Follow TV Tropes

Following

Awesome / Dragon Ball

Go To

Moments subpages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned!

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gokuss1friezas_2.png
"I'm the Saiyan who came all the way from Earth for the sole purpose of beating you. I am the warrior you've heard of in legends, pure of heart, and awakened by fury. That's what I am. I AM THE SUPER SAIYAN, SON GOKU!!!"
Dragon Ball has many awesome moments per character, but putting down the crowning ones is a tough job to do.

Also see:


    open/close all folders 

     The Show 
  • Dragon Ball Z Kai Uncut... oh man, the way Goku's transformation was handled was simply amazing. It made it an even more awesome moment than it was.
    Frieza: (eying Gohan) I think the brat should go next...
    Goku: (shaking with rage) You... you... ruthless... heartless... BASTARD!
    Frieza: (smug chuckle as Goku loses his shit)
    (random electrical storm whips up)
    (Goku's energy starts flaring exponentially)
    Goku: I WILL... MAKE YOU... SUFFER!!!
    • Awesome with the Faulconer track as well. Behold!
    • His first transformation in the Japanese version manages to be this and terrifying at the same time.
      Frieza: (eying Gohan) Shall I do the brat next?
      Goku: (shaking with rage) Unforgivable... How dare you... How dare you...!
      Frieza: (smug chuckle as Goku loses his shit)
      (random electrical storm whips up)
      (Goku's energy starts flaring exponentially)
      Goku: How dare you...! How dare you...!!
    • While not awesome as the Kai version, the Faulconer dub one is still pretty epic on its own, helped by Sean Schemmel's legendary voice acting putting on an incredible amount of emotions into it.
      Frieza: (after telekinetically causing Krillin to explode into pieces) Pop goes the weasel...
      Goku: (shaking with rage) I... won't... let you... get away... with this!
      Frieza:
      (smug chuckle as Goku loses his shit)
      (music starts playing, random electrical storm whips up)
      (Goku's energy starts flaring exponentially)
      Goku: I WON'T... LET YOU... (more lightning. Goku screams to the heavens and transforms, scaring the crap out of Frieza
      )
  • There is this scene in the fifth movie (The Incredible Mightiest vs. Mightiest) where Cooler, Frieza's older brother, goes One-Winged Angel and completely beats the life out of Goku. His power is such that the earth trembles and shatters as he boasts his strength. Just then, a small bird lands in front of the badly beaten Goku, flaps its wings once and becomes still. With great effort, Goku stands up, holds the bird with between his hands and lets out a mighty scream. Suddenly, the earth stops shaking; we see a pair of hands glow with a golden light before releasing a revitalized bird which flies past Cooler, now staring in horror as Goku has transformed into a Super Saiyan and is ready to give him a much deserved beatdown, all set to "Change (In the House of Flies).
  • Really, the fake-out the show did with Frieza is a great one. Having survived Namek and been rebuilt into a cyborg, even more powerful than before, he's on his way to Earth to destroy it. The Z Fighters minus Goku are sweating how they're going to hold Frieza and King Cold off long enough for Goku to arrive...and then a mysterious young man with a sword shows up, transforms into a Super Saiyan (when Goku and Vegeta were supposed to be the last of the Saiyans), and summarily slices Frieza into chunks, then blasts the chunks into dust. All that build-up, and Frieza is tossed aside like so much trash by a guy from the future, who's here to tell Goku that a much more powerful threat is coming. And that is how the arc that culminates in the Cell Saga kicks off.
  • The very first Kamehameha. It was in that moment that Kame Sen'nin went from a perverted old rascal living on a tiny island with a sea turtle for company to a full-blown Retired Badass. The kooky old geezer who gave Goku his magic cloud up and blew away a mountain THAT WAS ON FIRE. By accident.
    • It's overshadowed by the Kamehameha, but there's also how he reached the mountain: by summoning Baby Gamera (as in a miniature version of Gamera) and riding that.
  • Sean Schemmel's ABSOLUTELY EPIC screaming for Goku alone can rank among top of the charts! His contribution to the awesomeness of DBZ's scenes cannot be underestimated.
  • Funimation, the most renowned anime dubbing company in America, did a pretty…terrible job of sticking to the original script from the Japanese in their first attempted dub of Dragon Ball Z. Subsequent box set and video game dubs would show a marked interest in improving that. This all culminated when they decided for the Dragon Ball Z Kai dub to be truer to the original idea than they'd ever been before (the voice actors getting better over a decade doesn't hurt). The point of this spiel? The following scene from Kai vindicated FUNimation forever:.
  • By the time Super aired, Masako Nozawa was in her eighties, yet she continues to reprise her role for the Son family AND has masterfully taken on Goku Black without much trouble. She is not a Living Legend for nothing.

     The Z Fighters 
  • The first duel between Goku and Vegeta. That battle was memorable as it started out their rivalry in the first place, which served as a basis for the Red Oni, Blue Oni trope, and Vegeta reminisced about it while seeing Goku go Super Saiyan 3 to fight Kid Buu ...again. Goku began the duel and learned that Vegeta was still stronger than him, even after going through the Training from Hell in Heaven, so he decides to take it up a notch with the Kaio-ken. And when that doesn't work, he does it further to Kaio-ken x2 simply to escape one of Vegeta's moves. From then on, Goku's newly learned technique turns into a Deadly Upgrade when he goes Kaio-ken x3, complete with massive Dramatic Wind, Power Echoes and Chunky Updraft, right before Goku gives him an ass-kicking that his own father probably didn't give him, showing exactly who is truly the better of the two. Then it turned into a massive beam struggle, which Goku gives extra juice by pushing to Kaio-ken x4, firing him up into the stratosphere.
  • Arguably Goku's finest moment is his first confrontation with Vegeta, before they actually start fighting (keeping in mind that Vegeta was at this point a bona fide Physical God beyond anything Goku and the others could conceive of). Vegeta tries to rattle Goku by comparing their statuses in Saiyan society, saying that Goku should feel privileged to get to fight a super-elite like him, and that the whole reason Goku was sent to Earth in the first place was because Saiyans are tested for their power levels at birth. Goku was found to be an utter weakling only fit for conquering (or dying on) a backwater planet like this one: "You were a reject." Goku, unfazed, shoots back that he's glad to have been considered trash because being sent to Earth is what made him into the person that he is. It taught him that hard work was more important than social status or circumstances of birth, and enabled him to reach his potential in a way that the cruel and classist Saiyan society never would have. Vegeta scoffs at him, but it doesn't detract from the absolute awesomeness of the response, nor the Nerves of Steel Goku displays here.
  • The 21st Martial Arts Tournament had Goku and Jackie Chun fight for a full four hours. It ended with both of them knocking each other out so badly that neither of them could make the ten count, forcing the officials to use a tie-breaker for the first time.
  • Both Goku and recently reformed Tien both get one during the 22nd Martial Arts Tournament.
    • First Tien, realizing that Goku could beat him in a fight, DESTROYS THE RING. He flies up and uses the Tri Beam to destroy the ring so that Goku would be disqualified for landing on the grass since he couldn't fly yet. Plus he gives Goku ample warning before. Even Goku admits had he not got it, he would have been unable to dodge and would have been killed.
    • Then Goku gets his as well. He jumps up avoiding the Tri Beam yet it looks like it only delayed the inevitable as he falls down to the ground. Tien takes that time to get close and rub it in his face that he won. Goku then at the last moment fires a Kamehameha and then reverses it at the last second to slam himself into Tien and knock them both down. If it hadn't been for a passing truck that Goku hit, he would've won.
    • In the anime, the fight was so awesome in-universe that the crowd ran out of the stadium, picked up the exhausted fighters, and carried them back like heroes.
    • One that goes sadly overlooked is Tien's glorious moment fighting Cyborg Tao in the 23rd Martial Arts Tournament. Tao wants Tien dead for betraying the Crane School and aiding the Turtle School and so keeps fighting him even after being disqualified for attacking him with a knife, charging up what he calls the "Super Dodon Ray" which he claims cannot be escaped. Tien's reaction? Shout "I'm not afraid!" and refuse to move even as the enormous beam closes in on him before blocking the blast with a kiai. When the dust clears, Tien is completely unharmed and quickly levels the shocked Tao with one fierce punch to the gut.
    • Another moment is saving Goku's life during his rematch with King Piccolo, who has broken one of Goku's legs and is charging up a ki blast as a terrified Goku looks on, not having fully mastered flight and being unable to dodge it due to the broken leg. As the dust settles, Piccolo can only stare agape to see Tien carrying Goku in the sky, having flown him out of the blast. And this was without recovering from being brought to near-death by the use of Mafuba wave and the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Drum before it. This also contributes to King Piccolo's defeat since Piccolo admitted using that attack would weaken him for some time, and it showed.
  • Trunks. His future self is considered even more badass then the present, having single-handedly defeated Frieza and his father just after the former was resurrected, too.
    • Really, Trunks' entire "fight" against Frieza and King Cold qualifies. From carving his way through Frieza's Mooks in style, to going Super Saiyan and terrifying Frieza in the process, to shrugging off everything the tyrant throws at him with a cocky smirk on his face the whole time. At one point, Frieza gets fed up and chucks a planet-destroying super-sized energy ball. Trunks catches it, and slowly walks toward Frieza while holding the gigantic energy sphere over his head with one arm, and says:
    Trunks: 'Scuse me; this yours?
    • Trunks being willing to attack Vegeta to stop Semi-Perfect Cell from absorbing Android 18. He was obviously holding back, but he sent Vegeta flying and really surprised him.
  • The episode when Trunks goes back to his original time and completely ANNIHILATES Androids 17 & 18, saving his world from the over 20 years of suffering. He then destroys Cell with the immortal line, "THE NIGHTMARE IS OVER, CELL, DIE!"
    • More than that, he toys with Cell first so he knows just how outmatched he is before he dies.
    • Taunting him too. "You're so lame, sneaking around like the Boogeyman!"
    • "How do you know all this?!" "I read your palm, big guy! You have a short lifeline."
    • Before that, when he departs to fight the androids for the last time. "Nightmares never last, Mom. One day you wake up and they're gone for good."
  • In the World Tournament Saga (the prequel to the main meat of the Majin Buu Saga), the tournament requires everyone to hit a special machine that will gauge their strength and select the finalists. The Z-Fighters agree to go easy on the machine, so they won't seem suspicious. Even with love taps, they still get huge scores, prompting the officials to declare the machine broken. As they prepare to move the old machine aside, Vegeta (who hasn't gone yet) orders them to stand aside. In his usual uncompromising fashion, he punches the machine with full power, obliterating both it and anyone's belief that the machine was getting false readings.
  • This may not sound as much, but Goku and Chi-Chi's first fight in the original series qualifies. Chi-Chi displays tremendous skill and seems to have Goku on the ropes and mocks him for it. Eventually, Goku gets tired of holding back and knocks her out with ONE punch. Then he proposes to her when she comes to.
    • Actually, it's even better than that. Goku doesn't actually punch her. Rather, he punches the air with such speed that it generates a shockwave that sends Chi-Chi flying out of the ring and impacting the wall between the audience stand and the ring, KOing her.
  • Both of the fusions of Goku and Vegeta: Vegetto, the result of Potara Fusion, and Gogeta, the result of the Fusion Dance, all the more so because both Saiyans loathed having to combine their strengths but were willing to put aside their pride in order to save all of existence. Goku's strength, Vegeta's tactical genius, and the iron will of two rivals united in the singular task of utterly annihilating whatever obstacle happens to be in their way.
    I am neither Goku or Vegeta, I am Gogeta! It's over Janemba, I've come for you!
    • "I'm no ordinary candy! I'm a JAWBREAKER!" (The original line is "I AM THE STRONGEST CANDY IN THE UNIVERSE!")
    • Buu creates a massive ball of energy made from tiny bits of the energy of every planet he's destroyed. He chucks it at Vegetto. How does Vegetto reflect it? Does he counter with a blast of his own? NO! He catches it, then starts running with it like a football, faster and faster before punting it out of Earth's atmosphere! And that's before he even goes Super Saiyan. It's implied that Vegetto could defeat Buu in base form, but he goes Super Saiyan anyway.
    • After that moment, before Vegetto goes Super Saiyan there's another subtle one in which Super Buu and Vegetto trade Badass Boasts:
      Super Buu: You still don't compare. No one compares to me.
      Vegetto: You're wrong, Buu. I'm destined to destroy you.
    • Vegetto's plan for dealing with Buu, which could only be thought up by someone as impossibly awesome as a fusion of Goku and Vegeta: provoking Buu into absorbing Vegetto so he can free his sons and Piccolo before destroying the demon. Gogeta used a similar plan later on during the battle with Omega Shenron.
  • Goku's defeat of Kid Buu using the Spirit Bomb was an awesome moment for everyone present (except Buu). Vegeta for coming up with the plan in the first place, him and Fat Buu for holding Kid Buu off while Goku prepares, Mr. Satan for also trying to keep Kid Buu busy, him, Vegeta and King Kai for getting everyone on Earth to cooperate, Android 17 for getting two non-cooperating guys to cooperate by threatening them with a shotgun (and then giving his own energy), and the man in orange himself for firing the Spirit Bomb. Even the Namekians contribute by having Porunga restore Earth and its population, and Goku's energy. And as Goku is making the final push, it's topped off by everyone cheering Goku on.
  • Piccolo and the other Z-Fighters jumping into the fight between Gohan and Cell, even though they knew the odds were against them. They blasted Cell in the back, trying to take the heat off of Gohan's back. And they keep getting knocked down, only to keep getting back up, outright stating that even if they die, they want to go down fighting, and not let Gohan die alone. Their courage and determination are what inspire Vegeta, who was stuck in a Heroic BSoD, to step in and help as well.
  • The battle between the Z-Fighters and the Ginyu Force on King Kai's planet was filler, sure, but it was a shining moment for Yamcha, Tien, and Chioutzu. Proof they are still Earth's Mightiest Warriors.
  • Future Trunks and Krillin making sure the Z-Fighters didn't have to worry about Present Cell (the main timeline version of Cell), by completely destroying him and the lab he is in.
  • The anime version of the Z-Fighters vs. the Cell Juniors deserves a mention. While only Trunks and Vegeta in the manga, here everyone puts up a solid fight. Special mention goes to Tien and Yamcha, who jump to Goku's aid when he's having trouble with a Cell Junior. When combined with Piccolo solidly overpowering a Cell Jr. several times, it's great to see that the non-Saiyans can still kick some ass from time to time.
  • Think Yajirobe arriving in the nick of time and cutting off Vegeta's tail was his first time of being Just in Time? Nope. Way back in Dragon Ball, as Goku has given King Piccolo a Torso with a View, he loses consciousness due to the energy spent and is falling to death. Tien is only able to helplessly watch since he's completely out of energy saving Goku from a previous attack and the fights he'd been in before. On cue, Yajirobe speeds in on a Capsule Corp hovercar, jumps in and catches Goku.
    • It's even better than that; Yajirobe is coming to the city and spots the falling Goku. He then speeds up the car, before jumping out of and running faster than it, leaps across a massive crater created by the fight and catches Goku.

