History NightmareFuel / DragonBallZ

** And to drive the point home, he reintroduces himself via an energy beam ''through Future Trunks' chest.'' Out of a dust cloud, too fast for anybody to dodge or react, before the Z-Fighters can even take in what is happening. Future Trunks hits the ground with a basketball-sized hole in his torso. And then hacks up about a pint of blood. ''Yikes.''

* Think about the power levels in this saga; after some months of training, Goku is at 180,000 and trashes the Ginyu force, with Ginyu standing at the max power level of 120,000. Is Frieza at max power? ''120'' '''''[[PrecisionFStrike FUCKING]]''''' ''MILLION''. Frieza at his strongest is a thousand times stronger than his most powerful henchman. How the hell is someone that powerful anyway? Answer; [[spoiler:''he was just born that way'']]. Makes you wonder why the universe chooses to give that much power to someone born into an evil family.

* In general, what the transformation does to Goku. It took a gentleman who didn't like to kill and turned him into a monster that Frieza [[NotSoDifferentRemark describes as just like himself]]. Also, instead of taking Frieza down quickly, he let him go to full power so he could make Frieza suffer longer and humiliate him with the fact that even at his best, he never stood a chance at winning. He bluffed to Frieza that Gohan, Piccolo, and Bulma weren't his concern, his thoughts on Gohan attempting to escape the planet distracted him enough for Frieza to momentarily get the upper hand. [[FridgeBrilliance This may be the other reason why he allowed Frieza to power up to 100%: If he's focused on fighting Goku, he can't go after the others]]. That the bluff was ''plausible'' says ''a lot'' about what the Super Saiyan form did to Goku's personality.

** If you think the way he absorbs normal people is bad, wait till you see how he absorbs Androids 17 and 18. His stinger opens up into a funnel and he sucks them in whole like a snake. Watch as the bulge in his tail that was once Android 17 gets smaller and smaller as he advances toward Cell's torso until completely disappears... You have the pleasure of watching from Android 17's [=PoV=] as Cell's tail slowly opens and descends. You actually ''see the throat of his tail''. On top of that, what Cell ''says'' as he does this:

** Cell's transformations as well. Unlike Frieza, who he at least retains some traits of his previous forms, Cell's head crest and some other minor traits are the ''only'' things to remain consistent throughout his transformations. But he still physically transforms into his new forms, meaning we get to see [[BodyHorror his body twist and contort itself into his new form]]. It's even worse when he finally becomes his Perfect Form, as, after the BodyHorror part, an energy cocoon forms around him, and his sheer power sends shock waves throughout the world. Trunks tried to interrupt the transformation, but as he's trying to pierce the cocoon, he, and the audience, are treated to a horrifying shadowed Cell midway between forms, emitting an inhuman screech. The scary part is that given how much changed between his first and second forms, there's the feeling of mystery at just what he's turning into now.

* In "Our Hero Awakens", Cell has already sucked dry an entire town. We see one BadassNormal guy with an automatic rifle trying to stop him, only to find that his bullets bounce off Cell like raindrops. This is the type of character who in an 80s action flick would be the one to save the day, but in the Franchise/DragonBall universe he's just fodder. As Cell drains him, we see that his wife and child were hiding nearby ''and could hear the whole horrific ordeal.''

* Then, Piccolo has the mother of OhCrap moments when he sees Buu regenerate from that! Piccolo, TheSmartGuy, and TheStoic, runs for the hills upon seeing the pieces of Buu come together.

* Garlic Jr's fate. He becomes the first ''Dragon Ball'' villain to successfully wish for immortality to the Dragon Balls, but in the end, it amounts to nothing, and in fact, inflicts him with a FateWorseThanDeath. The reason? His special technique consists of opening a portal to a PhantomZone called the Dead Zone, but both times he tries to use it against his enemies, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard he ends up getting trapped in it]]. The second time, he becomes trapped permanently there, as Gohan destroyed Garlic Jr's home planet, which was the source of his power. Being immortal, and with no means to get out, it means that he'll be there for the rest of all eternity. And sure enough, he isn't heard from again.
* Everything that happens to Gohan through the Saiyan saga - ''especially'' if you're Chi-Chi. First kidnapped by a stranger, then rescued only to be kidnapped ''again'' by someone Chi-Chi would have known for a fact was Goku's mortal enemy. He then disappears for ''an entire year'', only to return just in time for to be thrown into a fight with two more guys that are even worse. Chi-Chi gets mocked on occasion for her coddling ways, but after a year like that, who could blame her for being a bit rattled?
* Captain Ginyu. The Ginyu force is this in-universe since it's what Frieza uses when he's pissed and wants things done. The weakest of them has psychic powers able to make two warriors with over ''thirty times'' his power level helpless, then there are three people that could [[CurbStompBattle curb stomp]] ''Vegeta'' (no, not acting together, every one of them could do this on his own), and they are to Ginyu less than what Vegeta is to them. So far, however, is just the usual SortingAlgorithmOfEvil. The real horror is what happens when you are stronger than Ginyu. He would seriously injure himself, then swap bodies with you, getting a much stronger one, leaving you to die from his self-inflicted and painful injury. The worst of it? Jeice ''knew'' of that ability. [[FridgeHorror Is what we see Ginyu's original body? And how many times did he do that before?]]

** In the anime, the Ginyu Force are a bunch of dancing idiots whose true threat level doesn't become apparent until well into their fights. In the manga it's almost immediately apparent when they show up with Scouters, greet Frieza and then immediately cross Namek, a planet three times larger than the Earth, right to Gohan, Krillin and Vegeta. A few chapters ago there was some drama over Goku having to cross Snake Way and arrive on Earth due to Kaio losing track of time but these guys made a comparable trip in no time at all.

** And if you're one of his slaves and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he thinks for a second that you've outlived your usefulness]]? Your arteries, veins, etc. are expanded within you, clogging your insides to the point YOU become StuffBlowingUp.

* Van Zant, the bandit who shot Buu's dog and later Mr. Satan. In his first scene, he kills an elderly couple and revels about how great it feels to kill someone. Then we see him shooting people at random in a nearby town. It all leads up to Van Zant shooting Buu's dog and Mr. Satan and this triggers the release of Buu's evil side, meaning [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom he's responsible for every bad thing that happens afterward]]. All this for no reason other than the sheer thrill of killing people. Even worse is that at the time Buu had reformed and posed no threat to anyone. What's worse is that he uses Buu's destruction spree as an excuse, reasoning that everyone will be killed eventually, and even going so far as to pretend that Buu killed his victims. And just ''why'' does he do all of this? He's reckoned that with Buu flying around basically laying waste to the planet, he's probably going to die soon, and he decided it'd be fun to try to take as many people with him as possible. That's his entire motivation. The most terrifying thing about him is that he is [[HumansAreBastards a completely normal human being]] with ''no superpowers''. Emphasize on ''completely'', since he is just a simple human with no superpowers or martial arts training. All other human villains were leaders of evil organizations (Commander Red) or were mercenaries and later cyborgs (Tao Pai Pai), but he is just an average human. Most of the other villains in the series are intergalactic warlords, androids, or other supernatural creatures and use ki-blasts and other superpowers for evil, Van Zant uses ''normal guns'' to accomplish bad things. It is terrifying to see that a regular human, who uses normal guns to accomplish bad deeds, can be just as bad as intergalactic alien warlords or insane androids.

** It also helps to remember that this is a show that is all too pleased to show you the gore of battle...yet it did not let you see what Trunks was seeing. Instead, all you saw was young Trunks looking as if he was about to throw up at the ghastly sight, before informing Goten and Krillin that "you don't wanna go up there, guys." TakeOurWordForIt indeed...

** '''Revenge of Cooler:''' He fires a homing blast at Doore, who tried to chase after Gohan. attempted to outrun and then block it, but it proved too much to handle and got vaporized. Neiz caught Piccolo in an electric cage. Piccolo was screaming in agonizing pain... until Neiz got too close. Piccolo smirked, grabbed Neiz by the face, and fried him to death by his own attack.

** At the last part of the transformation, we get a close up of Broly's face. He then lets out a loud scream of agony and hatred as his power rises, '''THEN HIS SKIN CRACKS OPEN... AND THEN HE LITERALLY EXPLODES AND TRANSFORMS INTO HIS LEGENDARY SUPER SAIYAN FORM!'''

* [[CruelAndUnusualDeath The way Broly]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfAF82n5X1A kills Paragus]]. Sure, Paragus [[KarmicDeath certainly deserved it]], but it doesn't make it any less horrifying. Paragus climbs into a space pod to escape New Planet Vegeta, which is about to be hit by a comet and intends to leave Broly behind. Unfortunately for him, Broly shows up, grabs the space pod, hoists it over his head, and crushes it with ''Paragus still inside''. Worse still, he crushes it slowly enough that Paragus has time to lament over his fate - meaning that Paragus's death was a slow and painful one. Ugh...

* In ''Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans'', Frieza, Turles, Cooler, and Slug come back as ghosts. After they are defeated, Hatchiyack absorbs their spirits, which is very painful. We are then treated to a sequence of each villain's ghost being trapped inside of a ball and writhing in agony.

** It also invites the ultimate FridgeHorror of the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil in the Dragon Ball universe, Beerus, [[GodOfEvil the God of Destruction]] which [[TheDreaded all the other gods fear]]. This would normally [[InformedAbility not be as dangerous]] [[UnderestimatingBadassery considering how the gods normally rank things]] until he curb stomps Super Saiyan 3 Goku '''with a finger'''. Since this is the canonical universe, where Super Saiyan 3 is the strongest state aside from Mystic and Fusions, this is a big deal. Then [[spoiler: [[EleventhHourSuperpower the Super Saiyan God state, which is the strongest state in the series' canon]]]] is activated by Goku to defeat this guy. Normally you'd expect a CurbStompBattle to ensue and deal with the BigBad. [[spoiler: [[TheBadGuyWins Nope, Goku still loses, only managing to force Beerus to go 70% of his power]] [[KarmaHoudini and suffers no punishment]]]]. The real scary part comes after this [[spoiler: turns out [[AllThereInTheManual despite being the strongest character in the series according to V-jump]], it turns out that his advisor, Whis, is much stronger than he is, and given that we never see the full extent of Beerus' power, Whis' power must be beyond comprehension.]] We also get this bit of information; [[spoiler: turns that he's the designated God of Destruction for the universe that Dragon Ball is based in which is No. 7 out of 12]].

As the DarkerAndEdgier SequelSeries of ''Manga/DragonBall'', ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' has some of the vilest villains in anime, and that's not even getting into the traumatic past of Trunks, the excessive violence, or even some traits of the ''good guys''. This may be a series where DeathIsCheap, but that doesn't diminish how scary it can get.

** At the last part of the transformation, we get a close up of Broly's face. He then lets out a loud scream of agony and hatred as his power rises, ''THEN HIS SKIN CRACKS OPEN... AND THEN HE LITERALLY EXPLODES INTO HIS LEGENDARY SUPER SAIYAN FORM!''

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAkSg8TzDTs Kai redub]] also does a damn good job at just how terrifying Goku's transformation into a Super Saiyan is, though that can mostly be attributed to the outstanding voice work. Goku sounds like he's about to lose his mind, and the grunting seems like he's trying to hold himself back but ultimately failing to do so. The track used for this scene pre-2011, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NokXLGU7JBA 'A Moment For Shuddering']], also shows that as well. While it's certainly dramatic, it's not necessarily meant to convey how awesome the transformation is; rather, it gives the impression that Goku's [[RageBreakingPoint rage is about to break]]. This all culminated in a truly terrifying scream as Goku finally becomes Super Saiyan, as well as Frieza sounding both shocked and horrified. The only words he could say at the time were "You ruthless, heartless BASTARD! I will make you SUFFER!"

** At the last part of the transformation, if you watch closely, it looks like Broly's power ''tears his skin open'' before resetting into the finished product.

* The unusual amount of focus given to Android 18 shattering Vegeta's arm with a single kick. Never mind that broken limbs are often RealLife NightmareFuel in and of themselves. It was the fact that Trunks and everyone up on the hill realizes how screwed Vegeta is right on impact. Or the ''scream'' Vegeta lets out right as his arm goes limp. By this point, Vegeta's pretty much established himself as a guy that can not only take a pounding but talk crap the entire way. To hear Vegeta scream out in pain to that degree is hair-raising (no pun intended) because it's something Vegeta ''just doesn't do''.

* Aside from being blown up or vaporized by energy blasts, Creator/AkiraToriyama seems to like large chest wounds as indicators of fatal[=/=]near fatal injuries. Happens to Goku (literally in the second episode), Vegeta, Piccolo, Yamcha, and Future Trunks at different points, among others. During Buu's infamous Human Extinction attack, the ''ENTIRE POPULATION OF EARTH'' save a handful, and gets a terminal case of hole-through-torso, including (although not shown on screen) all the kids.

