Dragon Ball Z is a part of the Dragon Ball saga that holds a very special place in most of our hearts. When this series started, it really showed the kind of anime Dragon Ball could be with time and effort. After all, the original series was great, but there was something different about the storylines and characters that made Z super empowering. Surely, the series has only grown since then, but plenty of fans consider this to be one of the best parts of the saga.
Alongside its exciting storyline and thrilling new characters, there was a lot of incredible moments that made this show so iconic. Of course, what did you expect when you finally got to see how Goku was handling adult life? The show even went so far as to show us everything from new bonds, to even the children of main characters. Not many series will go that far into the future of a main character, but when it comes to Dragon Ball, we’re really glad they did it. With so many amazing moments in this series, it’s hard to pick only a few that really stood out. With a show that’s based on pure fighting scenes that can sometimes last for episodes on end, it’s hard to find a select few times that a character really pushed their limits and did something amazing. We’ve found the 20 Most Over-Powered Things To Ever Happen On Dragon Ball Z. Let us know which ones your favorites were or what you would have preferred to have included in the list!
20 THE DEFEAT OF FRIEZA
Frieza was the ultimate baddie for Dragon Ball Z and he's often considered one of the greatest villains in the series. Having several different tough forms, you knew he was going to be a huge pain to take down. We have dozens of episodes where Frieza and his opponents showed us exactly how strong both could become, but his final battle was the real test.
In a last-ditch effort, and in his strongest form, Goku took down Frieza once and for all; ridding the world of his wicked deeds and presence. Frieza has been beaten before and has come back, but this final time really felt like a huge accomplishment, even for viewers.
19 INTRODUCTION OF SUPER BUU
Not all of the exciting moments have to be fights; there were certainly appearances that made a huge splash and successfully chilled us to the core. Certainly, the many different Buus that revealed themselves throughout the series were typically freaky. After all, these creatures could literally turn anything into food and would effectively devour fighters.
There’s still a large debate on whether Kid Buu or Super Buu is the strongest, seeing as Kid Buu may not have as much strength and is incredibly unpredictable, but Super Buu certainly has an unforgettable face. There’s something about his eyes and sinister smile that made his reveal all the more nerve-wracking.
18 ULTIMATE GOHAN FIGHTS SUPER BUU
It’s always fun, as a fan, to see the main character’s children grow up to be something marvelous. In Dragon Ball, we’d say it’s even more so because the Saiyan race mixed with the human race makes for some pretty incredible fighters.
Gohan, Goku’s eldest son, has always been pretty extraordinary when it comes to fighting, which may just be because it runs in the family. However, his encounters with Super Buu were certainly some of the most powerful fights in the series. Already knowing what Super Buu is capable of, including taunting Goku’s kid a little too much, the two would trade some dangerous blows back and forth.
17 VEGITO ALSO FIGHTS SUPER BUU
Defeating Super Buu is no small feat. It takes a lot of strength to do everything in your power to stop a character like this, which is exactly what Goku and Vegeta had to do. Obviously, it takes a lot for the two fighters to do anything in sync as they’re not exactly the best of pals.
After a touching speech about the need to focus on their families, and pushing the fact that Buu had devoured Bulma, Goku finally got Vegeta to agree into becoming Vegito. Unfortunately, this fusion wasn’t exactly enough to take down the pink alien, but it did allow them to enter Super Buu in order to look for their friends and family.
16 MAJIN VEGETA EXPLODES
There are very few times that we really get to see Vegeta be selfless. While it’s certainly an attribute to his personality, it tends to be hidden under layers and layers of sarcasm and masculine vibes. Still, there’s no denying that Vegeta genuinely cares about his family, especially Bulma.
So, when it came to fighting Buu, he knew that there was only one way to stop him: exploding. The final explosion was meant to take out Buu in a final act, being that it wasn’t something Buu could escape from. The scene was incredibly emotional, and it made fans see Vegeta in a whole new light.
