History NightmareFuel / DragonBallZ

* The reveal that Goku was actually an alien was quite the shocker [[ItWasHisSled at the time]], 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 the same time'''. 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.]]

** How about when he tore Tien's left arm off '''CLEAN'''? The scream thrown in great pain was more than adequate.

** 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. Piccolo came to the correct conclusion that the one tearing them was actually the '''weaker''' one.

* Vegeta himself, for that matter. When he becomes Oozaru to stomp Goku, he does a damn good job of it. Made worse that unlike Goku and Gohan when they became Oozaru, he retained his consciousness, amplifying the already scary transformation.
** Him squeezing Goku with his bare hands in cold blood is especially terrifying.
* 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. 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.

** "In The History of Trunks," 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!''
** Gohan's death in Trunks' future. (Already mentioned; deserves a second mention) But not only the death, but the fact that he had already lost his arm. 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. NightmareFuel much?
* The look into Trunks's nightmarish future, with a blinding orange sunset, coupled with "Mind, Power, KI" gives an idea of how bleak things are under the Androids' reign. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewzi45xuuzU

*** To sum up [[spoiler: Beers, the most powerful character in the series, has several shades of BiggerBad algorithms 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 stronger than he is''']] Talk about a dark deconstruction of AlwaysSomeoneBetter.

* WordOfGod says that Frieza was inspired by Akira Toriyama's worst nightmares. And no wonder, considering many of its transformations and actions in the series. And for a bonus, Frieza is [[HeyItsThatVoice voiced by]] Creator/RyuseiNakao, who voiced [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Mayuri Kurotsuchi]].

** When he gets the idea to place his spell on [[spoiler: Vegeta]], we get to see how the process works on it's victims. The way [[spoiler: Vegeta]] describes it, the victim feels like their being attacked. Their 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 overrides eventually their own.

*** The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Human Extinction Attack]]: [[spoiler:a now-LaughingMad Buu launches a continuous stream of energy beams that decimates 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]]''."]]

** Also remember that the color gold can symbolize [[http://symbolism.wikia.com/wiki/Gold perfection]]. While this means Goku had achieved an ultimate form, it also meant he's the perfect ''Saiyan'' warrior. The first thing he does is order Gohan to leave, meaning he's on the verge of being overwhelmed by bloodlust and can't trust himself with his son.

* The very existance of the Saiyan. They're 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. When they invade planets inhabitated 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. [[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 [[WorldStrongestMan Frieza]] ultimately grew scared and decided to destroy them, [[spoiler: already considering doing it before Beerus put him to do it]].

* And all of that becomes much scarier with ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'' and its adaptation in the second arc of ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', as they reveal that [[spoiler:''Frieza had never trained a single day in his life''. Everyone else with that strength was an artificial creature or had trained hard to become so strong, but he was just born with that strength, ''and could become much stronger with training'']].

** ''Manga/JacoTheGalacticPatrolman'' managed to make this one even scarier in hindsight. He explains that the Galactic Patrol has Extinction Bombds, devices that release a virus that quickly drives an entire race into extinction, but they never managed to create one that worked for the Saiyan. A Saiyan's immune system can deal with the mightiest bioweapons of a galaxy-spanning civilization... But not with that.

** The scene where he [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOa8PiWFGBc absorbs Piccolo's strength]] is also pretty creepy, and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything a lot more suggestive than necessary.]]

* ...Then it turns out Cooler ''survived as a piece of his head intact'', and then 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 it's population and engulf part of the planet in a giant mass of metal. He also as new body with enough power overwhelm Super Saiyan Goku and Vegeta at the same time and can rebuild himself each time he's damaged.
** It took Goku and Vegeta nearly everything they had destroy Cooler's new body. Just when as they were catching their breath, ''another body showed up atop a cliff leading an'' '''''entire army of more copies.''''' '''And no, ConservationOfNinjutsu was NOT in effect...'''

