Rank the Series Main Antagonists

[Hellspawn28]

DB:

Piccolo Daimao/Piccolo - It's hard to pick just one since they where both great villains. Piccolo Daimao was a sinister villain that took over the Earth and kill thousands of people under his wrath. Daimao's backstory was well told and his show down with Goku was pretty epic. Piccolo was a good villain too since he was just as evil as his father and the idea of Daimao putting his soul into son was pretty cool too.

Emperor Pilaf - Our first villain in the series and I do find Pilaf to be a fun character. It's fun to see Pilaf try to get the Dragon Balls and fail doing so. Pilaf was the Team Rocket of Dragon Ball before Team Rocket even exist.

Commander Red - Never care for him that much. I guess Commander Red has the classic cheesy 60's Bond villain feel to him but I find him to be meh at best. I do find him to be one of the weakest main villains in the manga.

DBZ:

Cell - Cell is probably my favorite villain in DBZ. His personally was cool since I do like his overall cocky personality that his Perfect form had. Cell act like that he was the ultimate life form in the Universe while he was not. His motivation on absorbing #17 and #18 was pretty clever since he wanted to absorb those two in order to become perfect. Cell pretty much wanted to become a god and didn't want anyone to stand in his way. If Cell had kill everyone in DBZ then he would travel across the Universe to fight other opponents and become stronger so no one would have out match him.

Freeza - Freeza was a great villain. I like that he was run a major empire across the galaxy. Freeza was a darker and more evil version of Piccolo Daimao in my opinion. Freeza took every that I love about Piccolo Daimao and made it even better. What else can be said about Freeza that can not be said?

Beerus - I love everything about him. He had a cool design, good personality and was a very fun villain. I also like that Beerus did not transform since I felt like transformations in the DBZ movies and DBZ in general felt over redundant in my opinion.

Vegeta - Vegeta was a pretty good villain in my opinion. I do think that Vegeta in the Saiyan saga is my favorite version of Vegeta. I love his dark personality and that he care more about his pride over anything else. He was so dark and sick that he killed Nappa for losing against Goku. Vegeta was not scared of doing anything no matter how risky it was. He even wanted to blow up the whole Planet just to kill Goku.

Buu - Buu is the weakest written villain in DBZ but I still like him. I thought the build up for Buu was nicely done since there was a lot of suspense to his character and Toriyama did a great job on giving his viewers of their sense of imagination on what Buu will look like. Everyone thought Buu would look like this big evil looking demon and Toriyama surprise us with a big pink fat creature with a brain of a three year old. I also like how each form of Buu has their own personality. Fat Buu is a big child that loves candy, Super Buu was pretty much a rehash of Cell and Kid Buu was a wild crazy animal. I say Buuhan and Kid Buu are my favorite forms of Buu. I like Kid Buu for being a total batshit crazy animal that blows up everything in his path. Buuhan was a likeable villain and I wish he was around longer.

GT:

Bebi - Bebi is probably the only villain in GT that was good. He had a back story and personality while the other villains in GT never did. While he is not the most original villain, he is better then Super Yi Xing Long and Super 17 when it comes to character development.

Super Yi Xing Long (Omega Shenron) - He has a really cool looking design but he sucks overall as a character. His character was so boring since he has no personality and no clear motivation. He shows up out of nowhere with no build up unlike characters like Cell and Buu which had good build up to their appearances. If he wants to destroy the universe then won't he die too if Dende's life force is connected to the Dragon Balls? Super Yi Xing Long is pretty much the generic doomsday villain and there's even Scooby Doo villains that have more personality then him.

Super 17 - The worst villain GT in my opinion. While Super 17 has a great villain design but I think the whole idea behind Super 17 is terrible. Why not just create a original villain then just making a stronger version of #17? How does make two #17 fusing into one become stronger then both Cell and Buuhan? Super 17 has no personality to him and has no motivation. He turn his back on Dr. Myuu and Gero, so what else he could have done if he killed Goku? Go back to his normal life as #17 or just kill everyone on Earth since he never wanted to rule the world? Just thinking about Super 17 hurts my brain. Super 17 is easily one of the most unoriginal villains in the series in my opinion.