15 GOKU VS BEERUS
Fighting a cat doesn’t really seem like a big deal, but trust us when we say that Beerus is clearly a whole other deal. This purple kitty is someone you really don’t want to get involved with. As a god of destruction, it was going to take a lot for Goku to try and defeat him, and in a lot of ways, we all knew it was going to be impossible.
Ultimately, Goku would lose this battle, but not after gaining some new legendary abilities first! God Form was one new limit we’d never seen Goku use before, so it was certainly worth the loss in the long run.
14 GOTENKS JOINS THE PARTY!
Goten and Trunks had a little bit of an issue: forming Gotenks wasn’t exactly an easy feat. In order to create a new fighter through fusion, it’s important that you get everything perfect, otherwise, you may end up with some… well, we’ll just say they’re “incorrect” versions of what should really happen.
Gotenks is incredibly powerful, but there have been other variations of him that include “Skinny Gotenks” and “Fat Gotenks.” These versions weren’t exactly right as the Fusion Dance seemed to be preformed incorrectly. However, once we got to see the real and ultimate version of Gotenks, we were all blown away!
13 THE INTRODUCTION OF CELL
If you thought any of the Buus were freaky, you really should be losing your mind over the fact that Cell was an actual thing in this series. Surely, we see aliens all the time in the Dragon Ball universe, especially since the main character is definitely not from this world, but Cell is one of the characters that really makes you think “weird alien” just by looking at him. Yet, he’s actually made by hand!
Created from the cells of the world’s best fighters, Cell was designed to be an ultimate fighter. When he was first revealed to us, we all wanted to know exactly what kind of powers he had.
12 FIGHTING THE CELL JRS.
If you think Cell is bad, you really need to take a closer look at his “kids.” Out of all the second generation fighters we were shown in the Dragon Ball series, the cluster of Cell Jrs. was perhaps some of our worst memories.
The reason these little guys are problematic is because they’re basically just multiple tiny versions of Cell himself, complete with all of his insane abilities. There were plenty of characters who did well fighting these little pests, such as Goku, Vegeta, or Trunks, but most fans seem to agree that Piccolo was the one who performed best!
11 GOKU USES THE SPIRIT BOMB
Out of all the moves you’ll see being used in the Dragon Ball series, the Spirit Bomb is perhaps one of the most over-powering moves out there. This is saying a lot, considering the nature of Dragon Ball and how each fighter constantly seems to be getting stronger.
By gathering the energy from life forms around him, Goku is able to create a massive bomb that is sure to defeat most enemies. We don’t often get to see him use it, however, because it takes such a huge toll to create and clean up afterwards, but watching this incredible Saiyan feel desperate enough to use it makes the move even better to see on screen.
10 THE ONE-ARMED KAMEHAMEHA
Even if you’ve never seen an episode of Dragon Ball in your life, you’ve probably heard at least one or two kids, or perhaps even fully-grown adults, scream out the Kamehameha. Obviously, people wouldn’t love it so much if it wasn’t one of the most iconic and most powerful moves to come out of the series.
During the battle with King Piccolo, Goku was pushed to some extremely desperate measures; after all, this was one of the biggest fights in the series. He utilized the One-Handed Kamehameha in order to propel himself into the air and attack Piccolo using the Penetrate! move. This was an incredible showcase of just how strong Goku can really be!
9 GOTEN FIGHTS TRUNKS
During the World Tournament Saga, we got to see a lot of powerful fighters to toe-to-toe. Normally, we wouldn’t see kids like Trunks and Goten going at each other’s throats, but when it came to this battle, they held nothing back!
Half-Saiyan kids are already incredible when it comes to their power, so getting to see the two of them fight against someone in their own league was a bonus. In fact, they were considered more powerful than some of those in the adult division! The two were very close to being on par with each other and the entire battle was very intense.
8 BROLY DESTROYS THE SOUTHERN GALAXY
Broly is known as one of the most powerful Saiyans out there. That’s not exactly surprising. Honestly, have you seen this guy? He’s incredibly strong, but one of his biggest feats was taking down the South Area of Universe 7.
Now granted, it’s never said that he takes this galaxy out in a single blow, so there may have been more of a process than the fandom makes it out to be, but it’s still a very OP move! Unfortunately, these events happen during the DBZ movies, which are considered non-canon.