     Goku 
  • Being the main character of the Dragon Ball franchise, it's only fitting that Goku has a lot of awesome moments. But these awesome moments are top tier. Let's look at them shall we?
  • One moment that is overlooked is in the very first episode of Dragon Ball. After Goku and Bulma first meet and go off to begin their quest, a Pterodactyl kidnaps Bulma. At this point, Goku does not know how to fly, and he doesn't even have the Nimbus yet. So what does he do? He uses Bulma's motorcycle to launch himself off a hill like a ramp in a similar way we saw a few minutes before, bashes the Pterodactyl's head with the Power Pole, and throws the Pole like a Javelin to pin Bulma safely on a cliff. This was just an early example of Goku's Determinator nature. No matter what happens, he will give it his all to keep his friends safe. (And pray to Kami if you get in his way as most of the examples on this page show.)
  • The clash of the Kamehamehas in the Goku vs. Jackie Chun match. While it's far from the best Beam-O-War in the series, what makes it stands out is how it shows how much Goku improved in the last eight months. When Goku first learned the Kamehameha he could barely wreck a car while Master Roshi blew up a flaming mountain. Now, Goku can create a Kamehameha that's equal to Master Roshi's. This is when Goku truly became the Kamehameha's master.
  • Perhaps his most amazing achievement in the series is that Goku decimated the entire Red Ribbon ARMY at age 12.
    • The most badass part of that is how casually he did it. He was just looking for the Dragon Balls and just happened to stumble across various RR leaders on his search. Colonel Silver, General White, General Blue and Captain Yellow, along with all of their men, were taken down as a means to an end. Once he was determined to actually confront the army he simply stormed their base, killed everyone in his way and killed their leader.
    • Also, none of the commanders, save for Blue, stood a chance against Goku. He curb stomped the Red Ribbon Army the entire time. Mercenary Tao was their last chance to take Goku down and all that did was incur Goku's wrath and doom the Red Ribbon Army when he decided he had enough of them.
    • In a way, this can also reflect his Saiyan nature - as a child, he was much more willing to kill if he thought it would protect the people he loved. It was only after drinking the special water that Korin gave him that he became more pacifistic (to quote the original dub: "I feel power and at peace"). And slaughtering the Red Ribbon Army is definitely something that a Saiyan would do, also showing us that he isn't as different from the rest of his race as he believes.
    • Possibly his best moment in the whole Red Ribbon Saga is him defeating Buyon, White's pet Blob Monster, by using his smarts: Buyon was effectively invincible, as punches, kicks, and even the Kamehameha just bounced on its enormous belly, but Goku simply remembered about having been nearly frozen solid the previous day and broke the wall, literally freezing solid the one Red Ribbon member he could have never defeated in direct combat.
  • Also from the Red Ribbon Army Arc, Goku saves his friends from the Pirate Cave by using a Kamehameha to jet propeller their stalled submarine. Made even better by the fact that Bulma attempted to leave Goku behind because he was taking too long to get the Dragon Ball and the cave was collapsing, and Krillin and Bulma were both in panic mode while he remained perfectly calm.
  • From the 22nd tournament, Goku defeated Krillin by basically disappearing before his eyes and was invisible to everyone, except Tien. He then suddenly reappeared and it seemed he scared Krillin out of the ring with a scary face. Really, he punched Krillin eight times and kicked him into a ringout before he knew what had happened.
    • In the Tien vs. Goku fight, Tien attempted to blind Goku with a Solar Flare. Goku countered by stealing Master Roshi's sunglasses and using them to protect his eyes. What makes this so awesome is that Goku took the sunglasses so fast that Tien didn't see it and was blindsided when Goku caught his punch and nailed him in the gut.
    • Goku nearly won the entire tournament by using his Kamehameha as a propeller to slam into Tien's stomach, knocking him out. He was even able to make a smaller Kamehameha to slow his fall. He only lost because he hit a trunk at the last possible second.
  • In his rematch fight with King Piccolo, Goku's first action is to kick King Piccolo's son, Drum, in the back of the head so hard that Drum's eyes fall out of their sockets in a bloody mess. GOKU KICKED A GUY'S EYES OUT.
    • Even better when you consider that Tien, at that time Badass #2, had been getting whooped by Drum only a few minutes prior.
    • Before then, Goku confronted King Piccolo's second son, Tambourine, the monster who killed Krillin and dozens of martial artists. He also curb stomped Goku in their first encounter and left him for dead since Goku was hungry and tired from his fight with Tien. When Tambourine mocks about how he kicked Goku's butt the first time, Goku gives Tambourine one of the most brutal beatdowns in the original series. When Tambourine tries to escape, Goku gets on his Power Pole, charges up a Kamehameha, and blasts Tambourine into atoms in mid-air. It was even suggested that Goku prolong Tambourine's suffering when he rather mockingly said, "Oops, looks like I stopped too soon." Goku's revenge indeed.
  • Just before the rematch of Goku and King Piccolo begins Piccolo tells Goku that he will die in five seconds, and charges at him. However, Goku blocks his strike, leaving Piccolo, Tien, and Piano stunned. Piccolo punches again, and Goku grabs his hand and throws him through one of the buildings in the castle complex. The building is destroyed, but Piccolo emerges from the rubble, and Goku tells him that the five seconds are up.
  • Goku's epic defeat of King Piccolo. Something about that moment, with so little left to lose, being all but broken, with one final gamble left... and bursting straight through the Demon King with quite possibly the most EPIC ki-powered punch ever. What seals the moment? The honest joy the young Goku expressed as he somehow succeeded in felling what was at that time, the single most powerful foe he had ever faced. Best yet, he defeated Piccolo using his own original technique. It is the only time Goku invented a technique.
    • Keep in mind, he won literally with one hand. Both his left arm and legs were broken and he was at Piccolo's mercy before he flew up to give the killing blow. And to be even more awesome, he beat Piccolo Jr with all of his limbs disabled and weak from blood loss.
  • Goku's initial knockout fight in the 23rd Tournament against Chi-Chi. He beats her without hitting her once. He threw a punch at her so hard and fast that it created a shockwave that knocked her against a wall and out of the ring, knocking her out cold. The move was so awesome, it even drew Piccolo's attention. Of course, this also leads to the funny and heartwarming moment of their proposal.
  • Goku Vs Ma Junior/Piccolo. Goku using the Super Kamehameha against Piccolo's Bakurikimaha and returning it to him. Piccolo had a Oh, Crap! moment for about 3 seconds and it was enough to make him rage.
    • Much later in the fight, he actually goads Piccolo into increasing his size, allowing him to use a Kamehameha to fly into Piccolo's mouth and rescue Kami, who he trapped and swallowed before the match. Yes, Goku outsmarted one of the smartest characters in the series.
    • Piccolo sends an energy blast that acts as a seeker against Goku, following everywhere he goes. After dodging for a bit, Goku runs up to Piccolo, grins right in his face to distract him, and dodges at the last second, letting the energy blast hit Piccolo. It completely shatters Piccolo's arm and Goku would have won if Piccolo couldn't heal.
    • Near the end of the fight, Piccolo uses a move that literally nukes the island, reducing the entire tournament ground and the city to rubble and would have killed everyone in the area if Tien did not create a hole for everyone to duck in. Goku chose to tank the blast and not only did he survive, he was nearly completely unharmed. He even mocks Piccolo for wasting so much energy. Followed by a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown delivered by Goku on an obviously tired Piccolo.
    • He beats Piccolo with all his limbs disabled by flying. No one knew he could do this and Goku held it back throughout the entire match.
  • In the same tournament, Goku revealed during his rematch with Tien that he has been fighting with weighed clothes the entire time. He demonstrated his increased speed by removing Tien's belt, without him knowing it until his pants fell off. Also doubles as a Funny Moment.
    • When Tien revealed his trump card to Goku, his multi-form technique which split him into fours, it appeared he has the advantage, until Goku casually reveals that he already found two weaknesses to Tien's technique. He demonstrates the first weakness by using Tien's own Solar Flare against him and then showed why using the multi-form was a terrible mistake by knocking all the Tiens out of the ring so fast that he did not have the chance to save himself by flying. When Krillin and Yamcha tried to congratulate Tien on having such a close match, he says point-blank that he was no match to Goku since he never once fired a Kamehameha or was even winded, showing how much Goku surpassed Tien since their first match.
  • In the Saiyan Saga, Nappa was unstoppable. He survived two suicide attacks and personally killed Piccolo, the second strongest warrior on the planet. He also nearly killed Krillin with one blast and was able to deflect Gohan's strongest energy blast, which was powered by the anger of watching Piccolo sacrifice himself. Then comes Goku who completely curb stomps Nappa. Then when Nappa tries to attack Krillin and Gohan after Vegeta calls him off, Goku effortlessly breaks his back.
  • After being completely outmatched against Vegeta, Goku decides to throw safety to the wind and use a Kaioken X3, something King Kai forbid him to do since his body couldn't handle it. He utterly curb stomps the Saiyan Prince and causes him to have a momentary Villainous Breakdown, in which he tries to destroys the Earth. Goku counters with a Kamehameha and tops that by using the Kaioken X4, pushing Vegeta's beam back and nearly killing him.
    • Despite his legs crushed and too low on energy to fight anymore, Goku shoots Vegeta's eye, basically giving Vegeta the middle finger before the latter could kill him.
    • Even with his bones crushed and being unable to move, Goku manages to retain some of the energy from the Spirit Bomb he collected earlier, transfer said energy to Krillin, communicate telepathically with Gohan and give them both tactical advice to beat Vegeta.
  • The brief Goku vs Ginyu fight, short-lived though it is. Ginyu, being himself capable of such a feat, properly assesses Goku as capable of concealing his power and fooling the scouter's mechanisms. He estimates Goku as roughly 60,000, happy that he finally has a worthy opponent, and still smugly confident because his power is a rough 120,000. The awesome moment however comes when Goku wipes the smug smile off his face by showing up what he can do. He literally has Ginyu lose his shit upon seeing a power throughput of 180,000, wondering if he's facing the legendary Super Saiyan. Goku tops this by saying his instant throughput is even higher than that. THIS moment is what prompts Ginyu to steal his body.
  • Goku's "I am" speech:
    Goku: "I'm the Saiyan who came all the way from Earth for the sole purpose of beating you. I am the warrior you've heard of in legends, pure of heart, and awakened by fury. That's what I am. I AM THE SUPER SAIYAN, SON GOKU!!!"
    • For the fans of the original Funimation dub, which can be seen as Narm Charm:
    Goku: You can destroy whole planets, but you can never destroy what I am...friend.
    Frieza: (stunned) Y-you... what are you?
    Goku: I am the hope of the universe. I am the answer to all living things that cry out for peace. I am protector of the innocent. I am the light in the darkness. I am truth. Ally to good! Nightmare to YOU!
    • The Burst Limit version is enough to give one goosebumps at how amazing it was.
      • Interesting enough, the Burst Limit version is the exact dialogue straight from the original manga.
    • Goku's SS3 transformation sequence in the dub. Awesome Music paired with one of the biggest powerup Kiais ever? Yeah.
    • The Remastered version of the scene cranks it all up, by increasing the volume of Goku's screaming while also adding an echoey effect to his voice.
  • Goku's entrance on Namek, wherein he suddenly became all business. First, his "fight" with Jeice...
    Jeice: We've had enough of this, you coward! Now make a move—(gets decked by Goku) OWWW!
    Burter: What? Is it bleeding?!
    Jeice: You... cheap shot!
    Goku: ...you said to make a move. I thought you meant you were ready to go at it.
    • ...and his Curb-Stomp Battle with Recoome:
      Goku: I saw an opening that seemed to scream out "attack." So... I did. Ha!
  • The emergence of the first Super Saiyan would have to be Goku's crowning moment (I am the hope for the Universe! etc.) in Z, but in Dragon Ball there are just too many.
    • Another big reason why it's so awesome is this: Frieza had been smacking everybody around like they were nothing for upward of 20 episodes (10 in Dragon Ball Z Kai) and engaging in numerous Kick the Dog moments since his official introduction into the series- in addition to prior to this, with the destruction of countless worlds including Planet Vegeta with no repercussions for these acts because no one in the universe was on his level to stop his tyranny outside of artificial, divine and inter-universal forces that were either incapacitated, not created or not caring enough- leaving him completely unopposed to do horrible acts and get scot-free. Once Goku finally transforms, it's satisfying to see Frieza get his just desserts for all those acts of evil and being insufferably smug for his superiority and finally, genuinely know what it feels like to be nigh-powerless against an enemy that stands for the righteous beliefs that he casually dismissed for years- being forced to acknowledge it and nothing that he can do about it this time. His actions were finally coming back to bite him after years of desperately trying to avoid this situation.
    • The very first moment that Frieza realizes he's bitten off WAY MORE than he can chew? When Frieza sees Gohan flying off to safety with Piccolo, he's got a mind to Kick the Dog one more time and shoot them down. Goku isn't having it. Immediately, he Flash Steps right in front of Frieza before grabbing and then proceeding to viciously crush Frieza's hand to stop him from killing Gohan! In one move, Goku establishes that not only is he much stronger now than Frieza has ever anticipated, but he has had ENOUGH of this monster's cruelty and is ready to make him pay for everything he's done.
    • As another shining example of how outclassed Frieza was, Goku's dodging a myriad of Frieza's trademark Death Beams, and Frieza calls him out on it, saying that only because he's dodging them, he's staying alive. Goku's response? He stays still and takes one in the face. After emerging unscathed, he says this gem.
      Goku: What's the matter, Frieza? I can't be harder to destroy than a planet, right?
    • To add to the epicness of the final battle between Goku and Frieza, they fought on a planet that was about to explode. Since the world was dying, neither fighter had any reason to hold back, so they used the entire planet as their battlefield. Awesome.
    • Perhaps the most amazing moment of that above scene? Goku's entire verbal beatdown of Frieza at the end of their fight on Namek was ALMOST better than the entire fight. This is after Frieza has thrown EVERYTHING he has at Goku, verbally and physically.
      Goku: "Your energy level is decreasing with every blow. In fact, you're not even a challenge to me anymore. It wouldn't be fair for me to keep fighting you. I'm satisfied now. Your pride has been torn to shreds. You've challenged and lost to a fighter who is superior to you and to make it worse, he's just a monkey, right? It would be meaningless to fight you now; you're too scared and ashamed. Live with the shock. Keep it bottled up inside you. Silently. Goodbye, Frieza, never do mischief again. May you live the rest of your life in peace."
    • The Kai version that follows the original Japanese anime than the Dub Text, manages to be just as epic, if not more so because Goku after demonstrating Freeza is nothing to him and he views him as a pest at this point.
      Goku: "The fact is, I don't see the point in fighting you any more. Your pride is already shot, and in the end, I guess that's good enough for me. You were so sure of your own power that you never imagined anyone in the universe could bring you down... especially a Saiyan. Heh. Now you know what failure feels like. See, I don't need to keep fighting you because I've already won. So go crawl off someplace and hide; I don't really care."
    • Typically, when a hero goes berserk and begins to decimate a villain, something happens that makes them stop. An ally calls out to them to stop, or some external factor helps the hero come to a realization that breaks their rage. What makes Goku's battle with Frieza as a Super Saiyan all the more amazing is that this doesn't happen. Everything until this point suggests that Goku's then newfound power, rage, and battle lust has eclipsed his common sense, there's no one on Namek aside from him and Frieza, and the planet's impending destruction makes an all-out battle to the death seemingly the only option. But once the fight gets the point where Frieza is struggling, Goku realizes he doesn't have to kill him, as the tyrant's ego has been shot to pieces. He breaks himself out of his rage.
    • And as a response to this, Freeza then flings his dual Saucer attack to lock onto Goku, only to unintentionally cutting himself in half by that same technique- which matches Krillin's own technique- symbolically serving as revenge from beyond the grave. Freeza is then forced to beg for his now extinguishing life by Goku who reluctantly gives in by giving him some energy to live to escape the planet himself blew up. And Freeza proceeds to give Goku a brief moment of gloating of how Goku is doomed now that he can't escape, Goku dismisses it as the whining of a Sore Loser and proceeds to leave. Freeza then attacks anyway in spite of the apparent power difference and breaking what little patience Goku still had for him; which Goku proceeds with a Ki-Wave to assumably destroy the tyrant- not a Kamehameha, a basic Ki-Wave with none of the flash or dramatic flair that later villains would be defeated by. Freeza had gone from a nigh unstoppable monster that required a last resort in the vain hopes of taking down to an annoyance that could be casually be put down at any moment by his foe and only the mercy of that foe being the thing to keep him alive. Very much like how he had viewed the Saiyans and other minions under his rule.
    • More impressive, Goku lets Frieza power up to 100% of his power for the express purpose of proving he never had a chance against him. And succeeds. Even though Frieza is able to keep up with him for a short while, it becomes obvious towards the end of the fight that Frieza was never going to win, due to his lower stamina after never training in the event of someone actually reaching his level- destroying the belief of predestined strength that he and his empire pride on.
      • Even better, Goku was well aware of this fact. He knew from the moment he became a Super Saiyan that he could easily kill Frieza at any moment he wished, but instead chose to prolong the fight and Frieza's suffering as long as possible just to give him a taste of his own medicine. And it was glorious!
    • Let's keep in mind that before Goku went Super Saiyan, he was beyond exhausted to the point that Piccolo had to keep him from drowning after he threw the Spirit Bomb. In the anime, he couldn't dodge Frieza's Death Beam and Piccolo had to shield him. Once he transformed, Goku surpassed Frieza, despite his previous exhaustion. Everyone else who first transformed, outside of Goten and present Trunks, fainted or could only maintain Super Saiyan for a few seconds. Goku, however, he was running on pure fumes and rage and out-endures Frieza who barely extended himself before Goku transformed. Imagine how powerful Goku would have been if he was fresh?
      • No need to imagine: Future Trunks' annihilation of Frieza and his father in quick succession shows just how much he outclassed the tyrant... And Trunks was actually weaker than Goku.
    • While fighting Frieza at full power, Goku is listening in on King Kai's conversations with Kami and the Grand Elder (which none of them know), monitoring where Gohan, Bulma, and Piccolo were, and even mentally talking with King Kai. When everyone is wished off the planet, Goku gleefully tells Frieza that he can now concentrate exclusively on beating him and use his full power. Which he soundly did. Keep in mind, he was kicking Frieza's butt while he was doing all the above.
    • Before the final leg of the fight, Goku goes into loving detail about how they used the Earth's Dragon Balls to wish back everyone he killed and used the Namekian Dragon Balls to wish everyone to Earth, leaving only them on the planet. And before then, Goku rubs in Frieza's face about how close he came to getting his wish if he only spoke Namekian. You can tell Goku was enjoying the verbal torment.
    • Just to shove in his face how pointless the Death Saucer attack is, Goku uses an after image to dodge Frieza's attack. Frieza notes that's a good trick for a primate, but Goku's words cut deeper than any attack up to that point. Frieza is caught off guard by this statement and glares bitterly into the distance before recovering enough to speak.
      Goku: I don't know why you call Saiyans by such mindless names; all it does is reveal your own fear and ignorance. I guess name calling is your only attack because you're too weak to challenge me any other way.
    • One understated moment comes when Goku interrupts Frieza's and Gohan's rematch, ascending from the ocean after Frieza thought the volcanic eruption had killed him. Frieza compares the Saiyans to a stubborn virus, which has now mutated (Goku being a Super Saiyan) in order to preserve itself. After that, he mocks Goku for not leaving since he could have fled the battlefield and Frieza would have never known it. Goku's blunt response is to say "No way. Why run from someone you're not scared of?" The expression of outrage on Frieza's face after Goku's response seals the moment.
    • What's more epic than all of the above? Goku scared Frieza before doing any of the above. Frieza was terrified the moment Goku transformed. And then Goku made him tremble with an epic Death Glare. Man, talk about pure good awesome!
  • Before the Super Saiyan, we have Goku's 20x Kaio-Ken. While it fails to put down Frieza for good, Goku gets in some good hits and more importantly shakes Frieza up, which is quite satisfying after seeing Frieza smugly proclaim that he has Goku's measure and 50% power will be enough a couple chapters/episodes prior.
  • Goku blocking all of Trunks' attacks with one finger. This is the same guy who cut Frieza into pieces and utterly owned King Cold. Even better, Goku wasn't even really trying.
  • When he fights Android 19, Goku is in the middle of the onset of the heart virus disease, thus terribly weakened, tired and in increasing pain. He's still dishing out a Curb-Stomp Battle, and 19 doesn't get the upper hand until Goku, realizing he's weakening faster than expected, tries to finish him off with a Kamehameha, unwittingly empowering him.
  • Lowkey moment, but when Goku teleports in to save Piccolo and Tenshinhan from Cell. Semi-perfect Cell can only gawk at what is going on, and he's supposedly the strongest character at this point, fresh from absorbing Android 17. He teleports three times in front of him, and even though Cell clearly doesn't intend to let him run away from a fight (that Goku by his own admission would LOSE, no matter how you played it), Goku manages to pull the rescue and escape. Cell can only stare in abject incomprehension and wonder just WHERE Goku picked up that little trick.
  • The mere fact that Goku became more powerful than Vegeta and Trunks put together, despite them spending two years in the Hypobolic Time Chamber. Goku spent less than a year there and spent most of it training Gohan.
  • In the fight with Cell, Goku counters all of Cell's stolen techniques with minimum effort. He even mocks Cell for thinking that techniques he had seen before would work on him. When Cell tries to kill him with a Kamehameha powerful enough to destroy the Earth, Goku jumps up and makes Cell redirect it at him. He then teleports next to Cell and literally kicks him in the butt, bringing back that one blind spot Cell since he couldn't know about Goku's time on Yardrat. Then, the logical follow-up during the battle...
    • The Instant Transmission Kamehameha used during his fight with Cell is completely remarkable. He masterfully blindsided Cell, who could only stare in utter disbelief at the notion that Goku would fire a full power Kamehameha from the sky, downwards to the Earth! But of course, Cell had again forgotten about Instant Transmission, even after hearing about it just earlier. Goku would have killed Cell right there, if not for the monster's pesky Healing Factor (bordering on Plot Armor since Cell's head had been destroyed).
    • After the Instant Kamehameha, Goku started a furious attack with energy blasts-and Cell not only suffered serious damage before he used his barrier, but admitted that without it he would have lost.
    • Cell was stronger than Goku at the time-and nearly lost, multiple times. That is all.
    • Almost all: there's still the fact Goku went in expecting to lose, so he set up the fight as a Xanatos Gambit. If things went better than expected he'd have killed Cell, but as he lost as expected, when Gohan went Super Saiyan 2 he knew how Cell fought, so he could anticipate all his moves as well as his father if not better thanks to him now being stronger than Cell. The poor villain was completely played, and the only thing that allowed his comeback was that Gohan wasn't thinking straight and didn't finish him off immediately...
  • Despite being dead, Goku used his influence to encourage Gohan to make one last stand against Cell. He also tells Gohan not to blame himself for his death and Cell is the only one responsible for everything that has happened. His words of encouragement allowed Gohan to release the epic Father-Son Kamehameha, which had Goku's spirit in the background.
  • It's filler, but who cares, it's still awesome, Goku versus Pikkon. This fight is unique that it is one of the few fights where Goku is the underdog. We got a taste of Pikkon's power when he one-shot Cell. In their match, Goku held nothing back and even used the Kaio-ken with his Super Saiyan form for the first time ever. Still, Pikkon proved to be the better fighter, nearly beating Goku by hitting him twice with his Thunder Flash Attack and deflecting the Kamehameha like it's a ball. By the end of the match, Goku is on his back and says that Pikkon had beat him, to which Pikkon prepares one last Thunder Flash Attack. Seeing it a third time, Goku sees its weaknesses (long prep time and leaving the user wide open), and uses his Instant Transmission to dodge Pikkon's attack and blindside him with a Kamehameha, knocking him out of bounds and winning the match. This is one of the precious few times in the series when a character beats a superior fighter with skill and technique.
  • Goku's Super Saiyan transformation's energy is eaten by Babidi's minion Yakkon. So what does Goku do? Take it up to a notch and transform into Super Saiyan 2, overloading and blowing him up. Goku killed a guy by just transforming.
  • When preparing to take on Vegeta following the latter's possession by Babidi, Goku is briefly stopped by Kaioshin, who tries to pull a Go Through Me to keep the fight from releasing more energy that could be used to summon Buu. Goku's response? Raise his hand, begin charging an energy beam, and wordlessly prepare to kill the Supreme Kai if it means putting an end to Vegeta's rampage. Finally, the Supreme Kai wisely moves out of the way. Goku essentially stared down God, and God lost. Bad. Ass.
    • Also, fans have pointed out that, if he had gone through with it, Goku would have also killed Beerus at this moment (admittedly without his knowledge.)
  • Goku's fight with Fat Buu. Up until this point, Buu was an unstoppable killing machine who manhandled the Supreme Kai, Dabura, Gohan, and Vegeta. All the other powerful fighters on the planet were in hiding since they knew they stood no chance against Buu. Goku was there just to distract Buu while Trunks went to get the Dragon Radar. Knowing an ascended Saiyan was no match for Buu, Goku offers to take it to the next level. Everyone thinks he's bluffing, until he goes Super Saiyan 3 and beats the tar out of Buu. Despite Buu taking no real damage from the fight, you can tell that Goku was hardly trying and admits near the end of the saga that he could have killed Buu then, but didn't want to since he wanted Goten, Trunks, and Gohan to do it since he couldn't protect the world forever. Goku was so powerful that he could have ended the entire arc dozens of episodes ago. What really made this fight come alive is Goku transforming into a Super Saiyan 3 to Awesome Music in the Funimation dub.
    • To say nothing of the transformation itself, especially in the anime. His friends' attempts to sense Goku from Kami's Lookout become moot when the sheer power radiating off of him causes the entire world to start shaking - including the Lookout, which is floating in the sky. The Kiai that accompanies the transformation spawned rumors that Sean Schemmel actually passed out after recording it, but the real icing on the cake is the speech Goku gives Buu and Babidi just before transforming.
      Goku: What you're seeing now is my normal state. [transforms] This is a Super Saiyan. And this... [transforms again] ...this is what is known as a Super Saiyan that has ascended past a Super Saiyan. Or, you could just call this a Super Saiyan 2.
      Babidi: Ho hum. What a useless transformation. You've changed your hair. So what?
      Goku: [smirks] Just wait...
      Piccolo: Has he really found a way to surpass an Ascended Saiyan? Is that possible?
      Krillin: He must be bluffing. I mean, what would that make him? Double ascended?
      Goku: And this... [begins powering up] is... TO GO... EVEN FURTHER... BEYOND!
  • At the end with the fight with Kid Buu and Goku is about to push the Spirit Bomb into Buu, he briefly reminisces about how Buu went from a mostly-innocent manchild to a ruthless killer after losing the battle against his inner evil. What makes this awesome was how Goku said in a voice filled with anger and even some sadness that Buu was now going to learn what it's like to have his life taken against his will. After all the death Buu caused throughout the saga, this really brings everything together since Buu was now going to experience the same despair that he's been handed out since his birth.
  • Goku's Super Kamehameha in Path To Power. Sure, it doesn't exactly compare to the other awesome moments, but it's still a fairly cool moment.
    • Especially when you set it to Vegeta's Super Saiyan theme.
    • Watching Goku destroy the Red Ribbon Army with all their planes and tanks with nothing but his Power Pole to awesome music deserved to be mentioned. Also, in the movie, Goku fires his first Kamehameha and took out the Red Ribbon Army navy.
  • Earlier in the series, Goku's transformation into a Great Ape is mostly seen as a scary moment. But it's more of awesome than scary when he transformed into a Golden Great Ape.
  • Not related to fighting, Goku hand-picks the new Guardian of the Earth, god in the Japanese version, after Piccolo and Kami merged who brought the Dragon Balls back to life. Although he wasn't the one to beat Cell, at least not directly, he ensured that the main timeline won't end up like Future Trunks' timeline did.
  • If you think about it, Goku is the only character who is never outright killed in the series. Both times he was killed, he died on his own terms by sacrificing himself. It literally shows that Goku does not die unless he says so. He also manages to mostly avoid the dreaded Senseless Sacrifice. Yeah, Cell returned from his own self-destruction, but if Goku hadn't acted, the Earth would have blown up and Cell would have survived.
  • He is also the only character in the entire series to be returned to life without the Namekian Dragon Balls. One of the gods of the universe brought him back by giving their own life, something that has never happened before since no Kai has ever given their life to a mortal. Goku is so awesome that the gods wanted him back.
  • In Cooler's Revenge, Goku blasts Cooler into the sun. Having Deftones' "Change (In the House of Flies)" on the Funimation dub's background makes the ass-kicking twice as awesome.
  • Goku, in the anime at least, has one of the most impressive physical strength feats in a series that is dominated with energy manipulation. He opens up his fight with Kid Buu in his Super Saiyan 2 form. Buu hits him into a hill, then stands on it a roars and victory cry. Goku responds by tearing the hill in half with his bare hands!

