- Demon King Piccolo is the evil expelled side of Kami, who led a chaotic rampage on earth centuries ago. He was sealed away by Roshi's master, with Kami crafting the titular orbs to create hope in the aftermath. He's freed by Pilaf in the modern day, and uses the Dragon Balls to restore his youth before proceeding to Take Over the World and engulf the planet in pandemonium once again.
- However, as King Piccolo didn't arrive until the very end of the original series, there wasn't a villain for a majority of its run—or, at least, no villains that were actually major threats. Instead, there were a series of Big Bad Wannabes:
- Emperor Pilaf is the villain of the first arc, chasing after the Dragon Balls. He's incredibly pathetic, and while he comes close to killing Goku once and gets his hands on the titular orbs numerous times throughout the series he only gets less and less competent.
- Commander Red of the Red Ribbon Army sees himself as commanding an army that can take over the world, and hunts down the Dragon Balls... so he can become taller. He is brought down almost singlehandedly by Goku, and is killed by Officer Black when he learns the real reason why Red wanted the Dragon Balls. Officer Black himself, while the Hypercompetent Sidekick to Red, is killed by Goku within minutes of taking command.
- Master Shen wants to avenge his brother Mercenary Tao in the 22nd World Martial Tournament, with Tien Shinhan as his Dragon-in-Chief. However, he doesn't enter the tournament himself, and Tien isn't all that evil. When Tien goes against his master's cheating ways Roshi quickly blasts Shen out of the stadium with a Kamehameha. He and Tao return for revenge for the 23nd World Martial Tournament, but are utterly outmatched before getting chased off.
- After Goku kills King Piccolo, his son/reincarnation Piccolo Jr. strikes out for revenge, challenging Goku during the 23nd World Martial Tournament and serving as the Final Boss of the original series.
- However, as King Piccolo didn't arrive until the very end of the original series, there wasn't a villain for a majority of its run—or, at least, no villains that were actually major threats. Instead, there were a series of Big Bad Wannabes:
- The Saiyan Saga: Vegeta, who comes to Earth looking for the Dragon Balls so he can attain immortality and overthrow Frieza. Nappa serves as The Dragon, while Goku's brother Raditz is the opening antagonist who is quickly killed.
- The Namek Saga: Frieza, who rules the Planet Trade Organization and wiped out the rest of the Saiyans. He comes to Planet Namek and begins a genocide of the populace so he can find their planet's Dragon Balls, also seeking immortality. He's initially in a Big Bad Ensemble with Vegeta but far outclasses the prince, and his fight with Goku is one of the longest in the series.
- The Android Saga: Cell, the ultimate creation of Dr. Gero who time traveled from an alternate future so he could absorb Androids 17 and 18 to achieve perfection. Gero himself, a former member of the Red Ribbon Army seeking revenge, is set up as the monster that will destroy the world by Future Trunks, but proves to be a Big Bad Wannabe killed by 17 and 18 after he releases them. The two of them, while quickly establishing themselves as legitimate threats and the actual cause of Trunks' time traveling, are absorbed by Cell to reach his perfect form, Cell subsequently setting up the Cell Games to fight for the fate of the world.
- The Majin Buu Saga: The titular Majin Buu, an Eldritch Abomination released as the Dragon-in-Chief for Babidi, before killing the evil sorcerer and going on a rampage. Buu's first form, Fat Buu, is Obliviously Evil and pulls a Heel–Face Turn with the help of Mister Satan; his next form, Super Buu (created by Fat Buu expelling and getting absorbed by his evil), is a pure Sadist who absorbs or kills everyone on Earth; and his final form, Kid Buu, is an Omnicidal Maniac that just wants to destroy everything.
Dragon Ball Super (manga and anime)
- God Of Destruction Beerus Arc (and the movie Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods): The titular Beerus, a God of Destruction who comes to Earth looking for the Super Saiyan God, and who Goku and Vegeta try to appease so he doesn't destroy the Earth. While certainly dangerous, he's not actually evil—it's his job to destroy worlds, and in any event Goku isn't strong enough to beat him if he had decided to go through with doing so to Earth.
- Golden Frieza Arc (and the movie Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F'): Frieza, having been resurrected by the remnants of his empire with the Dragon Balls and returning for revenge, gaining a new powerful form to do so.
- Universe 6 Arc: Champa, Beerus' Universe 6 God of Destruction counterpart and brother, who organizes the tournament with Universe 7. He doesn't fight in the tournament himself, with Hit as his universe's champion.
- Future Trunks Arc: Goku Black, the being who destroyed Future Trunks' timeline. However, it's thrown into question if he's actually the mastermind of the genocide or just a puppet for Zamasu, a prodigy Kai with a distaste for mortals. His true identity is the original incarnation of the present timeline's version of Zamasu, having recruited Future Zamasu in a Big Bad Duumvirate. The two eventually fuse and become an Eldritch Abomination spanning the future multiverse, intending to remake everything into his own image.
- Universal Survival Arc: The main antagonist is arguably Universe 11's champion, Jiren. While both Present and Future Zeno orchestrated the Tournament of Power, Jiren himself is the tournament's strongest contestant, outclassing even his universe's God of Destruction, and while he's technically a Hero Antagonist he starts crossing lines when he begins struggling.
- Dragon Ball Super: Broly: The movie initially starts with a Big Bad Duumvirate between Frieza and Paragus, a Saiyan who wants revenge after King Vegeta banished his incredibly powerful son, Broly. Broly has a huge dose of Adaptational Heroism and is forced into being the Dragon-in-Chief, but Paragus loses control of him and can only watch in horror as Broly rampages against Goku and Vegeta while growing more and more unhinged. Broly officially upstages the two after Frieza kills Paragus, unlocking Broly's Legendary Super Saiyan form but further maddening him and leading to the Saiyan tossing the tyrant around like a ragdoll.
- Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga: Moro, a powerful wizard who drained life from entire planets and was imprisoned by the Galactic Patrol. Upon escaping he heads to Namek for their Dragon Balls, frees the other Galactic Patrol prisoners, and invades Earth.
- Granolah the Survivor Saga: Granolah, the last survivor of a race wiped out by the Saiyans on behalf of Frieza. He uses the Cerealian Dragon Balls to make himself the strongest warrior in the universe so he can get revenge on the tyrant, but is instead directed towards Goku and Vegeta by the Heeters, information-broker partners of Frieza with more malevolent plans.
- Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero: Magenta, the CEO of Red Pharmaceuticals and the son of Commander Red who desires to revive the Red Ribbon Army. Right before he dies, as a latch ditch effort to kill the Z-Fighters, he unleashes Cell Max, a kaiju-sized clone of Cell who serves as the film's Final Boss.
- The Black Star Dragon Ball saga has Dr. Myuu, being behind the majority of villains faced in this arc.
- The Baby saga starts off with Dr. Myuu as the Big Bad, though he is quickly disposed of by his creation, Baby. Who is actually a creation of the Tuffles to get revenge of the Saiyans and Dr. Myuu's creator.
- The Super 17 saga has a Big Bad Duumvirate of Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu, although both of them are eventually usurped by Super 17.
- The Shadow Dragon saga has the Shadow Dragons, especially Syn Shenron who later absorbs the Dragon Balls and transforms into Omega Shenron.
Movies
- Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone has Garlic Jr., who seeks to kill Kami as a means of avenging his father, who was passed up for the position as God of Earth and banished to the Dead Zone. He's also the Big Bad of his own filler saga in the anime, where he tries to take over Earth by unleashing the Black Water Mist and turning its population into mindless, raving beasts.
- Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest has Dr. Wheelo, a Mad Scientist who seeks the body of the world's strongest man to claim as his own, leading him to kidnap Master Roshi before switching is focus to Goku.
- Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might has Turles, a rogue Saiyan who comes to Earth to plant the Tree of Might, which will suck the life out of the planet.
- Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug has Lord Slug, an Expy of King Piccolo who invades Earth to gather the Dragon Balls and regain his youth before setting out to conquer it.
- Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge has Frieza's older brother, Cooler, who sets out to kill Goku and destroy Earth after hearing of Frieza's demise at his hands
- Dragonball Z The Return Of Cooler sees Cooler survive his apparent death and fuse with the Big Getty Star; invading New Namek and systematically destroying its population, with the intention of doing the same to Earth and the rest of the galaxy.
- Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! has the titular Android 13, another Android that was created by Gero and completed by his computer long after his death sent to kill Goku.
- Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan at first has Paragus, a Saiyan warrior who intends on killing Vegeta and start his own Saiyan empire as revenge for his father nearly killing him and his son, though he's quickly disposed of by said son, Broly, the murderous Legendary Super Saiyan obsessed with killing Goku, as well as everything else he sees.
- Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound has the Space Pirate Bojack, who invades Earth with the intent of conquering it.
- Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming has Broly, again, having survived his previous encounter with the Z-Fighters and arrives on Earth, this time targeting Goten.
- Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly has a gross, blob monster clone of Broly created by Lord Jaguar, Bio-Broly, who goes on a rampage.
- Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn has Janemba, a demon created after a young oni broke Hell's Soul Cleansing Machine and was enveloped in the evil from countless mortal souls.
- Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon has Hirudegarn, an ancient being of pure evil unleashed onto Earth by Hoi.
- Dragonball Evolution: King Piccolo, an evil Namekian seeking out the seven Dragon Balls so he may wish for eternal youth, then destroy the human race.
OVAs
- Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku: Frieza, unsurprisingly, who Bardock futilely attempts to stop from destroying the entire Saiyan race.
- Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks: Androids 17 and 18, who have brought ruin upon Earth and who Trunks attempts to defeat before having to go back in time and prevent his bleak future from ever coming to light.
- Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans: Mr. Lychee, a long dead Truffle scientist seeking to kill the last remaining Saiyans for destroying his race. He uses his creation, Hatchiyack, to unleash Destron Gas to weaken the Z-Fighters and resurrect their fallen enemies before using his hatred to transform it into the ultimate warrior and kill them.
- Dragon Ball – Episode of Bardock: Chilled, Frieza's distant ancestor who attacks Planet Plant, leaving Bardock to defend it.
Video Games
- Given that most games adapt the events of Dragon Ball Z, they tend to have a Big Bad Ensemble consisting of Vegeta, Frieza, Cell, and Buu.
- Dragon Ball Xenoverse: Demigra, who aims to destroy history and create a new one where he can reign freely as a God of Time.
- Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2: Mira and Towa continue to mess with time. However, Mira betrays Towa towards the end, absorbing both her and the egg of Tokitoki in order to reach a new powerful form without limit. The Extra Story Mode reveals Dabura to be the true main villain of the game; the Demon God sealed within the Crack of Time who's been secretly manipulating Mira and Towa into messing with history in order to weaken his prison, allowing him to break free and remake the universe in his own image.
- Dragon Ball: Fusions: Frieza and Cell, who manipulate Pinich into joining teams with them and undertaking an Ultra-Fusion, allowing them to fuse into a being with enough power to destroy the universe.
- Dragon Ball Fighter Z has Android 21, an android programmed to have a strong need to feed on strong warriors. Her goal is to capture all the Z-Warriors, turn them into a giant feast of power for herself, then explore the universe to eat in an attempt to satisfy her endless hunger.
