Just how powerful was Future Gohan?

[SSJGoku93]

I suppose the main discrepancy is the different ways he is portrayed within the manga and in the anime. Because of this, his true strength seems to be the subject of heavy debate. So, I'm wondering what you guys personally think? Let's go over a few of the facts...

In "Dragon Ball, Trunks The Story, The Lone Warrior" we see Gohan only very briefly, and he is never actually portrayed fighting. Just prior to his death, No. 17 states that he only used "half his power in the last fight". To which we see a shocked Gohan's face, and it cuts to three years later.

In Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks, Gohan is shown fighting two times. We see him engage No. 17 in battle, and he quickly seems to gain the upper-hand, causing No. 18 to step in. With the two Artificial Humans teaming up on Gohan, Trunks rushes in to "save him", but it ends up being the other way around, as Gohan has to protect Trunks, and in doing so is heavily injured. He proceeds to lose his arm etc. etc. Now, going by the Saiyan healing method after near death, one can infer he received a power up after making a recovery. When he takes on the Artificial Humans again sometime later, despite only fighting with one arm, he is able to hold his own for a few minutes (even overpowering both of them in a beam struggle), but is eventually overwhelmed, knocked down into the streets, and killed outright by a hail of energy blasts.

So, his level of strength as said has always been debatable. In the manga, we do not see him fight but it appears he was killed with ease. In the anime, he puts up a valiant effort but loses in the end.
Basing this on my own personal opinion, he was portrayed as far stronger in the anime than in the manga.

In the anime, Trunks clearly tells Goku that the Artificial Humans are more powerful than him, and we see Trunks get completely dominated by Future No. 17 and 18, but he easily takes down Freeza and King Cold (it is unknown if he trained within this period before traveling back in time). He also uses a blade to slay Freeza, which makes it a bit more difficult to estimate. However, he effortlessly shakes off Freeza's most powerful ki attacks, and of course, easily kills Cold. However, when he tests Goku, it is difficult to tell the difference in their powers because Trunks uses his sword. The way I see it, if Trunks dominates Freeza and his father, but is dominated by No. 17 and No. 18 of the future (in which Future Gohan puts up a much better fight), it's obvious to me, at least in the anime, that Future Gohan was more powerful than Trunks was when he battled Freeza etc. Comparing Future Gohan to Goku is a bit more of a challenge, but because he would appear to have been superior to Trunks, one can infer he was more powerful than Super Saiyan Goku was on Namek, but that is pure speculation.

So what are your thoughts? Sorry that was such a long explanation, but had to get the point across!

[Kendamu]

There was never an actual decent "measuring stick" event to show us that. In both the anime and manga, years had passed between future Gohan being killed and future Trunks going back in time. Before Gohan's death, we can assume that Gohan was more powerful. After that, there's absolutely nothing to compare it to because #17 and #18 don't fight the same way or have the same motives in the present as they do in the future. Also, unlike the future, Piccolo makes a decision that quickly puts himself on par with the likes of #17 and #18 in terms of raw strength.

If I were to venture a guess, I'd say future Gohan was about as powerful as Super Saiyan Vegeta at the time he lost to #18, but that's pure speculation.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

I always took Gohan's statement (Creating his gi so he could become as powerful as Goku was before the disease overcame him) as a way of measuring his power. I think he's stronger than Goku was on namek, but less than Goku was when he arrived from yardrat.

[Rocketman]

Future Gohan was weaker than Goku on Namek.

I base this on Gohan saying he wore the orange gi so he could be as strong as his dad before he died.

Also, this Gohan has had no training since the five months before the Saiyans, he's never exploited his anger boosts, never used high gravity, and hasn't had anyone to spar with until Trunks grew up, and Trunks is so weak that one-armed base Gohan can block all his Super Saiyan attacks.

[Kendamu]

I would say that Gohan was somewhere in between when Goku was on Namek and when he came back to Earth. He died after he got back to Earth so Gohan had likely seen his strength before the virus got him. Pure speculation, but maybe he was about Trunks' strength when Trunks killed Freeza.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

Most often place Future Trunks on-par with Future Gohan. Some also place Trunks on-par with Super Saiyan Goku on namek due to Gohan's statement on Trunks having the "same Chi" as Goku.