     Gohan 
  • Gohan. He was most definitely the epitome of epic and everything about DBZ. Let's list his awesome feats shall we?
    • Gohan's first epic moment, he headbutts his uncle Raditz, actually breaking his armor. Up to that point, neither Goku nor Piccolo could actually hurt him. The injury also weakened Raditz, giving Goku the opportunity to hold him while Piccolo fired his Special Beam Cannon.
    • In the hopeless battle against Nappa, he charges the bald-headed brute and fells him with a single kick. Even though he still rises up again, it's amazing nonetheless.
    • Vegeta impulsively presses Gohan's Berserk Button when he knees Goku in the gut while he's down. An enraged Gohan kicks him in the face, then engages Vegeta in a short battle while Krillin prepares to nail him with the Spirit Bomb. When Krillin sees the opportunity to strike Vegeta with the Spirit Bomb (which is ruined by Yajirobe's outburst and Krillin's bad timing), who jumps in the air dodging it. The Spirit Bomb then heads in the direction of a fatigued Gohan. Everyone looks on in fear as Gohan is about to be struck by it but Goku telepathically communicates with Gohan and tells him to bounce the Spirit Bomb at Vegeta who is unable to avoid it and is shot up to the sky. How badass is that?
    • Gohan going to Namek. The Gohan from a year ago used to cry at every little thing and during the Saiyan fight, he was shaking in fear most of the time. Now, to save his friend and mentor, he's willing to leave the planet for parts unknown. Now that is some Character Development.
    • Arriving on Planet Namek, Gohan and Krillin watch as Frieza terrorizes a Namekian village's villagers for the location of the Dragon Balls. After ordering henchman Dodoria to kill the Namek soldiers that come to the villagers' aid, Frieza backs out on his deal to leave him alone and kills the village elder's son and then him. Now eyeing the village elder's other son who is petrified with fear, Frieza tells Dodoria to dispose of him as well. Let's say Gohan wasn't too pleased with this and springs into action and kicks Dodoria's fat ass through a house. Even when Dodoria gets back up, Gohan stands his ground and tells him to bring it on.
    • Despite being horribly outmatched, Gohan fought Recoome until the brute broke his neck. He may have lost, but he lasted long enough for Goku to come and save them.
    • Frieza pushes another one of Gohan's buttons and impales Krillin and sadistically tortures him. After tossing Krillin into the sea, Gohan goes berserk and beats the everliving fuck out of Frieza while the theme song plays, then Masenkos his ass.
    • When Piccolo is losing to Frieza's third transformation, Gohan interferes in the battle and does a gigantic Masenko and nearly becomes the one who puts an end to him.
    • Although filler, after Frieza buries Goku under a hundred feet of lava, he presumes that he wins. Gohan, sensing his dad's defeat, heads back to the battlefield and attempts to pull a Taking You with Me. However, Frieza realizes this when Gohan keeps on trying to run away and explains to him how he's able to survive anywhere. Gohan, frustrated, lashes out at Frieza and punches him a dozen times and finishes his Meteor Move with a Masenko. This attack doesn't work, but it does push Frieza to use his powered-up final form he used against Goku as a Super Saiyan.
    • Gohan gets another one after Goku's fight with Frieza when he's willing to defend his father's honor by taking on Vegeta. Vegeta presses Gohan's Berserk Button by making fun of the fact that Goku is dead. Gohan then gets angry. At first, Gohan looks like he's winning by punching Vegeta, kicking him and headbutting him. Unfortunately, it doesn't end well for him because Vegeta ends up defeating him. Regardless, it was still awesome and it took a lot of guts and bravery for Gohan to fight Vegeta.
    • The Garlic Jr. Saga is one big Moment of Awesome for Gohan. He is the one who defeats all of Garlic Jr's men, even after they powered up thanks to the Makyo Star. He then creates a barrier around himself to protect Piccolo and Krillin from being sucked into the Dead Zone. He's able to hold it until Piccolo and Krillin jumped out to confront Garlic Jr. Wanting to protect his friends, Gohan flies up and destroys the Makyo Star, cutting off Garlic Jr's power source, sending him right back into the Dead Zone, forever this time. And when Gohan says that they were able to win without their father, Piccolo corrects him by saying that they did need his father and he was right here, before patting Gohan's head. This saga also works as a nice precursor to the Cell Games where Gohan really does take up his father's mantle.
    • The Cell Saga also had one by intimidating Mercenary Tao, the person who defeated Goku in a Curb-Stomp Battle when he was a child and was at this point menacing civilians under the employ of a crime boss, into leaving by staring him down, firing up his Super Saiyan Battle Aura and taking a shot from his Arm Cannon without even so much as Clothing Damage to show for it. Cue Tao quivering in his boots like a scared infant, especially after he learns that Gohan is Goku's son, and making a break for it, leaving his employer to fend for himself.
    • Gohan's complete mental breakdown followed by him handing Cell his ass as a Super Saiyan 2. The transformation was accompanied by a song created just for that moment in the original Japanese. And it was sung by Hironobu Kageyama. Do the math.
      • In the Faulconer dub, the final part of the transformation was set to the epic, rightly titled Gohan Angers theme.
    • In the Cell Games, Super Saiyan 2 Gohan. He embarrasses Cell by copying his fighting style and matching him move for move. He's the reason Krillin got Android 18 back.
      • Embarrasses? By the time the final clash comes about, Cell is afraid of Gohan. His attacks become less provocation and more desperation.
      • Preceding that, he effortlessly destroys the Cell Jrs. And by destroy, we mean literally obliterating them with his blows. He just hits them once or twice and they explode into smoke. Topped with the epic Gohan vs. Cell Jrs. theme.
      • At one point, Cell threatens the Earth with a massive Kamehameha fired from the air, which takes him several minutes to charge. As the enormous blue beam bears down on Gohan, he simply smirks, mutters the incantation quickly, and fires off a much, much larger Kamehameha of his own, completely deflecting Cell's and severely injuring the bio-android. Made even better by the fact this is Gohan's first-ever Kamehameha in the series.
      • And *drum roll* there's the final climactic battle between Gohan and Cell who injures him after covering for Vegeta after Cell knocks him out. It's Kamehameha vs. Kamehameha. Gohan is somewhat reluctant to unleash his full power on Cell because he thinks he'll destroy the world and is doubting himself. In the anime, everyone helps him out until he finds the power to destroy Cell. Cell tosses aside the rest of Z-fighters like ragdolls and is nearly about to win until Vegeta steps in and strikes Cell from behind giving Gohan the chance to kill Cell, giving him the precious few seconds needed to completely unleash his power. The Slasher Smile on Gohan's face as he's blasting Cell away with a ONE-HANDED Kamehameha is simply orgasmically satisfying.
      • A point that's regularly understated in all of this: all Gohan needed to erase Cell at that point was a single second to overcome his disadvantaged position of pushing with one arm. Bear in mind, the only way to kill Cell is effectively to completely destroy all his organic matter to ensure his core’s destruction. In other words, he needs to be decisively overtaken, or it won’t work. Cell had just regenerated into a state beyond his Perfect Form, with all of his energy restored. Gohan had already expended a considerable amount of energy in making a show of taking out Cell’s prior Kamehameha even before his return, whereupon he then took a critical injury, had an arm disabled, and had his energy subsequently tank. Even with all those handicaps, even with that much leverage on Cell’s end, even without being at full strength, Gohan’s power still eclipsed that of Super Perfect Cell’s.
    • Gohan has one even before going SSJ2. As Cell is smacking him around to provoke a reaction, he snaps for a moment and kicks Cell so hard that Cell gets floored and keels over a couple of times before he could finally get back up.
    • What makes Gohan so awesome in general is that most of his Moments of Awesome happen BEFORE he turns 10. While Goku was frolicking in the forest at that age, Gohan was going up against the likes of Vegeta, Frieza, and Cell.
      • This is best summarized by what the Narrator says at the end of the scene when Gohan goes Super Saiyan 2:
      Narrator: "It is a secret we have known before Gohan could even form words in his mouth. Through fights with Raditz, Garlic Junior, the Ginyu Force, and even Frieza, we've caught glimpses of the child's explosive power. But like an explosion, it always vanished with the moment; it couldn't be controlled... until now. At last, the beastly power has been harnessed. Gohan has awoken. Now Cell will battle a warrior eleven years in the making, on the next Dragon Ball Z!"
    • Movie 9 (Bojack Unbound) stands as one of Gohan's highlights in and of itself. Gohan's about a year (maybe 2) older than he was when he fought Cell (he's subtly taller and also noticeably more muscular, even in his untransformed state). Along with Garlic Jr. and Cell, this is the third and probably last occasion where Gohan comes off like the main protagonist. First off, some of the main supporting characters (Krillin and Piccolo) don't want any part of fighting him in a tournament - in his base form. It's one thing for Goku to get that sort of treatment, but Gohan, at this point, is probably about 13 at most. First, his initial power-up after transforming causes an earthquake and nearly rips the planet in two. Then he pours on the badass in spades. He starts an EPIC Unflinching Walk right through the middle of Bojack's minions, who gave Piccolo and Future Trunks (who has already curbstomped Future Cell and BOTH Future Androids and is no slouch himself) no end of trouble. In true, tried SSJ2 Gohan fashion, he makes one explode with a single punch... and then kicks the other so hard that it cuts him in half. Then, he puts his fist right through Bojack's stomach and punches him to bits, too.
      • There's this line:
      Bojack: Any last words before you die?
      Gohan: Actually, Bojack, there is one word that comes to mind: KA-ME-HA-ME-HA!
    • A runner-up would have to be in Movie 12, when final form Frieza emerges from Hell leading an army of warriors Goku and his crew have defeated over the course of the series. Gohan, now an adult, confronts Frieza, flies right at him, circumventing the entire army, and punches Frieza one time. The force of the blow is enough to make Frieza explode into a million pieces, and send his army running in fear.
    • Another one would have to be when he comes back to confront Super Buu. Buu asks if he really wants to fight him, and Gohan comes back with "Fight you? No; I wanna kill you." That was so badass, considering Gohan's usually nice nature.
      • This one is even more badass when you consider Gohan beat Super Buu without even trying.
      • During the arc, no, series, The Z-Fighters used Ki Manipulation to fight their enemies. In Gohan's fight against Super Buu, he didn't fire one. That alone cements his growth from Dogged Nice Guy to BADASS.
      • Forcing Super Buu to eat his own mouth beam by clamping his mouth and pushing the ki blast back into Buu's throat when Buu tried to surprise him with a point-blank shot also deserves a mention. All of this after Buu boasts about how he nearly killed Gohan back when he was Majin Buu. Now, the shoe is on the other foot and Gohan's most certainly giving Buu quite the asskicking with it.
    • Gohan gets another one in the Buu Saga as the Saiyaman. While Videl hops on a bus and beats up the hijackers, she celebrates instead of taking the wheel. While the bus is about to fall over a cliff, Gohan catches the bus with one hand.
      • He gets another one who he turns SSJ at the tournament and attempts to save Videl from Spopovitch (but Yamu interrupts). Gohan then tells Spopovitch that the next time they meet, it's gonna be "you and me."
  • The Future version of Gohan is the last warrior left on Earth with enough power to challenge the androids, and has been fighting a war of attrition with them for years. Even with his Super Saiyan form, he's still unable to defeat the androids, because they fight as a team; in a fair fight, he's enough of a match for them that he could probably win. In his final stand against them, he manages to fight both of them head-on, and never gives up even when it's clear he'll lose. Goku would be proud.
  • In a series where, increasingly, the only thing that matters is who you punch and how hard, Gohan has one of the few moments of genuinely outsmarting a villain. He's stuttering and terrified as he does it, but when he accidentally steals the four-star Dragon Ball from Vegeta on Namek and then runs into him, he manages to bluff his way out. He tells Vegeta the Dragon Radar is a watch, and Vegeta, in his arrogance, believes him. Vegeta still smacks him around because Vegeta's an ass, but Gohan takes it and keeps the Dragon Ball away from him. The fact that it's the four-star makes it all the sweeter and it comes to a full head when Vegeta realizes he's been had long after Gohan is very far away.
  • Something that most people don't really think of (they mostly file it away as heartwarming) is how Gohan basically reformed Piccolo through The Power of Love, giving the Z Fighters one of their greatest allies. Gohan was four years old when Piccolo kidnapped him to prepare for the coming Saiyans, and because Gohan grew to love Piccolo, Piccolo grew to love Gohan in return. Enough to lay down his life to protect Gohan. Piccolo sees Gohan as his first friend and loves Gohan as his own child. And he will tear through anyone who threatens him or the planet.

     Krillin 
  • An early moment of awesome during the very first day of Krillin and Goku's training. Roshi's test for the evening involves throwing a marked stone into the creature-infested jungle below, and whoever finds it and gives it to Roshi wins; the loser has to go the night without supper. Goku is practically out of Krillin's league in terms of raw power, speed and durability, and there are all kinds of creatures that would have them both as snacks. For all intents and purposes, Krillin is gravely outmatched; he's able to take a sabre-toothed cat out no problem, but the various dinosaurs are a bit much for him. So how does Krillin handle the situation? Easy; he uses his brain against the Idiot Hero Goku. He tricks him into giving him the stone, making him believe it's a decoy, then runs away and cuts the bridge on the way back to Kame House (with his bare hands, mind you). Then, when he loses the ensuing Big Ball of Violence, he throws the decoy he made earlier to unsuccessfully fool Roshi, which successfully fools Goku into chasing the wrong stone while he makes off with the real one. Was it underhanded and sneaky? Yes. And he did pay for it when supper turned out to be fugu (puffer fish), which gave everyone stomach problems for the entire following day. But no one beforehand was able to succeed in getting one over on Goku like that, and this was before he Took a Level in Badass in time for the 21st Tenkaichi.
  • In the preliminaries of the 21st Tenkaichi, kicking one of his old bullies through a wall with enough strength that, even after crushing through the wall, he still had enough strength to fly 50 meters until he hit another building. For reference, before training under Muten Roshi, Krillin couldn't even touch him.
  • Krillin nearly defeated Master Roshi (when he's fighting as Jackie Chun) by throwing a pair of panties into the ring and kicking him when he dives for them. Master Roshi only recovers because he uses a Kamehameha to fly back into the ring. Roshi even notes that he would have lost if he was an ordinary human. He even did better than Yamcha, who couldn't even touch Roshi.
  • Krillin shows more of his Combat Pragmatist nature by making Roshi nosebleed on the invisible man, allowing Yamcha to see him.
  • Krillin had quite a few moments at the 22nd:
    • In the preliminaries his first opponent was a gigantic wrestler, large enough to hold Krillin's whole body with one hand, and so strong he couldn't find opponents anymore in legal promotions. His hand could crush a boulder with a pressure of 400 kg, and he managed to grab Krillin, who cried in pain... then stopped, smugly said "Just kidding", and proceeded to get free and throw his opponent into the far wall.
    • Krillin's fight with Chiaotzu in the 22nd Tournament often gets overlooked but the two put up a good fight with Krillin using the Kamehameha for the first time (and like Goku, Roshi didn't even teach it to him!) against Chiaotzu's Dodonpa, and at the end when Chiaotzu traps him with his psychic powers, Krillin interrupts his train of thought by shouting out math problems to get loose and knock him out of the ring.
    • Later, Krillin was able to give Goku a decent fight, even getting more than a few blows in. He successfully fools Goku with a Kamehameha to distract him while he grabs his tail. If this was a couple of years ago, Goku would have lost right there. Also, for what it's worth, showing his willingness to use every trick he can think of (including blinding Goku with sunlight reflected on his bald head) and every weakness he can find - and snagging Goku by the tail when the opportunity presents itself (it doesn't do him much good as Goku proves to have trained to fix that problem, but credit where due). Even Roshi shows some respect for the move, calling out Goku for being too naïve in a fight.
  • At the very beginning of the King Piccolo Saga, Krillin walks in on Tambourine stealing the tournament roster, and immediately tries to save the Tournament Announcer. He mentions that Krillin hit Tambourine with everything he had, but it wasn't enough. Even so, the effort (especially right after the tournament, when everyone was so tired even Goku was easily beaten by Tambourine) shows how far Krillin will go to help a friend.
  • There's a little moment near the end of the original Dragon Ball that people tend to forget. That moment is his tournament fight with Piccolo, who at the time was the single most powerful villain in the series. Let's make a long story short: after putting up a hell of a fight, Krillin not only gets back up after an attack that Piccolo was certain had killed him, he also gives up very gracefully, which in itself is kind of awesome. But what really makes this awesome is that Piccolo admits to himself after this fight, "Conquering the Earth may be more difficult than I thought." That's right: Krillin kicked so much ass that, even for a second, Piccolo was thinking he could be in trouble!
  • In both the Vegeta and Frieza fights, there's a point where he keeps the villain busy (holding out absurdly long given the difference in power) and buys desperately-needed time for the big guns.
    • Krillin gets one of the biggest clutch moves of the arc, when Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu are dead and Piccolo is knocked out. Nappa moves in on Gohan for the kill, and Krillin comes in from the side to send him flying with a kick to the face, quickly followed by a punch. He moves in for another attack, but when Nappa recovers and tries to hammer him with a punch, he dodges lightning quick. Even Vegeta is impressed. Then Krillin debuts his Destructo Disc, which would have ended the fight right there with a one-hit kill had Vegeta not yelled for Nappa to avoid it. As it was, he was the first fighter to draw Nappa's blood, cutting his face with the attack.
  • When one thinks about it, he was actually pretty badass on Namek. With all of the conventionally heroic/badass characters either dead or on another planet somewhere, the fate of the universe was left in the hands of Those Two Guys. He and Gohan manage to survive for an absurdly long time on this planet surrounded by bad guys, outsmarting Vegeta and Frieza until help arrived.
    • You also have to give Krillin credit since he was more or less the de facto leader until Goku arrived. Despite his weaknesses, it was largely his planning and thinking ahead that kept everyone alive and got Gohan powered up by the Grand Elder. He was almost an action survivor until Frieza came back and killed him, and even that wasn't in vain since his death allowed Goku to become a Super Saiyan.
    • The scene where he stomps Recoome's mouth shut, interrupting his Recoome Eraser Gun attack (a powerful mouth beam). This knocked nearly all of his teeth out, giving Gohan valuable time to save a badly battered Vegeta's skin.
    • How about when he saves Gohan from getting his skull crushed in by Frieza by throwing a well-timed Destructo Disc which managed to cut off his tail? It's especially awesome since he had been impaled by Frieza's horn a few scenes earlier and appeared out of nowhere to almost kill the guy. He then follows through with this moment by throwing several Destructo Discs at once that Frieza barely managed to dodge and topped it all off by sticking his tongue out at him and slapping his ass to piss Frieza off so that he would follow him in order to give Dende enough time to heal Gohan.
      • The multiple DDs showed some awesome improvement on his signature technique. It used to take him like half a minute to create one.
    • The anime also expands on what Krillin does after he gets Frieza to follow him. First, he tries to outfly Frieza, but once he starts bearing down on him, Krillin then hides in a broken-apart mountain. Frieza manages to keep pace with him every step of the way and, once he gets bored, fires a ki blast into the mountain to force Krillin out. When it looks like Frieza will kill Krillin for what he did to his tail, Krillin busts out a Solar Flare and manages to escape him again. The fact that Krillin managed to escape Frieza's grasp for so long considering how much weaker he was is pretty damn awesome in itself.
    • Later, when Vegeta wants to be beaten up so he can be healed by Dende for a power boost, Krillin's reluctance pisses him off, and he raises a fist, saying, "I know Tuffles who fight better!" Cue Krillin blasting a cannonball-sized hole right through Vegeta's chest with one shot.
  • In the Garlic Junior Saga, Gohan's inexperience and reluctance to fight gets him in trouble several times over. Krillin repeatedly bails him out by acting as a Human Shield till Gohan is finally ready to go all out.
  • In the Cell Saga, he manages to keep the much more powerful Cell from killing a girl and her brother. Just as Cell moves in for the kill, they seemingly vanish and reappear a short distance away with Krillin holding them. He then buys some time while the girl gets a plane started and takes off, then blinds Cell with a Solar Flare and grabs onto the plane. When he realizes Cell has already caught up and is on top of the plane again trying to drain the kids, he flies in an arc, gathering speed, and rams his shoulder into Cell hard enough to give the android visible pain. Cell almost kills him then, but Krillin managed to stall long enough that Piccolo and Tien have almost arrived, and Cell opts to flee.
  • Krillin's best moment, however, is probably the entirety of the Saiyan fight:
    • After getting royally pissed off over Yamcha's death, he fires an energy beam that splits into five, each one powerful enough to kill a Saibaman in one hit (though one managed to dodge, and Nappa and Vegeta No-Selled the one directed at them). Each Saibaman is as strong as Raditz, who was way beyond Krillin just a year before.
    • He nearly finished off Vegeta in the end (Goku talked him out of it).
    • He (with Gohan's help) nailed Vegeta with a Spirit Bomb.
    • After the end of the fight, he was the only surviving Z-Fighter who could still walk.
    • If you watched the original series, Krillin holding the Spirit Bomb is awesome for another reason. When Krillin was first introduced, he couldn't ride the Flying Nimbus because his heart wasn't pure. It remained that way all through Dragon Ball. Fast-forward to Z and Krillin is able to hold an energy ball that only the pure of heart can withstand. This moment shows how far Krillin has come since that naughty little boy a decade ago.
  • He's also inexplicably popular with the ladies. He dated Maron and eventually marries Android 18. Pretty smooth for a little guy.
  • His Heroic Sacrifice against Buu qualifies. When Buu shows up at Kami's lookout, Krillin tries to fight him anyway just to give everyone else a chance to escape, even though he KNOWS he doesn't stand a chance. Everyone ends up dying anyhow, but you gotta give Krillin credit for at least trying.
    • In another scene later on, Krillin risks his very existence to protect denizens of Other World and takes on Kid Buu. He is already dead at this point, so if he died here, he would completely cease to exist. No resurrection, no reincarnation, nothing. HE ACTUALLY HITS Kid Buu with the Destructo Disc. Sadly, Kid Buu can regenerate, nullifying his efforts. The sad thing is, that would have worked on almost anyone else.
  • Krillin also gets one in the movie Broly: Second Coming when he saves Gohan from the lava (dressed as Piccolo). Too bad the movie ends with him stuck on some rocks. Poor guy.
  • Krillin has plenty of awesome to offer in the games. In his story mode from Supersonic Warriors, Krillin takes Goku's torch for Earth's protector after he dies from the heart virus, and after sparing #18, defeats Super Saiyan Vegeta to stop him from destroying #18, and after some training from Goku, who had been granted one day among the living thanks to Baba, learns the Spirit Bomb and Kaio-ken, which he puts to good use to single-handedly defeat Perfect Cell. And he tops that by taking on Majin Buu by himself and obliterating the Majin to nothing with a well-placed Kamehameha. Earth's strongest Earthling, indeed!

