The Most Powerful Dragon Ball Movie Villains Ranked From Weakest To Strongest

The "Dragon Ball" franchise has become one of the most well-known and successful anime and manga series of all time. In fact, the property is so popular that it has spawned multiple spin-offs, sequel shows, and a variety of movies. With so many different adaptations available, it can be difficult to know the order to watch the "Dragon Ball" series in, much less keep up with all of the characters and villains that have left their marks on the franchise over the years.

While the various anime series like "Dragon Ball Z" have had some fantastic villains over the years, it is the movies that have introduced some of the most memorable and powerful. Although there are certainly some skippable "Dragon Ball" movies, there are also plenty of must-watch entries that have bad guys who have given Goku and his allies more than a run for their money.

Here, we run through the different antagonists that have appeared in the "Dragon Ball" movies, ranking them according to how powerful they are. We've done this by examining their abilities and strength compared to other characters in the show, as well as considering information from official sources and even fan sentiment.

Occasionally referred to as Dr. Willow in some adaptations, Dr. Wheelo is a villain who first appears in the 1990 film "Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest." Here, he is initially frozen in ice along with his entire laboratory and is only freed from his icy prison when his former assistant, Dr. Kochin, collects the Dragon Balls and wishes for him to return. Unfortunately for Dr. Wheelo, the ordeal destroys his physical body, and his mind is transferred into a robotic metal body.

Like many mad scientists in fiction, Dr. Wheelo wants to take over the world. To achieve his goal, he performs inhumane experiments on unwitting victims in the hopes of modifying their biology. However, he is no helpless man of science and is more than capable of getting physical. His robotic body provides augmented strength and is more powerful than almost any other cyborg or robot in the franchise. It can shoot energy beams and move with extreme speed and power.

In the film, Dr. Wheelo is capable of withstanding attacks from multiple heroes, including the combined Kamehameha wave of Goku and several of his allies, without showing any signs of damage. Goku is only able to kill the villain when he utilizes the Spirit Bomb attack.

At first glance, Garlic Jr. may not look all that imposing. After all, he was just a rather diminutive blue alien creature when he made his debut in the 1989 film "Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone." But like many of the franchise's villains, looks can be deceiving, and Garlic Jr. is far more powerful than he first appears. Arrogant, bitter, and vengeful, the antagonist is on a quest to exact revenge on Kami, who had previously sealed away the elder Garlic after a failed rebellion. He is aided in his quest for revenge by a series of monstrous allies and the fact he is immortal, having collected the Dragon Balls and wished for eternal life.

Despite his small size, Garlic Jr. easily defeats Kami in "Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone," demonstrating he is no pushover. When later confronted by Goku and Piccolo, he transforms into a far larger and stronger version who can take on both characters at once. Although the pair seemingly dispatch him with relative ease, Garlic Jr. does possess some impressive abilities. He can create matter from nothing using Magic Materialization and launch unblockable portals to the Dead Zone at opponents. More importantly, his immortality allows him to quickly recover from any wound and prevents him from being completely defeated.

Tullece, who is also known as Turles, is a powerful figure who appears during the events of the 1990 movie "Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might." In the film, Turles arrives on Earth with the intent of turning it into the Tree of Might, a process that will destroy the planet but give him a huge boost of strength and raw power. Working with the Turles Crusher Corps, the villain easily pushes aside Gohan and Piccolo as he puts his plan into action.

That Turles is strong shouldn't be a huge surprise, given his appearance. He looks almost identical to Goku and is a Saiyan warrior who has set off as a lone fighter. This gives him a considerable base strength, which is magnified significantly by his consumption of the Fruit of the Tree of Might. He swats aside Great Ape Gohan and is even able to destroy a Spirit Bomb and push Goku back when he's in his Kaio-ken x10 state. Turles is only defeated when Goku manages to infuse a second Spirit Bomb with the energy from the Fruit of the Tree of Might.

Lord Slug is the main antagonist of the appropriately named 1991 film "Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug." A Namekian like Piccolo, Lord Slug is an intergalactic criminal who experiences a rare mutation that transforms him into a Super Namekian, a process that further corrupts his already villainous nature. By the time we meet him, he has an army of henchmen and a reputation for conquering planets. In "Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug," he comes to Earth in an attempt to use the Dragon Balls to return him to his youthful prime after feeling the effects of old age.