!! Slug

* ...Then it turns out Cooler ''survived as a piece of his head intact'', and then 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 it's population and engulf part of the planet in a giant mass of metal. He also as new form with enough power overwhelm Super Saiyan Goku and Vegeta at the same time and can rebuild himself each time he's damaged.

[[folder: The Series]]
!! Violence

!! Saiyans

!! Frieza

!! Super Saiyan Goku

!! Cell

!! Super Saiyan 2 Gohan

!! Buu - All Forms

!! Others

!! Cooler's Revenge
* It can be jarring to realize that not only did Frieza had 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 a 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, in a fit to avenge Frieza and kill the murderer that had done it. 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 horrfic 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 when it all boils down to it it still a horrible demise.

*** This goes even further in that, for most of the series, the use of 'empty eyes' signifies that a character is either enraged or releasing stupidly high amounts of energy. In this case, it's very clearly both.

* 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 awesome 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, making everything what Buu does afterwards his fault. 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 organization (Commander Red), or were mercenaries and later cyborgs (Tao Pai Pai), but he is just an average human. All other {{Complete Monster}}s 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.

* 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 awesome 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, making everything what Buu does afterwards his fault. 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 organization (Commander Red), or were mercenaries and later cyborgs (Tao Pai Pai), but he is just an average human. All other CompleteMonsters 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.

* 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 power 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 actin 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 that Ginyu. He would seriously injure himself, than swap bodies with you, getting a much stronger one, leaving you to day from his self-inflicted and painful injury. The worst of it? Jeeth ''knew'' of that ability. [[FridgeHorror is what we see Ginyu's original bodies? And how many times did he do that before?]]

* The look into Trunks's nightmarish future, coupled with "Mind, Power, KI" gives an idea of how bleak things are under the Androids' reign. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewzi45xuuzU

** But an Oozaru with conscious thought— ala Vegeta— sounds even more terrifying. This means that they know exactly what they're going to do, and you're the helpless grunt about to have your bones ground to dust- ''at best''.
*** 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 transformations over, and you have no memory of what happened...

** Even if you keep the fantasy elements in, for not one, but two solid episodes, the fight between Videl and Spopovitch is pretty horrific. Videl, struggling to even make him rect to her attacks, delivers a kick that spins his entire head around. After a scene in which everyone thinks she did kill him (including Videl herself, who didn't mean to go that far), HE GETS BACK UP, NEARLY PULLS HIS HEAD OFF, AND SETS IT BACK INTO PLACE! From there, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown he gets his revenge]], ''pummeling her into heavy bleeding, and not stopping''. Her screams are horrifying, especially the ones where he pulled on her hair. Both episodes are considered as nightmarefuel in-universe by spectators and the narrator.

* 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 awesome 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, making everything what Buu does afterwards his fault. 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 organization (Commander Red), or were mercenaries and later cyborgs (Tao Pai Pai), but he is just an average human. All other Complete monsters 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.

** 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 Cell Games and felt more awkward than scared when he first met Buu, became pissed off and TookALevelInBadass That's saying a lot.

* When Turles [[spoiler: forces Gohan's eyes open to see the moon, going Oozaru.]]

* That`s not even close to the scariest part of him. Frieza, Cell, Bojack, Buu... every villian in that series when being fought has taken hits and bled. They always... ALWAYS get a beating here and there. Broly doesn`t get hurt... in fact he only took one hit that affected him in any way and that`s at the end of each movie. He can take everything that you can throw at him and not notice. On top of that, 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... it`s because he loves it. He`ll hunt you down and go after your children if he has to... or wants to...
* Legendary Super Saiyan Broly. One of the things he's most noted for is his Empty Eyes. 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.
** The most chilling in Broly is the fact that in this state is completely irrational and insane, yes, on par with Kid Buu. Gohan in Super Saiyan 2 is nothing compared to Broly. In this state, the reason will not, and he will not stop beating and torturing his opponent until he's dead, of course, with his maniac laughter, is NightmareFuel at best.

