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Goku in Dragon Ball is fortunate enough to have trained under some prolific martial artists throughout the years, including the legendary King Kai during his first stay in Other World. King Kai is responsible for teaching Goku the Spirit Bomb, as well as the Kaio-Ken Attack. The Kaio-Ken is a strenuous strength and speed multiplier that becomes one of Goku’s most important techniques before he unlockes Super Saiyan on Namek.

The Kaio-Ken is a fascinating distillation of Goku’s ethos as a martial artist. He’s always willing to push himself beyond his limits – even if he puts his own life in danger – if it means beating a stronger foe. The Kaio-Ken doesn't always get the respect it deserves in Dragon Ball Z, but it's arguably a cooler transformation than Super Saiyan with even better fights.

The Kaio-Ken Helps Goku Keep Up With Meta-Cooler Used In: Dragon Ball Z: The Return Of Cooler...

Vegeta is undoubtedly one of the most powerful characters in the Dragon Ball franchise. But while he's known for squaring off against alien tyrants and gods of destruction, there have been plenty of characters who've given the prideful prince a run for his money.

Fighting against Vegeta seems to be a rite of passage for Dragon Ball's villains. It makes for a great storytelling trick, giving up-and-coming baddies a chance to showcase their might against a pre-established powerhouse. These exceptionally strong foes have deprived Vegeta of any sort of victory, proving to be too much for the Saiyan Prince to handle.

Meta-Cooler Gives Vegeta More Than He Bargained For Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler

In Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler, Vegeta assists Goku in the fight against the titular villain. However, Meta-Cooler proves to be more of a challenge than expected, quickly subduing Vegeta...

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Dragon Ball is a shonen series that loves to indulge in excess. The series features powerful characters right from the start, but its taken great lengths to surpass these limits. Dragon Ball has reached a point where even many of its weakest characters can casually destroy a planet if theyre so inclined to do so. The characters characters are determined to become more powerful for many personal reasons, but most of the time its a necessary development when a new villain strikes.

Dragon Ball is forced to feature increasingly dangerous antagonists, which can become problematic when villains already have apocalyptic powers fairly early on in the franchise. The series' villains have only become more extreme, which is narratively exciting, but it also raises questions of whether some of these threats are unreasonably strong. Theres a fine line between intimidating and overpowered and...

Without Master Roshi and his training regimen, Goku would have remained at the power level of 10. Those who have watched only Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super wouldn’t understand his significance in the story. Roshi, believe it or not, was the strongest on Earth for quite a while until Goku surpassed him in the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, where he fought Tenshinhan.

Goku vs Tenshinhan | Credits: Toei Animation

Even in Dragon Ball Super, Goku recognizes Roshi as “good a teacher as ever,” and that is after training with Gods like Whis. In fact, Goku got to know how Ultra Instinct worked practically through Roshi. In the manga, Roshi dodged most of Jiren’s punches before getting knocked out of the ring using the principles of Ultra Instinct. And that served as the catalyst for Goku to unlock his own. In the beginning of Dragon Ball Z, Roshi...

Dragon Ball never struggles to come up with new obstacles to face and fresh villains to conquer. Goku has come a long way since his simple origins in the original Dragon Ball. Hes become stronger in many different ways, but his improved powers often experience setbacks when theyre put up against even superior enemies who threaten the planet, or even the universe. Gokus accomplishments are nothing to dismiss and some of Dragon Balls most memorable and inspirational moments are when he effortlessly neutralizes villains like Nappa, Recoome, and Yakon.

Its never a good idea to underestimate Goku and, beyond his brute Saiyan strength, are versatile techniques and a brilliant strategic mind. However, one of Gokus greatest assets is that hes surrounded by powerful allies. Vegeta is often the strongest of the lot and his friendly competitive rivalry with Goku is often an excellent motivator for him to give his all...

As Dragon Balls deuteragonist, it makes sense that Vegeta has taken part in many of the series biggest fights. Unfortunately, despite giving it his all, its very rare that Vegeta actually wins. Vegeta usually acts as the first line of defense, used to show how powerful the villain is in comparison to Goku who Vegetas never very far behind in terms of power. All those losses only made him stronger in the long run, but even his victories rarely ever came easy.