     Vegeta 
  • When Vegeta and Nappa end up on the hostile planet of Arlia, they quickly discover the king is a corrupt tyrant and they deliberately allow themselves to be captured so they can ally with the rebels. Then after escaping from their cell, the two of them singlehandedly decimate the king and all of his men (including a giant insectoid monster) while barely breaking a sweat.
  • Vegeta is one of two characters to get up and keep fighting after being hit with a Spirit Bomb. The Oh, Crap! from Krillin, Goku, Gohan, Yajirobe, and King Kai is telling. He survives so much that Krillin wonders if Vegeta is an immortal. The best quote probably comes after he drops back to the Earth after being blasted in the air by the Spirit Bomb (which, according to Daizenshuu 7, had more than enough power to destroy the planet). He looks to have been defeated,note  prompting this exchange:
    Gohan: The... the Saiyan!
    Krillin: It's okay. He's dead.
    (Krillin walks over to Vegeta, who is motionless in a heap on the floor)
    Krillin: He was one nasty guy, but a brave foe. I guess I'll at least dig a grave...
    (Vegeta's eyes suddenly pop open, with him baring a psychotic smile)
    Vegeta: FOR YOURSELVES?
  • Vegeta fighting Frieza, all the way from his first punch to his tearful death speech when he's dying at the hands of Frieza. First of only two time he cries, and the only time we get a glimpse at what made him what he is today. And they said DBZ couldn't get dramatic. Watch it here, partway through. (The original dub, so while there is plenty of Narm what with the inexperience of the voice actors at the time, it's still a Tear Jerker.)
    • When he's revived from death, he has another minor moment of awesome. Frieza has just brutally beaten and tortured Vegeta, and he died slowly and painfully, tearfully begging Goku to avenge their race. What does he do when he's revived? Rush right back toward Frieza and Goku, intending to rejoin the battle. He gets teleported to Earth before he can do anything, but it's still pretty awesome to see Vegeta hasn't been at all cowed by his own death.
  • His fight with Cui on Namek, revealing he discovered how to hide his energy and also how that he has surpassed him, when Cui tries a sneak attack he reveals he's gotten faster as well and intercepts him when he tries to run and blows him up. His Pre-Mortem One-Liner in the original dub is awesome as well. "See ya, [blows Cui up] if I cross you in the next dimension."
    • Made him even more epic in the remastered dub:
      "See you in hell, Cui."
    • And this battle is one of the few instances where Bowdlerized dialogue can be considered a Woolseyism.
      "Cui, I'm afraid you're fired."
  • Hell, Vegeta's entire time on Namek in between arriving on the planet and the Ginyu Force showing up is one long game of Xanatos Speed Chess on his part. He arrives on the planet with a plan, and it's a good one: use his newfound ki sense to evade Frieza's forces, pick them off when he can, find a Dragon Ball and hide it, and then wait for an opportunity to grab the Dragon Balls Frieza has. And, aside from a hiccup with Zarbon, the plan works. After defeating Zarbon, he has the last Dragon Ball he was looking for, and the remaining six well-hidden, with Frieza down to himself on a spaceship with busted engines and the Earthlings completely unable to stand up to him in a fight. And what scuppers his plan is something he could not have anticipated: the Dragon Radar. That and the need to summon Porunga in Namekian, but that's also something he couldn't have known.
    • His escape from Freiza's ship has to be elaborated upon. The last thing he remembers before waking up in a healing chamber on Frieza's ship is crawling out of the hole in the ground Zarbon had made with him. Despite that, before the Mook monitoring him can even react, he grasps the situation, blasts a hole in the side of the ship, and then instead of fleeing, makes his way to the Dragon Balls. Then, after thinking it over, he goes full Refuge in Audacity, calling out that he's still inside the ship before firing off another blast down the hall, grabbing the Dragon Balls, and tossing them away before exiting the ship himself. And instead of flying away, he swims, because Frieza would catch him immediately otherwise. And what does that brilliant round of improvisation net him? Five Dragon Balls and one stuck Frieza.
  • Vegeta saving Krillin and Gohan from Guldo was pretty awesome. Nothing like a good decapitation for a warm-up.
  • There was also his fight with Recoome. He knew from the very beginning that he was completely outclassed, yet he still beat the shit out of him various times by using every trick in the book. Recoome seemingly won the battle at various points, yet Vegeta would pop right back up and lay the smackdown some more.
    • What really makes this scene is Vegeta's awesome power-up in the anime. No one screams better than Vegeta. After the screaming, he kneels the way football players kneel at the line of scrimmage... and THEN takes off.
  • Vegeta blowing Jeice to bits is certainly a Crowning Moment of Badass. Or a crowning moment of Kick the Dog, because at that point, Jeice was not fighting back. He also delivered a Coup de Grâce to every member of the Ginyu Force sans Ginyu himself (at least until Dragon Ball Super).
    • Made even more awesome when you think about the fact that Vegeta is responsible for the deaths of Frieza's army on Namek sans Frieza and Captain Ginyu. Yes, that's right. Vegeta kills everyone. Cui, Zarbon, and Dodoria? All done in by Vegeta. Gohan and Krillin owe him their lives.
  • His sadistic and stunning I Am Not Left-Handed execution of Android 19 was pretty spectacular too. After Goku is incapacitated for a good chunk of the arc by a heart virus, Vegeta steps in to finish the job. After revealing he can go Super Saiyan himself, he thrashes 19, and tosses off some awesome lines in the process:
    "So tell me...does a machine like you experience fear?"
    "Fresh out of the factory with no warranty, and already broken. What a pity."
    "My, my. What do we have here? Oh yes, the ultimate tub of LARD BUCKET OF BOLTS!"
    • At one point, #19 tries to absorb Vegeta's energy. Vegeta anticipated this, and with a confident sneer shoves his boots into its face and starts pulling. What follows is an exchange that averts and lampshades Never Say "Die".
      Vegeta: Still think you can hang on long enough to steal my energy?
      #19: I... will... never... let... you... go!
      Vegeta: Yes! That's the spirit, android! NEVER SAY DIE!
    • #19 really should have let go, as Vegeta proceeeds to kick its face with such force that its all too short arms are hyper extended, tearing off the hands still clasped onto Vegeta's wrists in an ironclad death grip. This struck such mortal terror, an emotion it would likely have not have been programmed to feel, into the completely mechanical android, that it was sent fleeing in desperate self-preservation, not at all helped by Vegeta's blood-chilling taunts.
    Vegeta: (Pulls 19's still clasped hands off his wrists and muses) Oh, so these (sockets) are the confounded contraptions on your palms that you steal life force from your adversaries with... Though you have taken quite your share out of me (contemptuously tosses said hands on the ground like garbage) I guess you won't be able to do that anymore, can you? (Slowly and mockingly walks towards the trembling android) So you are capable of feeling fear... even though you're a mere machine? (19 Screams Like a Little Girl and scrambles out of crater like a fleeing cockroach)
    • Vegeta then vaporizes the android in a cataclysmic explosion with his newly minted Big Bang attack. Out of the mushroom cloud metalically clatters 19's disembodied head, face frozen in abject horror.
    • Afterwards, he manages to bluff Android 20, making him retreat despite Vegeta being badly weakened from having his energy sucked, even claiming that losing the Super Saiyan form due to loss of energy was because he didn't need his Super Saiyan form to fight the android. Piccolo lampshades the amount of genius Vegeta has when it comes to fighting.
  • Admittedly, for a character that doesn't have as many victories as the main characters, his Moment of Awesome tends to be the insane amount of damage he can take and still be up like in the one minute of beatings he took that Goku then proceeded to waste. But him being a tank with attitude is probably what makes this character a Badass. But he does have his moments such as his owning Imperfect Cell and then his FINAL FLASH against Perfect Cell. It didn't work, but it was one of the most epic and ridiculously over-the-top attacks in the series (that is saying something).
    • Besides, this is the attack that makes Cell scream out "OH SHIT!" in every language but English.
    • BUT English, you say?
    • Fun fact: Cell actually says that if the attack had hit him dead-center (he sidestepped at the last moment upon sensing how powerful it was), it would've killed him. Vegeta almost took out the Big Bad via One-Hit Kill.
      • There was also the fact that Vegeta had to curve the attack to avoid destroying the Earth. Had Vegeta known Instant Tranmission, he would have been able to have done the same trick Goku would do later, but succeed.
      • When Vegeta let Cell achieve his perfect body, Trunks and Krillin chastised him as foolish and risking everything for the sake of a good fight. The Final Flash demonstrated he knew what he was doing: he had an attack for exactly that situation.
      • It also shows how good Vegeta is in controlling his attacks. Android 16 wasn't more than 5 steps away from Cell, heavily damaged by Cell in his Semi-Perfect Form. He actually steps back and screams in fear when the attack comes down, but when the smoke clears he doesn't have a scratch on him.
    • His drawn out humiliation of Semi-Perfect Cell is one of Vegeta's best moments. He effortlessly kicks Cell around like a ragdoll while Cell struggles to get even a single hit in and delivering one verbal put-down after another, making him feel inadequate in both strength and character. Then he tops it off by acknowledging Trunks (who was there watching the beatdown from the sidelines) as his equal in power - humiliating Cell even further, letting him know that even if he managed to get in a lucky hit and take Vegeta out, Trunks would just immediately step in and finish him off. Vegeta doesn't just break your body, he breaks your spirit too.
      Cell: Agh! I am Cell! Do you hear me!?
      Vegeta: ... You are nothing.
  • And his actions at the end of the Cell Saga, despite being a Hope Spot, were incredibly awesome especially given what it meant for Vegeta's Character Development. Goku had attempted to stop Cell with a Heroic Sacrifice, but failed. And Cell's first action after coming Back from the Dead was to blast a hole in Trunks's heart. Vegeta goes ballistic, and attacks Cell head on. This is a guy who, just ten days before, utterly beat the crap out of Vegeta without even trying. But what really makes this noteworthy is that this is the first time that Vegeta has ever lost his temper for the sake of another person.
    • Further in a manner similar to his Super moment vs Beerus his sudden rage seems to shoot up his power enough to even take Super Perfect Cell and even Gohan by surprise, even if it is unable to do meaningful damage.
      • And following that, during Gohan's Beam-O-War with Cell, the other Z Fighters leap in and try to distract Cell. Vegeta stays behind. The other warriors are overwhelmed, and it looks like Cell's about to win... then his theme kicks in as a blast out of nowhere hits Cell from behind. Cue shot to Vegeta, hovering in midair, palm outstretched. That one action gave Gohan the opportunity he needed to overwhelm Cell.
      • More than that, he made Cell think he was going to get killed by either Gohan or Vegeta himself, as Cell knew the Final Flash could kill him and he had a clear shot at his back. Knowing Vegeta was in perfect position to murder him shattered his concentration as Gohan threw everything he had in the Kamehameha, killing Cell before he could realize that Vegeta was too tired for the Final Flash.
  • Let's talk about his fight with Pui Pui, which is a very strong contender for the most one-sided fight in the entire show. Pui Pui is thoroughly outmatched by Vegata in base form, but they both get transferred to Pui Pui's home world via Babidi's magic, where he feels the planet's higher gravity — ten times that of Earth's — will incapacitate Vegeta. Vegeta, who had spent the entire length of the time skip — 7 years — training in progressively stronger gravity simply remarks thusly: "Perhaps if your planet had five hundred times gravity, you'd have a slight advantage. But ten? I don't even feel it!" Freaking out now, Pui Pui screams that Vegeta's bluffing. He then hops around in a boxing stance, dodges Pui Pui's punch, places his hands onto him, lets out a Slasher Smile before annihilating Pui Pui with an energy attack.
    • And just before he annihilates Pui Pui:
    • Mentioned early on during Z: planet Vegeta also had ten times Earth's normal gravity. So Pui Pui's choice to fight on his home soil thinking he had an advantage was an error of judgement.
    • Made even better by Gohan's and Goku's utterly nonchalant expressions while Supreme Kai is tense as hell. They knew from beginning to end exactly how the fight was going to end - when Vegeta decides to end it.
    • It really showcases the immense jump in power since the show began. If Pui Pui were introduced back in Dragonball he would have been a terrifying villain. Here, he just comes across as an utterly worthless opponent.
  • Breaking Babidi's mind control through sheer force of will. No one had ever done that. No, even before that, no one had ever shown any sign that resisting was even possible! His speech about pride when he refuses Babidi's order to kill the Supreme Kai anyone? Enough to make the Supreme Kai, Babidi, and Dabura go "WTF?" (and to demolish the surrounding mountains with beamspam while standing still). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulihqwxtb-c
  • As he prepares for his final stand against Majin Buu, Vegeta asks Piccolo if he'll see Goku in the afterlife. Piccolo bluntly tells him that while Goku got to go to Heaven, one Heroic Sacrifice will not make up for Vegeta's misdeeds and general selfishness over the years, and he'll be sent to Hell, where after an indeterminate amount of suffering, his soul will be cleansed of wickedness and he'll be reincarnated with everything he is now erased. Vegeta's response to this? "Oh, well...so be it!" with a smile.
  • His last words to Buu before his failed Suicide Attack.
    "The key to defeating you... is to obliterate you SO COMPLETELY! Your regeneration won't be possible!"
    • And his final thoughts after that, showing how far he's come: "Goodbye to you all. Bulma... Trunks... And yes, even you... Kakarot."
    • After his initial assault on Buu, he is visibly startled that the monster manages to stand back up with with virtually no damage. Yet Vegeta never flinches away from the fight, and continues to attack with everything he has. With Goku unconscious (and with less than a day left on Earth) and Gohan presumed dead, Vegeta knows he is probably the last one left with any chance of fighting Buu and possibly coming out on top. It's a far cry from the guy who cared only about himself to the point of killing his partner when we first saw him.
  • How much of a beating can he take and keep fighting? In the fight against Kid Buu, he gets pounded into the ground not once, not twice, but three times. Buu thinks he's won, when Vegeta stands up, covered in blood, slowly walks toward him, and starts making a speech about how he can't be defeated by such measly attacks. Buu - and do keep in mind, this is a version of Buu to whom coherent thought, let alone emotion beyond "DESTROY!" is an outright alien thing, by this point a primordial force of chaos - is frozen with a look of utter shock on his face, and then he takes a step back in fear. When you scare the fight out of Majin Buu (and especially Kid Buu), you know you're badass.
    Vegeta: What are you gawking at? What did you think, huh? That I was gonna roll over and die from an attack like that? You're nothing. Just a trickster. I am a warrior... the Saiyan Prince... VEGETA!!!
  • He comes up with the plan to create the Spirit Bomb that finally defeats Majin Buu. It runs in a few issues due to him not knowing a few things, but in the end it still works—and he was improvising. And he chose a technique that almost killed him.
    • After the Bomb is fired, he gets another. It's a small moment among all these big ones, but as everyone's freaking out over Goku not having enough energy to push the Spirit Bomb towards Buu, he is the one that reminds them they still have a wish from Porunga left and they can restore Goku's energies that way.
  • One of Vegeta's greatest moments is actually one where he is only a spectator to a fight. At the end of the Buu Saga Goku and Kid Buu are fighting while Vegeta watches from below. He contemplates all of the history he has with Goku, all of the times Goku pulled ahead of him, and his futile struggle to catch up and surpass him. He shows understanding not only of Goku's combat prowess, but of his better qualities as a person, and counts these as well. He's known that Goku's been stronger than him for awhile, but this is the first time he ends up accepting the fact that Goku is simply better than him, with humility! The Prince of all Saiyans, whose pride was arguably his main characteristic, has learned to be humble! This is the climax of his character development for the entire series, after years of struggle with himself. Doubles as a Heartwarming Moment.
    • Further culminates with him being granted a new life, when the wish was worded to avoid reviving evil people! What is awesome here, is that Vegeta did NOT count on this outcome, and had truly learned enough selflessness to make for a lot of his evil deeds!
  • Vegeta's theme music, if it wasn't for the fact that it was used all the time, because everytime it plays, you know Vegeta's either gonna do something insane, or give an equally insane speech.
  • And Vegeta's newer theme music from the Dragon Ball Kai OST.
  • Vegeta doing the impossible and for a brief moment surpassing Goku after Beerus hits Bulma. Vegeta goes into an Unstoppable Rage and gives a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to the God of Destruction. Sure he got taken out instantly after, but, he lasted longer than Goku or any of the Z-fighters, who all got curb-stomped in less than half a minute.
    • The best part about this moment is that, if you look closely, you can see that Beerus actually bleeds from Vegeta's attacks. In the words of a random YouTube commenter:
      Vegeta punched the primal force of entropy in the face and drew blood. What a badass.
    • Not to mention, during the fight, he takes a punch to the face and powers through it. Remember, Beerus finger-flicked Goku away in Super Saiyan 3. Vegeta is only a Super Saiyan 2, and yet he tanks a punch and powers right through it to continue dealing the hurt. Roshi's comment about him finally surpassing Goku isn't hyperbole.
    • Enjoy the epicness here.
  • His absolutely epic beatdown of Golden Frieza. When you remember how their last fight went, seeing Vegeta have Frieza on the ropes is a very beautiful sight.
    • Before that, he humiliates Tagoma!Captain Ginyu by one-shotting him at point-blank range before the poor bastard can even properly react (he just manages to bark out a horrified "Hold on, Vegeta!"), and he gets in a great Bond One-Liner too:
      Vegeta: At least if you'd stayed on your lilypad, then you wouldn't have had to die!
  • Vegeta's second fight with Zarbon has a subtle one: as soon as he transforms, Zarbon starts getting the upper hand because he's just more powerful... Then Vegeta, realizing it, throws sands in his eyes, blasts Zarbon's lower back and hits him with a rabbit punch, wounding him enough to regain the advantage and overcoming a stronger opponent thanks to sheer combat skills.

     Piccolo 
  • His battle with Son Goku in the original Dragon Ball, Piccolo was so close to killing Goku that everyone thought he was dead. A good dose of Combat Pragmatist and No Nonsense Villain almost did the job.
  • Piccolo exudes so much awesome:
    • Callously killing Sancho in the movie Dead Zone, then double-teaming Garlic Jr. with Goku.
    • Blasting a hole through both Goku and Raditz.
    • When Gohan turned into a Oozaru and started rampaging, Piccolo casually decided to BLOW UP THE MOON!!!
    • His speech to Vegeta and Nappa, telling the two Saiyans to Bring It;
    "Thanks to you two, I've come to know that I have a home other than this one in outer space. But this has been my home, and no man comes into another man's house and starts telling him what to do. You're out of line! We're not here to bow down to your demands, we're here to fight! So go ahead and do whatever it is you came here to do!"
    • His first act of Papa Wolf: effortlessly killing the last Saibaman that came after Gohan. Keep in mind, that Saibaman was as strong as Raditz power-wise.
    • His Heroic Sacrifice for Gohan, Taking the Bullet (or better said, the blast) meant for the kid. That scene marked his last step into Heel–Face Turn, and was also a peak point in his Character Development. His teary-eyed speech about how he didn't expect Gohan to change him so much and that the boy was his first friend ever is still one of the series' greatest Heartwarming Moment.
    • Fighting Frieza in his second form and putting on a fight. Also, his booting Frieza into a lake to buy Goku enough time to form a Spirit Bomb was pretty badass as well. He came out of nowhere. Bonus points that Frieza was ready to shoot Goku in the face at that moment.
    • In the anime, like Gohan before, Piccolo pushes Goku out of the way of Frieza's attack and gets nailed in the chest. Although he didn't die he risked his life to save the person that was once his mortal enemy, not caring that it all could be in vain.
    • In Cooler's Revenge, shooting the last surviving minion with the Special Beam Cannon just as he was about to attack the exhausted Z-Fighters... from so far away nobody could see him.
      • His disposal of the other two minions earlier in the film also deserves a mention, especially Neiz. After Piccolo is seemingly incapacitated by Neiz's purple shock attack, Salza goes off to pursue Gohan, while Neiz floats up to the twitching, screaming Piccolo to taunt him... at which point Piccolo drops the act, smirks, grabs Neiz's head and sends all that power back at him, deep-frying him and then going right back to chasing Salza down.
    • Utterly crushing android Dr. Gero and then severing his arm.
      • The fact that Piccolo was able to increase his strength to the extent that he did leading up to the android confrontation is a CMOA itself. The last time Piccolo was in combat he was only able to match second form Freeza. The next time he fought he was more than capable of taking down Androids 19 and 20. Considering he had no Super Saiyan transformations or even increased gravity (he trained with Goku and Gohan at their house) it was an incredible leap to make, even if he wasn't on par with the Super Saiyans.
    • Androids 19 and 20 are also stronger than Frieza. Piccolo went from being destroyed by Frieza's third form, to curb-stomping foes who are stronger than Frieza's maximum form.
    • Reuniting with Kami to become the Namek that he once was. Although it was short-lived, he was the most powerful person on the planet save Android 16.
  • Piccolo and Android 17 get a series of these when the two go head to head. This fight alone is a Moment of Awesome because this comparatively insignificant battle, two episodes in the anime, frequently makes the top five DBZ fights and is something of a fan favorite and butts heads with Gohan vs. Perfect Cell and Goku vs. Frieza.
    • This probably has to due with the fact that these two are evenly matched. Not in the traditional rapid-fire meeting of equal punches/kicks, or Beam-O-Wars... just in simple power blows. 17 socks Piccolo on the jaw; Piccolo retaliates by slamming 17 into the ground, making a crater; 17 gut-punches Piccolo, hard; Piccolo returns the favor, just harder, and so on. And this isn't How Much More Can He Take? - each such blow causes them intense pain, but they power through it every single time.
  • Any movie where he shows up to make the save for Gohan and beat up the henchmen of the Big Bad.
    • Piccolo's plan to incapacitate Slug in the Lord Slug film. He then gives up what little strength he has left to Goku. Allowing Goku to punch a hole through Slug's stomach.
    • This line from the english dub of Cooler's Revenge.
      Doore: It's all over for you, Namek! You're going to die!
      Piccolo: Not likely. I've seen you fight.
      Doore: I'M GOING TO RIP YOU APART!
    • How about the first Broly movie? While Vegeta was completely frozen in fear due to Broly's strength while everyone else desperately fought the losing battle, Piccolo yanked him up by the hair and told him to either man up or stand back and let the real warriors fight. Though it didn't take right away, it's quite possibly due to this pep talk that Vegeta remembered his Saiyan pride in time to help Goku save the day.
      • Also, him putting up a damn good fight against Broly himself.
      • It should be noted that while Broly was fixated on Goku for the most part, he spent more time beating on Piccolo than anyone else. Gohan, Vegeta and Trunks all go down in one or two hits each; Piccolo takes four hits and a ki blast and gets right back up to yell at Vegeta for being a coward before going back into the fight.
  • Going after Super Perfect Cell when Cell and Gohan were locked in a Kamehameha Wave clash, even though Piccolo was nowhere near Cell's power. Until he acted, everyone still able to fight was just watching as Cell began to beat Gohan down.
    • Going from the above, Piccolo, Tenshinhan, Yamucha, and Krillin's struggle to hold out against Cell's energy as they blasted him in an attempt to give Gohan some help.
    • Before that, calling out Goku for just sitting there watching as his eleven-year-old son got squeezed to death by a monster, even going so far as to cuss him out in the Kai dub.
  • Slicing Babidi in half because he thought he had ordered Gohan's death.
    • Babadi tries pulling the "no-one can seal Buu" card on Piccolo, warning Buu will destroy the world without him to seal him. Piccolo points out it's no different to what Babadi intends, and bisects him in one hit as he shrieks for Buu.
  • His very first one, back in Dragon Ball. King Piccolo had been deathly afraid of the Evil Containment wave, considering it the only thing that could defeat him. When Kami tries this in the World Martial Arts Tournement, Piccolo reveals that he can reverse it, sealing Kami in a bottle.
    • After the fight, Goku demands it. Taking a page from his father, Piccolo swallows the bottle and then rubs in that the only way to get it is to kill him... But that would kill Kami too.
  • He exudes awesome even in the games. In Supersonic Warriors, in his story mode Piccolo is the one that ends Frieza after fusing with Nail, and then, in the Buu saga, where Goku is dead and Piccolo is protecting the Earth in Goku's place. Piccolo, after realizing he's no match for Buu, showing amazing genius in gathering the Namek Dragon Balls, wishing for King Piccolo's revival and merging with him after they fight, truly becoming the original Namek. The power boost Piccolo gets was enough for him to beat Super Buu. Then, after besting Buu, Piccolo, realizing Buu will endlessly regenerate and lacking a particularly destructive technique like Vegeta or Goku, decided to seal Buu using the Evil Containment Wave.