Movies:

- Janemba: He may have no character development, but he is a guilty pleasure to me. I like Janemba a lot because he has a great design and he was a enjoyable villain to watch. He caused Otherworld into utter chaos and broke out Hell on Earth just for his personal fun and games. He was a crazy villain that threw everything out of balance for lulz. I wish he had more character development.

- Beerus: I love everything about him. He had a cool design, good personality and was a very fun villain. I hope he has a major role in Revival of F then just a cameo. I also like that Beerus did not transform since I felt like transformations in the DBZ movies felt over redundant in my opinion.

- Janemba: He may have no character development, but he is a guilty pleasure to me. I like Janemba a lot because he has a great design and he was a enjoyable villain to watch. He caused Otherworld into utter chaos and broke out Hell on Earth just for his personal fun and games. He was a crazy villain that threw everything out of balance for lulz. It's a shame that his fight with Gogeta was so short and it was not a decent battle like it was with Vegito vs. Buu.

- Hirudegarn: I always liked Hirudegarn because he was a giant monster which is something DBZ rarely has. I always liked his back story with Tapion and was overall a neat villain in the series. I wish he didn't die from a attack that came out of nowhere.

- Dr. Uiro (Dr. Wheelo): I always like Dr. Uiro because I always find him unique out of the other DBZ villains we had. He stands out from the other movie villains and he hardly has any fans. I like Dr. Uiro for his unique design and he had a cool backstory. I like his goal to put his brain into the ultimate body and modified the human race into cyber mutants his science (Funny to think that Dr. Myuu from GT was a rehash until now). I also liked that we never saw his original human body and made you think what his original life was like.

- Garlic Jr.: His saga may sucked but I like him as a character in DBZ Movie 1. He was the first villain to be immortal, he was defeated by someone else other then Goku and I like his backstory with Kami. Garlic Jr was a fun villain with a cool backstory and I think more people would like him if his saga never sucked.

- Coola: He may been a water down version of his brother but I find Coola fun. If he had proper development then he would have been a good villain like his brother was. His 5th form is one of the coolest villain designs in the series in my opinion.

- Tullece: Tullece was hit or miss for me. I like the idea to show what Goku could have been if he never hit his head but I wish he was freshen out more in the movie. I find him pretty forgettable and I sometimes forget that he exist.

- Broli: Broli would have been a good villain if they was written better. I never cared for him because he had very little character development to the point that it makes me wonder what people even like about him. They could have explore into his past and shown why he went crazy but instead we found out that he went crazy because Goku was crying too loud next to him. Movie 10 Broli is even worst since he screams the same world over and over again.

- Bojack: I like the idea of a space pirate gang but the idea was poorly done. Bojack felt like another typical DBZ bad guy and would become predictable at a point where you know that he is going to transform into a super buff up form that we seen before with other DBZ villains. I remember he wanted to take over the Earth and that was it. I also found his back story to make nonsense since how was King Kai able to stop him if King Kai is weaker then Nappa?

- Aka: I think Kado and Abo together are fun but Aka himself is pretty boring. He is just a fusion of two other characters that form into one bigger character. I give them credit for not killing him off since he is the first movie/special villain that didn't get killed off since Garlic Jr.

- Metal Coola: Just a water down version of Cyber Freeza. Nothing too special about him other then he is a sliver metallic repaint of his 4th form and he can adapt to on whatever kills him the first time.

- Chilled: Just a boring version of Freeza. Next please!

- Super 13: I never liked Super 13 at all. I find his character design silly and his design feels like he was design from a DBZ fan that was a 10 year old. He also felt like a poor man's version of Cell too in my opinion.

- Lord Slug: Just a poor rehash of Piccolo Daimao.

- Dr. Raichi/Hatchiyack: I put them both on the list together since they both sucked in my opinion. Dr. Raichi hating the Saiyans was hardly fresh out and Hatchiyack is just another typical DBZ villain. I can see why fans hardly talk about Hatchiyack since he is nothing special at all.

- Bio Broli: What I can say about him that has not been said? I think Bio Broli is probably the most hated character in the franchise. I rarely see fans say nice things about him and I think he has little to no merchandise at all. He has yet to appear in any DBZ games outside of Heroes.

I will do my overall ranking later.

[jcogginsa]

Omega Shenron gets a pass on the Generic Doomsday Villain thing, at least to me. He's made of evil, literally

[Hellspawn28]

Yeah but he has zero personality. Cell, Freeza and Buu where fun villains while Super Yi Xing Long was just boring.

