Piccolo's 12 Best Moments In Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Ranked

Piccolo topped our ranking of the main characters in "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero," and now we're taking a look at the moments that make him so great in the movie. He was a fascinating character upon his introduction as a villain all the way back in "Dragon Ball" (before "Z," "GT," or "Super" got added), and he has only become more interesting over the years, so it's great to see him get a chance to shine as the lead of the critically acclaimed "Super Hero."

What's also great is that Piccolo isn't locked into only being the best character in the movie in action scenes. There are cute moments between him and the young Pan and moments of comedy with Gohan and Bulma, along with the requisite amazing action sequences. And in "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero," as with many entries in the "Dragon Ball" story, things are kept fresh by introducing new transformations for some characters, including Piccolo, who uses his new form in the movie's memorable finale.

So, without further ado, let's take a look at Piccolo's best moments in "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero."

Spoilers for "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero" ahead.

"Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero" opens with an introduction to the villains of the story before bringing our attention to Piccolo, who is spending time with the three-year-old Pan. Pan, Gohan and Videl's daughter, is following in her father's footsteps by being trained by the powerful Piccolo. It's lovely to see an extremely skilled fighter who was once a villain spend time with an adorable little girl who is struggling to master flying.

We see Piccolo give Pan some tips on how to center herself and focus so that she can fly, but she has trouble with the technique. He gives her assurance that she'll be able to figure it out and the two take a water break that highlights their significant size difference. During the water break, Pan asks Piccolo about her father Gohan's fighting abilities and strength, and she's surprised that Piccolo believes he could be the strongest fighter on Earth. Piccolo says that he knows Gohan could be unstoppable if only he trained, highlighting the importance of hard work to the youngster.

It's a wonderful first scene to spend with our hero, as it showcases his caring nature. What's more, the conversation about Gohan draws a throughline for viewers from Piccolo's training with Gohan all the way back in the early stories of "Dragon Ball Z."

Despite what Piccolo would like to believe about the time he spends with Pan — that it's all about training and developing the skills of the quarter-Saiyan child — the reality is that he's kind of just a babysitter. This becomes clear to Piccolo (and the viewers) when Videl calls him just minutes after Pan has left for kindergarten from her training session with Piccolo. Videl says that she'll be busy preparing her martial arts students for a tournament and that Gohan is busy completing some research work, and asks if Piccolo would be willing to pick up Pan when she's finished with her schooling.

Piccolo protests a bit, asking why her father can't go to pick her up instead, but he eventually accepts. At this point it's clear that he really cares for Pan and wants to be a positive figure in her life, even if it sometimes annoys him that her parents rely on him for caretaking. It's also very funny that Videl offers to buy him a stuffed animal ("One of the ones you like" she says), something that he never asked for and now has a growing collection of all because Videl has decided that he's a fan of them.

After his phone call with Videl, a somewhat flustered and frustrated Piccolo pays a visit to Gohan to ask him why he can't find the time to pick up his own daughter from school. Gohan argues that he's deep into a research project and needs to focus so that he can complete his work. Piccolo is concerned about Gohan's all-consuming dedication to his work and tells him that he should be spending more time with his family — and more time training, too.

Gohan argues that Vegeta and Goku can handle any threats and that the world doesn't need him. Just as he's saying this, Piccolo attacks him. Gohan is able to defend against Piccolo's first strike, but not the second one. And when Piccolo places the traditional weighted gi on Gohan, he struggles to stay standing, highlighting how far he has let himself slip. The scene shows just how much Piccolo still cares about Gohan and his training, and it mostly (minus the attack) comes across like a conversation between a loving but disappointed father and his son.

When Piccolo is attacked by the misguided antagonist Gamma 2, he manages to escape, but he employs a clever play in the process — he makes it appear as though he's fatally lost the fight. This trick allows him to trail Gamma 2 back to the Red Ribbon Army's headquarters. Piccolo manages to sneak into their HQ and steal a soldier's uniform, allowing him to wander around the facility unhindered. He's able to follow Gamma 2 into a meeting with mastermind villains Magenta and Dr. Hedo, where he learns about their plans to take down Bulma, Goku, and all of the Z fighters.