** For Goku's friends, the idea that there is someone even stronger than Goku running around out there and that Goku himself was sent to wipe out humanity. Keep in mind that as a young child, Goku destroyed an [[OneManArmy entire army by himself]] and was closed to the invincible outside of a few named martial artists. He also single-handedly killed what was [[TheDreaded Satan]] of the Dragon World. To them, the very idea that Goku could have been their enemy must have been terrifying.

* The very existence of the Saiyans. They're genocidal monsters with enough strength to murder an entire planet in weeks or months, assuming they don't just blow it up. They only love fighting, and with the full moon, they become giant apes that have ten times their normal strength. They have an enormous appetite, and will gladly feast on the fallen enemies to sate it. They grow stronger the more they fight and if they ever get beaten and survive, they'll just come back even stronger. When they invade planets inhabited by weak and technologically primitive people, they send their children, who have a long childhood during which they look cute and can train without being disturbed until they have a sudden growth spurt and obtain a body perfect for fighting, at which point, they turn on the locals and wipe them out. At their full potential, the power of Saiyans greatly surpasses even the [[PhysicalGod Kais!]] [[Manga/JacoTheGalacticPatrolman The galactic government has tried to deal with them with their Extinction Bombs, bioweapons capable of killing off an entire species, but found they were immune to any virus they could create and has taken to sending their agents to planets targeted by Saiyan to either]] [[WouldHurtAChild kill the children]] [[IDidWhatIHadToDo before they can grow and murder the locals]] or [[MercyKill use an Extinction Bomb on the locals so they would at least die quickly and with much less terror]]. No wonder even [[WorldsStrongestMan Frieza]] ultimately grew scared and decided to destroy them.

** The next transformation, while not as graphic, is even more [[BodyHorror horrific]]; Frieza extends his shoulder guards and grows spikes on his back, his face stretches out and then contorts into a malformed beak while his head elongates. This leads into a creepy XenomorphXerox-like form that acts far more insane than before as he rapid barrages Piccolo helplessly, before Gohan's sudden power boost forced him to quickly/thankfully transition to his next form.

** Not only that, he killed [[spoiler:Dende]] so fast that none of the heroes even knew it happened until they saw the explosion behind them. To them, Frieza just pointed his finger and something blew up, only to discover it was one of their comrades. Frieza is so fast he can pull a "YouAreAlreadyDead" on you.

* At the time of being the most ultimate powerful figure within the entire DBZ Universe, Frieza proved that he can go beyond his power ability. During the epic showdown between Goku, Frieza wanted to up the ante by going [[BodyHorror 100% Full Power.]] Just like the previous transformation sequences, it is brutal, cold, and downright terrifying. His muscles enlarge to giant proportions, veins throbbing wildly and uncontrollably and he screams into his ascended state [[OhCrap made things even worse for Goku]] for a while. The whole scenario shows just how much he's willing to go to take down Goku and flee Namek which at that point was a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any given minute.

** Emotionless? As he watches Bardock on a monitor rush through his whole army to get to him, Frieza first calmly requests opening the hatch, prompting a very disturbed "Wait, what?" reaction. Zarbon tries arguing the point, and then... Frieza lets his arm lower by his sides. This simple, wordless gesture prompts Zarbon to gasp, and run out of the room to execute the orders, screaming "Yes, Sir!" And THEN you get a closeup on Frieza's face where pure, unadulterated hatred is displayed. Bardock is but a bug to crush under his heel, but Frieza will clearly NOT tolerate rebellion or any form of opposition, and deep down, you can sense his actual FEAR towards Saiyans.
* Think about the power levels in this saga; after some months of training, Goku is at 180,000 and trashes the Ginyu force, with Ginyu standing at the max power level of 120,000. Frieza at max power? ''120'' '''''[[PrecisionFStrike FUCKING]]''''' ''MILLION''. Frieza at his strongest is a thousand times stronger than his most powerful henchman. How the hell is someone that powerful anyway? Answer; [[spoiler:''he was just born that way'']]. Makes you wonder why the universe chooses to give that much power to someone born in an evil family.

** This extends to Frieza's genetic relative Cell, by the way. Cell's instinct is to absorb things to get stronger, but once he reaches what he believes to be perfection, he stops trying, figuring that he's strong enough already. And he was mostly right. That said, the endgame of that saga sees Cell lose his perfect form only to transform back into a ''stronger'' version of it without the requisite absorption after a near-death scenario. This indicates that he had access to the Saiyans' innate Zenkai ability. Just how much research had Dr. Gero done on other methods of getting stronger? And how much did Cell know about these methods? In other words, imagine Cell with a few weeks of good training along with the Saiyan and Frieza's genetics he had. The universe would've been completely screwed.
* You really think you're safe from Frieza? Think again with this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_YXkbBwEa0 terrifyingly brilliant fan made teaser from K&K Productions.]] And as a bonus... Frieza in this video is voiced by Creator/LittleKuriboh, who voiced him in Dragon Ball Z Abridged, and his more serious and ominous voice is enough to make you shit your pants with fear...

* Goku's first [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsalzwkykIg Super Saiyan transformation]], in the original Japanese version. Other versions have scored the scene to look like something dramatic and awesome is happening, but in the original version (and the ''Kai'' episode rerun post-2011), the music gives the impression that not only is there no ''clue'' as to what the hell Goku turned into, but no indication that it's something good, shocking even Frieza. Imagine what the kids who first saw this scene, to see their hero Goku go through that...

* While fans prefer to ignore it, ''Anime/DragonBallEpisodeOfBardock'' makes Goku's transformation even scarier-as Frieza would know from his ancestor what a Super Saiyan looks like... And suddenly, the ''monster'' his ancestor warned him about was appearing before his very eyes, and ''he'' was the cause of it.

** Cell's [[NonstandardCharacterDesign overall design]] is creepy, especially compared to Frieza and [[OmnicidalManiac Buu]] because of how different it is to the rest of the cast. He was a lizard/insect hybrid with HellishPupils and was generally menacing. And when he absorbed 17, NightmareRetardant aside, it's surreal seeing a monster like that getting an expressive, humanlike face. Thankfully, the effect disappears when he reaches perfection.

** During one of his rampages, he's at a carnival and a young couple is fleeing from him in a house of mirrors. Imagine running for your lives from a creature who's appearing and cackling in all the mirrors, not having any clue where he could be, the last shot is his tail piercing through the mirrors and impaling the couple as they scream in terror.

** Cell's transformations as well. Unlike Frieza, where he at least retains some traits of his previous forms, Cell's head crest and some other minor traits are the ''only'' things to remain consistent throughout his transformations. But he still physically transforms into his new forms, meaning we get to see [[BodyHorror his body twist and contort itself into his new form]]. It's even worse when he finally becomes his Perfect Form, as, after the BodyHorror part, an energy cocoon forms around him, and his sheer power sends shock waves throughout the world. Trunks tried to interrupt the transformation, but as he's trying to pierce the cocoon, he, and the audience, are treated to a horrifying shadowed Cell midway between forms, emitting an inhuman screech. The scary part is that given how much changed between his first and second forms, there's the feeling of mystery at just what he's turning into now.

* Cell's desperate attempt after he takes too much heavy damage from Super Saiyan 2 Gohan who manages to beat Android 18 out of him. Reverting into his second form, Cell goes ballistic knowing he is outmatched, and starts bloating up like a [[BodyHorror grotesque]] [[HavingABlast balloon]]. Before the inevitable EarthShatteringKaboom, Goku intervenes and manages to transport him onto King Kai's planet until he finally detonates, taking King Kai, Gregory, Bubbles, and Goku and the ''entire'' little planet with him. You would think with Goku's HeroicSacrifice that it would be the end. [[FromBadToWorse But it's not]]. Cell regenerates with his cell core and manages to resurrect himself into a more powerful state called [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Super Perfect Cell"]]. Cue MassOhCrap from what’s left of the Z gang at that point on.
** And to drive the point home, he reintroduces himself via energy beam ''through Future Trunks' chest.'' Out of a dust cloud, too fast for anybody to dodge or react, before the Z-Fighters can even take in what is happening. Future Trunks hits the ground with a basketball-sized hole in his torso. And then hacks up about a pint of blood. ''Yikes.''
* While it's easy to overlook thanks to it being an incredibly [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome awesome moment]] for Gohan, Cell's death is pretty gruesome if you overlook that. Saying that he had it coming would be a ''[[AssholeVictim massive]]'' [[AssholeVictim understatement]], but Cell doesn't die quickly and painlessly, no. He slowly disintegrates while ''screaming in pain''. Even as he breaks apart into millions of pieces and then into microscopic cells, take into consideration that this is ''Cell'' we're talking about here, so he likely [[AndIMustScream felt every last bit of it]] until he was erased for good. That ''had'' to have been utter hell to go through.

** How he was extremely deathly stoic in his fight with Good Buu, and then when he eats him, it results in an utterly [[LaughingMad crazed laugh]] with completely wide eyes and smile as he turns into Super Buu. Talk about NotSoStoic

** When Gohan pounds Super Buu into the dirt, Buu begins screaming and ranting like a madman, suddenly going from a snarling rage to a wide-eyed NightmareFace complete with a SlasherSmile over how he'll make Gohan pay. Despite the flashy display of generating a large aura of Ki [[BodyHorror while being covered in protruding veins]], Gohan doesn't sense much of a power boost from him and says as much. Buu's only response is to look at him, head cocked to the side, baring a manic grin, and mutter. "You're missing the point." That point is that Buu just set his body up to self-destruct to take out the area for miles around, knowing that he can just reassemble himself. Buu is ''not'' someone you want to make angry.

* Kid Buu was frightening as well. Yeah, he looks smaller, and maybe not as intimidating, but his first act in this form is to attempt to blow up the Earth, seemingly out of pure spite. When that is blocked, he prepares a blast ten times larger that they can't block. Goku begs him to not go through with it, that "There will be nothing! Nothing left at all!" Buu's response [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn9bP0zmPF0 is a giggle and one of the evilest smiles of all time]], then he destroys the planet. That's when it was clear: this Buu had nothing resembling reason, unlike his previous forms. He had no ambitions to prove himself or to be the strongest, no need for anything to entertain him. He was simply going to kill and kill and kill until nothing was left. For no reason.

** Because of Gero's hatred towards the Saiyan Goku, he completely brought ruination to at least two timelines, one where Future Trunks came from and the one Cell came from, and nearly destroyed the solar system of the main timeline. All those people dead and suffering at the hands of the androids happened because of one man's petty vengeance. ''One single man'' completely brought the world to ruin.
* Garlic Jr's fate. He becomes the first ''Dragon Ball'' villain to successfully wish for immortality to the Dragon Balls, but in the end, it amounts to nothing, and in fact, inflicts him with a FateWorseThanDeath. The reason? His special technique consists of opening a portal to a PhantomZone called the Dead Zone, but both times he tries to use it against his enemies, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard he ends up getting trapped in it]]. The second time, he becomes trapped permanently there, as Gohan destroyed Garlic Jr's home planet, which was the source of his power. Being immortal, and with no means to getting out, it means that he'll be there for the rest of all eternity. And sure enough, he isn't heard from again.
* Everything that happens to Gohan through the Saiyan saga - ''especially'' if you're Chi-Chi. First kidnapped by a stranger, then rescued only to be kidnapped ''again'' by someone Chi-Chi would have known for a fact was Goku's mortal enemy. He then disappears for ''an entire year'', only to return just in time for him to be thrown into a fight with two more guys that are even worse. Chi-Chi gets mocked on occasion for her coddling ways, but after a year like that, who could blame her for being a bit rattled?
* Captain Ginyu. The Ginyu force is this in-universe since it's what Frieza uses when he's pissed and wants things done. The weakest of them has psychic powers able to make two warriors with over ''thirty times'' his power level helpless, then there are three people that could [[CurbStompBattle curb stomp]] ''Vegeta'' (no, not acting together, everyone of them could do this on his own), and they are to Ginyu less than what Vegeta is to them. So far, however, is just the usual SortingAlgorithmOfEvil. The real horror is what happens when you are stronger than Ginyu. He would seriously injure himself, then swap bodies with you, getting a much stronger one, leaving you to die from his self-inflicted and painful injury. The worst of it? Jeice ''knew'' of that ability. [[FridgeHorror Is what we see Ginyu's original body? And how many times did he do that before?]]