[HG-Project]

Did this for my own interests, but I'll chime in~

1. Freeza: Ruthless, cold-blooded, intelligent, and relationship-savvy. Thus, he is capable of managing a working mega empire. He’s different from other villains in that he is more of a commander than the others who go solo for the most part. What makes him stand out is that he’s powerful and influential enough to consistently be active in carrying out his goals through intimidation, manipulation, and sheer force. He definitely got shit done till Goku came along. A universe conquered under a guy like this? Scary.

2. King Piccolo: He actually has a degree of compassion, albeit small, but they’re mainly towards his minions or those he can relate to like you know, your usual murderers and criminals. He does a lot of fucked up things like deciding to make it an amusing game of destroying towns via a lottery system. His entire success in putting humanity at his feet brought on about a bleak and hopeless atmosphere early on in the series when the protags were much weaker too, so that felt more profound as well. While he has no reservations in taking blunt action, he can be quite perceptive and learn his way out of a possible problem. Even on the verge of death, he chose to spit out a reincarnation so that his will would be carried on.

3. Baby: Revenge is ugly and Baby sure does make it ugly. He has a clear, narrow-minded, “us vs them” mentality and is convinced that anything that went wrong (a long, long time ago) has everything to do with Saiyans. It’s like a black and white world for him where Tuffles are good and Saiyans and non-Tuffles are bad; his ideas really remind me of the ugly views of race supremacist groups. What’s more, not only does he decide to make those with Saiyan blood fight and try to kill each other, he decides to take over prince Vegeta, who is essentially the last symbol of the Saiyan race, and makes him into a Tuffle. That’s really fucked up in hindsight. Baby also completely disregards the damage that his own race has inflicted on the Saiyans and possible things that the Tuffles themselves could have done to lead to their demise. Basically, he is this ball of hatred, self-righteousness, inability to relate to “the others,” and the inability to let go of his past that makes him unlikeable yet unfortunately, very reflective of our own human follies.

4. Miira and Towa combo: I don’t know exactly what these two are up to but deciding to manipulate the natural order of things such as time which is already a no-no, as well as performing casual experiments on multiple beings that they encounter--especially strong ones that they can take advantage of for their cause implies a lot about their mentality. They’re also not too shabby in terms of intelligence and abilities as well, so I presume that they’ve had quite a bit of success in fulfilling their goals, at least up to this point?

5. Cell: Basically a “chameleon” villain. Has no purpose, other than fulfilling a perfectionism ocd, which was programmed into him. A hodgepodge of various characters, he's able to go from a cunning, sneaky villain type to more of one who prefers using brute force. While he's personally one of my least favorite characters (and symbolizes my least favorite arc), Cell wanting to actively show off his perfect form via the cell games and his degree of sophistication in interacting with others made him pretty interesting.

6. The Saiyain trio: Very ruthless and bloodthirsty, but that’s supposedly in their nature, so unsure if I should be seeing them as villains. Also, in the case of Raditz, he didn’t hesitate to kill his own brother and Vegeta, he showed no trepidations in killing his main comrade, when Goku and Nappa no longer served their interests. Yet when I look at the dynamics of Bardock and Gine with their offspring, as well as Vegeta with his, I’m not sure if I should chalk all this up to the nature or even social norms of Saiyains. Also, Vegeta revealing his ordeal of being in this sort of a twisted Stolkholm syndrome with Freeza while secretly hoping to take him down someday instantly transformed him into an anti-hero figure in my eyes.

7. Majin Buu: Is Buu really a villain? I mean, yes, he turns people into food and eats them and destroys entire cities, but at the same time, he’s mainly been manipulated under Babidi and as impatient and trigger-happy he is, he's generally easy to manage, especially in his good form. He can actually be befriended and has no qualms about just chilling and doing nothing if he feels like it. His whole irrational and childish nature also makes him lose credibility as a villain with a concrete goal of doing evil. Even in his pure Kid form, he’s more akin to a wild and unpredictable rampaging animal that you kind of want to steer clear away from until the right time comes along for you to subdue it. Having said that, I actually really like Buu as a standalone character; he’s very fun.

