down so easily that the Saiyans shamed it into destroying Yamcha by whatever means necessary. Though Yamcha wasn't an active player in later sagas, he still has a ton of power for a human, and he could easily be considered overpowered next to ordinary humans, especially if he uses his power while playing professional baseball.
14 YAJIROBE
Yajirobe is one of the most sidelined characters in all of Dragon Ball, but he's not without his merits. Sure, he's not exactly a martial artist, but in therms of swordsmanship, he is incredibly skilled to the point of superhuman ability. For example, Yajirobe was able to cut Cymbal in half with ease during the King Piccolo saga; not the first or last time we would see his incredibly sword skills.
Perhaps Yajirobe's most heroic act was saving Goku from Great Ape Vegeta's clutches by cutting off the Saiyan's tail and turning him back to normal. Cutting through a giant ape's tail with nothing but a sword is not something an ordinary human could do, meaning Yajirobe has more skills than you might expect based on the comedic nature of his character.
13 CHIAOTZU
When Chiaotzu blew himself up to defeat Nappa, he was seen as weak because Nappa survived. However, don't let this tiny moment define the little guy's power, since Chiaotzu is easily one of the strongest fighters in Dragon Ball, he's just not featured all that much. We've seen that ki users and other superhuman martial artists are sometimes capable of small telekinetic feats, but Chiaotzu is a special case.
What he might lack in size, stature or raw power, he more than makes up for his near mastery of telekinetic power. It's kind of surprising we don't get to see just how skilled Chiaotzu is with his telekinesis, but from what he have seen, he can control it with crazy precision. He can't use it on opponents that are too strong, but his telekinetic power still outclasses that of all Earthlings.
12 BULMA
Anyone who doesn't fight or practice martial arts/ki control is often considered a "normal" human in the world of Dragon Ball. Though Bulma is not a fighter, she is by no means normal. Bulma Brief is an incredibly brilliant woman with expertise in multiple fields of scientific study and application, and a rich one at that. Bulma's inventions, ability to reverse-engineer everything she comes across and overall access to great scientific resources makes her one of the most powerful people on Earth.
Heck, we could argue that she is the most financially and politically powerful woman on Earth as well, based on her intellect and family's company. Seriously, Bulma's inventions, which would not exist without her brains and resources, literally saved everyone in 80% of the franchise. She might not be able to go Super Saiyan, but she can sure as heck invent something to combat one.
11 CHI-CHI
Similar to Bulma, Chi-Chi has a strength that cannot be measured in the same way as power levels and martial arts skill. Though Chi-Chi is indeed a skilled non-powered martial artist — showing incredible precision and speed with her fighting form and style — her true power is in her strong will and fiery personality.
Chi-Chi doesn't take crap from anyone, especially not Goku. In fact, it could be said that Chi-Chi is the only person who can control Goku, who, despite being a demi-god, is afraid of his wife so much that he will often cave to her whims. This is to say that Chi-Chi has a pretty tight leash around the strongest mortal in the universe, and the same could be said of her sons. Gohan and Goten are VERY obedient sons to their mother, doing whatever she wishes, be it out of love... or fear.
10 MR. SATAN
We know how ridiculous this sounds, but Mr. Satan is also kind of overpowered, just not in the way you think. Mr. Satan is definitely a skilled martial artist, and though he wouldn't stand a chance against ki blasts and super strength, he still deserves some credit for being the world champion when going up against other non-powered martial artists. However, this is not where his true power lies.
Mr. Satan's strength comes in two forms, his political power and his "control" over Buu. Thanks to his status as the world's hero, Mr. Satan is beloved by all and he can pretty much get anything he wants, which is perhaps the reason for his wealth. Furthermore, Mr. Satan is the only one who knows the particular way to treat and take care of Buu to get him to do what he wants, meaning he controls one of the world's strongest fighters.
9 MASTER ROSHI
When Master Roshi was first introduced, we were meant to believe that he was just some old hermit, but upon seeing his power, we were made aware of his crazy strength. Sure, Roshi is perhaps a better teacher than he is a warrior, and he has a, shall we say "weakness" for women, but he is still an incredibly strong and capable fighter. In his max-power form, he has massive strength and can fully utilize his ki, and that's just his physical power.
Though he cannot fly and might not know many deadly attacks, Roshi also deserves praise for his wisdom and knowledge of old, powerful techniques. Roshi is one of the few people who knows the evil containment wave as well as other useful attacks that are able to overcome enemies stronger than him.
8 PAN
It's not like anyone is calling an infant "weak," but the fact that Pan is still a baby means that those around her must not think much of her in terms of strength. Of course, if they thought this, then they should have seen her "adventure" with the Pilaf gang. Through a series of strange events, Pan ended up being launched into space in one of Pilaf's robots, which resulted in us seeing just how strong a quarter-Saiyan could be.