** There's also the fact that the mist covered the ''entire planet''. Over 90% of the Earth's population including animals transformed into bloodthirsty mindless drones of Garlic Jr and his henchmen. We're also shown a very disturbing clip of a young couple hiding out in a destroyed city whilst people all around riot, saying how that "evil mist changes people" before they are suddenly attacked (and probably infected) by several infected animals. We hear their screams as one of the girl's shoes flies off and the camera lingers on it for several seconds. Even worse is the only cure for the mist becomes useless after 24 hours, meaning nearly everyone on Earth almost became stuck as drones permanently.
* The fact that during and after the Cell Saga, anyone with enough power is capable of nearly destroy a planet by elevating their Ki (especially if unchecked). During the Buu Saga, we see how Goku provokes earthquakes and destruction across Earth only with his transformation into Super Saiyan 3.

** Although [[KarmicDeath it's utterly well-deserved after what he did to Videl,]] Spopovich's death is still horrifyingly gruesome. Babidi uses the magic he's bestowed upon Spopovich to make the guy's body start to inflate like a balloon. We can hear ''bones crunching'', and get a close-up on his eyes bugging out as his expanding body mass starts to crush his head as he cries out in agony until it's just a ''gurgling'' sound...and then he ''explodes!'' And as seen below, it's not even the ''last'' time such a death happens in the Buu Saga!

** It also helps to remember that this is a show that is all too pleased to show you the gore of battle...yet it did not let you see what Trunks was seeing. Instead, all you saw was young Trunks looking as if he's about to throw up at the ghastly sight, before informing Goten and Krillin that "you don't wanna go up there, guys." TakeOurWordForIt indeed...

* The horrifying face Goku sports when after turning Super Saiyan and subconsciously absorbing that tremendous power, turning him into a giant ball of raw power that Android 13 can't even approach without disintegrating his fists. Also, even after skewering the android and blowing him up, Goku STILL sports that bared tooth expression as if to stress how BAD the strain of maintaining this state is upon him.

* When Future Gohan dies. It was horrifying to see him get hit by those beams, while he's screaming in agony, and he's laying on the ground ''helpless!'' You begin to realize how hopeless the situation was, even though it seemed Gohan was holding his own. When Trunks faced his beatdown at the hands of the Androids, for some reason, they made the incredibly intelligent decision to use the creepiest Gregorian-chant BGM as a backdrop.

* [[CruelAndUnusualDeath The way Broly]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfAF82n5X1A kills Paragus]]. Sure, Paragus [[KarmicDeath certainly deserved it]], but it doesn't make it any less horrifying. Paragus climbs into a space pod to escape New Planet Vegeta, which is about to be hit by a comet, and intends to leave Broly behind. Unfortunately for him, Broly shows up, grabs the space pod, hoists it over his head, and crushes it with ''Paragus still inside''. Worse still, he crushes it slowly enough that Paragus has time to lament over his fate - meaning that Paragus's death was a slow and painful one. Ugh...

* We already knew Frieza to be a BadBoss, but it reaches new levels. His men only resurrect him as a desperate, last resort because they need him (the only reason is that they can't face the continuous revolts in the empire, and Frieza's mere presence will be enough to ''scare them all into submission''). And the one telling us that is ''Frieza''. He's perfectly aware of this and doesn't care, worse, seems to enjoy the chaos. His first actions after his resurrection show us exactly why it's like that. The first thing he does, he kills one of his men, just to check how strong he is. Then, one of the soldiers that helped his resurrection lampshades the RevengeBeforeReason and... Well, remember how he killed Krillin? He does the same but throws the unlucky soldier in space to boot. And that leaves a hole on the ship that starts sucking everyone but Frieza (who could just survive into space anyway). Luckily, they have shields that prevent that, and ultimately the order to raise them is given. By Sorbet. Frieza would have just let everyone die. To sum it up: a wrong move, and you risk a horrific death. Be too close to who made the wrong move, and you risk dying all the same. Do nothing at all, and you might die anyway because he needed a target. Not bad enough? A casual line in the movie implies that his soldiers are ''forced'' to join his army. PunchClockVillain doesn't even start to describe it.

** Cell's [[NonstandardCharacterDesign overall design]] is creepy, especially compared to [[UncannyValley Frieza]] and [[OmnicidalManiac Buu]] because of how different it is to the rest of the cast. He was a lizard/insect hybrid with HellishPupils and was generally menacing. And when he absorbed 17, NightmareRetardant aside, it's surreal seeing a monster like that getting an expressive, humanlike face. Thankfully, the effect disappears when he reaches perfection.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dmry4hbwwaedcs5_0.jpg]]

* You really think you're safe from Frieza? Think again with this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_YXkbBwEa0 terrifyingly brilliant fan made teaser from K&K Productions.]] And as a bonus... Frieza in this video is voiced by LittleKuriboh, who voiced him in Dragon Ball Z Abridged, and his more serious and ominous voice is enough to make you shit your pants with fear...

** In ''The Legendary Super Saiyan'', Goku punches Broly in the chest while Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, and Trunks give him their energy. Said punch ''rips a hole into Broly's chest'', blood spewing out as Broly's body begins to ''crack''. Broly then begins to violently spasm before he ''[[DefeatEqualsExplosion explodes]]'', choking out one last "Kakarot!" as he does. Thankfully, GoryDiscretionShot comes into play and we don't see anything grisly, but god ''damn''.

** Because of Gero's hatred of Goku he ruined at least two timelines, one where Future Trunks came from and the one Cell came from, and nearly destroyed the solar system of the main timeline. All those people dead and suffering at the hands of the androids happened because of one man's petty vengeance. ''One man'' completely ruined the world.

*** Moments before he decides to smack around Vegeta during their fight in the anime, and just before the latter's DesperationAttack: Frieza makes it a point to demonstrate how he outclasses Vegeta, when the latter goes ballistic and starts firing a cluster of huge KiManipulation at him. Frieza simply dodges them before they detonate, and at one point, moved so fast that he appeared in front of Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin watching on the sidelines, and deviously smirked at them. He only did it out of pure intimidation and amusement, and the fact Vegeta's attacks were covering the air with smoke, and darkening the sky [[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100728230932/dragonball/images/0/01/Frieza20.PNG made the whole thing creepier]]. Needless to say, Piccolo was scared shitless, either out of the risk of being blown to bits by Vegeta or whatever he thought Frieza had in store, quickly grabbed Gohan and Krillin and high-tailed its way out of the expanding battlefield.

** Cell's absorption of Android 18 is even worse. 17's reaction to the final attack was a look of shock and then a bit of swearing, and Cell swallowed him pretty quickly. With 18, there's something [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything perversely sexual]] about it. It takes a ''long'' time to swallow her, and it's not a smooth process either; there's lots of creepy sucking motions, accompanied by 18's frightened cries, not to mention that when the tail first sweeps down over her, she '''''screams'''''.

*** Something similar happens when Cell confronts 16, 17, and 18. Cell looks at 18 in a way that seems almost covetous and says one of the creepiest lines ever:

*** The reason Cell's absorption of 17 comes across as less rapey and disturbing is because of [[BigDamnHeroes 16's constant interference]], meaning Cell had to rush and quickly absorb 17 and become stronger than 16. Before 16 interfered, Cell's attempt at absorbing 17 was almost as disturbing as 18's. He first has 17 weakened and then holds him at his mercy, taunting him constantly which gives off a very male on male IHaveYouNowMyPretty vibe. 17 initially resists by throwing insults at him, which Cell laughs off. He then [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything keeps on screaming that he doesn't want to join bodies with Cell and become one with him, while Cell slowly starts lowering his very phallic tail on top of his head, taking his sweet time and enjoying every moment. 17 even says "No", which Cell refuses to take as an answer]]. This is followed by a helpless 17 trying his best to push the tail off his head as Cell just laughs and continues. Thankfully enough [[HeyYouHaymaker 16 taps on Cell's shoulder before punching him away]].
** Another thing that's really disturbing is how after Cell absorbs Android 17, he imitates his voice in order to try to convince Android 18 to be willingly absorbed. The worst thing is that for a split second, she seriously looks like she's considering doing that, until Cell makes the mistake of using 17's voice to call Dr. Gero 'great'. (Or refer to him as Dr. Gero-sama, depending on which version of the show you watch.)

** The scenes of clothing littered all over the ground from hundreds if not thousands of people from Nicky Town is pretty chilling. Cell absorbed each and every one of them, sparing no one, not even children. To him, they are all just a part of his endless buffet. And the Z Warriors can do nothing to stop him.

** The absolute worst part is that, when Goku steps down and states that someone else is going to fight Cell (in the ''Kai'' Dub on Nicktoons), Vegeta looks on in horror and shock and says that "None of us have the slightest chance of beating him (Cell)!" Cell is so powerful, cocky badass Vegeta is afraid. [[OhCrap Holy shit.]]

** Cell's transformations as well. Unlike Frieza, where he at least retains some traits of his previous forms, Cell's head crest and some other minor traits are about the ''only'' thing to remain consistent throughout his transformations. But he still physically transforms into his new forms, meaning we get to see [[BodyHorror his body twist and contort itself into his new form]]. It's even worse when he finally becomes his Perfect Form, as after the BodyHorror part, an energy cocoon forms around him and his sheer power sends shock waves throughout the world. Trunks tries to interrupt the transformation, but as he's trying to pierce the cocoon, he, and the audience, are treated to an absolutely horrifying shadowed Cell midway between forms, emitting an inhuman screech. The scary part is given how much changed between his first and second forms, there's the feeling of mystery at just what he's turning into now.

* His announcement of the Cell Games; Cell goes to a local TV station and interrupts all broadcasts by going through the floor much to the shock and horror of those there and watching it. When he reaches the top floor, he announces himself as Cell and that he was the one responsible for the deaths and terrorizing all the towns and cities as the Big Monster of Nicky Town and reverts to his Imperfect Voice. He then announces the Cell Games to all who's watching and states that if he's not defeated, he will destroy all life. To cap this off, he then blows a hole through the building destroying a mountain in the nearby distance before flying off.
* After having the top half of his body blown up, it's assumed that he's finally dead....until the lower half suddenly leaps to standing position and regenerates that top half. [[GlamourFailure It's one of the many instances that highlights that Cell is not a man in a bug costume, but an unnatural being whose regenerative properties are presented an unnatural exaggeration of Piccolo]]. It's especially jarring that while Cell did regenerate his arm similar to Piccolo, this layer of restoration hints of how absurd his healing factor is.
* After Gohan transforms into a Super Saiyan 2 and starts giving Cell the business, we finally get to see the Android's full power. It's easy to forget but [[PhysicalGod Cell]] is so strong at this point in time that none of the other Z-Fighters can touch him. When Cell starts throwing energy attacks at the Earth in a vain effort to kill Gohan, they can only watch in horror as Goku's 11 year old son is the only thing keeping them from being obliterated by Cell's titanic power.
* Cell's desperate attempt after he takes too much heavy damage from Super Saiyan 2 Gohan who manages to beat Android 18 out of him. Reverting back into his second form, Cell goes ballistic knowing he is outmatched and starts bloating up like a [[BodyHorror grotesque]] [[HavingABlast balloon]]. Before the inevitable EarthShatteringKaboom, Goku intervenes and manages to transport him onto King Kai's planet until he finally detonates, taking King Kai, Gregory, Bubbles and Goku and the ''entire'' little planet with him. You would think with Goku's HeroicSacrifice that it would be the end. [[FromBadToWorse But it's not]]. In fact, Cell regenerates with his cell core and manages to resurrect himself into a more powerful state called [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Super Perfect Cell"]]. Cue MassOhCrap from what’s left of the Z gang at that point on.

* What makes Cell so scary is the fact that he isn't some alien or some eternal mass of chaos like Buu. He is a creature created on Earth by an ordinary, vengeful ''human''. A human, the people that Goku and the others spent their lives protecting, created an absolute monster that ''feeds'' off of other humans in the slowest, painful way possible. How morally bankrupt and cruel does a person have to be to create such a creature?

* Let's cut to the chase. When Son Gohan achieves the Messianic powers of a Super Saiyan 2, he changes from a [[NiceGuy sensitive and kind-hearted little boy]] to a [[SuperpoweredEvilSide cold-blooded, sadistic murderer]] that would make Frieza or Broly run for their lives. Watching the once kind-hearted boy coldly sneer ''"Kill him now? Hmph, not yet Dad. He deserves to suffer much longer!!"'' is incredibly unsettling. [[HorrifyingTheHorror Cell even calls him "a ''monster''"]]: as in the same Cell that is ''fueled'' on the lives of thousands, if not millions of people and laughed with glee as he absorbed the two teenagers his creator turned into cyborgs as they screamed for their lives. He also stated he loves seeing the twisted faces of terror in people, and said to Goku that if it wasn't for the tournament he created, [[EarthShatteringKaboom he'd wipe out the earth in one shot]] without batting an eye. When Goku called out to Gohan that he should end the fight since Cell, while cornered could become more unpredictable than before, Gohan's response was to glare at him and give his most [[PsychoticSmirk sadistic smirk]] he's ever shown, before giving the line that he'd like to carry on what was effectively '''torture'''. That kid was clearly NotHimself.
** The part of the battle most people remember is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7xKDpJOdtI&feature=related this one]], but one has to watch the entire fight to really get the full impression. The contrast between Gohan before he ascends and afterwards is startlingly dramatic.