[Deathbringer]

I like them all but if I had to rank them:
1. Freeza - He plays a very important role in the backstory of the whole series, when he was defeated the series should have just ended like it was going to because it really felt like the end. When he came back as a robot I was annoyed because I thought he was gonna become the main villain again for another arc but his death at the hands of Trunks is an amazing way to kick off the Android arc and I hope Fukkatsu no F doesn't kill him off because it won't be as good of a death as his original one.

2. Vegeta - Has a very well done character arc that lasts from the moment he's introduced all the way until when he blows himself up, he's integrated so well into the main group of characters you barely notice it when it happens during the Namek arc, also when he sacrifices himself it's such a well done moment and his inner struggle with being very proud of his dead race but also still expecting to be the strongest and then coming to terms with that makes him a well written character as well.

3. Majin Boo - Also has a great character arc, his friendship with Mr Satan was probably one of the best thing about the whole story arc as well. Not to mention that he's so funny I love his chocolate beam as well. Super Boo was also threatening and brought a lot of humor, his human extinction attack looks so awesome when he does it as well and Kid Boo looks so cool I love his design and when he has a manic smile on his face.

4. Piccolo Daimao - Taopaipai was the first villain who felt like he was much stronger than Goku and was actually evil...but since he's not the MAIN antagonist of the Red Ribbon Army story arc then I choose Piccolo who actually was also pretty awesome, he has a great story involving the history of both Kame Sennin and God and he killed Shenron which truly shocked me because I didn't even think that was possible

5. Cell - I've seen a lot of people call him boring, and now that I think about it he didn't have much of a personality but he made up for it in having an incredibly threatening on-screen presence, imperfect Cell was very creepy, semi-perfect cell was...actually very boring...but perfect cell was great because instead of just blowing up Earth and having that be it he decided to challenge the strongest fighters on Earth because being perfect is pretty boring if you can't fuck with people, but then he overestimates himself by never considering that there might be someone stronger than him, eventually leading to SSJ2 Gohan and that beautiful one handed massive Kamehameha, some of the best moments in the series, his extreme pompousness actually meant that he sort of did have a personality now that I think about it...

6. Android 17 & Android 18 - Their character design was just so...realistic, they had an uncanny valley feeling just from their eyes alone. Also they turned planet Earth into their own sinister playground for over a decade (in a separate timeline, but it still counts) Even though I don't really understand why 18 gave Kuririn a peck on the cheek it still lead to a nice relationship even though it's not given enough development and the reader/viewer is supposed to fill in the gaps (just like with every couple in DB)

7. Piccolo Jr. - His fight with Goku was so brutal I love it, he feels like a re-hash and a cop out of a character at first (so he's just Piccolo again...? Okay.) But the best part of Piccolo is when he eventually questions his true feelings and begins to wonder why he fights and what he lives for, at the same time he becomes a mentor to Gohan and a father figure to the son of the man he hates, so in the end he finally lets go of his past and realises that he and his father are two separate people and from then on he has a much better existence and finds peace within himself.

8. Emperor Pilaf - Just for the pure comedy value, he really was quite funny and it was great to see him come back in Battle of Gods (which reminds me that I've forgotten to put Beerus on here, so I'm just gonna say that this is a manga characters only list)

9. Red Ribbon Army - I'm not sure if the entire organisation counts as one antagonist but I love the Ninja Murasaki fight it's one of the funniest parts of Dragon Ball, also the RRA are basically the reason why we even have Cell (I seriously love that fact, I don't know why but just the fact that they get brought back into plot relevance with the darkest story arc of Dragon Ball I really like)

10. Tenshinhan - He was only a villain for a short time but he left an impact, he might not be my favourite villain but he's actually my favourite character and it's mostly because he's such a badass and an asshole in his own story arc, he breaks Yamcha's leg when he's already down, but he does it from about 300 feet so it's badass. But just like Piccolo Jr he eventually comes to find that it's not who he really is and he doesn't really want to be Tsuru Sennin's puppet anymore, and his fight with Tao was slightly emotional but he learns to put the past behind him forever after that fight. (Chaotzu doesn't really count as a villain since he was basically just there as Tenshinhan's dopey friend who only leaves the Crane school because Ten left (or does he even notice that they're both not part of the crane school anymore?))