It's a sequence that's important for the plot, but it also allows for some great humor. It seems that all the members of the Red Ribbon Army are human, so when Piccolo arrives at the meeting and lines up with the other grunts, one of them notices that he's green. He plays it off as if he's having some stomach issues, and luckily (if somewhat shockingly) the soldier believes him. They continue to have a bit of a conversation and it often seems that Piccolo is going to give himself away, but he always recovers and manages to maintain his disguise. The writing is great, and the scene brings some levity to proceedings.

When Piccolo learns that the Red Ribbon Army has returned with powerful androids and is preparing to unleash an even more powerful version of Cell (a so-called perfect warrior created from the genes of Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, King Cold, and Piccolo himself), he immediately reaches out to Bulma to see if Goku and Vegeta are able to take on this new threat. Unfortunately, they're not around — they're on Beerus' planet training and sparring, so Piccolo has to come up with some new ideas for how to defend his friends and Earth.

He remembers that the Grand Elder Guru on Namek was able to unlock Gohan and Krillin's potential years ago and visits the current guardian of the Earth, Dende, to see if he would be able to help Piccolo unlock his latent potential. Sadly, Dende is too young to have that ability, but he offers to upgrade the Dragon Balls so that Piccolo can wish for his potential to be unlocked.

The scene doesn't last long, but it's nice for the audience to see Dende make an appearance. And any scenes between Piccolo and Dende, two Namekians who reside permanently on Earth, are always a joy to watch.

Having met with Dende and decided that gathering the Dragon Balls and wishing for Shenron to unlock his latent potential is the best course of action, Piccolo meets with Bulma (who already has the Dragon Balls gathered and ready for wishmaking) to call the wish-granting dragon.

As always, the dragon-summoning sequence is beautifully animated and the interplay between the pitch-black sky and the giant, glowing dragon looks great. But what makes the scene even better is the almost casual way that Piccolo and Bulma talk to the mythical dragon with the power to grant time and space altering wishes. The three have a brief conversation like old friends before Piccolo makes his wish for all of his warrior potential to be unlocked.

Shenron — likely because of the long history he has with Piccolo and the other Z fighters — grants Piccolo his wish, unlocking the entirety of his potential and even adding "a bit extra" to the Namekian's strength for good measure.

After Piccolo makes his wish for Shenron to unleash his potential, he can't think of anything else to wish for, so he says Bulma can have the two remaining wishes. Bulma knows what she wants and wastes no time requesting that Shenron get rid of some wrinkles on her face (which are imperceptible to the viewer, but we'll take Bulma's word for it) and give her butt a lift. Piccolo is shocked that she would use the metaphysical power of the legendary Dragon Balls for what are essentially cosmetic surgeries (though wishing allows Bulma to avoid the surgery part), and only becomes more shocked when he learns that she's apparently done this before.

The scene becomes even funnier when Bulma realizes that she could have just wished for Goku and Vegeta to return to Earth so that they could take on the Red Ribbon Army, the androids, and Cell Max. Piccolo gets frustrated with her for wasting her wishes on her appearance, but she rightly calls him out on not having thought to call back Goku and Vegeta either.

Having had his potential unleashed and knowing that he is now as strong as he will ever be, Piccolo returns to the Red Ribbon Army headquarters and sneaks back into the ongoing meeting about how they will take down the Z fighters. They plan to kidnap Pan to draw out Gohan, and, in a brilliant move, Piccolo (once again in disguise as a Red Ribbon Army soldier) volunteers for the mission.

When Piccolo and the other Red Ribbon soldier arrive at Pan's school to pick her up, Pan immediately knocks the other soldier unconscious, but she recognizes Piccolo's energy signature and is her usual sweet self with him. He assures her that she will be safe but asks her to pretend to be scared so that the people he's taking her to believe that she is afraid. But, more than that, he wants her to pretend to be afraid so that Gohan will actually spring into action. It's a pretty cruel trick to pull on Gohan, but Pan is more than ready to play along and puts on quite the performance with Piccolo's support.

