The Dragon Ball franchise gives us a whole host of sociopaths.
- For a small-time villain, Commander Red is probably the first true sociopath in the series. He sends scores of his men to their deaths searching for the Dragon Balls all for his own vanity.note When Officer Black calls him out on this, he sees nothing wrong with throwing away people's lives to get what he wants. He also regularly executes his men for small offenses without batting an eye.
- Mercenary Tao. He's utterly cruel and merciless, has no qualms against killing women and children for money, takes open pride in being a Psycho for Hire, and as stated by Master Roshi, has nothing resembling empathy or a conscience.
- Great Demon King Piccolo, fittingly since he is Kami's evil given life. He cares for nothing outside of himself, and takes great delight in causing pain and suffering to humanity just cause he can. Although he treats his children well, he still sees them as minions and them getting killed is more a matter of his pride being hurt then him really caring about them.
- To the extent that they can be judged by human standards, most of the Saiyans meet all the criteria of true sociopaths: they are violent, ruthless, insensitive, egocentric, petty, self-centered, extremely proud, and have poor impulse control. However, this seems to be a merely cultural thing on the part of the race, since both Vegeta and Tarble have shown traits of kindness.
- And while on the subject of Vegeta, he was like this before Character Development kicked in. Unlike the other Saiyans shown in the series who have some care towards their kinsmen, Vegeta didn't give a damn about anyone except himself. He dismisses reviving Raditz for being weak and personally murdered Nappa who was asking for his help. He also tries to slowly crush Goku to death as a Great Ape and then tries to kill Goku in front of his son. On Namek, he's confused about why Dende won't heal him, despite the fact that he personally killed an entire village of Namekians for their Dragon Ball (which he actually laughs about later), and doesn't understand why anyone would want to help him since he knows that he's an asshole. That's not even getting into how he treated Future Trunks, who he physically and mentally abused. It takes a lot of Humiliation Congas, Break the Haughty, Laser-Guided Karma, and both a Death Equals Redemption and a Redemption Equals Death before he finally pulls a Heel–Face Turn.
- Frieza carries all the traits of a classic, narcissistic psychopath/sociopath. He is utterly incapable of empathy or remorse, manipulates others with a smile, impulsive and tends to do things without thinking, incredibly sadistic and violent, and is driven by staggering arrogance and never takes responsibility for his actions nor does he learn from his mistakes. In the Universe Survival Arc, he teams up with the Z-Fighters and continues to be just as ruthless and sociopathic as ever, but more pragmatic and calculating. Truth in Television: Highly functional sociopaths are able to be pragmatic and support causes for selfish reasons. Sure, he took a lot of Humiliation Congas over the years to even become remotely respectful towards the Z-Fighters at the end of the Universe Survival Arc, and in the film immediately following it we see that he is still hell-bent on killing them and willing to sink to any underhanded low to do it.
- The Androids 17 and 18 from Trunks' timeline. They see the entire world as their personal playground to terrorize and kill people and they revel on it. The only reason Gohan and Trunks lasted as long as they did was because 17 and 18 spared them so they could continue playing with them as much as possible.
- Cell only cares for people that he can absorb, manipulate, or fight, and he loves to see faces contorted in despair. Although he shows a lot of admiration towards Dr. Gero, it's more of an ego stroke towards himself since he sees Gero as being brilliance for creating him, the perfect being. He also takes delight given detail about how he returned to life after his failed self-destruction and mocks Goku's death, in front of his family and friends.
- Babidi is a low-functioning example. He doesn't care about anyone else, loves the pains he inflicts, and throws his minions under the bus when he doesn't need them. He's also very impatient and doesn't think things through, which leads to his demise.
- Super Buu is on par with Frieza in how sadistic he is. His sociopathy seems to grow as it absorbs warriors, especially when he absorbs Piccolo. He has different strategies to cause physical and psychological pain to other beings.
- The Saiyan Turles is violent, ruthless, shows no kind of empathy or compassion for his victims, and shows sadism by enjoying hurting others.
- Frieza's U6 counterpart, Frost, is almost as bad. He shows no remorse or empathy about starting wars that kill millions and then plays hero before selling the planets he destroys for profit, making him a classic Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. He uses his Nice Guy facade to gain powerful supporters for his cause like the Saiyans and uses his resources to help the children of the people he indirectly murdered. He even tries to manipulate the God of Destruction to his cause, who was completely fooled by Frost's entire act. To top it all off, when he is caught, he brags about what he has done, all with a smug smile on his face. In many ways, he's more dangerous than Frieza since he rules through charm instead of fear. The only things that make him better than Frieza are the fact that he's not insane and knows when to call it quits, is not a Sadist and prefers to avoid dragging things out and actually finishing fights, and actually has some concept of honor, given that when he thought the assassin Hit would kill him he surrendered with only a quiet curse, whereas Frieza would have tried to blow the planet up they were on out of spite.