** It also invites the ultimate FridgeHorror of the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil in the Dragon Ball universe, Beers, [[GodOfEvil the God of Destruction]] which [[TheDreaded all the gods fear]]. This would normally be [[InformedAbility be not 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 Beers 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 Beer's 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: Beers, the most powerful character in the series, has several shades of BiggerBad algorithms 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 stronger than he is''']] Talk about a dark deconstruction of AlwaysSomeoneBetter

* It can be jarring to realize that not only did Frieza had 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. The fact knowing that a supposedly 'weak' race of creatures, A Saiyan killing Frieza instead of Cooler is a flat out insult to him. What does Cooler do? He heads to Earth, in a fit to avenge Frieza and kill the murderer that had done it. 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]]!

* 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 continuos 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 trowing 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). Luckly, they have shields that prevents them, 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.

* Captain Ginyu. The Ginyu force is this in-universe, since is what Frieza uses when he's really pissed and wants things done. The weakest of them has psychic power 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 actin 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 that Ginyu. He would seriously injure himself, than swap bodies with you, getting a much stronger one, leaving you to day from his self-inflicted and painful injury. The worst of it? Jeeth ''knew'' of that ability. [[FridgeHorror is what we see Ginyu's original bodies? And how many times did he do that before?]]

** After Buu destroyed the Earth he transports and destroyed several other planets in a roll like a cosmic wrecking ball without given the people on those planets any chance of fighting back or even realizing what was happening. It was at this moment that you truly realized that the entire universe really was in danger since this thing wouldn't stop until everything was dead.

**** Despite all of the BodyHorror he can do, he for the most part was essentially a [[TheBrute thug]] who's only thought was "opponent" and "food" and could only hurt you physically. However, once he absorbed Piccolo and Gotenks, he became ''much'' more dangerous -- not in physical power (which did grow tremendously with Gotenks' Super Saiyan 3 power), but in [[DumbassNoMore intelligence]] (courtesy of Piccolo), something which the other forms mostly lacked. Imagine if you gave the most powerful being in the universe with the smartest mind in the series. The result is a ruder version of [[CompositeCharacter Ce]][[ManipulativeBastard ll]] whose ego is boosted even further after absorbing Gohan himself, [[GeniusBruiser can back his power with wit]], and destroys people with [[BreakThemByTalking emotional torment]] (in this case Gohan, made worse since he was [[IronicEcho repeating things that his teacher taught him to mess him up]] and it works). Buu's manipulation ends with Gohan being rendered [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown helpless by the brutal]] [[MindRape and mental assault of his empowered enemy]]. It got so bad that at one point, it had to be not shown -- not censored, [[TakeOurWordForIt but not shown at all]] -- meaning [[FridgeHorror it was as bad as, if not worse than, Frieza's beatdown of Vegeta]].

** King Kai lamenting about Vegeta's fate after his last attack utterly failed to do anything against Frieza. Vegeta is so terrified and broken that he can only float there and cry as he awaited his painful end. After all his boasting, all his scheming, and all the close calls, Vegeta and King Kai knew this was his final moment.

-->'''Frieza:''' Are you done? Then I'll reciprocate...[[BlatantLies gently]].

** 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 the 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 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.
** And to add NauseaFuel to NightmareFuel, as Vegeta's blood is spattering everywhere, Frieza ''licks some of Vegeta's blood off his face''. The look of cruel amusement on his face makes the whole scene even creepier.
** Worst, Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin can only stand there and watch. They are utterly powerless to help Vegeta and can only watch as he's beating 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 Piccolo 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 KiAttacks 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, and either out of the risk of being blown to bits by Vegeta or whatever Frieza he thought had in store, quickly grabbed Gohan and Krillin and high-tailed it way out of the expanding battlefield.