[fadeddreams5]

I'm not going to include villains turned good because...eh. My top 10:

1. Frieza - He's the quintessential villain. His aristocratic and sadistic demeanor; his relevancy to the story; his transformations; his status as an actual space conqueror/overlord, as opposed to someone committing crimes to attain this position in the first place; and his fears motivating his actions make this villain stand up wayyyy above all the others, imo.

2. Cell - Cell has the greatest first appearance of any DB villain ever. They slowly build it up, and when he appears, it's like something out of a horror movie. As he achieves his goals, he becomes more and more like a common villain, but he still stands out. Unlike Frieza, who claimed he was the greatest, but more than likely feared a stronger warrior overthrowing him (i.e. self-doubts), Cell really truly believes he is perfect in every way.

He doesn't care about destroying the universe, ruling anything, or accomplishing Gero's goals; all he desires is to test his abilities. Nothing is more important to him than showing others his "perfection." The dude is an ego-trip who would love to fight Beerus, Buu, and all the SSJs in existence, unlike Frieza. His one fear is probably being proved wrong; having reality strike him and seeing first-hand that he's not the greatest. Son Gohan gave him that. The guy...he didn't take it too well.

Besides this, he's also the coolest looking villain in the entire series, imo. Lastly, he has a plethora of moves, and he essentially possesses the powers of anybody relevant in the series up until that point.

3. Kid Buu - I love him. He's a psychotic, planet-busting machine. A mischievous child with no authority to tell him "no." Simplicity at its finest, but he also brings humor to the table.

4. Super/Evil Buu - ...all the Buus are like different people. Anyways, Super Buu is like a grown up Kid Buu with SOME form of sense, but still not quite therel. I like him, but I prefer the erratic nature of his chibi form more.

5. Beerus - Very likable character, but I feel he's extremely overrated in this community as an antagonist. That said, when I compare him to all the villains not listed above, it's hard to argue he doesn't belong in the Top 5, much to my shock. He personality is lovely, his position as a God of Destruction is cool, the respect he garners is funny, and so on. Feels fresh and original compared to every other movie villain. =P

6. Broly - Despite the hate this character gets, he is the most memorable movie villain in the history of DB. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be as popular as he is. This character is the catalyst for sooooo many fanart designs in MULTIPLE mediums. Lets face it, LSSJ Broly looks completely badass. And, of course, he is an evil SSJ, which gives him more brownie points. Lastly, he has a completely demented personality. I truly believe many fanfiction characters were born out of this guy, and now we have people labeling HIM as a fanfictiony character instead. Really, Broly's main flaw is his awful backstory and lack of personality in his "stable" state. I can envision him being recreated into a more respectable character. Unfortunately, that was never the case, and instead, we got two sequels that further messed with the characterization of the legendary super saiyan. Shame.

7. King Piccolo - The original major DB villain. Well, he had an imposing presence in his arc and was the most traditional form of evil you could get. What stands out about him besides his status as first real major world-threatening villain are his over-the-top moments. This is a guy who's not afraid of yelling out, "I'm doing this...because I'M EVIL! BWAHAHA!"

8. Dr. Gero - I find this character fascinating and feel he could have easily been #1 on this list. Because of his own ambitions and Goku's conflict with the RRA, this man lost everything. Imagine, he might have been a reputable scientist, but when his connections with the RRA were revealed after their downfall, it's possible he lost that prestige, his wealth, his support, and, likely, even his son (16). Likely driven insane, he dedicated the rest of his life trying to find fault in someone and ruining their life. It just so happens that person turned out to be Goku. This is a character who wouldn't need to fight to defeat the Z-warriors, but could continue creating beings like Cell or pitting the cast in strange and extreme situations. Who doesn't like an evil Mad Scientist?

That all said, none of what I wrote actually occurred in the series. We just know he wanted revenge cause of Goku's actions against the RRA, he created Androids that caused Armageddon in a future time period, they killed him, and that's... it. Another waste, but I place him here because of his backstory, relevance, and what could have been.

9. Janemba - I loooooooooooooooooooove the Fat Janemba. <33333 That said, he had little screen time and was quickly replaced by a humorless Kid Buu clone (albeit, a wicked cool looking one). His abilities are among the most unique in the series too. I would place him (fatty) as #1, but that's too biased.

10. Cooler - He's just... cool. No really, that's all I have for this guy. Besides being Frieza's cooler brother, not much stands out about him, but that alone puts him at #10 for me.