Lord Slug goes toe to toe with Goku during their confrontation and surpasses the hero in terms of raw power. This is magnified even more when he transforms into the Great Namekian form later in the fight, greatly increasing his natural abilities. In this form, Lord Slug almost kills Goku, overpowering his Pseudo Super Saiyan form. In fact, King Kai suggests that the villain may be stronger than both Goku and Frieza. Only a weakness to whistling due to Slug's enhanced hearing allows Goku to gain the upper hand, and even then it takes Goku entering a state of Kaio-ken x100 and hitting him with a super-powered Spirit Bomb to finally overcome and defeat the bad guy.

1991's "Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge" sees Frieza's brother come to Earth to avenge his sibling's death. Although Cooler has no strong feelings of love for his brother, he is of the opinion that Goku has besmirched his family's name and honor by defeating Frieza — something that he cannot let stand. Immediately after arriving on Earth, Cooler ambushes and seriously wounds Goku with an energy blast.

Cooler is said to be far more powerful than his brother. He has a larger and taller build, with a more muscular appearance, and his initial form is also heavily armored, making him appear extra-menacing. He fights on a par with Goku during their first proper battles, but shows how strong he actually is when he transforms into his most powerful form. At this level, he's able to shrug off a hit from Goku's Kaio-ken Kamehameha and is said to be powerful enough to destroy entire stars. It takes Goku transforming into his Super Saiyan form to be able to fully kill Cooler, although this leaves Goku in a severely weakened state.

As you might have guessed from the name, Android 13 is the main villain in the 1992 movie "Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13." The robotic creature is the work of Dr. Gero, an evil scientist who continued his crusade to create an android capable of killing Goku even after his own demise. Transferring his consciousness to a supercomputer, Dr. Gero secretly works on the prototype known as Android 13.

While not as outwardly powerful as his counterparts Android 17 and Android 18, who killed Dr. Gero after turning on him, Android 13 does eventually go on to surpass them. This is because it has the ability to absorb the power and abilities of other androids. Over the course of the film, it absorbs components from both Android 14 and Android 15, increasing its own powers dramatically.

Combined with an adamantine outer body, Android 13 is incredibly difficult to damage and is able to withstand attacks from Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo at the same time. To kill him, Goku is forced to go Super Saiyan and then absorb the energy from a Spirit Bomb. This boosts his own power to a high enough level to destroy Android 13 once and for all.

Cooler returns as a villain in the sixth film of the "Dragon Ball" series. His appearance in 1992's "Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler" is different to his debut, as he's taken on the form of Meta-Cooler. When Goku first encounters the new-look bad guy, it claims to have been resurrected with its new metallic cyborg shell and augmented abilities by the artificial intelligence known as Big Gete Star. However, it's later revealed that this is just one of a near-limitless number of Meta-Cooler clones that the Big Gete Star is capable of controlling remotely.

On their own, each Meta-Cooler is a very powerful fighter who is a match for Goku, even in his Super Saiyan form. To defeat the first Meta-Cooler Goku and his allies encounter, both he and Vegeta have to work together as Super Saiyans. What makes them so formidable, though, is that Big Gete Star can create thousands of Meta-Coolers at the same time to overwhelm opponents. They also have the ability to repair themselves almost instantly while continually upgrading as they analyze how they were defeated and improve accordingly. Ultimately, Goku is only able to destroy the Meta-Coolers by combining all of his power with Vegeta.

The ninth entry in the "Dragon Ball" movie franchise is 1993's "Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound," which features a villain known only as Bojack. A former space pirate, he's a ruthless and cruel figure who managed to cause carnage throughout several galaxies in his quest to conquer known space. A Hera clansman, Bojack was eventually defeated by the Kais, though his extreme strength meant that they had to imprison him inside of a star to keep him confined.

Eventually escaping as a result of the events of the Cell Games, Bojack travels to Earth with the intention of killing its greatest fighters, thus removing any potential threats to him. During a martial arts tournament, he is able to dispatch Future Trunks, Vegeta, and Gohan without much hassle, even when they're in Super Saiyan form. He's so powerful, he almost kills Gohan with a ferocious attack. There are suggestions that Bojack may be more powerful than even Cell, a superpowered version of Dr. Gero, and it takes the might of Gohan entering his Super Saiyan 2 form to put a stop to the villain.

The version of Broly discussed here first appears in the 2018 film "Dragon Ball Super: Broly" – one of the best-ranked "Dragon Ball" movies according to IMDb. This is decades after a different incarnation of the character from an alternate dimension appeared in 1993's "Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan" and 1994's "Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming." In his reimagined "Dragon Ball Super" form, Broly is more powerful than ever and poses a genuine threat to both Goku and Vegeta. In fact, in his final form, he may well be stronger than both of those characters.