     Chi-Chi 
  • Chichi may be an overprotective education mama, but she's definitely one of the strongest characters in the series. Sure, she's a normal human, except for the fact she can
    1. Bully both Goku AND Piccolo into taking driver's ed in a filler episode (all for the sole purpose of driving her around).
    2. Terrorize both her husband and son (and by extension Yamucha, Tenshinhan, Piccolo, AND Vegeta) into obedience by threatening to not feed them.
    3. Trained Goten to the point where he went Super Saiyan... without teaching him how to fly. In the anime, she even took a kick from him in that form when he first transformed.
    4. She could stand up to Super Buu (granted it didn't end well for her, but it was still pretty awesome.)
  • Chichi's greatest moment of the series happens offscreen: How she managed to get innocent, naive Goku to have sex with her (at least) twice, we will never know!
    • How she managed to SURVIVE that is a different story. At several points Goku shows difficulties in controlling his ever growing strength. She's a walking crowning of awesome just for that.
  • From back in the days of Dragon Ball: Goku vs. Chi-Chi. Not only did Chi-Chi make it to the preliminaries during that World Tournament, but she also gave Goku a run for his money before he pulled out his special technique. Goku. This woman was made of steel.
  • Despite being in the anime filler, she got one big time in the Trunks Saga. Gohan's Jerkass tutor learned one hard lesson... Never talk smack about her family, or her husband!
  • Also, her dropping the jerkass mother of the jerk jocks during the Junior World Tournament (Who Goten and Trunks beat easily) with one punch.
    Chi-Chi: (to Bulma, while dusting off her hands like nothing happened) Who do you think taught Goten that move?
  • In the anime, Chi-Chi gets one as a child. She was able to defeat some Red Ribbon Army soldiers while crying.
  • Even before then, she beheaded a T-Rex and then vaporized his body, while crying.
  • Chi-Chi gets another one in the movie "Lord Slug" when she leaps in the air and defeats Lord Slug's soldiers with one kick. Even Gohan admits it was awesome.
  • In the movie, "Dead Zone," Chi-Chi attempts to fight Garlic Jr to protect Gohan. Although it doesn't end well for her, she deserves props for at least trying to protect her son.

     Bardock 
  • Bardock does it twice. First when he finds his comrades dead, and takes his bandage and wipes the blood off his dead friend's face before wrapping it around his head. Right before unleashing a can of whoop ass on Dodoria's men. Dodoria comes himself and blasts him with his mouth, leaving him for dead. Afterwards, he returns to his homeworld, and after failing to convince his fellow Saiyans that Frieza is planning to wipe them out, he charges towards his spaceship himself blasting past several henchmen and Mooks he shouldn't able to fight, and just to top it off, he fires a ''ki'' blast at Frieza!. Although then again, he was probably planning to kill him with that move, but Frieza replied by creating a massive Death Ball while laughing maniacally, easily nullifying the Saiyan's attack as he fired the ball at him, his soldiers who failed to hold him, and Planet Vegeta, killing all life as he annihilated the planet. At least he died with a smile.
    • Even Frieza acknowledges how awesome this act of a lone lower class soldier charging was by always remembering him, as his instant thought upon seeing Goku is recalling possibly the only person that made an impact among the billions he'd killed, through uncanny resemblance. Yes, Bardock is so awesome that the Big Bad remembers him.
  • Bardock's mission at the start of the special: wipe out the population of a planet inhabitated by ki-using Seers. According to Dodoria, no team in the entire Frieza Force dared to take the mission. Bardock's team did it in record time, only suffering a cosmetic wound to a member of the team and Bardock being given the ability to see the future and the impending destruction of his people without being able to stop it.
  • Speaking of Bardock, Burst Limit has a Moment of Awesome (yes, the game has a Moment of Awesome) with the first of its post game arcs which finishes in a dream match between Bardock and Goku with the theme song playing in the background.
    • The trigger to become a Super Saiyan is anger, and Bardock's rebellion is initiated by the discovery that Frieza's men have killed his fellow Saiyans, and under orders from Frieza himself. Sure they were as a race raised to be ruthless, but having clearly fought alongside them for a long time, they were probably the closest thing Bardock ever had to friends. When you consider this, and then his anger when finally face-to-face with Frieza, suddenly Bardock going Super Saiyan seems to have actually been very close to happening.....
    • All he was lacking was a high enough power level at the time (Toriyama outlined that Saiyans over 100,000 have enough strength to become Super Saiyans, and the Saiyan average goes between 1200 (Raditz) to 8000 (Bardock's level at the start of his special), thus how rare it is and why there hadn't been any Super Saiyans in a millennium). In the special below, Bardock recovers from a near death experience that claimed the life of his planet and its moon... and that pushed his power level up to 100,000 possibly, making him able to access Super Saiyan abilities through righteous anger.
  • A 2011 spinoff manga showed that Bardock didn't die, but instead went back in time somehow. He then proceeds to become the ruler of what becomes planet Vegeta, defeats Chilled (Frieza's ancestor) and begins the Super Saiyan legend. As an added bonus, he uses the same technique that got him killed in the movie to take Chilled down.
  • The way Bardock becomes a Super Saiyan in the anime is quite awesome too. After being knocked about by Chilled and seeing him supposedly kill a young native, he kneels in the dirt, feeling pathetic to the point where he is implied to be crying, remembering what happened to his friends and his race, and blaming himself for being too weak to save them. Then his sadness turns to anger, and you get that moment where his shadow flashes yellow. Then, after repeatedly glowing yellow, he turns around to face Chilled, seeing both him and Frieza at the same time. Chilled laughs, Bardock screams to the heavens, and finally becomes a Super Saiyan. He then proves that Goku inherited his badass gene from him by doing to Chilled what Goku did to Frieza: completely thrash him.
  • See for yourself.
    • After he becomes a Super Saiyan, watch the background. Notice how he seems to pulse energy that shifts the color spectrum repeatedly? Yeah, that's a thing that, up until that point, was reserved for showing off how ungodly powerful Broly is. This means Bardock's transformation was reminiscent of Broly's.
  • Bardock gets an epic line against Chilled in this fan dub right before he transforms : "I'll kill you where you stand!"
  • Also curbstomping two of Chilled minions who arrived to attack the people of the village. They fire on Bardock, only for him to flash step out their way, and then performing a One-Hit Kill with a gut punch to one and a roundhouse kick to the next.

     Mr. Satan 
  • Where is Mr. Satan on this list? The true Moment of Awesome for Mr. Satan has got to be his first appearance during the Cell Games Saga. Mr. Satan is played up as a complete badass (by normal human standards), who unfortunately is probably weaker than Kamesennin's pet turtle. Despite all of this, he takes a punch from Cell, flies a good distance before being slammed into a mountain hard enough to leave a good sized crater, and SURVIVES.
    • Also, there's his attack on Cell before that. Didn't hurt him in the slightest because Cell is just that more powerful, but a normal human would have been defeated (and likely killed) at the first kick.
  • In the Cell Saga, Mr. Satan is ready to leave the place with his students, his arm candy and the TV crew when suddenly they hear a voice. They turn and see 16's head who pleads to them to take him to Gohan so he can talk to him. Everyone is convinced that this is a bad idea, yet 16 keeps asking this of Mr. Satan. Everyone says to Mr. Satan that he should not do it, since Cell is standing next to Gohan and can kill him, and that no one will think less of him if he decides to walk away. His response? "Leave me alone. All these nobodies out there and even now a kid is fighting Cell, it would be shameful of a World Champion to run away." He then proceeds to cross hell to get 16 close to Gohan. Awesome. While mostly The Scrappy in this arc, this moment definitely foreshadows what's to come in the next one.
  • During the Buu saga, he commands the whole world to send their energy to Goku for his Spirit Bomb. Which they do. Said moment is then followed by a high point of the series: See, it seems Goku doesn't have enough energy to throw the Spirit Bomb, right? Well, his buddies, who have one Dragon Ball-related wish left, ask the Dragon to restore his energy. The Dragon states that in light of all their other ridiculous wishes, that one is child's play, and fulfills it. Goku launches the Spirit Bomb. Goodbye, Buu.
  • In that fight, he got a load of them, even just for being there. When Vegeta was about to be double-killed in a way that would subvert Death is Cheap, he steps in against the being who can make war on the gods with reasonable impunity to buy Goku some time to power back up.
  • Similarly, in the Buu saga, after he has finally convinced everyone to lend Goku their power for the Spirit Bomb, Buu manages to beat down and trap Vegeta underfoot, knowing that Goku would not let off his ultimate attack and kill Vegeta once again. Fat Buu tackles Kid Buu and Mr. Satan sprints in to get Vegeta out of range so Goku can finally let 'er rip.
  • A more subtle one for Mr. Satan, also in the Majin Buu saga. He actually manages to stop Buu's first form and (temporarily) saves the world! How does he do it? A new special move? Not likely. A bag of explosive tricks? No. (Although he does try that...) So, how then? Easy: he makes friends with Buu. And helps him make friends with a puppy. Then he teaches Buu the basics of right and wrong, first and foremost not to kill people anymore. Did he just win a battle against Majin Buu that none of the Z Warriors could win with their fists by using compassion? Uh, yeah. And it was kinda cool.
    • Even Piccolo admits to the greatness of this. When explaining to Videl about what her father did, he calls him a "true champion of Earth". Later, when Gohan, Piccolo, Goten, and Trunks find Mr. Satan wandering on the desolate Earth, Trunks says to just ignore him, to which Piccolo says "No, we should take him with us. He really does have the beginnings of a hero in him." And he's right, as the only other fighter who even considered talking it out with Buu was Goku.
  • The moment when Mr. Satan curb-stomps the two gunmen who shot Buu's dog is the only time he's really shown kicking ass, and it is awesome.
    • Gets even better in the Kai dub, where Mr. Satan shouts at them "You FOOL!!". These were the same words Goku used before annihilating Frieza on Namek!
    • It is also worth knowing that aside from those of the Z-Warriors and his own daughter, Mr. Satan is the strongest and most skilled human on Earth. So to take down a pair of gunmen without the evident fear in his eyes when faced with such greater threats like Cell and Majin Buu? That may seem trivial compared to everything else in this show, but consider this from a simple human's point of view. This was truly an inspiring moment for him.
    • Even more impressive is during this time we see the one legit superpower Mr. Satan has, the ability to perform a Flash Step. That might not seem like much, but the fact he can do it with no superhuman training is.
    • And to cap it off... He was as furious as it came, strong and skilled enough to kill them with a single hit each-and still managed to hold back enough to simply ruin their day.
  • Mr. Satan holding his ground against Vegeta by saying that he will absolutely not allow the people of Earth to give every last bit of their energy if it meant their lives are lost in the process. Again, he stood up to Vegeta, a Saiyan with far less moral restraint than Son Goku.
  • He does it again when he absolutely refused to allow Vegeta to kill Buu, despite the latter threatening to kill him too.
  • Mr. Satan even gets an amazing moment in GT during the Baby Saga. Giant Golden Ape Baby has just supposedly wiped out every big hero... including his granddaughter Pan. What is Mr. Satan's first and only reaction? He stands his ground, takes up a fighting stance and threatens to kill Baby; no joking, no running away. He's dead serious and Goku himself even says that Mr. Satan has impressed him.
  • He may not be all that strong, but he definitely has the heart of a hero. Even Goku has said he deserves to be called the Champ, both in the aforementioned GT moment above and in the aftermath of the Kid Buu battle with its various Hercule moments at the top of the list.
  • It may not seem like much, but he pulled four buses across a stadium to prove his strength to the world.
    • He follows this up by ripping three phonebooks in half. Most strong men in Real Life struggle with just one.
    • And after that he punches through one of the buses. Apparently with a jab, the weakest punch in martial arts. He then got stuck, but most people would break their hand trying that.
  • One we don't get to see, but on the one occasion where the Z-fighters didn't show up for the World Martial Arts Tournament, he won the whole thing. He may not be much next to the Z-fighters, but by human standards, he's every bit the badass that he claims to be.
    • We actually get a flashback of his fight with (pre-Majin) Spopovich at the 24th Tenkaichi. Spopovich was annihilated-and Mr. Satan was apparently holding back for fear of killing him.
  • He's the only character in Dragon Ball, Z, OR GT to not die at least once, save for possible natural causes in the epilogue of GT. Sadly, his streak is lost in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' courtesy of Frieza...except Whis immediately rewound time, so he technically never died. Even if the death is counted, that means he still didn't need to be wished back to life.