None of the other movie villains, besides the ones mentioned above, are memorable in the slightest. GT villains are all horrifically lame, though I'd probably put Baby as #11 for his backstory and abilities. Omega Shenron looks and sounds cool...that's it. Super 17 is straight out of an Android 17 fanboy's fanfiction.

[EXBadguy]

I also have a top ten.

Series:
1. Cell (should've been the final boss of the series. He's every villain in one!)
2. Frieza (a CLOSE second)
3. King Piccolo
4. Super Buu
5. Syn/Omega Shenron
6. Android 17 and Super 17(TIE!)
7. Vegeta
8. Baby Vegeta (excluding his ugly second form)
9. Tao
10. Fat Buu

Movies:
1. Cooler
2. Broly
3. Janemba
4. Beerus
5. Android 13 (though I had mixed feelings about his fusion form's personality)
6. Hirudegarn
7. Slug
8. Dr Wheelo
9. Garlic Jr
10. Bojack (I like him, but he's somewhat a Broly wannabe)

[MajinMan]

Manga

1. Freeza
2. Buu
3. Piccolo Daimao
4. Cell
5. Pilaf
6. Red Ribbon

I'm not going to include Vegeta, Majunior, or Tenshinhan because they all become good guys. Jackie Chun isn't an enemy.

Movies

1. Beerus
2. Janemba
3. Cooler
4. Tullece
5. Broly
6. Hirudegarn
7. Garlic Jr.
8. Wheelo
9. Bojack
10. Android 13
11. Lord Slug
12. Those original Dragon Ball movie villians (Vampire and that fat monster thing)
13. Bio-Broly


Beerus is by far the best movie villian and it's not even close. He has so much more personality and is really likable.

GT

1. Omega
2. Baby
3. Super 17

They're all pretty bland except for Baby but I just find him boring so I put him at #2.

[Attitudefan]

I'll rank them all together, as the manga is one single continuous series:

1. Freeza - The most villainous out of them all. He's a true leader with realistic intentions. He has a sociopathic nature, and is a narcissist. Gotta love to hate him! Plus, he controls like the who galaxy the characters live in. Damn. Oh, and he's not some hybrid or god. He is just a bad dude with blue blood and a big ego.
2. Piccolo Daimao - A demon at heart and has swagger about him that makes you just want to see him get beat finally. He also defeated Goku, killing him for a few seconds, killed Shenron in some of the most "Holy Cow!!" unexpected moments in the whole series that had never been done before he showed up.
3. Vegeta - to me, he is still a villain in the Freeza arc, so I'm rating him based on that too. As a big bad in his respective arc, he gets almost all the Z-fighters killed without even moving, since he gets Nappa to do it all for him. He defeats Goku and takes the Genki-Dama head on and still has fight left. His arc is one big fight and it never gets boring! On Namek, he's out for himself and keeps the search for the Dragonballs from being one sided and almost succeeds in his goal! His death ended his villainous story arc, and in my opinion, he should have remained dead. A fitting end for villainous Vegeta.
4. Piccolo Jr - He's a clone of his father, but prefers not to rule everything, but be the best. He loves the challenge and to train. He has some of the best fights in the series (vs Raditz, vs Krillin, vs Goku, vs Shen)
5. Red Ribbon Army (Red/Black) - while Red would be considered the main antagonist, he really wasn't it was the army itself. If I considered Red or Black to be the main antagonist, I would have to do the same for Blue, Raditz, and many others. The Army was defeated when Black was removed. It had such a great build up, where a swerve happened between Red and Black as Goku is minutes away to confront them. The army was a great story arc villain with a balance of humor and comedy in the mix.
6. Beerus - Can't say much about him yet. His design is cool and his laid back personality is a bit frightening in hindsight. I need more material to rate him properly.
7. Boo - I actually dig Boo a lot. His fat form was okay, but his Super form is what gets him above Cell and the others. He was so unpredictable and it making him unique. Unlike most of the other villains, Boo is probably the only villain that wasn't that intelligent (Pilaf doesn't qualify because he is a gag villain, so his comparison with Boo is irrelevant). Thus, the protagonists never had dealt with a villain like Boo! He also caused mass extinction since he is the only villain that actually acts on his desires instead of talking. "If you're gonna shoot, shoot. Don't talk!" What hurts his character is how in the end, he felt like a Freeza/Cell/Piccolo clone. His regeneration and transformation abilities were a tired trope by this point since the main villains since Piccolo could regenerate and transform; it stopped becoming a shock value, and more like the author had nothing creative left. Hence Boo's low position on the list
8. Cell - Really just a Freeza/Piccolo clone. He isn't unique. His personalty is a toned down Freeza. He transforms like Freeza, has a smaller form that looks creepy, to a big buff form, and then his white face form. Freeza knock off who had nothing but "I want to be the strongest". For a protagonist, that's fine, but Cell is doing what the protagonists are doing, and that's boring. Cell tries to be too edgy and cool but it comes off as bland. His final fight with Gohan is also really dull. Nothing happens except standing around and gloating, then a beam struggle. Yawn. Compared to the other villains, he's a cheap rip off, with abilities that weren't unique in the least. (I also think the reasoning for him being stronger than Freeza is bull shit! Some random scientist made machines stronger than alien beings he never seen?? Um, WHAT? Freeza never recovered with the fan base after that; yet somehow Vegeta can get stronger than Freeza! That is a big Fuck You to the audience)
9. Pilaf - Gag villain. He's awesome and hilarious, but comparing him to the rest would be like comparing apples and oranges. You can't. However, he was so close in taking out the protagonists, but Goku transformed and gave Pilaf a hilariously hard time!

