Summary

• Dragon Ball villains are insanely powerful, capable of destroying planets, and range from maniacal destroyers to rational beings with absurd power.
• Top wields the power of Destruction as a competitor in the Tournament of Power, making him nearly unstoppable against Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta.
• Buu has phenomenal power and infinite potential due to his ability to absorb opponents.

The Dragon Ball franchise features some incredibly powerful heroes, and as a result, those heroes often find themselves going up against some wildly powerful and dangerous villains. Even the least of these villains is capable of destroying planets, so it's clear that they really mean business.

Dragon Ball's strongest villains can vary in their motivations and reasoning. Many of them are maniacal villains who delight in destruction, but others are much more reserved and rational. Their absurd power can even dwarf that possessed by Goku and Vegeta, in spite of the awesome power that those two have come to wield over the years. Here are 10 of the strongest villains ever to face down Dragon Ball's Saiyan heroes, ranked by their overall power.

15 Majin Vegeta Wiped Out Hundreds

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Z, "The Dark Prince Returns"

Majin Vegeta is a transformation which Vegeta undergoes when he teams up with the wizard Babidi, who drew out the evil in Vegeta's heart, giving him a massive boost in power that allowed him to maintain Super Saiyan status indefinitely. Majin Vegeta has a seemingly limitless supply of stamina, and can rapidly heal from injuries. He battles with the power of Super Saiyan 2 at his disposal, making him an exceptionally difficult opponent for Goku to fight. Majin Vegeta eventually sees the error of his ways and opts at the last moment to attempt a suicide attack to stop Buu.

While Vegeta has grown more powerful than this by far over the years, this form represents the most powerful Vegeta ever was as a villain. Vegeta eventually returned to normal after his death, but maintained the power growth that this form provided.

14 King Piccolo Changed the Game in Dragon Ball

First Appearance: Dragon Ball, "Enter King Piccolo"

King Piccolo was one of the biggest villains in the original Dragon Ball, and his appearance on the scene marked the point where the show became a lot less comedic and more action-focused. One of King Piccolo's first acts was to kill Krillin, and things only went downhill from there. He even managed to defeat Goku at one point, forcing the young Saiyan to retreat. King Piccolo is clever, powerful, and ruthless, but his arrogance is his biggest downfall. King Piccolo was particularly dangerous for his ability to generate children from eggs, who were quite powerful villains in their own right.

King Piccolo's evil plans came very far along, and he nearly managed to conquer the Earth, something that few of these other villains proved capable of. While King Piccolo would be no match for Goku today, his power at the time was utterly overwhelming.

13 Androids 17 & 18 Laid Waste to the Earth

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Z, "Nightmare Comes True"

The Androids 17 and 18 are rare among Dragon Ball villains in that they actually managed to destroy a major chunk of the Earth, at least in an alternate timeline. Created by the evil Dr. Gero of the Red Ribbon Army, Androids 17 and 18 were created with little purpose other than revenge on Goku, and to cause as much chaos as possible. As Androids, 17 and 18 possess effectively limitless stamina, allowing them to fight indefinitely and wear their opponents down through sheer exhaustion.

While each is formidable on their own, Androids 17 and 18 are most dangerous when they're together. 17 is said to be slightly stronger than 18, but their combined power is on a level all its own. Like Vegeta, they became much stronger after ceasing their evil ways.

12 Cell MAX Needed a New Level of Power

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

Cell MAX is the final villain seen in the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie, and is an attempt by the Red Ribbon Army to recreate Cell in gigantic form. Unlike Cell, who was intelligent and clever, Cell MAX behaves in an animalistic fashion, emerging in a berserk rage that threatens all around him. Cell MAX resembles Semi-Perfect Cell, but is largely red in color, in contrast to Cell's green. Cell MAX is far more powerful than Cell ever was, however, and if it weren't for Piccolo's ascension to Orange Piccolo and Gohan's unlocking of his Beast mode, it may not have been possible to defeat him, even with Goku and Vegeta's help.

Cell MAX is ultimately completely destroyed by Beast Gohan, triggering his self-destruct mechanism and wiping out the entire Red Ribbon Army base.

11 Granolah Wished to Be the Universe's Strongest

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Super manga, chapter 67, "Happy Endings... And Then..."