     Other Characters 
  • Serious props have to go to the humans that originally fought King Piccolo and his children during his first takeover. Most had no chance, but the students of Mutaito (the eventual developer of the Mafuba/Evil Containment Wave), stood their ground, and with teamwork, wiped out a group of demons .... just to their own heavy losses (Roshi and Shen were the only student survivors!). The Awesome was inverted when King Piccolo immediately showed up, curb-stomped them AND their Master into the ground, and then rubbed salt into the wound by letting them live in humiliation and survivors guilt.....The Awesome comes back when after YEARS Mutaito developed the Mafuba, re-faced King Piccolo, and successfully sealed him away, saving humanity from extinction, and giving his life in the process! The general population is somewhat understandable, but why isn't there a statue of this man somewhere in martial artist community of the Dragonball world??
  • Yamcha getting past the preliminary round of the 21st Tenkaichi, to put this into perspective, he was originally beaten by Goku before his training but after Krillin and Goku have gone through Training from Hell under the strongest man alive, he's still in the top eight alongside Krillin, Goku, and Roshi after undergoing his own solo training.
  • In a later episode, the Red Ribbon Army descends on a small island, inhabited by an old man and a girl. Unfortunately for them, that old man is Master Roshi, who beats the shit out of the whole crew in short order, only stopping when the remaining soldier takes Launch as a hostage (although Launch then sneezes, transforms, and kicks his ass too.)
  • In the anime version of Goku's rematch against Taopaipai, the assassin gets the idea to go up to Karin's sanctuary and drink some of the "Sacred Water" himself. Karin knows Tao is evil, and so gives him water without a fuss (As it's just rain water). When Tao decides to test whether or not his strength has increased, threatening to kill Upa if it hasn't, Karin uses some super-speed to fool the mercenary; Tao's Dodon Ray couldn't break a pillar in the sanctuary, but Karin's could. Then, to really twist the knife, Karin gives Tao a ride back down on a black Kinto'un (So he won't get stronger climbing down)...and then drops him!
  • When Roshi fights the Demon King Piccolo, the old master actually makes him show fear for the first time by revealing to King Piccolo the name of his master, Mutaito, the one man who created the Mafuba which he doesn't hesitate to use in an attempt to seal him away. Even though it didn't work, and Roshi died from using the technique, the fact that he terrified the series' equivalent of the devil is certainly worth a spot on this page.
  • The very first Kamehameha. So Awesome it blew away a mountain that was on FIRE. By accident: he wanted to put off the fire, and went overboard... Still, it did put off the fire.
    • It's overshadowed by the Kamehameha, but Muten Roshi/Master Roshi reached the mountain by riding Baby Gamera.
  • On the subject of the Goku-Jackie Chun match, in one issue of the US Shonen Jump, it was voted the best battle in the series. Both Goku and Chun pull out every move they had up until then, Chun coming very close to winning twice before the end: the first time he hypnotized Goku into falling asleep (foiled by Bulma shouting "Dinner time!") and then trapping Goku in a cage of lightning (more or less), which Goku could only escape from by seeing the moon and transforming. Chun stops Oozaru-Goku by wiping out the moon, and in the end the match is decided by a Cross Counter in which Chun prevails by having a slightly deeper kick than Goku.
    • Everything Jackie Chun did at the tournaments. Him defeating Yamcha by ring-out without touching him nor using the Kamehameha after casually dodging all of his attacks is only the beginning.
    • His fight with Tenshinhan at the 22nd tournament starts with his stronger opponent being thrown out of the ring. Had he not been able to fly, poor Tenshinhan would have lost then and there to the old master's superior skills.
    • The most awesome moment: the way he lost to Tenshinhan. After an equal fight and being told again and again to do a Heel–Face Turn, Tenshinhan had just shown his ability to learn the Kamehameha by seeing it done, and Jackie first congratulated his skills and then jumped out of the ring, grabbed his jacket, and left without stopping or saying anything except to tell a man he was stomping the skirt of a little girl and make the girl laugh. That simple action, that no Crane School member could understand (and the Crane Hermit attributed to the Turtle Hermit being scared. Ten knew better), sent Tenshinhan in a Villainous Breakdown that would lead to his Heel–Face Turn.
  • In the World's Strongest movie, the antagonist sics three super-fighters on Master Roshi, assuming that three Bio- Warriors against one old man will be a short fight. Instead, Roshi proves easily able to hold his own against the tree, dodging and blocking their combined assault while managing to get in a few hits of his own. If the one villain hadn't been immune to the Kamehameha Wave, Roshi would have had them bagged and tagged.
  • Believe it or not, Puar and Oolong, Yamcha's and Bulma's shapeshifting sidekicks, got theirs, too.
    • Oolong's is the very first on-screen wish ever made on the Dragon Balls, when he interrupts Pilaf's wish for world domination by asking for a pair of girls' panties. It gets a Call-Back in Dragon Ball GT when the wish was used to make Oceanus Shenron, making it a retroactive CMoA; he screwed over one of the Shadow Dragons by giving them a really stupid wish to be born from.
    • Puar's is when he transforms into a giant pair of scissors to lop off Oozaru Goku's tail (he was also the one who drew his attention to the moon and made him transform in the first place, but no one really knew Goku would go apeshit).
  • "King Kai" and "Awesome" are usually not said in the same breath, but oddly enough, he gets one. After the deaths of the Ginyu force, they arrive at Kai's place unexpectedly and start wreaking havoc, but are soon dispatched in a fun little match between them and Tien, Yamcha, and Chaotzu, something even Vegeta couldn't do at first. Watch it here.. We then find out that Kai invited these terrors of the universe in order to test his students' abilities.
    • While were on the subject of Awesome King Kai moments how can we forget the wishes he made near the end of the Freiza Saga? In what may be one of the riskiest Batman Gambits in the series King Kai asks Kami to resurrect everyone whose been killed by Frieza and his cohorts. Why? In order to bring back the Grand Elder whose life had been indirectly shortened by Frieza's rampage. note  Then, once everyone is brought back, use the Namekian Dragon Balls to transport everyone on Namek except for Frieza and Goku, to planet Earth safely out of harm's way. While this is an impressive use of Loophole Abuse on his part, what makes this moment truly awesome is that there was no way of knowing that the Earth's wish would have brought back the Grand Elder; it could have been just as likely that everyone else was brought back only to die again when Namek exploded. However it worked out and King Kai's crafty wish saved a lot of lives. There's a reason this man is the Kai of that quadrant of space.
  • Tenshinhan got an even better one during the Cell saga, just after Cell absorbed 17. Cell was about to close in for absorbing 18 after persuasion failed, and just as all seemed lost... Cell notices Tenshinhan's ki flaring out of nowhere, annoyed at the distraction, wondering aloud what mere cannon fodder would be able to do. The answer? Shin-kikoho! Cue Oh, Crap! from Cell who gets promptly blasted into a hole, and every time Cell tried to fly out, Tenshinhan just knocked him right back in. No, he wasn't doing any lasting damage, but he managed to stall for a good amount of time so 16 and 18 could escape, and Goku could arrive to rescue Piccolo — and, by that point, Tenshinhan, who had used up most of his energy.
    • The English dub even has Tenshinhan having an awesome line to cap this scene: "There you go, Cell. A little greeting from the no-count."
      • And honestly, it is awesome that Semi-perfect Cell, who had at this point the highest raw strength, was still meaningfully hampered by one of the human characters. It showed that even if he was technically the strongest at this point in time, for all his bluster he wasn't invincible.
    • When Super Buu unleashes his Human Extinction Attack, Tien and Chiaotzu are the only humans skilled enough to dodge the blasts and survive (Mr. Satan also survived, but that was because he simply wasn't targeted, possibly due to Good Buu still having some influence over Super Buu).
    • Tenshinhan comes out of nowhere with a moment of awesome in the final fight with Buu. (Alas, this didn't make it into the video game retelling Legacy of Goku: Buu's Fury.)
      • Especially since that blast is supposed to kill whoever uses it once and using it twice is supposedly near impossible.
    • Perhaps Tien's greatest moment comes at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. After years of atonement for his sins while working under Master Shen and Mercenary Tao, Tien shows up at the tournament and comes face to face with Cyborg!Tao, eager to get revenge on Shen's behalf. Tao unleashes every attack in his arsenal, and Tien proceeds to conquer him with ONE.
  • In the first arc, when Oozaru Goku goes on a rampage, Yamcha immediately grabs Puar, Oolong, and Bulma under his arm and runs them all to safety without even thinking. When Oozaru Goku starts to get aggressive, Yamcha remembers Goku's tail weakness from earlier, single-handedly runs up, grabs his tail paralyzing him, and then orders Puar to cut off the tail while he pulls it.
    • Back in the 21st Tenkaichi, he had to fight an Wolf-man. He won.
    • In the preliminaries of the 22nd his first opponent is a very smug thug who thinks he'll win because Yamcha is just a kid... Then Yamcha puts himself in guard position and his opponent is scared. Yamcha then one-shotted him in such a way that Tenshinhan, at the time a very smug villain, praised him.
      • His opponent gets two: first by being the only contestant who realized how tough the Turtle School fighters were without seeing them in action first or being Tenshinhan and Chaotzu (and it took him only seeing him take the guard position), and then by recovering immediately and fight Yamcha with everything he got. It didn't help him at all, but at least he realized what he was dealing with and mustered the courage to fight on anyway.
    • His fight against Tenshinhan is seen by many as one of the finest examples of more serious hand-to-hand combat in the series. It doesn´t work quite well for him, but the fight is very nice to look at and it shows that he is no pushover even for future champions.
    • In the initial battle with the Saiyans, Krillin initially volunteers to fight the Saibamen first, but Yamcha stops him, saying that if Krillin dies, he can't be wished back by the Dragon Balls. Yamcha was the Butt-Monkey before Krillin made it cool, so die he does... but it was still awesome, and it's no wonder Krillin is upset enough to obliterate nearly every other Saibaman around.
      • Regarding said Saibaman, it's easily the biggest Never Live It Down moment for Yamcha...but bear in mind: he actually beat the Saibaman without breaking a sweat (reminder: the Saibamen have the power level of a low-class Saiyan such as Raditz, whom Goku and Piccolo were barely able to defeat before), and he was perfectly able and willing to take down the other four. Yamcha only lost in the end because the Saibaman he beat was still barely alive and pulled a Taking You with Me on him; if it wasn't for that, there's a good chance that he'd at least have lived long enough to fight Nappa himself.
    • It in the anime, Yamcha fighting Olibu, one of the North Galaxy's greatest warriors, on equal footing in the Afterlife, proves that while he may be far from the Universe's strongest being, he is still a serious contender, albeit a retired one.
      • After getting blown up and getting a hand put through his chest Yamcha lost his confidence as a fighter hence why he was so weak while Tien was able to hold Semi Perfect Cell off for a while. When he fought Recoome and Olibu he had nothing to lose there so he was able to fight with confidence and bring out his fighting power without worrying about something going wrong and him screwing up. Just goes to show what a little confidence can do for a person. Despite his dismal win loss-record, he is still the third most powerful human alive after Tien and Krillin.
      • If I may add, Yamcha's fight with Olibu was far from "equal footing"; not only was it a Curb-Stomp Battle, it was a one-on-two Curb-Stomp Battle.
    • In the anime Yamcha shows off his badassery; he sneaks into the gravity chamber, setting it to 300X, same as Vegeta. And guess what? He survives a few moments under the same same, hyper-intense that Vegeta had to work up to. "Whatever Vegeta can take, I can take too", Yamcha? You're damn right! Still, his error was in not working up to it, like Vegeta, but that's not the point. The point is; beneath all the boasting and posturing, the token human, often derided for, is no less badass than the prince of all saiyans.
    • Additionally, in the 2008 special Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return , Yamcha is actually given the chance to save Bulma, Puar, and Oolong from the falling debris of a building, and does so by expertly navigating his Spirit Ball technique. We even see remnants of the Wolf spirit radiate from him again. It's like something straight out of the original Dragon Ball.
    • Possibly Yamcha's earliest moment of awesome is the reason he gives for not wanting to wish for money: if he ever desired to be rich, he could just leave the desert and steal millions any moment he wanted. And when one thinks about it, all the equipment he had as a simple desert bandit is a silent confirmation of this.
  • Yajirobe. In that battle, he comes out of nowhere and cuts off Vegeta's tail after he becomes an Oozaru/Great Ape at the (huge) risk of his own life, after being portrayed as a coward who doesn't want to fight Vegeta. And doubly awesome by that Vegeta did not see him coming at all, and it had been only seconds before Krillin tried the same thing but Vegeta stopped it from happening. And earlier in Dragon Ball, when he kills and eats Cymbal, one of Piccolo Daimaou's kids.
    • On the topic of Cymbal, Yajirobe finishes him off with a single stroke. This is one of the henchmen that were able to rival the winners of the World Martial Arts Tournament. Yajirobe wasn't always just comic relief — at that point he was near Goku's level.
    • In that same battle with Vegeta, when the Saiyan noticed that Gohan's tail had grown back, he made to finish him off quickly so he wouldn't transform. But before he can kill Gohan, Yajirobe leaps at him from behind again, slicing through Vegeta's armor and actually coming very close to killing him.
  • Kami gets one — and of all times, in the Garlic Jr. Saga. He has to journey into the underground depths of his home, where he is apparently absolutely not allowed, in order to save Earth. While there, he encounters the deranged souls of the former guardians, who attempt to kill him for going there, despite his intentions. He is tortured for several episodes in a row, barely clinging to life. Finally, realizing the danger at hand, the former guardians heal him of the damage done to him. The peaceable Popo, with great relief, realizes that they're going to be let go, but Kami stands up screaming insults at the people who had just barely decided to let him live. That's pretty epic.
    Kami: Get a life you old fools!
    • Everything he did in the original series. A list:
      • When Goku first sees him, he mistakes him for King Piccolo and attacks. Kami knocks him back with one finger before explaining the situation.
      • Took part to the 23rd Tenkaichi, and masked it by possessing a human and then using an awesome Obfuscating Stupidity act. Only Yajirobe saw through it before he was forced to fight seriously, and that was after being defeated by him in the preliminaries.
      • The rules of the Tenkaichi Tournament explicitely forbid using Groin Attacks. In the 23rd Tenkaichi, Kami headbutted Yamcha there and got away with it through his act.
      • When he realized his opponent was Kami, Piccolo Jr. felt safe, as he knew Kami could not kill him or he'd die with him. Kami left him in absolute terror by producing a small bottle, thus signaling he was about to use the Mafuba and just seal Piccolo Jr. away.
      • Releasing his possession when Piccolo Jr. sent the Mafuba back at him, thus saving the man he was possessing.
      • When freed by the bottle and seeing Piccolo Jr. defeated, Kami tried to kill him fully knowing the consequences.
  • Android 18. It's a toss up between her utter mauling of Vegeta in the Android Saga, and her hilarious extortion of Mr. Satan in the Buu Saga (and the Non-Serial Movie's expansion on it, when she goes and tries to collect her prize...).
    • When Semi-Perfect Cell was about to absorb her, 18, knowing she wouldn't have the time to self-destruct, hits him with everything she's got... And actually manages to move him, twice. Didn't hurt him much, but considering that the far stronger 16 couldn't do as much there's a reason even Cell was surprised by her first shot... And gained her enough time for Trunks to step in.
    • Also, in GT, when she is confronted by 17, she tells him that the people he is hurting are innocent, and he kills Krillin, she attacks 17 in a fit of rage, and stands in the way of 17's attack when he tried to kill her daughter. This shows that she is truly redeemed, and shuns her former, murderous ways.
  • Given what was going on in the rest of the Cell Games arc, it’s easy to discount this one—particularly given the fact that it’s, technically, filler—but someone has to give the Ox King some serious credit. During Gohan’s fight with Cell, Chichi is, predictably, going off on one of her “My little boy shouldn’t be fighting” tangents. By this point, the Ox King has gotten fed up with it and tells her exactly what she’s been ignoring for the rest of the series: that Gohan and Goku are fighting for a better cause, and that the former isn’t a child anymore. The cherry on top is that he still manages to be the loving grandpa we've seen thus far (“Oh, sure, I wish it was me instead of him”) while doing so. This doesn’t take, but it’s the thought that counts, right?
  • Videl has one in the anime when she lands in a bus and beats the shit out of the hijackers. Too bad nobody was driving the bus, and the bus drove over a cliff. Thankfully, Gohan catches the bus.
    • In the manga, the way she finds out Gohan is the Great Saiyaman. After just her first meeting with the Great Saiyaman, she asks him "So Gohan, how'd you get out of school?" He answers the question, only to realize his mistake too late.
    • Videl learning about ki, how to control it, and how to fly all in a single day.
    • Videl's first and only major fight in the main series against Spopovich counts as one. Despite being beaten and broken against an enemy with infinite energy, she refuses to give up and personifies the human spirit in the Saiyan-dominated series. Bonus points for the fact she essentially killed him by breaking his neck (which would've disqualified her), but he was able to recover indefinitely since he was being powered by Babidi's magic.
      • She also gets one in the tenth movie, where she hurls a crystal at Broly. Does it hurt him? No, he breaks it without breaking a sweat, and it wouldn't have done anything had it hit anyway. But that wasn't the point. Prior to that, Broly was squeezing the life out of Gohan and stopping to break the crystal distracts Broly enough for Gohan to kick him in the chest, wrench himself free of his grasp, and then proceed to begin the Kamehameha Wave that ends the battle.
      • The fact that she was, only a short while after being healed from the above, willing to fight someone that had overpowered Gohan might not be a crowning moment of awesome, but having the guts to do that (particularly since this is DBZ) when all you can do with ki is flight, and immediately after getting the crap kicked out of you, is pretty damn awesome.
      • Videl's willingness to step up to Broly are her own during her initial encounter with him is also worth mentioning. She has to know she stands no chance against the giant, yet not only takes him on but lasts for a minute or two, which is more than most people can say when confronted by him. And when she wakes up, still injured, she still manages to make light of the situation.
    Videl: Why do I always get the big, dumb, ugly ones?
  • A moment that often gets overlooked is during the Cell Games, Gohan has just turned SSJ2 and is beating the crap out of Cell. Meanwhile, Mr. Hercule Satan having run his mouth all this time throughout the arc and proclaiming everything that happens to be nothing but tricks says that Gohan is skilled but he needs training and will take him under his wing to be a truly great fighter. At this point the Commentator for the Cell Games tells him who is he trying to fool? Gohan and the others are clearly more powerful than he is. Even his own pupils realized he was a phony. It doesn't last but it was nice for somebody to realize that Satan was full of it.
  • Android 16. Unlike everyone else, he couldn't be revived to being fully robotic. He sacrifices his very existence to give Gohan the will to fight. Yet his reassuring smile never leaves his face even as Cell crushes him. Obviously overlaps with Tear Jerker.
    • Way before that, Android 16 gets one when he enters the fight with Imperfect Cell. Until that point, he didn't do anything but peacefully interact with the local wildlife and frequently get mocked by Android 17 for, as 17 believes, being unfinished. Yet when Imperfect Cell almost kills Piccolo and just as easily defeats 17, Android 16 steps in... and is able to fight the tens of thousands souls strong Imperfect Cell to a standstill. Badass.
    • And finally, 16's last moments were spent convincing a Fake Ultimate Hero to be more than that and help throw what's left of him to Gohan. While the announcer tries to rebuff him, Hercule actually goes out of his way to run into the line of fire to do it. Let's be honest: 16's so awesome he's just as effective with words as he is with fists.
    • And he also manages to hold down Perfect Cell in an attempt of Taking You with Me, much to the villains' terror. If Bulma and her father had not removed his self destruct device while repairing him due to not trusting him fully, Cell would've been blown to pieces.
  • Pan gets one in the episode "Granddaughter Pan." On her way to the stadium when she attempts to win a teddy bear, she picks up the hammer and breaks the freaking machine. Cue a WTF face that the bystanders have, while Goku smiles, unsurprised.
    • Also, when she beats up Wild Tiger with only two blows.
  • Bulla/Bra, Bulma and Vegeta's daughter, is a Living Prop. She's the only Saiyan-related character who doesn't fight, and she was probably created as a visual cue to manga readers that, yes, Bulma and Vegeta were still together after all these years. There is no possible arguing whatsoever that the main thing that endeared fans to her was her epic Calling the Old Man Out... because she thought his mustache was stupid. Vegeta shaving the stupid thing off was a major Author's Saving Throw and arguably the point where GT grew what little stubble it was going to get.
    • There is another GT moment related to Bra, but this one is enacted by Vegeta. He is driving her somewhere along a mountain road, and a car full of guys drives alongside the car and start flirting with Bra. They tell her to ditch the "old guy" and ride with them. Vegeta gets a surly look, and he reaches over and pulls their steeling wheel off. Then he rams their car and drives away. The guys can no longer steer and thus drive off the mountain (with Bra amusingly not seeming to mind.) Don't call Vegeta old, and do NOT flirt with his daughter.
  • While GT had its issues, it had some good moments. One is when Omega Shenron is about to attack a defenseless Goku, until a brick comes out of nowhere, hitting him square in the head. Cut to Vegeta, bouncing another brick idly in his hand.
  • Also in that saga, Vegeta says that if the press hassles him he will kill them. His wife, Bulma, simply tells him to behave.
    • Bulma is also a walking CMOA because she was very useful without having to fight. She was responsible for constructing various gadgets, including the Dragon Radar, which set the entire series into motion!
    • When Vegeta lands on Earth again at the start of the Android saga, everyone gets ready for a fight. Bulma tells him that he reeks, drags him off to shower, and pranks him by forcing him to wear the infamous pink shirt.
    • When Frieza and his father arrive to Earth, Bulma shows up to the expected fight... Because she's curious to see what the tyrant looks like. After all, as long as Frieza's on Earth no place on the planet is safe, so why don't go and take a look?
    • And then we have the first non-serial movie, where she establishes herself as a potential Action Girl:
    • Bongo and Pasta have stolen Goku's Dragon Ball and escaped with a plane before she could try and convince him to give it to her, so she produces a plane, gives chase... And when they open fire to scare them away she wrecks their plane. Had she not got distracted bragging and laughing long enough for them to fire a seeker missile, she would have defeated the co-dragons before the twenty-minutes mark... And even that was close, as she initially dodged the missile and resumed firing her machine guns.
    • During the final battle the Villainous Glutton King Gurumes is overpowering Goku, even shrugging off the Kamehameha, when she notices from the Dragon Radar he has swallowed his six Dragon Balls. What does Bulma do? She throw the last Dragon Ball in his mouth and summons Shenlong, one-shotting the villain.
    • In Jaco the Galactic Patrolman Bulma is five... And she stills understands how the engine of Jaco's ship works and tells him how to repair it cheaply and repairs his radio. Then, just to inform him how lucky he had been to not be an invader, she fires in the sea the toy gun she had brought with her... Toy gun that turns out to be a working Ray Gun she had built herself, one powerful enough Jaco tells her to enter the Galactic Patrol then and there.
  • Pikkon. When Goku and Pikkon travel to Hell to fight Cell and the other villains, Pikkon is able to defeat Cell with only two hits, then knocks out both Freeza and King Cold with a single blow.
  • Chiaotzu's willingness to put his life on the line time and time again is something that is overlooked. When King Piccolo summons Shenron Chiaotzu without fear tries to stop the wish and even try to make one of his own to foil his plans. And he sacrifices his own life against Nappa to save the others. Do they work? No, but the little guy shows no fear in order to save the others and has more heart and courage than guys ten times his size.
    • In the anime Chiaotzu did at least get the chance to mop the floor with Guldo. While Guldo is technically the weakest member of the Ginyu Force, it was an impressive display regardless.
  • During the 21st Tenkaichi, four monks from the Orinji Temple (where Krillin had studied martial arts before being taken in by Roshi) at a bar start mocking the current Tenkaichi due the finalists including two children (Goku and Krillin. The latter of whom had annihilated one of their fellow monks), an old geezer (Jackie Chun), and a milk monster, the latter comment sent to Giran who had just drunk a couple liters of milk from a gigantic glass. Then they continue until Giran takes exception, and Giran orders a refill and takes them down in the time it takes to the barman to refill his glass.
  • Also from the 21st Tenkaichi Namu is the closest to knock Goku out for a ten count in the pre-finals. This is from jumping a mile into the sky then flying down with his arms in a cross all to smash into Goku's torso. Goku jumps back up with only the last syllable to spare and is still winded. Even better is that while Namu has some skills Goku is still a power house so with a bit of luck and concentration he holds out.
  • Jackie Chun's first battle in the second phase of both the 21st and 22nd Tenkaichi show just how much Muten Roshi outclasses normal opponents. In the 21st Yamcha, who had trained for months after stopping being a bandit, couldn't even touch him before being thrown out (again without being touched), and in the 22nd Man-Wolf, who could fell a tree with a kick, was so completely humiliated that it couldn't even get called a Curb-Stomp Battle.
  • During the search for the Dragon Balls in King Piccolo's arc, Muten Roshi, Tenshinhan and Chaotzu have tracked one to a group of land pirates that decide to kill them, and open fire with dozens of automatic rifles. When the smoke fades, Chaotzu has blocked every single bullet mid-air, and the other two have knocked out the other pirates except their leader, who tries to shoot again-and then realizes that the gun Ten is holding is his. The pirate boss quickly hands over the Dragon Ball.
  • Mr. Popo's debut serves to hammer down that, no matter how strong Goku had got to that point (that is, right after killing King Piccolo), there was always someone stronger, and he's really effective at it as he has Goku fight him for the right to see Kami:
    • When Goku first attacks, Popo has some birds standing on him. Popo casually counters him without disturbing the birds.
    • After a while, Goku finally realizes what kind of opponent he's facing and uses the Kamehameha. Popo eats it.
    • Goku decides to train, following Popo's suggestions, before trying to defeat him again. At one point Popo gives him a practice bout to show what he means with "calmer than the sky, faster than lightning", and wears a cat bell. Popo once again tosses Goku around with ease-and is so calm that the bell doesn't ring, even when he did a back somersault.
      • This gives Muten his own awesome moment, as Goku remembers him doing something very similar once: a complex martial arts kata with a jar filled with water resting on his head without spilling a single drop of water. Neither Goku nor Krillin were able to match it when they tried.
    • When Goku first meets Kami, it's because Kami took a liking to him: Mr. Popo was still undefeated, and remained so for months before Goku earns the right to enter the main temple.
  • Tenshinhan, Krillin, Yamcha and Chaotzu get a few in the anime filler episodes between the King Piccolo Arc and the 23rd Tenkaichi:
    • At one point they're running as they discuss about going at Karin's Tower or not, with the image giving the impression they're going really fast in spite of their casual attitude. Then they surpass near a car that was running at over 200 kph-still chatting and without effort.
    • Our four heroes versus a volcanic eruption to protect a village-and they win. This goes especially for Yamcha, because while Krillin, Tenshinhan and Chaotzu blasting the flow of magma was just slowing it down, it's Yamcha who stops it-by changing the course of a river into the lava flow. Then, as the eruption created a new flow, Yamcha and Tenshinhan used the Kamehameha and the Dodonpa to improvise a makeshit dam and deviate this final flow away from the village.
  • The Tenkaichi Announcer for his sheer dedication. A contestant turns into a giant ape? He's still there. A flying contestant disintegrates the ring and causes the fight to move in the sky? He steps back from the ring for a moment, then produces his flying bike and goes to watch the fight in the sky. A contestant produces a knife and turns murderous? He disqualifies him on the spot, and if he doesn't calm down he walks on the ring to enforce the rules. The arena is about to be nuked? He jumps in a makeshift shelter to survive the explosion and then comes back to commentate, knowing that if Piccolo wins he's going to murder him. And the fact he's clearly terrified yet soldiers on only makes it more awesome.
    • He also easily deduced that Goku was responsible for Cell's defeat despite never having been present. Yeah, he's too smart to fall for a lie that Cell lost to Hercule/Satan.
    • Jimmy Firecracker, his replacement for the Cell Games, is no slouch either. While he fell for Mr. Satan's lie (as he was knocked out when Cell was killed), he still remained there, even with the camera broken, in the hope that at least his voice could still be heard as he chronicled the battle. And he was terrified enough that at one point he had been about to leave... But when Mr. Satan made his run with 16's head, he decided to stay and try to chronicle.
      • At one point during the Cell Games, Jimmy Firecracker actually does call Mr. Satan out on his bullshit. Mr. Satan says he wants to train Gohan after seeing him go Super Saiyan 2, to which Jimmy responds with "I'm sorry, but who are you trying to fool? It's obvious to everyone here that the kid is more skilled than you!"
  • Berry, the son of the village healer in Episode of Bardock. He is introduced as a very timid child, but when Chilled is delivering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Bardock, he charges at the villain, screaming at him to leave Bardock alone, and survives and recovers on his own from a ki blast barrage from Chilled. If not for his intervention Bardock would never had the trigger to transform and win.
    • His persistence in trying to befriend Bardock causes a Defrosting the Ice Queen. Crosses over with CMOH.
    • Unlike everyone in his village who believed the lie that Chilled and the men with him were Space Police, one look at the Obviously Evil Chilled makes him realise he is bad news.
  • In terms of physical prowess, there is him, 'while on foot' staying right behind Bardock and reaching him when Bardock flew to a considerably far away cliff. Granted, Bardock wasn't going at anywhere near his full speed, but being able to do so without being an adult and having no physical training is quite impressive. He also covers the same distance every day, [[Determinator despite]] rain or whatever the harsh weather to bring Bardock food.
  • King Yemma pulled an amazing Trump Card during the Buu saga. Knowing fully well that Earth needs all the help it can get, he bent the rules and had Vegeta's soul back into his physical body and asked him if he wants to return back to Earth to face Buu once again. By this point, Vegeta already accepted his fate in Hell, but when he found out that Buu survived, he accepted the offer. Had it not been for King Yemma sending Vegeta back, Goku would have been utterly destroyed by Buu (Who at that point absorbed Goten, Trunk, Piccolo and Gohan), the Whole Universe would have been destroyed.
  • The scientific prowess of Bulma's father (combined with the economic sense to get rich from it). You need to carry a house in your pocket? Here's the capsule, and it's even cheap-nor a house is the biggest thing you can put in it. You need Artificial Gravity? He reverse-engineered it from an alien ship, in five minutes. You need to go in orbit? He could make you an awesome rocketship without artificial gravity-if he was interested. You need to go to a planet on the other side of the galaxy? Give him a damaged Saiyan attack ball, and in about a month he'll make you a ship with the training tools to satisfy Goku, enough food to satisfy his appetite, toilet, bedroom and bathroom, and would have put on the speakers to play the music for a proper Training Montage if Goku hadn't needed it before he could decide where to put them. It's not a coincidence both his daughters graduated from college at sixteen
  • The Namekian elder of the first village Gohan and Krillin come to gets one in. He realizes what the scouters are for, and then, about the time the Namekian warriors have kicked the asses of Frieza's soldiers, sees that there are just three scouters left; one on the ground, one worn by a dead soldier, and Dodoria's. He first shoots the one on Dodoria's face, which the latter mistakes for an ineffectual attack on him, and then the elder takes flight and shoots the remaining two, with Zarbon realizing a second too late what was happening.
  • Guru, the eldest Namekian gets one for his defiant attitude when he and Freiza confront each other. First he tries the silent treatment, so when Freiza threatens Nail in order to get the elder to talk. Guru pulls an impressive gamble, he boasts the Freiza doesn't stand a chance against Nail. True it's all a big bluff to buy time so the Earthlings get the password first. But still, he managed to get under Freiza's skin, even if only briefly.
  • One for Earth's armed forces: since King Piccolo onward they always show up to fight the villains, no matter what. King Piccolo arrives to the capital to take over? The garrison fights him with everything they have-and one of them engages him in a fistfight. The Saiyan invade? They deploy a couple carrier groups plus battleships. Cell? They engage him at least twice-because that's the times they know where he is. Majin Buu? Buu had to destroy every single division, because every time he showed up near a garrison they attacked him with all the available firepower. Never even scratched any of these enemies, but the sheer courage to fight such monsters is to be praised.
    • In the anime they actually made themselves useful once: they saved Gotenks' life when he rushed to fight Buu, and was about to get killed when a division of tanks opened fire and caused him to launch an area attack that, while annihilating the soldiers, didn't do much to Gotenks, rather than finish off the fusion combatant with a concentrated blast.
    • Even their leader, King Furry proved he was a man of courage when he tried to stand up to King Piccolo back during the original Dragon Ball series.
  • The Elder Supreme Kai first appears to be just an old perverted geezer... And then he got a few chances to prove he knows exactly what he's doing:
    • The first hint is during the ritual to awaken Gohan's ultimate potential, when his antics made Gohan think it wouldn't work... And the Elder immediately told him to have a bit of trust, demonstrating that he could read minds even as he acted like a fool.
    • During the ritual he falls asleep, then starts reading comics and dirty magazines, and continues past the twenty hours he had announced, justifying the more time with Gohan's potential being much greater than expected. Gohan obviously gets angry and stands up, powering up while shouting it's obviously a scam... And then realizes his power is already much greater than anything he had before, and the ritual's not finished yet. Gohan immediately sits down to let the Elder work his magic.
    • After a while, Goku and the Supreme Kai notice that Buu, Trunks and Goten's ki cannot be felt, and wonder what has happened... And the Elder informs them they've simply gone in a place where time flows differently, and when Goku muses that Buu has broken in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber the Elder explains that Piccolo let him in. While still being busy with the ritual and reading his comic book.
    • Goku says he'd like to see what's happening on Earth, rather than just sensing it through the ki. The Elder Kai materializes a crystal ball to do just that, while still doing the ritual and reading his comics.
    • When Super Buu's planning allows him to overcome even Mystic Gohan, he simply reveals the true function of the Potara, kills himself to bring Goku back to life and allow him to save the day... And then shouts at Goku to hurry up, not letting his own death slow him down a bit. Sure, they were already in the Otherworld...
  • In a flashback, the deceased South Kai proves that he was the Big Guy of the Kais. Kid Buu pretty much crushed every other Kai. When the fight begins, South Kai is actually pulling a No-Sell against all of Buu's blows before the monster powers up. He fires a homing energy ball which blows right through Buu and scares him for a bit, and before that, he gets in an awesome headbutt, then when Buu tries to punch him with his Rubber Man powers, he dodges the punch before tearing Buu's arm off then smirking at him and throwing the arm back. No wonder Buu decided to absorb him.
  • For the most part, Gotenks is a complete goofball that only doesn't die to Super Buu because Super Buu, Blood Knight that he is, doesn't take the fight very seriously to prolong things. Then Gotenks goes Super Saiyan 3, the fight moves outside of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and Gotenks finally takes things seriously himself. The result? He kicks Super Buu's ass up and down the planet. While not as dominating a performance as what Gohan laid on the wad of chewing gum, Gotenks was a step ahead of him the whole time and laid a serious amount of hurt when the fight finally went hand-to-hand at the end. If only the fusion hadn't run out...
  • Jaco the Galactic Patrolman is no slouch, either. Despite being a showoffy Small Name, Big Ego who pales in comparison to other patrolmen (such as Jiya before him), even a more lowly member of the Galactic Patrol isn't anything to scoff at.
    • For starters, killing the giant shark surrounding Omori's island at night with a single punch. And all he needed was 30 minutes of sleep.
    • Using his Super-Senses, throwing a rock right through Katayude's boat while it was out at sea. From the top of a hill.
    • Firing his blaster at a purse thief's motorcyle, while restraining himself from killing on Omori's behalf.
    • Completely trouncing the thugs trying to force Tights to go on a date with their leader, complete with Bullet Catch.
    • Effortlessly dispatching Katayude and his special forces unit when they don't believe him about Tights' rocket about to crash.
    • Him and Omori saving Tights and the other astronaut from the falling rocket by making use of Omori's imperfect time machine to briefly stop time. This is in spite of time manipulation of any sort being against galactic law.
    • Finally, jumping off of a building and kicking the rocket away from East City before quickly pulling out his blaster and blowing it up in midair.
    • When he returns in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F', he takes on a few Frieza soldiers by himself. Keep in mind, these guys were quite the step up above the Saiyans, which Jaco himself admitted the Galactic Patrol couldn't do much about. Despite being Overshadowed by Awesome like just about everyone that isn't Goku or Vegeta, he definitely Took a Level in Badass between his debut and the movie.