No way to truly tell, though. Trunks trained and thought he gained enough power to beat the Androids, but was shown to be wrong. I doubt he'd be weaker than Gohan by this point, but if the Androids held-back a ton, he could very well be less than Gohan.

[Miracles]

Future Gohan was weaker than Goku on Namek..

IIRC the Androids were said to be more powerful than Freeza.

[Perfect]

If I were to take a rough guess, I'd say he's probably around Vegeta or Goku in the present time line.

[Godo]

IIRC the Androids were said to be more powerful than Freeza.

Yeah, Trunks said that compared to Freeza, the Androids were much more horrible opponents.
But you can also take your statement in this regard:

Goku's battle power at Namek was 150,000,000
Freeza's battle power at Namek was 120,000,000
Gohan's battle power was at max 135,000,000
The Android's battle powers were at half only 125,000,000 and at max 250,000,000

So it adds up if you take it that way.

Most often place Future Trunks on-par with Future Gohan. Some also place Trunks on-par with Super Saiyan Goku on namek due to Gohan's statement on Trunks having the "same Chi" as Goku.

I think that the "same Chi" statement also can be interpreted with not only the amount, but rather the signature. Giving that the SSJ aura is yellow, the ki can be characteristically definable in that state. At least I think so.

But when it comes to what I personally think, I'll demonstrate it with battle powers that I think would fit the most:

1) SSJ Goku at Namek: 150,000,000
2) 100% Freeza at Namek: 120,000,000
3) SSJ Future Gohan: 135,000,000
4) SSJ Future Trunks (14): 40,000,000
5) SSJ Future Trunks (16 or 17?): 130,000,000
6) SSJ Future Trunks at Earth: 150,000,000
7) SSJ Goku at Earth: 175,000,000
8) Android 17 (future): 140,000,000 (half power); 280,000,000 full power
9) Android 18 (future): 135,000,000 (half power); 270,000,000 full power
10) Android 17 (present): 340,000,000 full power
11) Android 18 (present): 320,000,000 full power
12) Kuririn (present) 2,000,000,000 [pimp level]

Explanation:

1) Stated in the Daizenshuu
2) Stated in the Daizenshuu
3) Not as strong as Goku, but stronger than Freeza
4) Weaker by a good amount than Gohan
5) Not as strong as Gohan yet, so the only hope is the time machine
6) At least as strong as Goku at Namek, with the sword as an advantage and the element of surprise
7) Stronger after a year on Yadrat, had the upper hand over Trunks
8) Rivaled Gohan at half power, owned him at full power
9) Rivaled Gohan at half power, owned him at full power
10 and 11) Tougher to defeat than the future Androids, Trunks claimed that he could go one-on-one with them, but they may have goofed around with him. Worst case scenario, they are as strong as in the future.
12) He got Android 18, right?

Remember that these powerlevels are not meant to be exact, but rather by estimation. Feel free to give your thoughts!

[Kaboom]

10 and 11) Tougher to defeat than the future Androids, Trunks claimed that he could go one-on-one with them, but they may have goofed around with him. Worst case scenario, they are as strong as in the future.

I tend to think the Androids in each timeline are exactly the same in power. I mean, there's no reason for them not to be, and that only produces more questions. The only perceivable difference between them is in personality, which is probably where Trunks got the impression that the 'prime' ones were somehow stronger. That being because the Androids in his timeline are bored and tend to play around with their victims, like when they let Gohan think he had a chance before announcing their true superiority and swiftly killing him.

If they did the same thing with Trunks (but haven't gotten around to the "reveal and kill" part), then, like Gohan, he'd definitely think they're weaker than they actually are. There's actually dialogue supporting this when Trunks returns to the future; 18 is annoyed and asks if it's okay to kill him now, and 17 allows it, only lamenting that they'll lose their source of entertainment. So it seems they had been repeating the same cruel process with Trunks as they did with Gohan.

The Daizenshuu says the prime Androids are stronger, but it seems that's only because they took Trunks' word for it. But look even just a tiny bit deeper, and it's not necessarily the case.

[Kingdom Heartless]

tend to think the Androids in each timeline are exactly the same in power. I mean, there's no reason for them not to be, and that only produces more questions. The only perceivable difference between them is in personality, which is probably where Trunks got the impression that the 'prime' ones were somehow stronger. That being because the Androids in his timeline are bored and tend to play around with their victims, like when they let Gohan think he had a chance before announcing their true superiority and swiftly killing him.