Granolah is a Cerealian, the last of his kind, and works as a bounty hunter for a group of planet brokers known as the Heeters. Granolah carries a major grudge against Frieza, as well as the Saiyan race, who were responsible for wiping out the rest of the Cerealians. Granolah wishes upon the Cerealian Dragon Balls to become the strongest warrior in the universe, at the cost of his lifespan being reduced to just three years. Granolah engaged Goku and Vegeta in combat, looking for revenge, and forced them to use their most powerful techniques, Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego, in order to stand their ground against him.

Granolah was ultimately defeated when the Heeters betrayed him, wishing for one of their own, Gas, to become the strongest in the universe. Granolah ended up working together with Goku and Vegeta, able to set his grudge aside after viewing the truth of his own survival in the past.

10 Top Wields the Power of a God

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Super, "Even the Universes' Gods are Appalled?! The Lose-and-Perish Tournament of Power"

Top was a competitor in the Tournament of Power from Universe 11, and happens to be the next candidate for God of Destruction in his home universe. As such, Top wields the power of Destruction, one of the strongest forces in the Dragon Ball multiverse. As one of the few mortals capable of handling this power, Top is already setting a high bar, and he eventually breaks out this ability in the Tournament of Power, becoming nearly unstoppable.

Top proved to be an extremely difficult opponent in the Tournament of Power, knocking out numerous competitors on his own and battling against even the likes of Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta and Android 17 without breaking a sweat. While Vegeta eventually defeated Top, it was a hard-fought battle, and Top was one of the last competitors to be eliminated.

9 Cell Already Destroyed One World

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Z, "The Reunion"

Cell comes from the future, where he was unable to obtain his perfect form after destroying the world, using Bulma's time machine to go back in time to a past where Androids 17 and 18 still existed. A bio-android made up of DNA from Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, and Frieza, among others, Cell is an incredibly powerful opponent, no matter what state he's in.

Upon consuming 17 and 18, he becomes Perfect Cell. Perfect Cell's main weakness is his arrogance, believing himself to be the world's most superior life form and even putting on the Cell Games to prove it to the world before destroying them. While Cell never destroys an entire planet, there's plenty of reason to think he's capable of doing so, should he want to, given his power exceeds even that of Frieza.

8 Buu Destroyed the Earth for Fun

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Z, "Buu is Hatched"

Buu is a Majin, or demon person, a magical being who wields tremendous power. Like Cell, Buu undergoes a number of transformations, with the most dangerous being "Super Buu," the version of Buu which split into good and evil halves, but had the evil half reabsorb the good half, hijacking his power for his own. This version of Buu delights in destruction, and wiped out the Earth, leaving only a handful of survivors who escaped, including Mr. Satan.

As one of the few villains to have succeeded in destroying the Earth, Buu's phenomenal power can't be overstated. It took a spirit bomb comprising the energy of nearly every human on Earth to finally defeat him, a feat the likes of which has never been matched. His ability to absorb opponents means that his potential power is seemingly limitless.

7 Moro Fights With Ancient Magic

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Super manga, chapter 43, "ing the Galactic Patrol!"

Moro is a villain who never appears in the Dragon Ball Super anime, instead only showing up in the manga, in an arc set after the Tournament of Power. Moro is an ancient evil, like Buu, and first appears as an elderly being with a goat-like appearance. However, Moro is able to regain his youth by absorbing energy from planets like New Namek, using a dark and ancient magic which only he can practice.

Moro stands out among Dragon Ball villains for not fighting primarily with martial arts, but instead using his magic, although he does begin to see the appeal of martial arts as the story goes on. Moro destroys several planets on his quest to regain his youth after escaping from the Galactic Patrol, and fully intended to destroy Earth as well, had Goku not stood in his way. Despite his power, he was quite cowardly when faced with his own destruction.

6 Jiren is The Multiverse's Toughest Competitor

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Super, "The Universes Go Into Action, Each With Their Own Motives"

Another character from Universe 11, Jiren was unquestionably the strongest competitor in the Tournament of Power, so dangerous that no one dared to take him on until the tournament was nearing its end. Jiren's power exceeds that of his teammate, Top, even in spite of the Destroyer power that Top wields.

While Jiren isn't really a villain, and is in fact something of a hero in his home universe, his participation in the Tournament of Power meant that he had to be treated as such by Universe 7's warriors. Jiren was able to easily defeat Goku in Super Saiyan Blue, and even held up as Goku triggered Ultra Instinct for the first time, itself a technique of the gods. Jiren ultimately had to be brought down by the teamwork of Goku, Frieza, and Android 17, proving too much to handle for any one combatant.