Movie villains inDragon Ballare in a league of their own. For the most part, the averageDragon Ballmovie villain fashions themselves in the style of whoever’s the main antagonist in the story proper at the time. It’s easy to dismiss the movie villains as derivative as a result, but this doesn’t do them justice. As familiar as they are,Dragon Ball’s movie villains are always unique in their own right.
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They’re also fiercely powerful. Goku always manages to save the day in Dragon Ball’s movies, but the best villains put up fights that border on hopeless for the main heroes. The antagonists in the series proper are all better than Toei’s original villains, but the movies reinterpret Dragon Ball just enough to keep its baddies fresh.
Edited on July 01, 2025 by Renan Fontes:Dragon Ball is going through something of a cinematic renaissance. While Super Hero is still quite a ways away, the fact another movie was announced in lieu of simply continuing the Dragon Ball Super anime might mark a change of direction for the franchise. With the manga telling a more traditional storyline now free to move at its own pace, movies in place of an anime makes sense (for now at least). If nothing else, Super Hero’s announcement is just begging fans to re-examine Dragon Ball’s past movie fans and ponder who Goku might fight next.
13Dr. Uiro
Also known as Dr. Wheelo in the Funimation dub, Dr. Uiro is the main villain of World’s Strongest. A mad scientist who wants nothing more than to take the body of the strongest man alive, Dr. Uiro’s outdated information causes him to kidnaped Master Roshi – prompting Goku to head to the arctic & save his martial arts master. Comparable to Vegeta in the Saiyan arc, Goku’s fight with Dr. Uiro features a beam struggle followed by a Genki Dama. Unlike Vegeta who survived the attack, however, Dr. Uiro is actually defeated by the Genki Dama.
12Tullece
The first instance of an “evil Goku” inDragon Ball(and with none of the grace of the Goku Black arc), Tullece is the main villain of Tree of Might. Localized as Turles in the Funimation dub, Tullece’s role in the movie functions like a hybrid of Raditz & Vegeta. He’s not Goku’s relative, but he looksexactlylike Goku and takes a personal interest in Gohan – ala Raditz.
Linking him to Vegeta, Tullece pushes Goku to his absolute limits. Even after Goku puts up a strong fight, he can’t defeat his Saiyan opponent and they transform – Vegeta becomes an Oozaru whereas Tullece eats the fruit from the Tree of Might. That said, Goku is still able to defeat Tullece with a handheld Genki Dama, destroying the tree in the process.
11Lord Slug
Lord Slug is a mess of a villain in a mess of a movie. In terms of Battle Power, he should fall somewhere between Frieza’s third and final forms. A retread of Demon King Piccolo, Slug’s greatest feat is pushing Goku into a false state of Super Saiyan (Pseudo Super Saiyan). Still, this transformation doesn’t make Goku strong enough to defeat Slug even if it does give him a slight advantage. Goku’s ultimately forced to team up with Piccolo to kill Slug, using Kaioken to push himself through Slug’s body much like he did King Piccolo all those years ago.
10Garlic Jr.
As the first movie villain inDragon Ball Z, it’s easy to dismiss Garlic Jr. as the weakest of the lot. There are two very important details to keep in mind, however: Garlic Jr. is literally immortal and he shows up in the anime as a filler antagonist between the Frieza & Cell arcs. Goku and Piccolo aren’t even able to defeat Garlic Jr. in The Dead Zone.
Garlic Jr. is only defeated when Gohan manages to knock him into the Dead Zone, of which he eventually frees himself from. InDragon Ball Z, Garlic Jr. comes dangerously close to taking over the Earth. He’s so powerful in his second appearance that Gohan has to outright destroy the Makyo Star just to defeat him.
9Cooler
Frieza’s younger brother and the firstDragon Ball Zvillain to appear in more than one movie, Cooler is understandably quite the popular character. While nowhere near as colorful in personality as Frieza, Cooler is an intimidating presence whose (relative) respect for his subordinates helps him stand out.
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Cooler also has an extremely powerful “fifth” form that utterly decimates base Goku before triggering a Super Saiyan transformation and getting blasted into the sun.
8Meta-Cooler
Fueled by none other than the power of the Big Geti Star, Cooler comes back as Meta-Cooler in the aptly titledReturn of Cooler. The film sees Goku and company heading to New Planet Namek in order to liberate the Namekians from Cooler’s invading forces. What Goku and Vegeta don’t immediately realize is that the Meta-Cooler they’re fighting is just one of a massive legion.
As is, Meta-Cooler is strong enough to demand the combined forces of Goku and Vegeta. They exhaust themselves completely during the battle, so much so that they barely have the energy to fight back against Cooler’s army (not that they would have won to begin with). That alone puts Meta-Cooler above other movie villains.
7Android 13
Like Lord Slug, Android 13 is a one note villain whose main traits are taken from whoever was the main antagonist at the time (or in the case of Funimation’s dub, invented to give the character something resembling a personality). In terms of strength, 13 is strong enough to stalemate with Goku in his base form. Once he’s absorbed Androids 14 and 15, however, 13 becomes Super Android 13 and gains an enormous boost in power. Goku is only able to defeat 13 by mixing the full might of the Genki Dama with Super Saiyan.
6Bojack
Bojack is likely around Perfect Cell in terms of raw strength, even in his transformed state. Gohan admittedly struggles fighting Bojack at first, but his struggles come from a mainly psychological place (keep in mind that Goku hasn’t been dead for long during this movie). By the time Gohan transforms into a Super Saiyan 2, however, he effortlessly kills Bojack and every single member of his gang. Since Cell can at least put up a fight against SSJ2 Gohan, Bojack probably isn’t on Super Perfect levels of strength.
5Broly
Broly’s main gimmick (so to speak) in the Dragon Ball Z movies is his innate ability to just keep getting stronger as he fights. Broly is alsotheLegendary Super Saiyan as far as the film continuity is concerned, showing how meager Goku’s transformation on Namek was in comparison.
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Broly is only defeated the first time around after Goku gambles everyone’s energy on a single punch that (miraculously) works. When Broly returns inThe Second Coming, Goku has to defy the laws of the afterlife to help Gohan and Goten kill Broly with a triple force Kamehameha. With enough time, Broly might have become the strongest being in the universe.
4Janemba
It’s easy to assume Janemba is the strongest DBZ movie villain on account of Goku & Vegeta needing to fuse into Gogeta just to defeat them, but remember just how quickly Gogeta finishes Janemba off. In a flash, the fight is already over. It’s like pitting Vegetto against Kid Buu –of coursethe fusion is stronger.
That said, Janemba is still supremely powerful and does necessitate a fusion to defeat. In that respect, Janemba’s probably about as strong as Evil Buu, but no stronger than Buutenks and nowhere close to Buuhan’s level.