The son of Saiyan Paragus, Broly is a Legendary Super Saiyan, a figure that emerges every millennium as a demonic and incredibly strong Saiyan warrior. Even at a young age, his power was such that King Vegeta exiled him on a distant planet out of fear of the destruction he might be capable of in the future. When he does eventually encounter worthy foes, Broly demonstrates an ability to quickly learn and improve his own fighting skills and also has the ability to generate ki blasts without having to assume a stance. His power level is said to be off the chart, and his own abilities far surpass Vegeta, since Broly continues to grow in strength the more he trains and fights.

"Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon" is a 1995 movie that features Hirudegarn as the main foe that Goku and his friends must battle. A terrifying and gigantic Phantom Majin, Hirudegarn was formerly a demonic god tasked with watching over the planet Konats before being transformed into the evil creature by the Kashvar magicians. During the events of the film, which take place 1,000 years after this process, the last remaining Kashvar resurrects Hirudegarn and unleashes him to rampage throughout the universe.

In early encounters, Hirudegarn is able to stand against the likes of Goku in his Super Saiyan 2 form and hold its own, but the true power of the beast is revealed when its two halves are joined and it transforms into a new, even stronger version. In this form, Hirudegarn completely defeats both Gotenks and Gohan with almost no effort and manages to fight against Super Saiyan 3 Goku without taking much damage. It is only when Trunks uses a magical sword to cut off the creature's tail and Goku figures out its vulnerability that he is able to use a Dragon Fist attack to kill it.

Janemba appears in 2006's "Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn" as the main antagonist, co-starring in one of the best scenes in the "Dragon Ball" movies when Goku squares off against the villain. The character is a demon who resides in the afterlife known as Other World, where he acts as an agent of chaos and attempts to take over the realm. This prompts many of the deceased to return to the land of the living and leads to a confrontation with Goku, who is also in Other World at this point.

Janemba possesses reality-distorting powers that allow him to bend the world to his will. At first, he appears as a giant ogre, but when he reveals his true form, he also showcases his incredible power. Goku immediately senses that Janemba is the most powerful being he has interacted with up to that point and is only able to take the villain on when he transforms into Super Saiyan 3 form and combines with Vegeta in Super Saiyan 2 form. Even once Goku and Vegeta meld together to create Super Saiyan Gogeta, Janemba is still able to withstand several attacks before being killed by a superpowered Stardust Breaker.

One of the most iconic villains within the "Dragon Ball" universe, Frieza returns in the 2015 film, "Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F'." In the movie, Frieza's former army collects the Dragon Balls and, after summoning Shenron, wishes for their commander to be revived. The newly-resurrected Frieza is determined to exact his revenge upon Goku, but upon learning that his arch-rival has grown in strength, he delays his plans in order to train himself and become powerful enough to defeat Goku.

Unlike in his previous life, Frieza works tirelessly to improve his own natural ability and unlock his true potential. This culminates in him discovering his race's final form. As Golden Frieza, the villain reaches levels of power that allow him to surpass Goku and Vegeta, even when they're in their Super Saiyan Blue forms. His only limitation is that he has little experience in this form, so he can only maintain it for short amounts of time before it drains all of his energy. Despite this, he still manages to destroy Earth and kill Vegeta before Goku is able to reverse time with Whis' help and launches a fatal surprise attack on Golden Frieza.

The plot of the 2013 film "Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods" revolves around the God of Destruction Beerus traveling to Earth to confront Goku. Having learned that the Saiyan hero has defeated Frieza, Beerus sees Goku as a worthy challenger, someone who can provide him with a difficult fight. Along with his martial arts tutor and attendant Whis, Beerus tracks down Goku and instantly defeats him despite the hero entering his Super Saiyan 3 form. Disappointed, Beerus departs to search for other Saiyan warriors who may fulfill the prophecy of becoming the Super Saiyan God.

On Earth, Beerus just as easily defeats Vegeta, Trunks, Goten, Piccolo, and Android 18, all without breaking a sweat. Moments before the deity destroys the planet, Goku re-emerges and challenges Beerus again. Learning the true nature of the Super Saiyan God from Shenron, Goku is now able to transform into the legendary form by channeling the energies of his Saiyan allies. Reaching previously unthought of levels of power, Goku proves to be more of a challenge for Beerus in an intense fight, but is ultimately forced to admit defeat. It is later revealed that Beerus was holding back his true strength throguout the battle, and possessed the ability to destroy entire universes if he so wished.