Vegeta is a fighter through and through in more ways than one. Beyond just being a powerful and skilled martial artist, Vegeta fights through his personal struggles, never giving up even when most others would. Vegetas greatest victories often come on the cusp of a loss, when he is pushing beyond what would be any other fighters breaking point, to do the impossible.

Vegeta Taught Magetta That Words...

Dragon Ball is among the most successful media franchises of all time, with numerous movies, TV shows, and video games under its belt. That said, the canon status of its films has often been questioned. The most recent films, 2018's Dragon Ball Super: Broly and 2022's Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, are considered canon to the overarching story, but most of the franchise's movies are not.

Frequently contradicting details from the main plot, many of the Dragon Ball films are entertaining what-if scenarios rather than direct continuations. However, several films are canon or, at least, don't actively contradict the main story, leaving their canonicity up for debate. As such, this leaves viewers in the confusing position of ascertaining the canonical value of each Dragon Ball film and figuring out which Dragon Ball films are canon.

Updated by Timothy Blake Donohoo on October 11,2024: Many Dragon Ball movies are in a continuity all their own,...

Super Saiyans are synonymous Akira Toriyamas Dragon Ball. What began as a humble power-up on Namek for Goku has spiralled into one of the franchise's most iconic features. The Super Saiyan tradition has only become more prominent throughout Dragon Balls run and there's now Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue courtesy of super.

It may seem like Dragon Ball has hit its limit when it comes to Super Saiyan transformations, but there are no shortage of unique Super Saiyan forms to discover in the franchises non-canon material. Some of these unofficial Super Saiyan stages only appeared once and were never seen again, but that arguably makes them more special than the series' actual canon transformations.

Related 10 Coolest Super Saiyan Forms, Ranked

The Dragon Ball franchise would be nothing without the iconic Super Saiyan transformations & some live up to the hype more so than others.

Super Saiyan Evil Saiyan Is...

Akira Toriyamas Dragon Ball has never shied away from the fact that Goku is the franchises greatest hero. Son Goku embodies all the best characteristics of a traditional shonen protagonist and has inspired Dragon Ball fans for four decades. He's endlessly selfless, courageous, and committed to his craft. Goku genuinely loves the art behind combat and is frequently compelled to fight because he craves a genuine challenge, rather than any desire to save the day or assert his authority over others. Goku's become the prolific hero that he is today thanks to his dutiful training, strong strategic skills, and enviable martial arts abilities.

Goku has also mastered a wide range of techniques and energy attacks that put him in a cut above the rest. Goku wouldnt be where he is today without signature skills like his Kamehameha, Spirit Bomb, Instant Transmission, and an impressive arsenal of Super Saiyan transformations. All...

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Goku is shonen animes greatest martial artist, but hes not invincible. While he and the Z Fighters always manage to pull out on top in the end, the villains of Dragon Ball never make it easy for them. In fact, if it werent for the help of his friends, Goku would never have defeated many of the strongest villains in the Dragon Ball multiverse.

In Og Dragon Ball, Gokus journey was largely about his personal growth as a fighter, and how his hard work could eventually help him overcome any obstacle. By the time of Dbz, though, that all changed. Goku often required the help of his friends if he had any chance of defeating the villians. As the denizens of evil become more powerful in Dragon Ball Super and beyond, Goku will likely need the help of his friends more than ever.

The canonicity of certain characters and events within Dragon Ball lore is something of a sliding scale, as characters and the movies/episodes in which they appear can start off as canon and then be retconned out of existence (and vice versa)–including one movie villain who Dragon Ball Gt officially brought into the series’ established mythos.

Dragon Ball is famous for introducing entire storylines that redefine its lore only to turn around and say that none of it mattered or even really happened at all. One of the most striking examples of this happening was with Broly who first appeared in the film Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan. This was one of the most groundbreaking Dbz films of its time as it was not only insanely epic on every conceivable level, but it also introduced one of the most powerful Saiyans in the entire series.