Tenshinhan, Baba, and Jackie Chun, while by definition they are antagonists for their respective arcs, I feel they are not the MAIN villain. Otherwise, Raditz, the Ginyus, etc. would all have to be on the list since they all have their own arcs as well.

1. Freeza: Ruthless, cold-blooded, intelligent, and relationship-savvy. Thus, he is capable of managing a working mega empire. He’s different from other villains in that he is more of a commander than the others who go solo for the most part. What makes him stand out is that he’s powerful and influential enough to consistently be active in carrying out his goals through intimidation, manipulation, and sheer force. He definitely got shit done till Goku came along. A universe conquered under a guy like this? Scary.

2. King Piccolo: He actually has a degree of compassion, albeit small, but they’re mainly towards his minions or those he can relate to like you know, your usual murderers and criminals. He does a lot of fucked up things like deciding to make it an amusing game of destroying towns via a lottery system. His entire success in putting humanity at his feet brought on about a bleak and hopeless atmosphere early on in the series when the protags were much weaker too, so that felt more profound as well. While he has no reservations in taking blunt action, he can be quite perceptive and learn his way out of a possible problem. Even on the verge of death, he chose to spit out a reincarnation so that his will would be carried on.

6. The Saiyain trio: Very ruthless and bloodthirsty, but that’s supposedly in their nature, so unsure if I should be seeing them as villains. Also, in the case of Raditz, he didn’t hesitate to kill his own brother and Vegeta, he showed no trepidations in killing his main comrade, when Goku and Nappa no longer served their interests. Yet when I look at the dynamics of Bardock and Gine with their offspring, as well as Vegeta with his, I’m not sure if I should chalk all this up to the nature or even social norms of Saiyains. Also, Vegeta revealing his ordeal of being in this sort of a twisted Stolkholm syndrome with Freeza while secretly hoping to take him down someday instantly transformed him into an anti-hero figure in my eyes.

7. Majin Buu: Is Buu really a villain? I mean, yes, he turns people into food and eats them and destroys entire cities, but at the same time, he’s mainly been manipulated under Babidi and as impatient and trigger-happy he is, he's generally easy to manage, especially in his good form. He can actually be befriended and has no qualms about just chilling and doing nothing if he feels like it. His whole irrational and childish nature also makes him lose credibility as a villain with a concrete goal of doing evil. Even in his pure Kid form, he’s more akin to a wild and unpredictable rampaging animal that you kind of want to steer clear away from until the right time comes along for you to subdue it. Having said that, I actually really like Buu as a standalone character; he’s very fun.

I think you put it better than I did. I wholeheartedly agree, especially with your opinion on Freeza and the Saiyans

[ssjjanemba]

Canon dbz
1.Freeza and cell
2.Vegeta
3. majin buu
4.tao pai pai
5. androids 18 and 19
6. king piccolo