After Pilaf's robot broke, the gang was saved from falling to their deaths by Pan, who was flying and producing a powerful ki aura. Seriously, how strong is she gonna be later if she can already fly effortlessly as a baby? Future threats to Earth will definitely have to go through Pan first.
7 KRILLIN
Krillin is one of those characters that sort of rides the line between being considered weak and being considered strong. For one thing, he is one of the few superhuman martial artists on Earth, but he has also died quite a few times, giving the appearance that he is rather weak. However, these deaths don't really matter, since Krillin is still the strongest human in the entire Dragon Ball franchise.
Not only is he one of the only humans who continued to train beyond the Cell Saga, Krillin is also the creator of easily one of the strongest and most used attacks in the series. The destructo disc was created by Krillin and turns the already destructive power of ki into a spinning blade that can cut through anything, which is so effective that the other Z-fighters have added it to their arsenal.
6 VIDEL
Videl might not be in the same class as other fighters, but she's got more strength than most give her credit for. For one thing, she surpassed her father in terms of martial arts skill very early in her life, meaning her basic skills are far beyond that of a "world champion." Plus, let's not forget that she was so strong, the police asked her to help fight crime.
Of course, she's also amongst one of the few humans who can fly, and though she doesn't have a ton of power to go with this ability, she can still hold her own. It might not be canon, but we can use Broly: Second Coming as an example of how strong Videl is. In the movie, Videl is able to avoid severe injury at the hands of the legendary Super Saiyan, something that we're sure is no easy feat.
5 KAMI
Strength is not just about power, it is also about wisdom. Luckily, Kami has both of these things. Though he might just be remembered as a teacher, Kami had a lot of power hiding beneath the surface. Originally part of a nameless Namekian, Kami was one of two beings that resulted from a fission meant to purge evil from the Namekian's body. The other being was King Piccolo, and his power reflected just how much strength Kami had as well.
Kami was part of a rare breed of Namekians that had both the strength of the warrior type and the magical power of the Dragon Clan. With his magical power, Kami was able to create the Earth's dragon balls, and since the balls' ability to grant great wishes is reflective of how strong their creator is, we can conclude Kami was incredibly strong.
4 DENDE
Kami's successor, Dende, is not the same rare breed of Namekian that Kami was, but he still has his strengths. Though he is no fighter, Dende's magical power is worth noting, especially since he was able to reactivate the dragon balls, modify their rules and power them up even further throughout the years. Plus, let's not forget his great healing abilities, which seem to have no limit and can heal presumably even the most fatal injuries.
As the current guardian of Earth, Dende hasn't shown much power beyond his healing and dragon ball-modifying, but let's not forget that he is essentially a god of the planet. What power this comes with is not always clear, but since Kami had the power to restore the moon and access to ancient powerful artifacts meant for protecting the Earth, it's fair to say that Dende might actually be a bit overpowered.
3 OX KING
The Ox King trained under Master Roshi before it was cool, though he didn't seem to learn as much as Roshi's later students. Despite having enough power to be considered a superhuman martial artist, the Ox King was never quite able to master the Kamehameha. However, this shouldn't stop us from considering the Ox-King one of the strongest humans in Dragon Ball.
The Ox King might not be going up against Goku or Vegeta any time soon, especially not at his age, but he is by no means weak. For one thing, he is a gigantic mountain of a man, meaning he has raw, natural physical strength. From what we know of the Z-fighters, part of their strength relies on their ki, which can run out, as opposed to Ox King's strength, which is only reliant on his own muscles.
2 KING KAI
King Kai is mostly portrayed as a teacher more than anything else, so it is easy to forget that he is in fact a god. As the kai of the north quadrant of Universe 7, King Kai possesses godly Ki, and a lot of it, at that. It was said that King Kai's power was about equal to Raditz, which might not be saying much, but it's more than one would expect from his appearance and demeanor. Regardless, there is more to King Kai's strength than just his power.
On top of having godly ki, King Kai is capable of telepathic contact, an ability that allows him to warn Goku of danger ahead of time, something that has been invaluable to the Z-fighters. Furthermore, King Kai also possesses the ability to materialize pretty much anything he wishes through the use of magic, another skill that has come in handy.
1 ANDROIDS 19 AND 20
We're not sure if anyone is calling Androids 19 and 20 weak, but the fact that they went down rather easily means they could be considered part of the lower-tier of Dragon Ball villains. However, this would be incorrect when you consider the source of their power. Unlike Androids 16, 17 and 18, who are powered by an infinite power core, Androids 18 and 19 get their power by absorbing it from others.
This kind of power source makes them seem weak compared to the infinite energy androids, but we think it actually makes them stronger. While Androids 16-18 won't run out of energy, Androids 19 and 20 can continuously drain their enemies of power while adding to their own, meaning they literally zap the strength from them. Though this power wasn't seen to be all that deadly, the concept makes Androids 19 and 20 seem way overpowered.