Considering all the other differences that occured between timelines, I don't really doubt that their power was different.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

I think that the "same Chi" statement also can be interpreted with not only the amount, but rather the signature. Giving that the SSJ aura is yellow, the ki can be characteristically definable in that state. At least I think so.

I share the same opinion.

Herms even said the translation leaves it up to the reader. He told me the original dialogue's quote on Krillin's statement regarding the Ginyu Force (Jheese and Butta) posessing the same amount of Chi as Reacoom is different in comparison to Gohan's quote used when comparing Trunks's Chi to Goku's.

Even before that, I often thought he was referring to the feel of a Super Saiyan. When Base Trunks powered-up after slashing through Freeza's henchmen, the only thing stated was that a "huge Chi appeared", but no one thought it was Goku at that point. If he were exactly equal to Goku on namek, in all likelihood he would have the same exact Base power, also.

I honestly believe Trunks is above namek Goku, but that's just my opinion. Btw, didn't #17 skool Gohan with "less than half" of his full-power? I remember reading that from Trunks side-story in the Manga. Or perhaps I misread?

[Kaboom]

Considering all the other differences that occured between timelines, I don't really doubt that their power was different.

Still begs the question of "why" though, since most differences between timelines wouldn't have any effect on how the two were designed. A lot of stuff DID happen differently, like Trunks' interference, Goku not dying, everyone training... But Gero stopped keeping track of the heroes once they left for Namek, so their actions wouldn't influence him. The spy-robots did keep track, but they were only responsible for Cell.

[Kingdom Heartless]

I'd say the "Why" is simply that it worked better for the story to have them train like nuts and then end up against enemies much stronger than even Trunks thought possible.

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

One theory is that, in the original time line, Dr. Gero didn't need to activate #17 and #18 until a much later date (since he presumably wasn't chased back to his laboratory by any Super Vegeta ), so he had more time to tweak their power. It was said that their high power made them disobedient, so he was most likely lowering their power to make them mellow out.

[Senzu_Bean]

Right before Trunks goes fighting the Artificial Humans Bulma says even though Trunks got a lot stronger there isn't real a difference between him and Gohan. That is enough for me to place Trunks pretty much equal to Gohan, which wasn't actually a match to #17 holding back more than half of his power. This lead me to agree with Kaboom's view, that the Artificial Humans of both timelines are pretty much identical in power and have been playing with Trunks too, like they did with Gohan.

Regarding Gohan's power he wishes to be as strong as his father was thus the reason why he wears his Gi. Before the RoSaT training is introduced all three Super Saiyans are pretty much exactly in power, stated by Piccolo when he doubts Goku is going to make a difference against the Artificial Humans when Vegeta and Trunks, that are probably as strong as him, didn't do nothing against them.

[Rocketman]

Before the RoSaT training is introduced all three Super Saiyans are pretty much exactly in power, stated by Piccolo when he doubts Goku is going to make a difference against the Artificial Humans when Vegeta and Trunks, that are probably as strong as him, didn't do nothing against them.

Goku and Vegeta are roughly equal, Trunks lags quite a bit behind. Vegeta fights better and longer with one arm broken than Trunks does.

[Senzu_Bean]

Before the RoSaT training is introduced all three Super Saiyans are pretty much exactly in power, stated by Piccolo when he doubts Goku is going to make a difference against the Artificial Humans when Vegeta and Trunks, that are probably as strong as him, didn't do nothing against them.

Goku and Vegeta are roughly equal, Trunks lags quite a bit behind. Vegeta fights better and longer with one arm broken than Trunks does.

I do not agree. The fact is Piccolo says they are all pretty much the same or if I'm not mistaken he actually says he doubts Goku will do any good cause Trunks and Vegeta are probably stronger than him. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

When did Piccolo say this? Right after the Android battle? Or when they were chasing Cell?

I do recall Tien stating something along the lines of: "We have to face the facts! Goku is powerful! But he's not so different from Trunks or Vegeta", or something like this.

Is that it? If anything, Kami's statement seems to imply that Trunks is accepted as more powerful than Vegeta, even though we know that's not correct.

[Senzu_Bean]

Right after they are all beat up by the Artificial Humans. And what does exactly Kami says?