     Demon King Piccolo 

  • While Piccolo Jr. gets a lot of moments, serious props have to go to Demon King Piccolo in the original Dragon Ball. After he gathers all the Dragon Balls and has Shenron restore his youthful strength, he decides to fix it so that nobody can ever use the Dragon Balls against him, so he shoots a Ki blast that blows Shenron, the Eternal Dragon into meaty chunks! At that point in the story, that was roughly equivalent to killing God! And he did it with one attack. He actually gets a lot of moments, such as...
    • Beating down Goku in his old, out of shape state. From the minute he took off his cloak to the minute Goku's heart stopped beating. Goku assumed that his fight would be no different than before, especially due to an early advantage, even knocking down the Demon King, which he was praised for. And he was proven to be very wrong.
    • Casually and callously killing Chiaotzu.
    • Performing another No-Holds-Barred Beatdown (again, in his old state) on Roshi, who then dies after botching his one attempt to re-seal King Piccolo.
    • He is the first villain that made Goku freeze in fear after he brushed off his Kamehameha.
  • Until Beerus (whose status as a villain was mostly situational) came along, he was the only villain in the entire series to outright win. Despite all the curve balls Goku and Roshi threw into his plan, he still got everything he wanted. He is also one of the only villains, along with Super and Kid Buu, to never carry the Villain Ball. He only lost in the end because he didn't take into account that Goku wasn't human and he had no way of knowing that.
  • The way he took over the planet: as soon as he was above the capital he jumped down the airship, casually landed, and strolled inside the king's castle while easily smacking around anyone and anything that tried to stop him on his way to capture the king. The only thing that even slowed him down was his own appreciation for the courage and strength of a soldier who dared to challenge him to a fistfight even as he understood he was using ki, and even then it was only long enough to offer him a job in his new regime and kill him when he refused. And he did it in the middle of the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the king's coronation.

     Freeza 

  • Frieza gets one before he physically does anything amazing. When Vegeta arrives on Namek, he shows off how badass he has become from nearly being killed on Earth by easily taking out Cui, a person who was once his equal. Even then, Vegeta still wants nothing to do with Frieza until he becomes an immortal. Repeat, Vegeta knew he stood no chance and only godhood could make him a match for his former boss.
  • King Kai tells Goku to grab his friends and run the moment he knew Frieza was on the planet, saying that Frieza's wrath would follow them to the end of the universe if they piss him off. One of the upper gods of the universe all said, run for the hills.
  • Frieza's arrival after the Namekian dragon died. Vegeta is ready to murder Krillin for missing his chance at immortality, before Vegeta suddenly stops in terror. Everyone looks up and collectively wet themselves when they see Frieza calmly standing in front of them. Without him doing anything, you knew the heroes were screwed.
    Frieza: Don't worry, it won't hurt long, relax. Death is my specialty.
  • Frieza's transformations may be Nightmare Fuel, but they are also rather awesome:
    • Some races have transformations to increase their power, and others have transformations to better conserve energy. Frieza has transformations to not destroy everything around himself, as he's just too powerful to properly control himself.
    • Frieza powering up for the first time. One moment Vegeta is smugly waiting for the transformation, sure the power won't increase much... And the next, Frieza has drawn blood with a fragment of his armor shattered as he powered up.
    • After the power-up, Vegeta is still smug and even a bit insulted, believing the transformation was a sham... Then Frieza suddenly transforms, and halfway through Vegeta realizes he bit more than he could chew. Once he's transformed, between the extendible tail and the power-up that rearranged the local topography, he's ready to show Gohan, Krillin and the formerly smug Prince of all Saiyan a little fragment of his real strength. And he's not yet being serious even for his second form.
    • When Piccolo proves a match for the full power of his second form, Frieza tells him he can transform... And that he still has two transformations to unleash. Vegeta reacts with horror at the reveal... Then he transforms, and does what nobody else could claim: he made Piccolo step back in fear. Just by transforming.
      • He also made Goku realize he may lose even once he's healed. Just by the sheer power he had by transforming.
    • After Gohan pushes him, Frieza decides to unleash his final transformation. Not because he needs it (he's still stronger enough to take on Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo and Krillin at once), but because his opponents have earned themselves the privilege to be terrified by it. And as he completes the transformation, he delivers: the only ones who aren't quacking in fear are Krillin, who was distracted by the fact he's smaller and looks less scary now to sense just how powerful he has become, and Vegeta, that just got healed and thinks he can take him now... Forgetting that Frieza can hold his power back.
    • Final bit: every time he transforms, he heals from the wounds he suffered previously, eventually regenerating the tail lost in his second form.
  • Frieza. He kills Dende because he can heal people. Even better, he did it so fast that Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin didn't even know it happened until they saw Denda's charred body. They just saw a flash of light and heard an explosion.
    • His "fight" with Vegeta. Vegeta is always smug, arrogant, and overconfident. Even when it's clear he's outmatched, he still always stands up from a beating and spits in his opponent's face. But not against Frieza. Frieza gives him possibly the most brutal beating in the entire series, pummeling him to the point where he couldn't even move from the pain, and actually makes him cry Tears of Fear. As mentioned above, Vegeta is so persistent and fearless that he actually frightened a god-killing monster. And Frieza terrifies him.
      • At one point, just to make Vegeta feel extra helpless before killing him, he stands still and lets Vegeta shoot him with his most powerful attack. And then, without even using 4% of his power, he casually kicks the blast away. After that, all Vegeta could do was just stare in disbelief. King Kai said that was the first time Vegeta truly felt fear. Even after several more powerful villains came and went, Frieza remains the only one to utterly break Vegeta's spirit, even reducing the Crown Prince of the Saiyans to crying. Like a bitch.
    • Frieza remains one of the few villains in the series that scared Goku. With everyone else, Goku usually have a happy good-lucky attitude even when overpowered. With Frieza, once he realized he wasn't bluffing about using only half of his power, Goku is left frozen for several seconds. After surviving the Spirit Bomb, he had Goku shivering in terror.
    • Really it can't be stated enough, he managed to TANK a spirit bomb. A spirit bomb about 50 times bigger then the one Goku used on Vegeta, a spirit bomb made up of (in Goku's words) 99% of the galaxy's energy, a spirit bomb that took several minutes to charge with Piccolo, Gohan and Krillin risking their lives in order to distract him. What makes it even more awesome is the fact that he doesn't No-Sell it either (he is noticeably damaged when he confronts the Z Fighters again), much like Cell later on down in the list he had no idea he even could survive it, he managed to tank the biggest and strongest attack seen (at that point) in the DBZ universe AND COME BACK FOR MORE! Badass? Badass.
    • Although it is only in the anime, he got smart and attempted to kill Goku first after coming back from the Spirit Ball. He only failed because Piccolo interfered.
    • He kills Krillin in front of Goku. He paid for it.
    • Also awesome is the fact that, before he resorts to Beam Spam, he actually showcases the widest variety of attacks & techniques of anyone in the series, besides maybe Goku. Especially cool is his Crimson Sphere attack, which freezes an opponent in a ball of ki that will blow up if it touches anything but Frieza himself, which he then kicks around until he's bored, then detonates it.
    • His fight with Goku, before the latter became a Super Saiyan; at first it's a balanced out, but interesting match, but then Frieza goes 50% power and proceeds to annihilate him, then claiming he's not even using a third.
    • His infamously long battle with Super Saiyan Goku note , when he swallows his fear, goes 100% and gives Goku the toughest fight in his life.
    • Frieza's final attack against Goku.
      Frieza: Simian bastard...! I am Lord Frieza. None surpass me! No one even comes close! Etch this into your skull; I am emperor of the universe! The likes of you are only fit to grovel at my feet! Or better still... to die... in disgrace! AT THE HANDS OF YOUR MASTER!!!
    • Also, he's got Ryusei Nakao as his Japanese seiyuu. That voice alone is a Crowning Moment Of Sexy.
  • There's also a little easily forgotten fact that makes all the above even more awesome: he couldn't sense ki... Meaning he went in his battles against Vegeta and everyone else practically half-blind, something Goku did take advantage of. He still came up on top of everything until Goku went Super Saiyan, and even then he gave Goku a run for his money.
  • The final one from Namek: he survived. He suffered a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from the Super Saiyan, was sliced in half, blasted with intent to kill by the Super Saiyan, and then Namek exploded, and he survived. No wonder that, when he faces him, Future Trunks slices him into little pieces and then disintegrates him... And, as it later turns out, he had survived being sliced into pieces, only dying when he was disintegrated.
  • An upcoming movie in 2015 has as a Tag Line: "The worst wish in history!" That wish? Frieza's Resurrection!
  • Also a retroactive one for Frieza, all said. If Frieza had trained for even a single week before fighting Goku or Trunks, he would have utterly wiped the floor with them. Yes, even Super Saiyan Goku. The only reason he was even beaten because he was so strong naturally he didn't bother envision that someone stronger will ever face him in the future. And he was correct, but only his actions made his worst enemies able to defeat him.

     Cell 

     Fat Buu 
  • Although he is the weakest of the Buu forms seen, Fat Buu still have several moments.
    • How does Buu show that he isn't just some obese pink blob, he jabs Dabura in the eye and punches him into a cliff. Remember, Dabura is the same person who fought Gohan equally and is almost as powerful as Super Perfect Cell, the strongest villain that any of the Earth's warriors fought until that point.
    • Once he was done with Dabura, Buu shows off his speed by catching up with Gohan effortlessly, who had grabbed the Supreme Kai and was running for his life. He then hammers poor Gohan into the ground and picks apart Supreme Kai, the head god of the Dragon World. When Gohan attempted to intervene, he got blasted by an energy wave that nearly killed him and would have sent him into space if the Supreme Kai hadn't stopped it. Nonetheless, he knocked Gohan's energy so low that everyone thought he was dead.
    • Buu kills Dabura by turning him into a cookie and eating him. Buu ate the king of the demon world.
    • Buu's entire fight with Vegeta. At this point, Vegeta is stronger than Gohan was seven years ago and fought Goku to a draw. Buu took everything Vegeta had and didn't lose any energy at all. In the Japanese version, Vegeta asked if Buu was an immortal. Once Buu was done playing with Vegeta, he rips off a part of his own blubber and successfully wraps Vegeta in it, completely immobilizing him. He then body slams into Vegeta and beats the ever loving crap out of him. Vegeta would have died there if Goten and Trunks hadn't rushed in to save him.
    • Buu survives Vegeta's suicide blast that was so intense that it could be seen from space. Heck, he not only survived, but had no lasting damage from it at all.
    • His ability to learn techniques from seeing them only once like the Kamehameha.
    • During his fight with Goku SSJ3 it looked like the only thing keeping him in the battle was his regeneration-and then he reacts to a kick by expanding his body and trapping Goku as he tried-and nearly succeeded-to crush him with his belly. While Goku escapes from that, from then onward Goku has a much harder time.
      • He also tends to smile and waste a bit of time, hinting that he knows what Goku is doing-and, having come up with a way to get rid of Babidi (see below), he's humoring him by holding back himself. That, and he's having fun. Goku admits in his thought bubbles (in the manga) that nothing he does actually hurts Buu at all, much to his own shock.
    • Him tricking Babidi into moving closer to him before strangling him, keeping the wizard from sealing him. He then crushes Babidi's skull with one punch, actually causing his entire head to explode. This shows that Buu was much more intelligent that Babidi thought and he became far more dangerous without anyone to control him.
      • Note that it's not the first time he tries to kill Babidi-he's been trying for a while by flying around dangerously whenever Babidi hitched a ride on him and then, during the fight with Goku, by "accidentally" rebounding on him a ki blast-and due his childish behavior making it appear just Buu being himself, Babidi didn't realize, and thus didn't seal him away, until he couldn't speak anymore. Buu used Obfuscating Stupidity, successfully.
    • He effortlessly beats the crap of base-form Gotenks, the last warrior left on Earth that can even remotely challenge him, who declared that Buu was nothing to him.
    • Despite being severely overpowered and knowing it, Buu kept fighting Kid Buu until he literally couldn't move anymore. Even then, he still mustered the strength to distract Kid Buu while Mr. Satan ran in and grabbed Vegeta, allowing Goku to throw the Spirit Bomb.
      • Note that the only reason Kid Buu won was the regeneration: Fat Buu disintegrated him early in the battle. That of course resulted in his counterpart getting serious, but without the regeneration Kid Buu wouldn't have lived long enough for that. And even as he's being overwhelmed, Fat Buu still causes enough damage to kill any lesser opponent.
      • Towards the end of the fight in the anime, Fat Buu uses the last of his strength to tackle Kid Buu and knock him away from Vegeta, while also dissipating the ki ball he was going to throw at Goku to prevent him from finishing the Spirit Bomb. A half minute of wrestling on the ground ensues; Kid Buu eventually gets Fat Buu off and blasts him away... but by then it's too late and Goku is ready to let her rip. Seeing him struggle impotently against Fat Buu's grip while watching Goku finish preparing the attack and Satan drag away his Human Shield (Vegeta), the last chance the desperate Kid Buu had to escape his fate, is immensely satisfying to see after Kid Buu had spent the last episode toying with the worn-out heroes.

     Super Buu 
  • Super Buu is a walking moment of awesome.
    • The very first thing he does is kill a psychopathic gunman by pouring himself down the gunman's throat until he explodes, while laughing. A pretty awesome way of going about things, rather than just executing him with a blast like most others would've.
    • When he first arrives at Kami's Lookout, he demands to see Gotenks. Piccolo asks him to wait, and to bide his time by killing some humans. He hopes this will keep Buu distracted long enough for Goten and Trunks to train and get stronger in the time chamber. Super Buu stares at him for a bit before raising his hand into the air and firing out billions of blasts that find and kill every single person on Earth in under a minute. The whole time, he never takes his eyes off of Piccolo, who has the best Oh, Crap! expression. Then he kills Chi Chi without even looking at her or changing his expression when she tries to stand up to him. By transforming her into an egg and stepping on it.
    • His Curb-Stomp Battle with Gotenks, until Gotenks turns Super Saiyan 3.
    • Piccolo attempts to outsmart Buu by blowing up the entrance to the time chamber, locking him in the pocket dimension. Buu's response is to tear a hole between the dimensions and escape. Who needs a door?
    • Later, it appears that they've got Buu on the ropes, as Gohan comes back and starts pounding the daylights out of him. But then he reveals that he's been planning for this all along: he not only sensed Gohan's immense power while he was fighting Gotenks and was waiting for him to come but he decided to not kill Gotenks after he defused in their battle in case the immense power he sensed were to come to Earth so that he could absorb Gotenks and become stronger than the power he had sensed. Buu then blows himself up and an hour later Goten, Trunks, Gohan and Piccolo arrive back at the scene and knowing how arrogant and prideful Goten and Trunks are, he tricks them into fusing by stating he wanted to fight them again and calling them cowards. Super Buu then surprises and absorbs Gotenks and Piccolo (who weren't expecting him to pull any tricks, and therefore off-guard and able to be absorbed), and deduces that even with the time limit on the fusion, this new power he gained should be more than enough to take down Gohan. He was right. Then, he delivers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Gohan.
    • After seeing this, Goku shows up with the Potara earrings and attempts to fuse with Gohan so they can beat Buu. Buu, Combat Pragmatist as he is, immediately goes to put a stop to this, greatly surprising Goku, who expected him to succumb to Bond Villain Stupidity.
    Buutenks: Even if you fuse, there's no way you can beat me... but why take the chance? I'll kill you both now!
    • When he showed up, Goku had cut Buu in two, and then proclaimed he'd be able to use a certain object (the Potara) for a power-up. Buu's reply is to have his still separated lower half knock Tenshinhan with one kick just to use him as an example of what Goku would have to face, before putting himself back together and learn about the Potara.
    • When Gotenks' fusion expires and Buu reverts to a weaker form, Goku is relieved that Gohan can handle him... only for Buu to reveal that he had planned for THIS too. Cue a piece of him surprising and absorbing Gohan.
    • In the anime only, Super Saiyan 3 Goku attempts to stall him after he absorbed Gotenks, to give Gohan time to find the fusion earring. Goku catches him off guard while he's busy with Gohan, blasts him into a mountain, and hits him with dozens of ki blasts. When the smoke clears, Buu doesn't even have a scratch on him. He floats up, smirks, and simply says "My turn".
    • He even gets one during his "fight" with Vegetto by fooling him and turning him into candy. That was NOT part of Vegetto's plan, judging by his surprise at it. Unfortunately for the demon, Vegetto puts a damper on it by revealing he can still move... and can still beat up Buu even as candy.
      • In the anime, he also manages to force himself down Vegetto's throat in a similar manner to the gunman earlier. It doesn't kill him, since Vegetto is strong enough to expel Buu from his body, but Vegetto clearly uses effort and is in a lot of pain while doing so. The fact that Buu managed to do this despite being heavily outmatched is pretty impressive and inventive. More than he ever managed in the manga.
      • Also in the anime: Super Buu nearly tearing the universe down in a rage.
    • There's also the fact that Goku does not want to fight Super Buu and does everything possible to avoid fighting him. He even shoots down Vegeta's suggestion of a Super Saiyan 3 + Super Saiyan 2 team-up after they remove Buu's absorptions, because, "Even though he's gotten a lot weaker, we're still bugs to him! He'll easily slaughter us if we go out there!". Even if this was a lie to save Vegeta's feelings (he's already lied twice about his power in this arc), considering how much of a Blood Knight Goku is, and how willing he is to fight even enemies that outmatch him, the very fact that he wants nothing to do with Super Buu if he can help it is awesome indeed.
    • The mere fact that he out-gambitted everyone despite his crude manner and his dumb way of speaking. He played on Gotenks' pride to absorb him and kept him alive because he felt Gohan from the world of the Kais. Even when Goku arrives to throw a wrench in his plans, he took it in stride and set things up to absorb Gohan once his time ran out. He would have outright won if Yemma hadn't sent Vegeta at the last second and he had no way to plan for that or the story breaker Vegeto was.