During his second battle with Gamma 2 in "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero," Piccolo, having had his full potential (and a bit extra) unlocked, transforms into his new form, which he dubs "Orange Piccolo." He grows in height and gets bulkier with larger muscles, but the major change is — as you likely guessed from the name — his skin color: It switches from green to a dark orange.

While he was defeated quite easily by Gamma 2 during their first encounter in the movie, the transformation into Orange Piccolo makes Gamma 2 an almost insignificant foe for Piccolo. He's able to catch and dodge the android's attacks with almost no effort and his strikes carry a devastating toll. Transformations and new forms have long been a part of "Dragon Ball," but they're usually reserved for the Saiyan characters, so to see Piccolo get a new, more powerful, and visually distinct form is exciting and a great moment for all Piccolo fans.

Orange Piccolo could undoubtedly defeat Gamma 2 as we see in their second fight, but instead of killing or even just beating Gamma 2 into submission, Piccolo appeals to the android's morality — albeit after a pretty strong punch. Despite the fact that he's working with the Red Ribbon Army, when Dr. Hedo created Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 he programmed a moral compass into the androids, who he modeled on his beloved superheroes. This allows Piccolo to make a case to Gamma 2 that he should fight alongside Piccolo and Gohan instead of the Red Ribbon Army.

Piccolo tells Gamma 2 that he's been lied to, that the Z fighters are not enemies of Earth and that, in fact, it's the Red Ribbon Army that has nefarious plans for Earth's population. The android struggles with what Piccolo tells him, but he can't ignore that Piccolo and Gohan are defending a little girl while the Red Ribbon Army kidnapped a child to use as their pawn. The villainous group also shows no hesitation when it comes to hurting or even trying to kill her. It becomes pretty clear who the good guys are in this situation.

After the Gammas and Dr. Hedo have been convinced of the Red Ribbon Army and Magenta's villainy, it seems like the good guys have triumphed. But Magenta hasn't given up and unleashes the not-yet-complete Cell Max to take his revenge and carry out his mission of world domination. However, the creature isn't obedient or even intelligent and acts like a giant berserker, a characterization that some fans have taken issue with.

Piccolo and Gohan, along with several allies that Bulma has brought along to help out, begin to fight the huge creature, who is almost indestructible. But Krillin reminds Piccolo of his ability to become giant as well, a form known as the "Great Namekian," and Piccolo combines his new Orange Piccolo form with his Great Namekian form to rival the size of Cell Max. They engage as two giants, literally making Cell Max fight someone his own size.

But his new transformation and his significant size don't mean that Piccolo is stronger than Cell Max, so the fight continues and it's a joy to watch two huge characters duke it out. In the final moments of the fight, it ends up being teamwork between Piccolo in his new form and Gohan in his new form that brings down the big bad.

While Piccolo is undeniably the main character of "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero" — he's our main point of view and we follow him through a variety of different locations and scenes with other characters — the movie isn't just about Piccolo. It's actually about Piccolo's relationship with Gohan, and the cast has spoken beautifully about this emotional core of the film. As we mentioned above, it's ultimately teamwork between Piccolo and Gohan that defeats Cell Max.

While the final moment of the fight is fantastic, as Gohan uses Piccolo's signature Special Beam Cannon move to finish Cell Max, we think the scene that comes right after the fight is even better. Piccolo congratulates Gohan on the victory and we see him almost blush and turn his back so that he can't be seen — the fact that Gohan chose to use a Special Beam Cannon as the final move in the fight clearly means a lot to him. It's a beautiful moment between a surrogate father and son, one that no doubt left longtime "Dragon Ball" fans with beaming smiles.

But Piccolo can't miss an opportunity to push Gohan to keep training, so when Gohan says that even Vegeta and Goku might have had trouble with Cell Max, Piccolo tells him that's exactly why he needs to keep improving. Just like a dad, biological or not, Piccolo congratulates the child he raised while also pushing Gohan to keep getting better. It's a touching scene and one of the best moments in the movie by far.