*** However, it is quite reasonable to sympathize with Gohan, even in Super Saiyan 2. He has lived through traumatic experiences since he was 4 years old, so it is logical to assume that sooner or later he would explode with anger. Remember the Nappa fight? The battle on Namek? And how he saw Namekians being killed by Frieza's army ''since he was 5 years old'', and bullied by Vegeta at the end of the Namek saga?
** Fundamentally the whole end of the Cell Games is incredibly disturbing when you actually think about it. Goku fights Cell first before giving up after it became clear that he couldn't win, leaving his friends and family absolutely petrified with fear, particularly his 11-year-old son who worships him and can't even conceive of being stronger than his father, despite Goku fighting to show Gohan that he has surpassed him. Goku then leaves the rest of the fight to Gohan. Piccolo (who didn't even have a real childhood) calling Goku out on the fact he's letting his young child get tortured really emphasizes that Goku's just left the fate of the entire world on the shoulders of a boy that isn't even a teenager yet and loathes violence (not to mention giving Cell a Senzu Bean to ensure a fair fight). Worse, Goku really had no choice but to trust in Gohan's power since no one else could match Cell. Goku's confidence in his son might have been proven correct but considering what it required, and Goku was obviously banking on, Gohan literally being driven into a homicidal rage by the emotional trauma, the transformation is arguably worse than Goku's first transformation into a Super Saiyan. The fact that he snaps to the point of sadism really isn't surprising considering the emotional state it took to get him there. Just watching him coldly take apart Cell and the Juniors even before he starts talking about making Cell suffer is pretty distressing considering the natural human instinct is to protect and shield children from these kinds of events, emphasizing that despite Goku being raised by humans, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality he isn't a human and such sentiments are not shared by Saiyans]]. It's pretty hard to blame Gohan for any of what ensues and it's just made worse by the fact that the already traumatized kid is left to blame himself for his father's death following this.
** Goku putting Gohan to fight had nothing to do with Saiyan Nature. Goku himself has been fighting villains and monsters since he was 11 or 12 years old without issues, about the same age Gohan is when fighting Cell, so he didn't see the problem with it because for him it was normal at that age. If Goku made a mistake, it's that he didn't really take into account just how different his son is from himself, especially how much his son actually dislikes fighting.

* Frieza was, and to some, still is, ''the'' iconic villain of the Dragon Ball universe. While subsequent villains were more powerful in the individual sense, Frieza was a ruthless tyrant who ran an empire and was known of and feared throughout the galaxy. If you've watched Z you likely know that while he's clearly afraid of Goku post-transformation, he gives a fight a try anyway - and gets his ass kicked. And comes back for more at least twice. In ''Super'', you find out that Buu, along with Beerus, were the two individuals Frieza was basically instructed by King Cold, "If you see them, run the other freaking direction." Even to someone who, at the time, was as untouchable as Frieza, the only other individuals known to exist that invoked this level of horrifying terror were a '''GOD OF DESTRUCTION'''... and Buu.

* The first fight against Fat Buu, where Vegeta has to blow himself to smithereens in a HeroicSacrifice and burn himself literally to ASHES ... for nothing. After the fact, a desiccated husk of Majin Vegeta remains in a dark sky ripe with thunder clouds, that falls to the ground to break and be turned into dust into the wind... Talk about a horrible way to go. [[SenselessSacrifice And again, all for nothing.]]
* Then, Piccolo has the mother of OhCrap moments when he sees Buu regenerate from that! Piccolo, TheSmartGuy and TheStoic is literally running for the hills upon seeing the pieces of Boo come together.

* During Super Buu's fight with Vegito, he forces himself into the fused Saiyan's mouth and tries to destroy him from the inside. Vegito's powerful enough to resist it, but Buu is able to remain inside his body. The following few minutes are [[NauseaFuel outright]] [[BodyHorror disturbing]] as we see random parts of Vegito's body swelling to ridiculously grotesque size as he attempts to beat Super Buu back out.

** When Gohan pounds Super Buu into the dirt, Buu begins screaming and ranting like a madman, suddenly going from a snarling rage to a wide-eyed NightmareFace complete with a SlasherSmile over how he'll make Gohan pay. Despite the flashy display of generating a large aura of Ki [[BodyHorror while being covered in protruding veins]], Gohan doesn't sense much of a power boost from him and says as much. Buu's only response is to look at him, head cocked to the side, baring a manic grin, and mutter. "You're missing the point." That point being that Buu just set his body up to self destruct to take out the area for miles around, knowing that he can just reassemble himself. Buu is ''not'' someone you want to make angry.

*** The original Funimation dub made this more nightmarish through emphasizing how [[AxCrazy insane]] Super Buu really was. The moment that he goes from angry mad to insane mad is punctuated by his [[EvilSoundsDeep usually low-register voice]] briefly [[CreepyHighPitchedVoice going extremely higher in pitch.]] It comes out of nowhere and its has no relevance other than [[{{Foreshadowing}} in hindsight that Super Buu's original form, Pure-Evil/Kid Buu was something much smaller and infinitely more crazy.]]
** His actions in this form don't help. As mentioned before, the other forms just liked StuffBlowingUp. His methods of killing/torturing are extremely sadistic, yes, even worse than Frieza, Cell, or Broly. That includes [[spoiler:turning one into food of choice and eating them (keeping them fully conscious the whole time), shrinking someone and then stepping on them, and liquefying himself and force-feeding his own body down another's throat, then expanding inside them until they burst.]] Once Buu makes this, Mr. Satan is completely horrified.

*** The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Human Extinction Attack]]: [[spoiler:a now-LaughingMad Buu launches a continuous stream of energy beams that exterminates the entire human population within minutes. He pulls off a [[ApocalypseHow Class 3a Apocalypse]] [[ForTheEvulz for no reason other than "I can actually do this".]] As Creator/TeamFourStar put it, "This is the first time in the series where the civilian casualty number isn't just high -- ''[[http://teamfourstar.com/video/dbcember-iconic-moments-dragonball-24/ it's complete]]''."]] To make matters worse, the ki blasts are shown not exploding and vaporizing their targets on impact, but [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice tearing through their torsos]]. Dragon Ball Z has established by this point that a hole in the chest is neither a quick nor a painless way to go. Never mind that the streets of Earth's cities were likely ''littered with blood and dead or dying bodies'' until... well, see below.

*** You know how at that point in the series [[DeathIsCheap death was almost completely reversible at will thanks to the Dragon Balls?]] To the point Piccolo even tried to buy time by suggesting Super Buu kill all the humans down on mainland Earth knowing they could be wished back? Suddenly when he did that attack it didn't feel so cheap anymore.

*** Goku has it almost as bad. Imagine standing there and watching as Buu take your last son and uses his power against you. He just came back to life and he's utterly helpless against the monster who murdered his wife and took his sons in the worst way possible. In the English dub, Buu even had the nerve to call Goku dad after absorbing Gohan.

** The totality of this moment is reflected upon once the blast hits Earth's surface. The camera cuts all the way across the universe to New Namek, where Elder Moori and the Namekians are shown being shaken from their daily routines as they sense Earth's destruction. They look up at the sky in mild shock.
** Kid Buu then travels to the after-life and Yamcha, in complete horror, makes light of the fact that IF enough energy is used, someone could KILL someone who was already dead. He then goes on to say that doing so would cause them to cease to exist and not even Dragon Balls can bring them back. Kid Buu was strong enough to do just that. This means that, if he were more sadistic, he could subsequently torture you for all eternity and you wouldn't die unless he destroyed your soul!

** After Buu destroys the Earth he teleports all over the universe and destroys several other planets in a row like a cosmic wrecking ball without giving the people on those planets any chance of fighting back or even realizing what was happening. It was at this moment tha it becomes clear to the viewer that the entire universe really was in danger since this thing wouldn't stop until everything was dead.
** What little forewarning we got was for the most part Kibito Kai's unrestrained horror as the transformation from Super Buu to Kid Buu arrived to the [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/dragonball/images/4/43/UltraBuuMuscles.png Huge Buu]] stage for a moment. Until that moment he, and his fusee Shin and Kibito, had been scared of Buu, but it was controllable, and after the fusion, he actually considered going after Super Buu himself. Then he saw that... And was on his knees in pure abject terror trying desperately to deny the truth, that Buu was returning to his original form. And when he continued changing, [[WhamLine he revealed what was happening]] with just as much horror.

** The ''other'' piece of forewarning: when Vegeta was about to rip Fat Buu from him and trigger the change, Super Buu ''begged'' him not too [[HorrifyingTheHorror out of sheer horror at the idea of reverting to Kid Buu]]. Sadly, [[PoorCommunicationKills he was too scared to properly explain what he meant by "I wouldn't be me anymore"]], and Vegeta went through with it. Thus Super Buu reverted to his original form... While Super Buu tried desperately to prevent the change.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lYSi2vXAKY Here it is in all it's horrifying glory]].

*** Heck, think of the way he disposes of Babidi. In Kai, he first deceives Babidi by saying he has a good idea to tell him, allowing him to get close. Then Buu grabs Babidi by the throat, explaining that now Babidi is unable to perform any magic, like the spell to seal him in a ball. Then Buu pulls his fist back, and you get several agonizing shots of Babidi staring in pure horror that there is literally nothing he can do, [[AndIMustScream nor can he scream for mercy]]. Then Buu punches his head into oblivion, his fist colliding with the camera and turning it pure red. [[KickTheSonOfABitch And the wizard deserved it]]. To make matters worse, in the original anime we're then treated to a [[SarcasmMode lovely shot]] of Babidi's ''twitching, headless and blood-spewing corpse'', which is also pulsating with a very loud heartbeat, possibly implying that [[CruelAndUnusualDeath Babidi didn't immediately die from the decapitation]].

--> "Oh, and by the way, Babidi? When you get to Hell, which believe me is gonna be sooner than you think, King Yemma will make you suffer."

* [[MadScientist Doctor Gero]], the mastermind behind the Red Ribbon Army, definitely deserves mention. His methods for creating Androids 17 and 18 involved ''kidnapping teenage siblings and wiping them of their memories''. [[FromBadToWorse And that's not the worst he does either.]] It is implied the reason he created Cell, if he had any idea what kind of sadism his creation would obtain, was to ''enact revenge against humanity for his Red Ribbon Army's destruction''. The worst part is that like Mercenary Tao, he's human and not created to be evil like Buu or an alien like Frieza so he's perfectly aware of the suffering he's causing people and he loves every minute of it.

* Captain Ginyu. The Ginyu force is this in-universe, since it's what Frieza uses when he's really pissed and wants things done. The weakest of them has psychic powers able to make two warriors with over ''thirty times'' his power level helpless, then there are three people that could [[CurbStompBattle curb stomp]] ''Vegeta'' (no, not acting together, every one of them could to this on his own), and they are to Ginyu less than what Vegeta is to them. So far, however, is just the usual SortingAlgorithmOfEvil. The real horror is what happens when you are stronger than Ginyu. He would seriously injure himself, then swap bodies with you, getting a much stronger one, leaving you to die from his self-inflicted and painful injury. The worst of it? Jeice ''knew'' of that ability. [[FridgeHorror Is what we see Ginyu's original body? And how many times did he do that before?]]

** In the anime, the Ginyu Force are dancing idiots whose true threat level doesn't become apparent until well into their fights. In the manga it's almost immediately apparent when they show up with scouters, greet Frieza and then immediately cross Namek, a planet three times larger than the Earth, right to Gohan, Krillin and Vegeta. A few chapters ago there was some drama over Goku having to cross Snake Way and arrive on Earth due to Kaio losing track of time but these guys made a comparable trip in no time at all.