     Kid Buu 

  • While not as intelligent and lacking the raw power of Super Fusion Buu, Kid Buu is no less awesome.
    • He learns the Supreme Kai's teleportation technique from seeing it once and when the Earth was about to explode. He then uses that technique along with his endless regeneration to move planet to planet, destroying them, regenerating, teleport, and nuke another world. This is the first villain we saw that could truly destroy the universe and there was nothing to stop him.
    • His entire personality. Unlike all the other villains in the series, including his previous forms, Kid Buu isn't hampered by pride, the need for a good fight, or to prove himself to be the strongest in the universe. He has no personality flaws that can be exploited, he just wants to kill until there's nothing left. Which is why he is the most dangerous form of Buu even if he isn't the strongest.
    • He turns his arm into a guided missile to beat up Mr. Buu.
    • He out-matched Super Saiyan 3 Goku. During their fight Goku was struggling to keep up since he wasn't used to fighting in his more limited living body and couldn't do enough damage to Kid Buu to keep him from regenerating despite hitting him with a blast that drilled right through the Kai's planet. Eventually Goku's endurance ran out and he could no longer fight. At the end of the battle, Goku admits that Kid Buu was simply the better fighter, and was so impressed that he actually wished for him to be reincarnated as a good guy so they could fight again, and have a proper epic rematch.
      • It's often noted that Goku was strong enough that he theoretically could've killed Buu in his Super Saiyan 3 form, but there's quite a difference between hypotheticals and actually pulling it off. Several times during the fight, Goku does try to atomize Buu, only to be surprised that he can pull himself back together. Buu's regeneration is so perfect that the Spirit Bomb was likely the only thing that can actually do the job.
    • Kid Buu is also the only villain to ever succeed in blowing up the Earth.
      • It should be mentioned just how he did it; first, he launched a small blast with enough power to blow up the planet. Vegeta and Goku deflected it. Then, he raised his hand above his head and summoned a big and powerful ball of energy that Goku and Vegeta couldn't deflect. Goku begs him not to blow up the planet, but Kid Buu just responds with a Slasher Smile before throwing it.
    • In general, Kid Buu trampled on everybody. Goku, Mr. Buu, Vegeta, none of them could beat him. He even held back the Spirit Bomb powered by the entire Earth and pushed it back towards Goku, something that not even Frieza could do. It also showed that he is pure, pure evil.
    • He is also the only villain in the series not to throw a fit before being defeated or try to Rage Quit. He accepts that he's going to be killed and only has a look of disbelief.
    • In his back story, Buu took on the five highest gods of the universe and defeated all of them. We actually get to see him do this in the anime:
      • West Kaioshin is easily curbstomped and killed with Buu not even trying. He kicks away her blast, flash steps behind her, and fires a blast and flies away, not even bothering to stay as she dies screaming behind him.
      • North Kaioshin cuts Buu in half with his sword... only for Buu to remind him that doesn't work and then kill him in one blast, while looking bored.
      • South Kaioshin, the strongest among them by far, actually is able to put up a fight, get in a few painful hits on Buu, and last more than a minute. But Buu still takes him down fairly easily, heavily damaging him with just one kick to the neck. He then absorbs him to become even more powerful.
      • Grand Kaioshin attempted to fight the newly improved Buu by blowing him apart with a Breath Weapon cutting attack... only for Buu to again remind these guys that cutting him doesn't do anything. He proceeds to absorb the Grand Kaioshin too, though this results in him becoming the weaker, more docile and less savage (but more intelligent) Fat Buu.
      • East Kaioshin isn't even really fought; Buu just bats him into a rock and goes to one-shot him with a weak blast until Grand Kaioshin intervenes and deflects it. Buu could've easily killed Shin, but just wandered off after absorbing the Grand Kaioshin.
  • He gets one after dying-and coming back as Uub: at the 28th Tenkaichi he not only matches Goku blow-for-blow, he's learning proper combat techniques from fighting Goku.

     Other Villains 
  • Credit needs to be given to pre-Z Dragon Ball here, considering it gave us Tao Pai Pai. The man killed General Blue with his tongue.
    • When Tao Pai Pai says "Who needs a jet when when we've got a perfectly good pillar." He taps the pillar and breaks it out, while leaving the building completely intact then throws the pillar and jumps onto it while it's moving.
      • Points should be subtracted when you consider that his own brother knows how to fly, making this gesture look somewhat redundant in hindsight.
    • In one episode, Tao is walking down a street, and someone attempts to shoot him from behind. Tao, still walking and appearing to not realize that he is being targeted, just lifts his foot in such a way that his shoe flies off and deflects the bullet. He then continues walking as the shoe comes back down and lands perfectly back onto his foot.
    • Tao is one of the first villains to hand Goku an absolute defeat-in the manga, Goku didn't even manage to land a hit on him before being smacked away. He then blasts Tao with a Kamehameha- which has absolutely no effect other than destroying Tao's clothes and pissing him off. Goku is understandably freaked out before being zapped by a Dodonpa. If not for the Dragon Ball blocking the shot, the series could have ended right there.
    • Tao boiling himself an egg: he takes a raw egg, fills a bathtub of water, heats the water until it boils with his ki, and then he takes a bath in the boiling water with the egg in his hand, until the egg is cooked. And he does it casually.
  • Props must also be given to Piccolo's son, Tambourine. After beating Krillin to death (a notable feat in and of itself), he proceeds to assassinate every martial artist he can find under the orders of King Piccolo, killing them all, usually with just a single hit. Highlights include snapping Krillin's neck with a kick, countering King Chappa's Eight Arm technique with his own Hundred Arm technique, and ramming his fist straight through Giran.
  • Nappa put the Z Fighters through Hell until Goku arrived. He managed to kill Tien Shinhan (and ripped off his arm early on), Chiaotzu (by being too tough for his suicide attack to effect), and Piccolo (although he was trying to kill Gohan instead). He also managed to avoid, parry, or shrug off some powerful moves such as Krillin's Destructo Disk (which probably would've killed him if it did connect). He even had some moments in filler, such as when he demolished a gargantuan bug creature and entire military fleets without even trying.
  • Captain Ginyu deserves mention for the reveal of his Grand Theft Me power. The moment when you realize he'd actually been letting Goku beat the crap out of him so he'd be stuck in a weakened body after the switch is quite the Oh, Crap! feeling.
  • Cooler might have had the most awesome villain moment in the movies. After showing Goku his fifth transformation, Goku tries to hit him with a Kamehameha. Cue Cooler flying into the blast and popping out of the beam to punch Goku.
    • Right before that was Cooler's beatdown of Goku. Even when Goku uses a Kaio-ken x20, he's completely unable to hurt Cooler, who proceeds to destroy him with ONE PUNCH. After that, he flies through the Kamehameha as mentioned, and KO's Goku with another punch.
      Cooler: Hah! So this is the mighty Super Saiyan who defeated my brother? How ridiculous.... Freeza deserved to die for getting beaten by a weakling like you.
    • His suitably epic return as Metal Cooler. Not only does he completely destroy two Super Saiyans and a Super Namek, he toys with them the whole time. And just when it looks like our heroes might've beaten him, he chooses this moment to spring another clone... Then another... Then a literal army of clones. And no, Conservation of Ninjutsu was not in effect.
  • Broly's epic beatdown on Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks, and Piccolo deserves special mention; not only were the Z-Fighters at full power, Broly WASN'T EVEN TRYING, and merely toys with them the entire movie.
    • Broly taking a Kamehameha wave point blank and not even so much as a scratch from it.
      Broly: (grabs Goku's head and lifts him up) What the hell was that?!
    • Goku calling out Broly for his over the top rampage:
      Goku: Hey, how about holding back a little?
      Broly: Holding back, what's that?
    • The line used in the English dub is arguably better.
      Goku: Hey! What do you say you give us a handicap?
      Broly: Is that another word for coffin?
      • Just the fact the Broly made Goku of all people ask to take it easy on them shows you the type of person the heroes were dealing with.
    • Broly scaring the crap out of Vegeta just by showing his Legendary Super Saiyan form. For Vegeta, seeing this legend face to face and having him attack them is like having God show up and start obliterating everybody.
    • He also punched Vegeta so hard that he left a double-dip impact crater in the wall that Vegeta hit. Vegeta was NOT amused.
  • How does Beerus cement himself as the most powerful Dragon Ball Z villain ever? He defeats everyone effortlessly. Including Ultimate Gohan. Special mention goes to his Cherry Tapping of Super Saiyan 3 Goku, who he defeats with a flick of his finger. And karate-chopping the back of Goku's neck to knock him unconscious.
    • He goes a bit further and defeats Super Saiyan God Goku while only using 70% of his power. Super Saiyan God Goku was able to wound Beerus, something nobody else could do.
    • Having the latest villain curb-stomping most of the cast is hardly unusual for this series, but Beerus does it with class. He incapacitates most of the cast who tries to take him on with quick, efficient strikes, including striking Piccolo's pressure points with chopsticks, which he was carrying for most of the fight.
    • The fact that he's the only villain to win completely. Dr Gero's androids may have killed Goku, but it cost him his and his greatest creation Cell his life, and Goku was later revived. Garlic Jr may have gotten his intended wish of Complete Immortality, but can never enjoy it. Beerus wanted a good fight with a Super Saiyan God, but unlike Gero and Garlic Jr it doesn't backfire in any way; he got exactly what he wanted.
    • How about his status as The Dreaded? He is one of only a handful of people to make Vegeta openly afraid, the others being Frieza, the Ginyu Force, and Broly, and the only one who can make the aforementioned Frieza actually grovel.
  • Garlic Jr. literally being the only villain to obtain immortality in the Dragon Ball series for a long damn time. Yes, you heard right: Garlic Jr. obtained immortality before Vegeta or Frieza even got the chance. Granted, it didn't go the way he wanted it to, but it's still pretty damn cool. Unfortunately for him, Zamasu eventually did the same thing and proceeded to be far more successful with it in canon material, but it was still a pretty impressive achievement regardless.
    • And his minion Vinegar, after being powered up by the Makyo Star, is the first one to catch the Kienzan / Destructo disc and even throw it back at Krilin.
  • General Blue shows how serious the Red Ribbon Army was, after Goku spent half the arc tearing through them like paper. Krillin challenges him in the pirate cave, assuming that having been trained under the world's greatest martial arts master, his skills should be enough to beat anyone other than Goku or other superhuman martial artists. Instead, Blue manages to hand him a beating, and is even able to use his psychic skills to even a fight against Goku. Later on, when Tao kills him, it shocks Commander Red that his most powerful officer was killed so easily, implying that he actually thought Blue would put up a decent fight against the world's best assassin.
    • In the pirate cave Blue was electrocuted by a gigantic electric eel that then started constricting him. Blue, while still being electrocuted, grabbed the eel and strangled it with one hand.
    • He also survived getting punched into another country by Arale.
  • Pilaf and his cronies, if you think about it:
    • They're usually the most successful villains when it comes to collecting the Dragon Balls, and have summoned Shen Long in the original series (the very first time!), before Battle of Gods/Dragon Ball Super, again in Resurrection of "F"/Super's second arc, and finally at the start of GT. Freeza and the Red Ribbon Army needed dozens or thousands of trained soldiers to do what took only three of them and they still failed in the end.
    • Their wishes in the movies/Dragon Ball Super: the first time they had the smarts to recognize that they couldn't conquer the world this way anymore due the Z Fighters being too strong for Shenlong to kill, so they just wished for youth to try and outlive the Z Fighters (it backfired due to them turning into children who couldn't find a job and thus nearly starving to death, but it was a good idea); and the second time they wish for a million zeny under the nose of Sorbet, who they knew could have killed them. Also, the latter has likely saved the universe, given that Sorbet was going to use it to revive King Cold in addition to Frieza.
    • In the first arc, after much bumbling they effortlessly capture Goku, Bulma, Puar, Yamcha and Oolong, twice. And in ridiculous manners to boot: first they led them into a trap with arrows painted on the floor (they couldn't believe it had worked), and, after Mai left the trap's gate open when she took the final Dragon Ball from Goku, Pilaf used a giant pinball sphere to push them back into the trap. And could have killed them then and there had he been so inclined.
      • After the heroes broke out and Oolong stole the wish, they captured them again. No trick, no ridiculous thing, just a pack of attack dogs and a gun at Bulma's head. Had it not been for Pilaf wanting to kill them slowly (thus giving Goku the time to turn into a Great Ape), they would have defeated and killed our heroes then and there.
    • When Goku first turned into a Great Ape, they had the guts to attack him with a plane... And almost killed him.
    • Anime only: their giant spaceship. It took hundreds of warplanes to take down, and it gave almost as much as it took.
    • They created a Dragon Radar superior to Bulma's, and a box that prevented a Dragon Radar from detecting a Dragon Ball. The latter would have wrecked the Red Ribbon's plans had Goku not wiped them out first, and it took Goku going to a seer to track down their Dragon Ball.
    • When Goku tracked them down (after wiping out the Red Ribbon) they fought him in the Pilaf Machines. They gave him quite the run for his money, and would have outright won had Grandpa Gohan not just pulled out his tail.
    • After the Red Ribbon saga, they recognized they were outmatched. Their solution: track down the rice cooker King Piccolo had been sealed into and free him. And the rice cooker had been tossed in the middle of an ocean, so just tracking it down was almost impossible.
    • In GT they managed to climb all the way up to Kami's lookout, which was considered near impossible for Earthlings. They did it despite being geriatrics with clunky technology.
  • Dr. Gero's sheer technical prowess deserves a mention. He built Androids whose strength surpassed that of Frieza (at one point considered the most powerful being in the universe) and even created a power-detecting system far superior to anything Frieza's army had (16's was able to clock both Perfect Cell and Super Vegeta's power levels at the same time without any kind of overload, despite 16 being heavily damaged at that point).
    • Also, he didn't expect Goku to grow much stronger than he was after Vegeta's defeat, and he still made Androids capable of annihilating Frieza, just in case.
    • His combat performance is actually far better than one would expect from all his moments grabbing the Idiot Ball: first he chooses a terrain where he and 19 can hide in case of necessity (that he didn't expect to need), as they have no ki to be sensed while they can detect the Z Fighters'; then, after 19's defeat he's on the run from Vegeta, who gets angry and tries to just blow up the whole place, only for Gero to pop out, absorb his attack and hide again, using the energy to boost his power and have a better chance to get back to his lab and release 17 and 18; as he knows just how risky is to unleash 17 and 18, he decides to try and drain everyone to become stronger than Vegeta, and gets the drop on Piccolo, and would have succeeded picking off everyone one by one had it not been for Piccolo's telepathy (that he didn't know of); once Piccolo's combat experience allows him to get the upper hand after eating a senzu (for starters, Piccolo had powered down before Gero got him, so he couldn't get enough energy to overcome the Namekian), he reverts to the plan of unleashing 17 and 18, and takes advantage of Bulma showing up to create himself an opening and run, while still draining Krillin for a further boost when he comes too close.
  • In Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, while it didn't do much, it took some serious stones for Bulma to slap Beerus (despite Beerus being so powerful that Vegeta was willing to degrade himself for the Earth's safety).
  • Back in the original series, the pirates who once lived near the area where the Kame House now is are made of awesome, even after having long died out. Their base is a submarine cave that nobody could find until a Dragon Ball materialized inside and Bulma had the Dragon Radar to lead her... And she still didn't find the main entrance. The base is also protected by traps that are simple as they're effective, with Blue's platoon being casually slaughtered by the first one of a secondary entrance. And if you managed to reach the base proper and their submarine port you had to deal with the security robot, with a powerful right arm with a formidable sword in his right, a machine gun built in his left with a flamethrower under it, a tail that delivers electric shocks, armor tough enough to shrug off repeated attacks from Goku and Krillin and being ran over by a fuel truck that then exploded, and rocket boots that allow it to run on water and dodge cannon fire at point blank (Bulma and Krillin tried just that. The robot did a Flash Step). It would have killed Goku, Krillin, and Bulma had Blue not helped by removing the rock that had smashed Goku's tail, and even then it was close and it took Goku punching it with a fall to increase the strength of his attack to finally break through its armor.
  • The Crane Hermit has one at the 22nd Tenkaichi, when he annoys Bad Lunch enough she opens fire with a Uzi... And he proceeds to catch all the bullets, two magazines worth of them. Effortlessly. Then he tells her and Bulma to remind Muten to arrange for his pupils' funerals and left.
    • When Lunch tries to attack Chaiotzu with a sledgehammer, Crane Hermit effortlessly blocks it with a finger, then sends her flying by extending the finger.
    • He and Roshi have a combined one in their flashback to Master Mutaito's death. They are faced up with hundreds of King Piccolo's minions like Tambourine and Drum, which had killed the rest of their fellow students. And they defeat them all. Sure it took everything they had, and King Piccolo arrives and wrecks them anyway, but considering how much trouble even one gave to the Z fighters, it shows how dangerous they were even without the years of experience they have now.
  • Chilled gets one in that he bothered to investigate under disguise how two of his men were defeated instead of going in with guns blazing.
    • He also shrugs off a blow from a blood-lusted base Bardock and then responds with a kick so hard that Bardock can't even get up. Showing again that Frieza's species ruled the galaxy because they were just that powerful.
  • Zarbon has two, one for each of his battles with Vegeta:
    • In the first Vegeta comes fresh from his easy victory against Dodoria, and Zarbon, while putting up a better fight than his cohort, is clearly outmatched... Then, with all the calm in the world, he announces he can easily increase his power well beyond Vegeta's by transforming, and that he had not done so in years because the transformation makes him ugly. Vegeta obviously laughs and calls his bluff... Then Zarbon transforms and mauls him. The only reason Vegeta survives is that he fell into the water and Zarbon didn't want to get wet and left him for dead long enough for Frieza to point out they need him alive. And while he may have not made Vegeta cry like Frieza, he made him scream his lungs out in terror.
    • In the second battle Vegeta's strength has increased thanks to a zenkai... And Zarbon holds his own without transforming. Then he transforms, and Vegeta is sure to win... And discovers that Zarbon is still the stronger one, if slightly, forcing Vegeta to rely on his superior battle experience to come out on top. And even when weakened by a blast in the low back and a rabbit punch, he still puts up a decent fight, at least at first.
  • Babidi's minion Yakon fed on light, and thanks to this he did something nobody else had ever done before or after him: he literally ate Goku's Super Saiyan state. And then he asked for more. He exploded when he tried to eat Goku's Super Saiyan 2 state, but he still ate his power-up.
  • Dabura, the King of the Demon World, was feared by the East Kaioshin... And every time he did something, he proved just why:
    • When Babidi ordered him to kill Kibito, Krillin, and Piccolo to lure Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, and the Kaioshin in his spaceship, he charged in, obliterated Kibito with a single attack-and likely started from him due to his healing powers, and then spit on Piccolo and Krillin before retreating, leaving the two to turn into stone. At this point, his opponents had to come in, as the only way to restore his victims was to kill him.
    • Upon finally realizing just how powerful his opponents are, Dabura asks Babidi to send him, as he's sure he'll be able to take them down immediately... And before going to fight he takes the time for a Meditation Powerup, because he already underestimated them once and he realizes he could be doing it again. That actually saves his life, as he had underestimated them again...
    • Dabura versus Gohan. Gohan had gone rusty, but was still a match for Cell... and Dabura matched him blow for blow, before starting to get the upper hand by outsmarting his opponent and using his superior skills. Stone spit, magical weapons, materialization, magical illusions, magical flame breath, all of it was fair game. Their struggle over the sword suggested that SS2 Gohan was actually the stronger of the two by a noticeable amount, marking this as one of the times where a weaker fighter won (or at least would have, had the fight not been interrupted).
    • During the fight he heard Vegeta ranting about how much time Gohan was wasting and that he was in a hurry to finally settle the score with Goku. What did he do? Why, he retreated to inform Babidi that one of their opponents could be turned into a Majin. Thus Majin Vegeta was born, getting all the energy to revive Majin Buu without bothering to fight himself anymore.
    • When Majin Buu was revived he initially underestimated him. Then Buu schooled him... And Dabura immediately realized that he would eventually turn on Babidi and hit him with everything he had, purely to defend his master. After getting taken down with one hit by Buu the first time they 'fought', he entered the fray in their next bout by sneakily attacking him off guard with a magical spear, putting a hole in the Majin (unfortunately for him, Buu could regenerate even if his Stone Wall durability was overwhelmed, but that certainly would have killed Majin Vegeta or Gohan). It ended with him turned into a cookie and eaten, but there are worse ways to die than fighting an unstoppable evil.
  • Goku's desire for a fair, one-on-one fight is a major character trait, but Raditz strikes such fear into Goku's heart that he agrees to team up with his archnemesis Piccolo and resorts to some underhanded tactics in order to beat him.
    • Even if he ends up thoroughly outclassed by his Saiyan superiors, Raditz makes quite a good first impression: seeking out the two strongest beings on the planet and scaring the wits out of them both, and revealing himself to be an even more bloodthirsty, ruthless villain than King Piccolo. The entire previous arc showed the significant gap between Goku, Piccolo, and the rest of the cast, and yet Raditz wipes the floor with them both. If it weren't for the Makankosappo (Special Beam Cannon), they likely would have been easily defeated.
    • One easily forgotten part is that he outsmarted Piccolo: Piccolo initially bet everything on Raditz being weakened by having his tail pulled, not knowing Raditz could have easily cut it and recovered his strength at any moment, but rather than doing it he played it up and talked Goku into stopping pulling to have them and Goku show their trump card and not lose his Great Ape form unless absolutely necessary. The only reason he died is that Goku remembered that during the fight and held him in a full nelson for the Makankosappo knowing he'd die too.


Alternative Title(s): Dragon Ball Z

Top