7 TRUNKS FIGHTS CYBORG FRIEZA
Seeing Trunks as a kid is cute and all, but Future Trunks is a whole different story. When this character came back from the future, it should have been obvious to all of us via the hair who he was actually going to be, but Future Trunks wasn’t there to visit his dear mom and pop as he was out for the fight.
Among some of Trunks’ greatest fights, one of his greatest accomplishments was his ability to take down Cyborg Frieza. This was already a fairly powerful form on Frieza’s end, so to see Trunks split him in half was absolutely awesome!
6 THE FIRST TIME GOKU AND VEGETA FIGHT
It wouldn’t be a DBZ ultimate moments list if we didn’t have an entry from the classics! Goku fighting Vegeta for the first time is one of the most iconic scenes to come out of the Dragon Ball series, and honestly, it’s a fan favorite of ours.
Before their first fight, Goku wonders just how strong Vegeta truly is. His worries were confirmed when Vegeta almost beat the life out of him, which pushed Goku to go past his limits and achieve Kaio-ken x3: a burst of power that even Vegeta seemed surprised from. While these two would definitely have more battles together in the future, this first one definitely set a standard!
5 ANDROID 18 FIGHTS VEGETA
Beating both Androids 17 and 18 is a really tall order as they’re incredibly strong and always seem to know it with their ever-present smirk on their face. Android 18 went against Vegeta and, if you’ve been a fan of the series for a while, you’d probably expect the battle to go in the Saiyan’s favor.
Unfortunately, that’s not how the fight went at all when Android 18 threw him right into a rock wall. Who would have thought that all it took to take down the great fighter would have been a harsh knee in the chest? Certainly, this android did!
4 ANDROID 17 FIGHTS PICCOLO
Piccolo is an excellent fighter, but we rarely get to talk about him. When the Androids decide that they’d like to pick a fight with Goku at the Kame House, they’re surprised to find Piccolo waiting for them. Challenging them to a battle away from home, it is Android 17 that gets the unfortunate experience of fighting a new and improved Piccolo.
By this point, it seemed as though something had drastically changed in his power level and that he’d gained the strength to surpass even Goku. As you may have guessed, this wasn't exactly a fight Android 17 could win.
3 GOHAN GOES AGAINST CELL
If you think fighting Cell is hard, imagine fighting him in his perfect form. As the oldest son of Goku, Gohan had a lot of responsibility put on him as he has to fight as strongly, if not better, as his father does.
When Gohan fights with the perfect version of Cell, we all had to hold our breath and hope he made it out of the fight alive. Even fellow fighters needed to take a step back, calling Cell on his bluff when he stated he could get stronger. Gohan, however, seemed to be just fine taking Cell on in any of his form, not backing down from the fight.
2 KRILLIN, PICCOLO, YAMCHA, AND TIEN GOING TOE-TO-TOE WITH THE SINISTER SAIYANS
Fighting the sinister Saiyans was perhaps one of the most emotionally driven fights in the entire series. Firstly, it’s not very rare that Saiyans fight each other, as is proved by Vegeta in particular. But, there were some non-Saiyans in this battle who got the worst of it while trying to win.
Tien was probably the one who experienced the most since he’d lost both his friend and his arm in the process of trying to fight. Even when we see Tien use all of his power at full strength, it still doesn’t seem to be enough and he is defeated. Still, this deserves acknowledgement for being an incredible example of courage and strength, despite knowing you will lose.
1 GOTENKS VS SUPER BUU
We have to give Trunks credit where credit is due, he’s incredibly sassy, even when he’s facing a literal monster that could easily devour him. Telling Super Buu that he’ll declare when it’s time to really fight, the pink creature watches angrily on, but waits patiently. That’s when the Fusion Dance and Gotenks come to play!
The battle with these fused half-Saiyans is pretty intense, but it was incredible to see how these two kids used their combined strength in order to fight a dangerous foe. The one thing that didn’t seem to change, though, was the serious comebacks that Gotenks had for Super Buu.