** There's also the fact that the mist covered the ''entire planet''. Over 90% of the Earth's population including animals transformed into bloodthirsty mindless drones of Garlic Jr and his henchmen. We're also shown a very disturbing clip of a young couple hiding out in a destroyed city whilst people all around riot, saying how that "evil mist changes people", before they are suddenly attacked (and probably infected) by several infected animals. We hear their screams as one of the girl's shoes flies off and the camera lingers on it for several seconds. Even worse is the only cure for the mist becomes useless after 24 hours, meaning nearly everyone on Earth almost became stuck as drones permanently.
* The fact that during and after the Cell Saga, anyone with enough power is capable to nearly destroy a planet by elevating their Ki (especially if unchecked). During the Buu Saga, we see how Goku provokes earthquakes and destruction across Earth only with his transformation into Super Saiyan 3.
* After you've seen ''Dragon Ball Super'', all the times Supreme Kai was threatened and/or on the verge of death suddenly become a ''lot'' more chilling than they already were, knowing that if he dies Beerus himself would cease to exist (and Whis would become inactive afterward), which would have ''severely'' affected events going forward into that series. [[labelnote:spoilers]]If he had died, Goku and the others might've still defeated Majin Buu, but while they would've avoided the Battle of Gods saga, they would've been ''immensely'' unprepared for Frieza's return (which would inevitably result in Earth's permanent destruction). And while the Champa and Future Trunks sagas [[HopeSpot may never have started]]... the lack of a strong team for the Universe Survival Saga (if they even had one at all), and all of existence hinging on the hidden condition for the tournament, could've had ''[[{{Understatement}} very dire]]'' consequences when Zeno eventually remembers to do it. And even if this tournament took a long time to happen at all, eventually Frieza's forces would still [[Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly find Broly]] and forced him to fight for this tyrannical empire, and Moro would've eventually returned to his energy-eating spree in short order.[[/labelnote]]

* Babidi is a sadistic little creep who can't fight on his own, but can take even the faintest traces of darkness in someone's soul and [[MindRape forcefully corrupt them]] into psychopathic slaves. Plus, his whole method for reviving Majin Buu revolved around ''inflicting pain''. On top of ''that'', he'll gleefully show you via magic the death and chaos Buu causes, just to show you how little hope you have.
** And if you're one of his slaves and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he thinks for a second that you've outlived your usefulness]]? Your arteries, veins, etc. are literally expanded within you, clogging your insides to the point YOU become StuffBlowingUp.

** When he gets the idea to place his spell on [[spoiler: Vegeta]], we get to see how the process works on its victims. The way [[spoiler: Vegeta]] describes it, the victim feels like they're being attacked from the inside. They're then racked with agonizing pain until they fall to their knees. If the victim is resistant, then they scream some more as Babidi's will eventually overrides their own.

* Any transformation in the Great Ape/Oozaru by Goku or Gohan. It appears to be as painful as it looks as their bodies become feral and more muscular as they transform. Not only do they have an appearance of a monster, but whenever a Saiyan turns into one, unless they're an elite, they lose ''all'' senses of themselves and kill anything in sight.

** Well, at least with a conscious thought, you'd be able to know when to stop destroying when the jobs done. With an out of control Oozaru form, you just kill and kill.... and you don't stop until the transformation's over, and you have no memory of what happened...
** When Goku gets his ribcage crushed by Oozaru Vegeta in the Saiyan Saga. He'd already weakened his body to the point where a light slap from Yajirobe made him wince, so when you think about [[FridgeHorror how much this had to hurt]] it's amazing that he was able to contribute to the fight at all.

* Early in the Buu saga, we see the fight between Videl and Spopovich. Long story short, this entire episode, if you remove the fantasy elements, is a wrestler ''pounding a young girl in a tournament, and absolutely no one is coming to help her!!''. There's a shot of Spopovich ''stepping on her head, and all Videl can do is cry out in pain!!'' She's lucky Gohan defied his father and flew in to save her, which, really, brings up a whole 'nother issue! Even Goku is really disgusted with this guy (Spopovich), and went on his way to mutter "I don't like him" and "there's something wrong with that guy" more than once. Still, he didn't actually intervene, but it was more of a matter of time: if Gohan didn't do it first, Goku would have.

** Although [[KarmicDeath utterly well-deserved after what he did to Videl,]] Spopovich's death is still horrifyingly gruesome. Babidi uses the magic he's bestowed upon Spopovich to make the guy's body start to inflate like a balloon. We can hear ''bones crunching'', and get a close-up on his eyes bugging out as his own expanding body mass starts to crush his head as he cries out in agony until it's just a ''gurgling'' sound...and then he ''explodes!'' And as seen below, it's not even the ''last'' time such a death happens in the Buu Saga!

* Van Zant, the bandit who shot Buu's dog and later Mr. Satan. In his first scene he kills an elderly couple and revels about how great it feels to kill someone. Then we see him shooting people at random in a nearby town. It all leads up to Van Zant shooting Buu's dog and Mr. Satan and this triggers the release of Buu's evil side, meaning [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom he's responsible for every bad thing that happens afterward]]. All this for no reason other than the sheer thrill of killing people. Even worse is that at the time Buu had reformed and posed no threat to anyone. What's worse is that he uses Buu's destruction spree as an excuse, reasoning that everyone will be killed eventually, and even going so far as to pretend that Buu killed his victims. And just ''why'' he does all of this? He's reckoned that with Buu flying around basically laying waste to the planet, he's probably going to die soon, and he decided it'd be fun to try to take as many people with him as possible. That's his entire motivation. The most terrifying thing about him is that he is [[HumansAreBastards a completely normal human being]] with ''no superpowers''. Put emphasis on ''completely'', since he is just a simple human with no superpowers or martial arts training. All other human villains were leaders of evil organizations (Commander Red), or were mercenaries and later cyborgs (Tao Pai Pai), but he is just an average human. Most of the other villains in the series are intergalactic warlords, androids or other supernatural creatures and use ki-blasts and other superpowers for evil, Van Zant uses ''normal guns'' to accomplish bad things. It is terrifying to see that a regular human, who uses normal guns to accomplish bad deeds, can be just as bad as intergalactic alien warlords or insane androids.
** To emphasize how horrible Van Zant's RealismInducedHorror is, his first scene is shooting down an old woman who is trying to escape Buu's rampages, and then her husband panics and anguishes over the cruelty of her being gunned down. We then see him pressure his butler into killing the old man who is calling out for his wife and wondering just ''why'' this would happen, sounding to be on the verge of tears before his cries are silenced with a gun shot.

* This may be more NauseaFuel than NightmareFuel, but Piccolo being forced to basically reassemble himself after Trunks [[NiceJobBreakingItHero knocks him over]] [[TakenForGranite as a statue.]] Presuming that Piccolo was not conscious for his time as a statue and only regained consciousness when the attack wore off (i.e. when [[spoiler: Buu killed Dabura]]), imagine if your first conscious realization after being ''turned to stone'' is, "OhCrap. I'm in pieces." And then there was the effort involved. It's already a known fact that, yes, while Piccolo can regenerate limbs, it's not an easy process. And he had to regenerate several portions of his body.

* This example is mostly reserved for the earlier movies: How utterly Piccolo's ruthless can be towards the villains, even after his HeelFaceTurn. Whenever he goes up against the henchman, he makes damn sure they suffer an agonizing death, and he seems to ''enjoy'' doing it too.
** '''Lord Slug:''' He engages in a CurbStompBattle against Wing and breaks both his arms. Realizing how screwed he was, Wing offered Piccolo a spot in Slug's army. Piccolo stretched his hand out as if to help Wing back up... and puts it in front his face. He then proceeded to blow Wing's head off.
** '''Revenge of Cooler:''' He fires a homing blast at Doore, who tried to chase after Gohan. attempted to outrun and then block it, but it proved too much to handle and got vaporized. Neiz caught Piccolo when an electric cage. Piccolo was screaming in agonizing pain... until Neiz got too close. Piccolo smirked, grabbed Neiz by the face, and fried him to death with his own attack.

* Goku's False Super Saiyan transformation. It shows up for a brief moment, but it's scary to see the desperate Goku suddenly turn into a Kaioken-esque ScreamingWarrior on a [[UnstoppableRage rage fueled rampage]].

* The horrifying face Goku sports when after turning Super Saiyan and subconsciously absorbing that tremendous power, turning him into a giant ball of raw power that Android 13 can't even approach without disintegrating his fists. Also, even after skewering the android and blowing him up, Goku STILL sports that bared tooth expression as if to stress how BAD the strain maintaining this state is upon him.

* It can be jarring to realize that not only did Frieza have his father King Cold, but also an older brother. Cooler isn't avenging Frieza's death out of love, but out of sheer spite and a sense of self preservation and his family's honor. Upon learning that it was a member of the supposedly 'weak' race of creatures, a Saiyan, he felt that someone killing Frieza and not him, was an outright insult to him. So what does Cooler do? He heads to Earth, [[TranquilFury enraged]], to avenge Frieza and kill the one that had done it. He's just like Frieza, but [[FromBadToWorse even worse]]. His power exceeds him. It's implied in the film that he's in the same form and strength as his brother's fourth and final form... except that he has another form to [[OhCrap surpass him]]!
** The near final moments when Goku repelled Cooler back with his Super Kamehameha and his own Supernova straight to the sun. Anyone who's read this page so far knows where this is going... [[TakeOurWordForIt Let's just say]] that Cooler's demise was a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath slow horrific incineration]] that would leave some viewers raising a few eyebrows. He may (like many other Z villains of the entire series) [[KarmicDeath have deserved it]] but in the end, it’s still a horrible demise...

* ...Then it turns out Cooler ''survived as a piece of his head intact'', and a computer chip called the Big Gete Star fused with it, turning Cooler into a HiveMind. His first order of business was to invade New Namek, enslave its population and engulf part of the planet in a giant mass of metal. Cooler also appears as a new body with enough power overwhelm Super Saiyan Goku and Vegeta at the same time and can rebuild himself each time he's damaged.

* Future Androids 17 and 18. Unlike [[AntiVillain their current]] [[HeelFaceTurn counterparts]], these androids kill ForTheEvulz and do so in [[CruelAndUnusualDeath extremely painful and humiliating ways]], having done so for over a decade. There's barely a world left by the story's opening, only because the sadistic duo want to take their time destroying the world. They also go out of their way to psychologically torture Trunks during his first beatdown to the point of instilling mental trauma afterwards. Their death threat whispers are absolutely haunting and Trunks only survives them the first time out of sheer luck and the Androids' disinterest in hunting him down.

* When Future Gohan dies. It was horrifying to see him get hit by those beams, while he's screaming in agony, and he's laying on the ground ''helpless!'' You begin to realize how hopeless the situation was, even though it seemed Gohan was holding his own. When Trunks faced his own beatdown at the hands of the Androids, for some reason, they made the incredibly intelligent decision to use the creepiest Gregorian-chant BGM as a backdrop.

* From the second the rain falls on Gohan's final battle, the entire film takes on an eerie FilmNoir aesthetic of dark shadows broken only by flashes of lightning, dim lamps and dying sunlight. Trunks hiding in ''terror'' from 17 and 18 among the shadows of urban decay is a scene straight out of a 1980's SlasherMovie, complete with a blood-chilling OminousPipeOrgan score to emphasize just how horrifying and hopeless his plight is.

** Also consider that, at least in the original continuity, Broly was ''stabbed'' as a newborn by agents of King Vegeta. Talk about Adult Fear if you're Paragus - but Broly came close enough to death from this. The fact that he didn't die from being stabbed in the chest as a baby is frightening, but keep in mind what happens if you nearly kill a Saiyan but [[CameBackStrong don't get the job done.]] As ridiculous as Broly's power level was out of the womb, how much more was it after an assassination attempt?
* Every villain in the series, when being fought, has taken hits and bled. Frieza, Cell, Bojack, Buu, it doesn't matter. Each and every one of them gets a beating here and there. Broly, though? [[NighInvulnerability He doesn't get hurt at]] ''[[NighInvulnerability all]]''. The only hits that have ever make Broly flinch in any form, at least in the original movies, are the killing blows at the end of each one. [[ImplacableMan He can take everything that you can throw at him and not notice]]. On top of that, [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity he's insane]]. You can't bargain with him or surrender. You can't scare him, you can't team up on him and all he wants to do is kill you... as slowly and painfully as he can. And unlike the other villains, he's not doing it because you're in his way or for profit. Broly does it because he ''[[ForTheEvulz loves it]]''. It doesn't matter if he's ordered to kill you, once he sees you then he ''will'' go after you, and he ''will'' kill you.
* Legendary Super Saiyan Broly. One of the things he's most noted for is his EmptyEyes. This gives him a demonic appearance, on top of the fact that he grows nearly twice as tall as his original self, is bulkier than the Ultra Super Saiyan 2nd state, and destroys a slave race's planet just to see them cry about it. But all you need to realize that he's a bad mofo is to watch one of the many scenes in the first movie where there's a close-up onto his eyes.