- Beerus in many ways can be classified as a high-functioning sociopath with impulse issues. He cares for little outside of his own wants and thinks nothing of the lives of mortals since he was willing to destroy the Earth just to force Goku to unleash more of his power as a Super Saiyan God. He lies and manipulates others like his entire deal with Monaka, to try to bring out other people's abilities. He also needs constant stimulation when he's awake, otherwise he will grow bored and destroy more planets than he needs to for petty reasons. Part of the reason why he searches for a Super Saiyan God to fight is because he's bored since he hasn't had a real challenge in a long time. He also thinks a lot of himself since he is a god and can basically do whatever he wants, something he constantly reminds Whis of. Finally, it's questionable if Beerus really cares for anyone given that he treats the closest thing he has to a friend as a servant who he regularly bosses around, and his friendship towards Goku and Vegeta is anything but equal. He treats Vegeta as an errand boy and he mocks Goku for wanting to save the fighters from U6 from Champa, pointing out how powerless Goku actually is compared to the gods and he should remember his place. This is on top of him being extremely impulsive. He will destroy planets and solar systems over the smallest things, and he will kill those he considered his friends and allies if things don't go his way. With all that said, unlike most characters in Dragon Ball, Beerus' sociopathy doesn't necessarily mean that he's an evil person. Just someone with a complicated moral code.
- From what we've seen of Champa, he seems to be the same high-functioning sociopath as Beerus, although his impulse issues are not nearly as bad. He care for little outside his own wants, thinks his team are nothing but pawns to the gods, and treats Vados even worse than Beerus treats Whis. He was also ready to kill his entire team for the shame of losing to U7 and he did this all while gloating with an Evil Laugh. However, much like Beerus, being a sociopath doesn't make him necessarily evil, but gives him a complicated moral code since he does show some level of care when he hears that Frost is fighting to help children, and he's disturbed and angry when he learns that Frost is really an underground planet broker. But he then turns around and promises to support Frost if he defeats Vegeta, since he really wants to beat Beerus during the tournament, although he doesn't care when Frost loses. But any sort of friendship at all is seemingly beyond Champa, not even the tenuous and unequal sort that Beerus has formed with Whis and Goku.
- Zamasu. He shows no empathy toward others, not even his own fellow gods, given that he is willing to commit mass murder of mortals and even kill his own master to further his plan. After becoming a complete zealot in his beliefs, he continues to act as the dutiful student to Gawasu so he can gain knowledge about the Super Dragon Balls and kill Gawasu without him suspecting anything. He also has a grandiose sense of self-worth, especially his future counterpart who sees himself as a 'true god' after gaining immortality, since he believes that he's doing the god's justice and all his evil acts are justified.
- Goku Black. He is openly psychotic and enjoys the death and destruction he spreads, has a grandiose opinion of himself as his unveiling of Super Saiyan Rosé lays bare and he sees himself as a 'true god' after murdering all the other gods in the universes, a staggering Lack of Empathy for those he kills, like murdering Goku who was trapped in his old body in front of his wife and child before killing them in cold blood and, at least in the manga, growing bored when there is no one left to satisfy his Blood Knight nature. Which all makes sense since Goku Black is an alternative version of Present Zamasu who has many of the same sociopathic characteristics.
- Barry Khan is a high-functioning example; he possesses a superficial charm and charisma that masks a total inability to feel empathy for others; takes amusement in watching those less fortunate than himself cower in fear by threatening their livelihoods and futures, an utter lack of conscience, to the extent of being willing to ruin marriages and kidnap innocent children over jilted love. Barry would be just as dangerous as Frieza if only he was more powerful and Watagashi possessing him made him just that.
- Quitela of Universe 4. After Universe 9's erasure, almost every God is seen with an anxious or horrified expression. Except for Quitela, who is seen with an eager smile, and whose very lies are likely the reason the Universe was erased so quickly in the first place. While most Gods have sociopathic tendencies as part of their job, he seems to be the most overt about it. When Universe 10 gets erased, he does an even worse smirk and even laughs as that other universe is erased.
- The original incarnation of Broly is a textbook low-functioning sociopath. He is completely incapable of experiencing empathy, incredibly sadistic, destroys and kills everything in his path and possesses almost nonexistent impulse control. The Super incarnation... not so much.
- Moro has all the traits of a classic sociopath. He's utterly devoid of empathy or remorse-viewing others as either fuel for his powers or tools to be used and discarded-incredibly arrogant, highly intelligent and charismatic.