* [[CruelAndUnusualDeath The way Broly]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfAF82n5X1A kills Paragus]]. Sure, Paragus [[KarmicDeath certainly deserved it]], but it doesn't make it any less horrifying. Paragus climbs into a space pod to escape New Planet Vegeta, which is about to be hit by a comet, and intending to leave Broly behind. Unfortunately for him, Broly shows up, grabs the space pod, hoists it over his head, and crushes it with ''Paragus still inside''. Worse still, he crushes it slowly enough that Paragus has time to lament over his fate - meaning that Paragus's death was a slow and painful one. Ugh...

** In ''The Legendary Super Saiyan'', Goku punches Broly in the chest while Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, and Trunks give him their energy. Said punch ''rips a hole into Broly's chest'', blood spewing out as Broly's body begins to ''crack''. Broly then begins to violently spasm before he ''[[DefeatEqualsExplosion explodes]]'', choking out one last "Kakarot!" as he does. Thankfully, GoryDiscretionShot comes into play and we don't see anything really grisly, but god ''damn''.

* If you really think about it, the [[DarkAndTroubledPast reason]] Broly is like this (at least post-[[Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly Super]]) can be this. On the very day that Planet Vegeta blew up, King Vegeta attempted to [[WouldHurtAChild kill him via knife]] because having such a powerful being around was deemed too much of a threat. It didn't work, and shortly afterward, the annihilation of the Saiyan Race had occurred, with only Broly and Paragus surviving the explosion itself due to the former's immense power. But that isn't what sets Broly off...no, the trigger for his Legendary Super Saiyan transformation is the Saiyan child that ''just so happened'' to be crying right next to him: Goku. For him, the very sight of Goku brings the traumatic events of his youth to the forefront, all because Goku ''cried'' in the same room as him on the worst day of his life, causing a rampage that nearly breaks five of the strongest characters in the series at that point. And then in ''Second Coming,'' Goten accidentally wakes up a frozen Broly with ''his'' crying and incurs his wrath, waking up a hulking monstrosity with one thing left on his mind: '''''murder Kakarot!''''' And since Goten [[StrongFamilyResemblance looks an awful lot like his dad, he'll have to do]].

* In ''Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans'', Frieza, Turles, Cooler and Slug come back as ghosts. After they are defeated, Hatchiyack absorbs their spirits, which is apparently very painful. We are then treated to a sequence of each villain's ghost being trapped inside of a ball and writhing in agony.

** It also invites the ultimate FridgeHorror of the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil in the Dragon Ball universe, Beerus, [[GodOfEvil the God of Destruction]] which [[TheDreaded all the other gods fear]]. This would normally [[InformedAbility not be as dangerous]] [[UnderestimatingBadassery considering how the gods normally rank things]], until he curb stomps Super Saiyan 3 Goku '''with a finger'''. Since this is the canonical universe, where Super Saiyan 3 is the strongest state aside from Mystic and Fusions, this is a big deal. Then [[spoiler: [[EleventhHourSuperpower the Super Saiyan God state, which is the strongest state in the series' canon]]]] is activated by Goku to defeat this guy. Normally you'd expect a CurbStompBattle to ensue and deal with the BigBad. [[spoiler: [[TheBadGuyWins Nope, Goku still loses, only managing to force Beerus to go 70% of his power]] [[KarmaHoudini and suffers no punishment]]]]. The real scary part comes after this [[spoiler: turns out [[AllThereInTheManual despite being the strongest character in the series according to V-jump]], it turns out that his advisor, Whis, is much stronger than he is, and given that we never see the full extent of Beerus' power, Whis' power must be beyond comprehension.]] We also get this bit of information; [[spoiler: turns that he's the designated God of Destruction for the universe that Dragon Ball is based in which is No. 7 out of 12]].
*** To sum it up [[spoiler:Beerus, the most powerful character in the series, has several beings above him. There's his mentor who's [[strike:stronger than he is]], strong enough to smack him around like a child and have it PlayedForLaughs, and then there's the '''other Eleven Universes' Gods of Destruction that are all probably as strong if not stronger than he is'''. THEN there's the reveal of the TopGod Zeno, a childlike being whom each of the Gods of Destruction fear immensely and '''''destroyed six universes already, with the current 12 universes originally being 18''''']]. Talk about a dark and horrifying deconstruction of AlwaysSomeoneBetter.
* Furthermore Beerus is actually too powerful to fight. During his fight with Goku, the shockwaves from their blows were so intense that Old Kai estimated they would tear the universe itself apart by echoing through the universe and destroying planets and stars in their wake. Even apparently fighting a God of Destruction puts the universe in danger of complete erasure!

* Frieza is back. The monster that brutally slaughtered TRILLIONS of people and blew up countless planets; who created a galaxy-wide Real Estate scam where planetary-scale genocide was commonplace as part of his father's empire; who mercilessly tortured Goku, Gohan and Piccolo and savagely murdered Dende, Vegeta and Krillin has returned. The EvilOverlord is back, burning with revenge, and more powerful than ever!
* The third trailer starts pretty awesome, with epic footage of the fights, and both a HeavyMetal tune and a J-Pop song playing as the Z-Fighters fight epically, but then... The music abruptly ends as we see Frieza literally ''stomping'' Goku to submission, and further commentary of Beerus and Vegeta seemingly chastising Goku for being soft. Cue Frieza [[EvilLaugh cackling maniacally]] as the [[EarthShatteringKaboom Earth blows up]], and the background? Goku '''''[[TheScream screaming in agony]]'''''. End of the trailer...
* We already knew Frieza to be a BadBoss, but it reaches new levels. His own men only resurrects him as a desperate, last resort because they need him (the only reason is that they can't face the continuous revolts in the empire, and Frieza's mere presence will be enough to ''scare them all into submission''). And the one telling us that is ''Frieza''. He's perfectly aware of this and doesn't care, worse, seems to enjoy the chaos. His first actions after his resurrection show us exactly why it's like that. First thing he does, he kills one of his men, just to check how strong he is. Then, one of the soldiers that helped his resurrection lampshades the RevengeBeforeReason and... Well, remember how he killed Krillin? He does the same, but throws the unlucky soldier in space to boot. And that leaves a hole on the ship that starts sucking everyone but Frieza (who could just survive into space anyway). Luckily, they have shields that prevents that, and ultimately the order to raise them is given. By Sorbet. Frieza would have just let everyone die. To sum it up: a wrong move, and you risk a horrific death. Be too close to who made the wrong move, and you risk to die all the same. Do nothing at all, and you might die anyway because he needed a target. Not bad enough? A casual line in the movie implies that his soldiers are ''forced'' to join his army. PunchClockVillain doesn't even start to describe it.

** In the anime, the moment Gohan's neck gets snapped, the scene shifts to Chi-Chi on Earth who knows something went wrong through motherly intuition but doesn't know what happened and proceeds to weep in despair at the fate of her five year old son. Any reason why the poor woman is against her boy being involved in fights against genocidal aliens?
*** Speaking of Recoome himself, he [[DeconstructedTrope horrifically deconstructs the concept of durability that heroes are known for]], managing to keep going even after his armor, most of hair and a lot of his teeth being blasted out of his mouth. Two notable instances is when he seemingly is knocked out for the count on the ground only to swiftly get up in an eerily graceful way and even disturbingly, when he gets head-butted in the gut by Vegeta with a shocked expression of pain- [[{{Troll}} only for it to immediately shift into a mocking expression to show how little it effected him]]. This [[HumanAliens further demonstrates that Recoome is not an Earth-bound human]] [[HumanoidAbomination only a nigh-durable alien that has the appearance of one.]]
* The unusual amount of focus given to Android 18 shattering Vegeta's arm with a single kick. Never mind that broken limbs are often RealLife NightmareFuel in and of themselves. It was the fact that Trunks and everyone up on the hill realizes how screwed Vegeta is right on impact. Or the ''scream'' Vegeta lets out right as his arm goes limp. By this point, Vegeta's pretty much established himself as a guy that can not only take a pounding, but talk crap the entire way. To hear Vegeta scream out in pain to that degree is hair-raising (no pun intended) because it's something Vegeta ''just doesn't do''.

** Doesn't help that he [[WouldHurtAChild hits Gohan]] in the most painful way possible soon after, then makes the threat that one he's done, he plans to destroy Earth.

** There is anime filler where Goku has a nightmare as he's suffering from the heart virus. He's able to fight Androids 19 and 20, but he is then assaulted by an unidentified ghost-like figure, with only red eyes on its face. Goku is alarmed, claiming he's never seen anyone or anything quite like it before. As he says this the figure gives a wide grin and opens a mouth full of large fangs. If this was meant to be a personification of the heart virus, then it really underscores just how it was so different from, yet no less deadly than every other struggle Goku faced before (and even more so when you consider everything written above).
* Aside from being blown up or vaporized by energy blasts, Creator/AkiraToriyama seems to like large chest wounds as indicators of fatal[=/=]near fatal injuries. Happens to Goku (literally in the second episode), Vegeta, Piccolo, Yamcha, Future Trunks at different points, among others. During Buu's infamous Human Extinction attack, the ''ENTIRE POPULATION OF EARTH'' save a handful, gets a terminal case of hole-through-torso, including (although not shown on screen) all the kids.

* [[ItWasHisSled When it was still the latest chapter]], the reveal that Goku was actually an alien was quite the shocker, but what's really horrifying is how strong Raditz, Goku's older brother seemed at that time. He had no problem dealing with both him and Piccolo '''at once'''. Goku was now knowing what it was like for the first time to feel utterly hopeless. For extra damage, he then tells both that the two other Saiyans are '''FAR''' stronger than he is. [[FridgeHorror Let that sink in for a bit.]]
** For Goku's friends, the idea that there is someone even stronger than Goku running around out there and that Goku himself was sent to wipe out humanity. Keep in mind that as a young child, Goku destroyed an [[OneManArmy entire army by himself]] and was closed to invincible outside of a few named martial artists. He also single-handedly killed what was [[TheDreaded Satan]] of the Dragon World. To them, the very idea that Goku could have been their enemy must have been terrifying.
** ''Manga/JacoTheGalacticPatrolman'' reveals that Bulma had long known about the Saiyans, even if she didn't know what they looked like... And all of sudden, one of the monsters shows up, smacks her best friend around, and reveals that said best friend is actually another Saiyan.
* In a filler episode, the human Z-fighters are sent in a special room to prepare for the Saiyans. While there, they are all defeated with little to no effort and are given some brutal off-screen and on-screen deaths (which acts as an unnerving foreshadowing of what will happen to them). But what really made it scary was how Kami confirmed that they did well considering how strong Saiyans are known to be, and that Vegeta and Nappa are far stronger than the illusion Saiyans that the human Z-fighters had to take on.

** How about when he tears Tien's left arm off '''CLEAN'''? The scream thrown in great pain was more than adequate and Vegeta laughing about how fragile humans are.

** There's some scary foreshadowing in-universe for Piccolo, Krillin, and Gohan when they see Nappa being terrified when Vegeta yells at him for attempting to disobey his order to stall the fight for three hours. Piccolo comes to the correct conclusion that the one tearing them apart with ease was actually the '''weaker''' one.
-->'''Vegeta:''' NAPPA! DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DEFY ME?!

** Extra-Nightmare Fuel for the galactic government, they were so willing to commit mass genocide that they invented and used dozens of civilization ending [=WMDs=] on the Saiyans. [[PayEvilUntoEvil Even if the Saiyans deserve it]], that's still horrific.

** Frieza's transformations are in a category of his own. His first transformation into his 2nd form is BodyHorror at its finest, first his chest and arms enlarge giving the appearance of an upper torso way too big for Frieza's small frame until his legs bulk out starting from the thighs to his ankles, also [[{{Satan}} his horns turn upwards to resemble a more demonic look as seen through a shadow]], then we see from his point of view of Vegeta gradually getting smaller, then stretching out his neck, a pink aura surrounds him as his facial features become more adult and his shoulder pads enlarge. In fact, the sheer weight of the form causes him to fall to his knees as power is straining his being. In the anime, he then stands up and turns around to show his satanic-alien new form, while in the manga, he gives a SlasherSmile knowing that the heroes are now screwed. Everyone including Vegeta are scared of this new form [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice which is completely justified as Frieza goes to impale Krillin with his horns and prolongs it with sadistic pleasure]].
** The next transformation, while not as graphic, is even more [[BodyHorror horrific]]; Frieza extends his shoulder guards and grows spikes on his back, his face stretches out and then contorts into a malformed beak while his head elongates. Which leads into a really creepy XenomorphXerox like form that acts far more insane than before as he rapid barrages Piccolo helplessly, before Gohan's sudden power-boost forced him to quickly/thankfully transition to his next form.

** Of course, Kai makes this part scarier and also ends up making a reference to ''Fist of the North Star'' while doing so.

---->'''King Kai:''' Poor Vegeta. At last, he understands the true nature of the monster he faces. For the first time ever, he's genuinely trembling. All of the fear and frustration he must be feeling. I can only imagine. His eyes don't lie, those tears are real. This is the first time the proud Saiyan prince has ever known what it is to feel helpless.
** What is especially disturbing is that Frieza was not created to be evil like Cell and Majin Buu. He commits xenocide regularly because it is simply ''cheaper than buying the planet'' before he sells it off to someone else. This guy is one of the most evil and terrifying figures in the ''Dragon Ball'' universe and his M.O is the galactic equivalent of a ''real estate scam!''

** And of course, there's the sheer ''power'' Frieza wields. The Saiyans and the Ginyu Force were all intimidatingly strong, but Frieza is '''this''' close to being a horribly evil PhysicalGod. When Goku shows up to fight [[TheBrute Nappa]] or the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Ginyu Force]], we know everything will be okay, but after he shows up to fight Frieza, and seems to be winning for a while, Frieza states that if he uses half of his full power, he can finish Goku. Okay, this is all trash talk we've heard before, but then Goku realizes, with a look of genuine fear, that ''Frieza isn't bluffing.'' The alien tyrant then gives him a savage NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, stopping only to say:
-->'''Frieza:''' "Never mind half max power; I'm not even using one third of it."

** Vegeta, who was absolutely terrified of Frieza's previous forms decides he has to put himself near-death and get Dende to heal him just to even stand up to the bastard. Vegeta becomes so confident of his new power that he convinces himself he's reached Super Saiyan-status, but his confidence quickly evaporates even he realises that the power boost ''still wasn't enough'' and that Frieza had been toying with him throughout the fight. Even his DesperationAttack, which Piccolo stated would've ''destroyed the planet'' if it hit, was casually deflected by Frieza. The realisation that 1) he's not a Super Saiyan and 2) He will be mercilessly killed by his former master actually makes the proud Vegeta [[TearsOfFear shed tears]] and resign himself to his fate. That's how terrifying Frieza was.

*** Cue Frieza torturing Vegeta in the most horrific manner possible. And those damn screams of pain Vegeta lets out as he's getting tortured. Even the part when the villain grabs Vegeta ByTheHair (only shown in the preview of the next episode of ''Z'', just not in the next episode itself; but then shown to its full extent in the uncut version of ''Kai'') is ''VERY'' disturbing to say the least.

*** Worse, Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin can only stand there and watch. They are utterly powerless to help Vegeta and can only watch as he's being beaten to death before their eyes. Frieza even mockingly says that they can jump in at any time. Even if Vegeta has been a dick towards them, none of them could stomach what they were seeing. This goes double for Piccolo, who was once the Demon King who caused his own fair share of CruelAndUnusualDeath(s).

*** Moments before he actually decides to smack around Vegeta during their fight in the anime, and just before the latter's DesperationAttack: Frieza makes it a point to demonstrate how he outclasses Vegeta, when the latter goes ballistic, and starts firing a cluster of huge KiManipulation at him. Frieza simply dodges them before they detonate, and at one point, moved so fast he appeared in front of Piccolo, Gohan and Krillin watching on the sidelines, and deviously smirked at them. He only did it out of pure intimidation and amusement, and the fact Vegeta's attacks were covering the air with smoke, and darkening the sky [[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100728230932/dragonball/images/0/01/Frieza20.PNG made the whole thing creepier]]. Needless to say, Piccolo was scared shitless, either out of the risk of being blown to bits by Vegeta or whatever he thought Frieza had in store, quickly grabbed Gohan and Krillin and high-tailed it way out of the expanding battlefield.
*** Adding to that, there is Vegeta urging Krillin to blast him at full strength to injure him. Krillin closes his eyes, turns around, and complies, resulting in a TorsoWithAView. Vegeta [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction just laughs]]. The music does not help.
*** Then Vegeta crawls to Dende, and as him to heal him. '''Dende refuses''', reminding Vegeta while not as much as Frieza, Vegeta did kill many of his people too. Dende finally relents, but for that few moments it was very unsettling.
** There's also the fact that Frieza's forms were specifically designed to look like monsters from the author's own childhood nightmares. Frieza's 4th form is pretty freaky when he first transforms into it, mostly because of how his chalk-white skin combined with it being his most humanoid form makes him look ghostly and eerie human-like. Of course, it doesn't hurt that his first order of business is to [[spoiler: blast Dende]].

*** Not only that, but as soon as they are done healing Frieza, they all jump back. It's obvious that they know Frieza well enough that they are genuinely terrified of him lashing out and being an UngratefulBastard. Hell, just imagine if they accidently hurt Frieza during the treatment. Imagine treating someone like that. Some people throw a punch or lash out because of how confused they are during treatment. If Frieza had done that, the poor medic would have been splattered across the walls. It's likely that the medics did everything they could to keep him sedated as much for their sakes as his own.

*** Even worse, while this is going on, Goku is in a healing tank. Since he can sense ki, he is fully aware that not only is his son in horrible agony, but that his energy is rapidly dwindling and he will die if something isn't done fast. His son is being tortured to death, and Goku is ''absolutely helpless to stop it''.

* The unique attack Frieza used to kill Krillin. It involves shooting a benign (at first glance) energy ball about the size of a pinprick into an enemy's chest cavity and then ''expanding it whilst still inside them.'' Never mind the implications of your body being invaded by ''anything'' against your will, but consider that Frieza’s energy was probably burning away at his insides. And you can see Krillin's chest heave unnaturally right before he explodes. At least, some of Frieza’s other victims got a much quicker death... some of them.

* At the time of being the most ultimate powerful figure within the entire DBZ Universe, Frieza proved that he can go beyond his ability in power. During the epic showdown between Goku, Frieza wanted to up the ante by going [[BodyHorror 100% Full Power.]] Just like the previous transformation sequences, it is brutal, cold and downright terrifying. His muscles enlarge to giant proportions, veins throbbing wildly and uncontrollably and his screams into his ascended state [[OhCrap made things even worse for Goku]] for a while. The whole scenario shows just how much he's willing to go to take down Goku and flee Namek which at that point was a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any given minute.
* Frieza destroying Planet Vegeta. Not just simply the planets demise itself, but how he acts throughout. Frieza flies out of his ship, completely emotionless and unresponsive to Bardock confronting him. He just slowly raises his finger while glaring at him, charging a [[SphereOfDestruction death ball]] no bigger than the tip of his finger while the lone Saiyan is verbally spitting in his face. When Bardock throws an energy blast at him, Frieza finally breaks his composure and starts LaughingMad, expanding the death ball to the point where Bardock’s attack is engulfed in it. Then he throws it at Bardock, ''[[BadBoss his own army who just happened to be in the same path]],'' and the planet Vegeta, where we get to see flames erupting from beneath the populace as Vegeta is disintegrated. ''Frieza's still laughing at all of this.'' Even [[TheDragon Zarbon and Dodoria]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards are deeply disturbed by the sight]]...
** Emotionless? As he watches Bardock on a monitor rush through his whole army to get to him, Frieza first calmly requests opening the hatch, prompting a very disturbed "Wait, what?" reaction. Zarbon tries arguing the point, and then... Frieza lets his arm lower by his sides. This simple, wordless gesture prompts Zarbon to gasp, run out of the room to execute the orders, screaming "Yes, Sir!" And THEN you get a closeup on Frieza's face where pure, unadulterated hatred is displayed. Bardock is but a bug to crush under his heel, but Frieza will clearly NOT tolerate rebellion or any form of opposition, and deep down, you can sense his actual FEAR towards Saiyans.
* Think about the power levels in this saga; after some months of training, Goku is at 180,000 and absolutely trashes the Ginyu force, with Ginyu standing at the max power level of 120,000. Frieza at max power? ''120'' '''''[[PrecisionFStrike FUCKING]]''''' ''MILLION''. Frieza at his strongest is a thousand times stronger than his most powerful henchman. How the hell is someone that powerful anyway? Answer; [[spoiler:''he was just born that way'']]. Makes you wonder why the universe choose to give that much power to someone born in an evil family.
** It isn't enough to say how his strongest form puts him above everyone else. Frieza, in his ''weakest'' form, is already at least 4 times stronger than Ginyu. At his ''weakest'', he was considered the strongest and most feared being in the universe. Not even his own men had any idea that he was actually even stronger than that, or just how much stronger he actually was. If one does the math, Frieza is all of this to the universe when he's not even using '''''1%''''' of his power, ''or even half of that.'' [[spoiler: Later events in Dragon Ball Super in Resurrection of F, and Universe Survival Arc makes the '100% power' an ''utterly minuscule fraction'' of his true possible ability.]]

** This extends to Frieza's genetic relative Cell, by the way. Cell's instinct is to absorb things to get stronger, but once he reaches what he believes to be perfection, he stops trying, figuring that he's strong enough already. And he was mostly right. That said, the endgame of that saga sees Cell lose his perfect form only to transform back into a ''stronger'' version of it without the requisite absorption after a near-death scenario. This indicates that he had access to the Saiyans' innate Zenkai ability. Just how much research had Dr. Gero actually done on other methods of getting stronger? And how much did Cell know about these methods? In other words, imagine Cell with a few weeks of good training along with the Saiyan and Frieza's genetics he had. Universe would've been completely screwed.

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAkSg8TzDTs Kai redub]] also does a damn good job at just how terrifying Goku's transformation into a Super Saiyan is, though that can mostly be attributed to the outstanding voice work. Goku actually sounds like he's about to lose his mind, and the grunting seems like he's trying to hold himself back but ultimately failing to do so. The track used for this scene pre-2011, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NokXLGU7JBA 'A Moment For Shuddering']], also shows that as well. While it's certainly dramatic, it's not necessarily meant to convey how awesome the transformation is; rather, it gives the impression that Goku's [[RageBreakingPoint rage is about to break]]. This is all culminated in a truly terrifying scream as Goku finally becomes Super Saiyan, as well as Frieza sounding both shocked and horrified. In fact, the only words he could say at the time was "You ruthless, heartless BASTARD! I will make you SUFFER!"

** The Bruce Faulconer track used in the scene, simply titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnSCgMTXC9s "SSJ Transformation"]], feels quite uncanny compared to the other tracks in the score. Much like the original japanese track, this does not bring a sense of triumph or excitement, but rather dread and anxiety. The music is perfectly synced with the scene as it slowly builds with Goku's rage, and moments of calm are used for the fear and confusion of those witnessing his transformation. The guitar riffs, while sure to get your adrenaline going, also encapsulate the anger within our hero until it finally explodes. The inclusion of a subtle but noticable choir not only helps give the scene some mystique but also a feeling of eerieness. In fact, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBBwUrMlJ_8 someone went out of their way to swap out the Kai's theme with the Faulconer track due to its impact]].
* In general, what the transformation did to Goku. It took a gentle man who didn't like to kill and turned him into a monster that Frieza [[NotSoDifferentRemark describes as just like himself]]. Also, instead of taking Frieza down quickly, he let him go to full power so he could make Frieza suffer longer and humiliate him with the fact that even at his best, he never stood a chance at winning. He bluffed to Frieza that Gohan, Piccolo, and Bulma weren't his concern, his thoughts on Gohan attempting to escape the planet distracted him enough for Frieza to momentarily get the upper hand. [[FridgeBrilliance This may be the other reason why he allowed Frieza to power up to 100%: If he's focused on fighting Goku, he can't go after the others]]. That the bluff was ''plausible'' says ''a lot'' about what the Super Saiyan form did to Goku's personality.

* So a KidFromTheFuture has come back to the past to save Goku from a heart virus, believing he will be able to find a way to defeat androids that will soon wreak havoc on the Earth. ''Dragon Ball'' is doing ''Film/TheTerminator'' now, some suspense, mostly resulting from the events not playing out the way the kid said they would and Vegeta's unrelenting stupidity, but nothing too frightening... [[TerminatorTwosome until another time machine is uncovered]]. A time machine that has clearly been there much longer, is damaged from the inside and has the molt of an unnervingly large FourLeggedInsect like creature, whose mere shed remains have evil eyes, not far away. The good news is that we now have an idea why past events are not unfolding like they should, the bad news is that Earth's defenders thought they had the benefit of foresight but are really years behind whatever ''that'' may be.

** If you think the way he absorbs normal people is bad, wait till you see how he absorbs Androids 17 and 18. His stinger opens up into a funnel and he sucks them in whole like a snake. Watch as the bulge in his tail that was once Android 17 gets smaller and smaller as he advances towards Cell's torso until completely disappearing... You have the pleasure of watching from Android 17's [=PoV=] as Cell's tail slowly opens and descends. You actually ''see the throat of his tail''. On top of that, what Cell ''says'' as he does this:

As the DarkerAndEdgier SequelSeries of ''Manga/DragonBall'', ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' has some of the vilest villains in anime, and that's not even getting into the traumatic past of Trunks, the excessive violence or even some traits of the ''good guys''. This may be a series where DeathIsCheap, but that doesn't diminish how scary it can get.

* Recoome [[WouldHurtAChild brutally beating Gohan bloody]] is ''incredibly'' difficult and painful to watch. Seeing other main characters [[{{Determinator}} getting thrashed around and getting back up for more despite the odds being against them]] is usually awesome; not so much when it's a little kid who only has a miniscule amount of combat experience under his belt. The beating he gets is so bad that Krillin, usually always cheering Gohan on, ''is begging for him to stop fighting.''

* In an infamous moment among DBZ fans, Goku turns Super Saiyan and charges the eponymous android with RapidFireFisticuffs only for Android 13 to be completely unaffected. Think about how frighteningly strong any sort of being that can NoSell SSJ Goku's punches and kicks must be. Then, particularly if you're male, think of that same being [[GroinAttack punching you directly in the balls.]]

* Aside from being blown up or vaporized by energy blasts, Creator/AkiraToriyama seems to like large chest wounds as indicators of fatal[=/=]near fatal injuries. Happens to Goku (literally in the second episode), Vegeta, Piccolo, Yamcha, Future Trunks at different points, among others. UpToEleven during Buu's infamous Human Extinction attack, where the ''ENTIRE POPULATION OF EARTH'' save a handful, gets a terminal case of hole-through-torso, including (although not shown on screen) all the kids.

*** That may be the case, but the fact that ''[[NiceGuy Gohan]]'' beats the crap in Cell in uncontrollable rage is somewhat disturbing. But the sheer freakishness of it goes UpToEleven when you consider this- this SuperPoweredEvilSide has been lurking in him '''''since he was 4 years old'''''.

* Every villain in the series, when being fought, has taken hits and bled. Frieza, Cell, Bojack, Buu, it doesn't matter. Each and every one of them gets a beating here and there. Broly, though? [[NighInvulnerability He doesn't get hurt at]] ''[[NighInvulnerability all]]''. The only hits that have ever make Broly flinch in any form, at least in the original movies, are the killing blows at the end of each one. [[ImplacableMan He can take everything that you can throw at him]] [[UpToEleven and not notice]]. On top of that, [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity he's insane]]. You can't bargain with him or surrender. You can't scare him, you can't team up on him and all he wants to do is kill you... as slowly and painfully as he can. And unlike the other villains, he's not doing it because you're in his way or for profit. Broly does it because he ''[[ForTheEvulz loves it]]''. It doesn't matter if he's ordered to kill you, once he sees you then he ''will'' go after you, and he ''will'' kill you.

*** To sum it up [[spoiler:Beerus, the most powerful character in the series, has several beings above him. There's his mentor who's [[strike:stronger than he is]], strong enough to smack him around like a child and have it PlayedForLaughs, and then there's the '''other Eleven Universes' Gods of Destruction that are all probably as strong if not stronger than he is'''. [[UpToEleven THEN]] there's the reveal of the TopGod Zeno, a childlike being whom each of the Gods of Destruction fear immensely and '''''destroyed six universes already, with the current 12 universes originally being 18''''']]. Talk about a dark and horrifying deconstruction of AlwaysSomeoneBetter.

** In the anime, the moment Gohan's neck gets snapped, the scene shifts to Chi-Chi on Earth [[AdultFear who knows something went wrong through motherly intuition but doesn't know what happened and proceeds to weep in despair at the fate of her five year old son.]] Any reason why the poor woman is against her boy being involved in fights against genocidal aliens?

----> '''Frieza:''' [[AdultFear I think the brat should go next.]]

*** Even worse, while this is going on, Goku is in a healing tank. Since he can sense ki, he is fully aware that not only is his son in horrible agony, but that his energy is rapidly dwindling and he will die if something isn't done fast. His son is being tortured to death, and Goku is ''[[AdultFear absolutely helpless to stop it]]''.

** Kikuichi Shunsuke's chilling musical score, simply entitled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeFoasNr3d4 "Super Saiyan Son Goku"]], is more befitting of a horror movie than a martial arts anime, perfectly encapsulating the terror of witnessing a god, nay ''demon'' of Rage Itself being unleashed upon the universe. The first thing he does is order Gohan to leave, meaning he's on the verge of being [[AxCrazy overwhelmed b]][[UnstoppableRage y bloodlust]] and [[AdultFear can't trust himself]] with his son.

* Major league AdultFear territory: Everything that happens to Gohan through the Saiyan saga - ''especially'' if you're Chi-Chi. First kidnapped by a stranger, then rescued only to be kidnapped ''again'' by someone Chi-Chi would have known for a fact was Goku's mortal enemy. He then disappears for ''an entire year'', only to return just in time for him to be thrown into a fight with two more guys that are even worse. Chi-Chi gets mocked on occasion for her coddling ways, but after a year like that, who could blame her for being a bit rattled?

* If you really think about it, the [[DarkAndTroubledPast reason]] Broly is like this (at least post-[[Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly Super]]) can be this. On the very day that Planet Vegeta blew up, King Vegeta attempted to [[WouldHurtAChild kill him via knife]] because having such a powerful being around was deemed too much of a threat. It didn't work, and shortly afterward, the annihilation of the Saiyan Race had occurred, with only Broly and Paragus surviving the explosion itself due to the former's immense power. But that isn't what sets Broly off...no, the trigger for his Legendary Super Saiyan transformation is the Saiyan child that ''just so happened'' to be crying right next to him: Goku. For him, the very sight of Goku brings the traumatic events of his youth to the forefront, all because Goku ''cried'' in the same room as him on the worst day of his life, causing a rampage that nearly breaks five of the strongest characters in the series at that point. And then in ''Second Coming,'' Goten accidentally wakes up a frozen Broly with ''his'' crying and incurs his wrath, waking up a hulking monstrosity with one thing left on his mind: '''''murder Kakarot!''''' And since Goten [[StrongFamilyResemblance looks an awful lot like his dad]], [[AdultFear he'll have to do]].

* Battle of the Gods is AdultFear for Gohan. Get drunk one time and wind up doing something careless that comes dangerously close to killing your wife and daughter. Bet he swore off alcohol after that incident.

* Any transformation in the Great Ape/Oozaru by Goku or Gohan. Not only do they have an appearance of a monster, but whenever a Saiyan turns into one, unless they're an elite, they lose ''all'' senses of themselves.

* Future Androids 17 and 18. Unlike [[AntiVillain their current]] [[HeelFaceTurn counterparts]], these androids kill ForTheEvulz and do so in [[CruelAndUnusualDeath extremely painful and humiliating ways]], having done so for over a decade. There's barely a world left by the story's opening, only because the sadistic duo want to take their time destroying the world. They also go out of their way to psychologically torture Trunks during his first beatdown to the point of instilling mental trauma afterwards.

** There's also the fact that the mist covered the ''entire planet''. Over 90% of the Earth's population transformed into bloodthirsty mindless drones of Garlic Jr and his henchmen. We're also shown a very disturbing clip of a young couple hiding out in a destroyed city whilst people all around riot, saying how that "evil mist changes people", before they are suddenly attacked (and probably infected) by several infected animals. We hear their screams as one of the girl's shoes flies off and the camera lingers on it for several seconds.
* The fact that during and after the Cell Saga, anyone with enough power is capable to nearly destroy a planet by elevating his Ki (especially if unchecked). During the Buu Saga, we see how Goku provokes earthquakes and destruction across Earth only with his transformation into Super Saiyan 3.

** This doesn't mention the [[http://i.imgur.com/e1kKuYo.jpg look]] that Majin Buu gives him just as he's starting to explode. This may be one of four times in the entire series that we see Fat Majin Buu with his eyes wide open.
** Someone had to mention how Mr. Satan reacts to the whole thing. Mr. Satan is ''absolutely furious'' at Van Zant and attacks him. Mr. Satan, the same guy who acted all fearless in the Cell Games and felt more awkward than scared when he first met Buu, became pissed off and TookALevelInBadass. That's saying a lot.

* Future Androids 17 and 18. Unlike [[AntiVillain their current]] [[HeelFaceTurn counterparts]], these androids kill ForTheEvulz and do so in [[CruelAndUnusualDeath extremely painful and humiliating ways]].

* From the second the rain falls on Gohan's final battle, the entire film takes on an eerie FilmNoir aesthetic of dark shadows broken only by flashes of lightning, dim lamps and dying sunlight. Trunks hiding in ''terror'' from 17 and 18 among the shadows of urban decay is a scene straight out of a 1980's SlasherMovie, complete with a blood-chilling OminousPipeOrgan score to emphasize just how hopeless his plight is.

* The Goku we all know and love was born with a power level of 2. Broly? Broly was born with a power level of ''[[GoogooGodlike 10,000]]''. That's a ''base'' power level, with no training or power-ups. Canonically, he could have wiped the floor with basically everyone in the Saiyan Saga save Goku and Vegeta as a day-old infant. If that's how powerful he was when he was a baby, it's horrifying to think how strong Broly is as an adult. No wonder King Vegeta was terrified of him.

** In ''The Legendary Super Saiyan'', Goku punches Broly in the chest while Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, and Trunks give him their energy. Said punch ''rips a hole into Broly's chest'', blood spewing out as Broly's face begins to ''crack''. Broly then begins to spasm before he ''[[DefeatEqualsExplosion explodes]]'', choking out one last "Kakarot!" as he does. Thankfully, GoryDiscretionShot comes into play and we don't see anything really grisly, but god ''damn''.

** It also invites the ultimate FridgeHorror of the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil in the Dragon Ball universe, Beerus, [[GodOfEvil the God of Destruction]] which [[TheDreaded all the gods fear]]. This would normally [[InformedAbility not be as dangerous]] [[UnderestimatingBadassery considering how the gods normally rank things]], until he curb stomps Super Saiyan 3 Goku '''with a finger'''. Since this is the canonical universe, where Super Saiyan 3 is the strongest state aside from Mystic and Fusions, this is a big deal. Then [[spoiler: [[EleventhHourSuperpower the Super Saiyan God state, which is the strongest state in the series' canon]]]] is activated by Goku to defeat this guy. Normally you'd expect a CurbStompBattle to ensue and deal with the BigBad. [[spoiler: [[TheBadGuyWins Nope, Goku still loses, only managing to force Beerus to go 70% of his power]] [[KarmaHoudini and suffers no punishment]]]]. The real scary part comes after this [[spoiler: turns out [[AllThereInTheManual despite being the strongest character in the series according to V-jump]], it turns out that his advisor, Whis, is much stronger than he is, and given that we never see the full extent of Beerus' power, Whis' power must be beyond comprehension.]] We also get this bit of information; [[spoiler: turns that he's the designated God of Destruction for the universe that Dragon Ball is based in which is No. 7 out of 12]].
*** To sum up [[spoiler:Beerus, the most powerful character in the series, has several beings above him. There's his mentor who's [[strike:stronger than he is]] strong enough to smack him around like a child and have it PlayedForLaughs, and then there's the '''other Eleven Universes' Gods of Destruction that are all probably as strong if not stronger than he is'''. [[UpToEleven THEN]] there's the reveal of the TopGod Zeno, a childlike being whom each of the Gods of Destruction fear immensely and '''''destroyed six universes already, with the current 12 universes originally being 18''''']]. Talk about a dark deconstruction of AlwaysSomeoneBetter.

* We already knew Frieza to be a BadBoss, but it reaches new levels. His own men only resurrects him as a desperate, last resort because they need him (the only reason is that they can't face the continuous revolts in the empire, and Frieza's mere presence will be enough to ''scare them all into submission''). And the one telling us that is ''Frieza''. He's perfectly aware of this and doesn't care, worse, seems to enjoy it. His first actions after his resurrection show us exactly why it's like that. First thing he does, he kills one of his men, just to check how strong he is. Then, one of the soldiers that helped his resurrection lampshades the RevengeBeforeReason and... Well, remember how he killed Krillin? He does the same, but throws the unlucky soldier in space to boot. And that leaves a hole on the ship that starts sucking everyone but Frieza (who could just survive into space anyway). Luckily, they have shields that prevents that, and ultimately the order to raise them is given. By Sorbet. Frieza would have just let everyone die. To sum it up: a wrong move, and you risk a horrific death. Be too close to who made the wrong move, and you risk to die all the same. Do nothing at all, and you might die anyway because he needed a target. Not bad enough? A casual line in the movie implies that his soldiers are ''forced'' to join his army. PunchClockVillain doesn't even start to describe it.