Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball works tirelessly to surpass shonen series expectations and remain relevant in the face of new modern classics. Dragon Ball is even more popular today than when it first premiered and the exaggerated heights of the series’ latest battles continue to excite fans. There are many different reasons to love Dragon Ball, but it’s these fateful fights that frequently receive the most attention.
Most of Dragon Ball’s greatest moments are analogous to grandiose battles between good and evil. That being said, not all the series’ fights stick their landing and there are some that prove to be pointless or crumble under their own weight without anything being accomplished.
10 Gotenks Vs. Super Buu
An unfortunate pattern that audiences come to expect with Dragon Ball villains is that any early encounters will be rendered irrelevant after the enemy undergoes multiple transformations before they reach peak strength, at which point Goku typically delivers the finishing blow. Dragon Ball Z spends a tremendous amount of time on Goten and Trunks’ mastery of fusion so that Gotenks can take out Super Buu.
Gotenks achieves Super Saiyan 3, but this battle just becomes a fancy way for the series to run the clock. Gotenks debuts some incredibly creative techniques, but it proves to all be for naught after he gets absorbed by Buu, like so many other heroes.
9 Tien, Yamcha & Chiaotzu Vs. The Ginyu-Less Ginyu Force
Filler is often viewed as a necessary evil in long-running shonen anime and Dragon Ball has a mixed reception when it comes to its various filler sagas. Some of the Dragon Ball’s filler stalls time and doesn’t contribute much to the grander narrative, but it can also relate in satisfying battles like Goku’s participation in the Other World Tournament.
There’s a lot of excitement around Tien, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu’s encounter with the Ginyu Force on King Kai’s Planet, even if it contradicts certain details about the afterlife. This fight is admittedly satisfying, but it lacks impact because the heroes aren’t any stronger afterward.
8 Fit Buu Vs. Goku
Martial arts competitions are a regular occurrence in Dragon Ball, but none contain the stakes of the multiversal battle royale, the Tournament of Power. Goku goes above and beyond when it comes to his recruitment of the strongest warriors fit to represent the universe.
Buu takes this responsibility to heart and his dedicated training results in a svelte makeover where he sheds what was apparently a form of fat. This is followed by a fun sparring session between Goku and “Fit Buu,” but it’s disappointing that Buu doesn’t go on to fight in the tournament and that further benefits of his improved state aren’t explored.
7 Gohan Vs. Dabura
Babidi manipulates many Majin minions, but Dabura is the most intimidating of the lot and the only one who actually manages to cause damage to the heroes. Dabura looks like a terrifying rendition of Satan and beyond his sword skills he’s also able to petrify people into stone with his saliva.
A balanced battle between Super Saiyan 2 Gohan and Dabura looks like it’s about to go to some fascinating places before Vegeta and Goku’s bickering causes Dabura to prematurely end this fight. This could have been a worthy opportunity to highlight Gohan’s newfound killer instinct, but Dabura decides to move on and let Buu do the heavy lifting here.
6 Master Roshi Vs. Yurin
Dragon Ball Super’s Tournament of Power pushes every character past their limits and it’s a worthwhile opportunity for neglected figures like Master Roshi, Tien, and Krillin to once again step into the spotlight. During the recruitment process, there’s a disgruntled martial artist named Yurin who plots against Tien and his dojo.
Yurin is skilled in witchcraft, which she uses to brainwash most of Tien’s students, but also Master Roshi. This proves to be an extremely powerful ability, but Yurin and her brainwashing curse doesn’t come back into the picture even though there are many opportunities where it would be helpful.
5 Piccolo & Gohan Vs. Garlic Jr.
Garlic Jr. is a rare example of a villain from one of Dragon Ball Z’s movies who returns in the anime. Dragon Ball gets a little reckless when it comes to Garlic Jr. in the sense that he successfully obtains immortality through the Dragon Balls. This makes it considerably harder to defeat him and so his eternal prison in the Dead Zone makes for a fitting fate.
Gohan and Piccolo have to do the heavy lifting here, but there is zero fallout from what’s supposed to be a seismic battle. Most of the supporting cast gets hypnotized into a murderous state and Garlic Jr. swears revenge, which is promptly forgotten.
4 Gotenks Vs. Copy-Vegeta
An unexpected pit stop on Planet Potaufeu exposes Vegeta to the devastating effects of the planet’s prize Superhuman Water. The result is a deadly doppelgänger, Copy-Vegeta, who takes on Gotenks and forces an awkward battle.
Copy-Vegeta comes across as a weak attempt to have an evil Vegeta back in the series, but it amounts to a fairly forgettable fight. None of this goes anywhere and it’s the closest thing that Dragon Ball Super has to filler, but if nothing else it conjures the outrageous visual of a weak Vegeta who is forced to suckle upon a pacifier.
3 Frieza Vs. Top
Jiren becomes Universe 7’s greatest obstacle during the Tournament of Power, which inevitably diminishes the accomplishments of Top, another deadly Pride Trooper from Universe 11. Top reveals that he was a God of Destruction contender and can still tap into comparable strength when he’s properly motivated.
Frieza is on the opposite end of Top’s rage and he’s not someone who easily gets over a grudge. That being said, Top has yet to return in a substantial manner following the Tournament of Power and Black Frieza’s vengeance tour seems to have skipped Top, at least for now.
2 Broly Vs. Goku & Vegeta
Dragon Ball Super: Broly properly brings the fan-favorite Legendary Super Saiyan into the series’ canon with some helpful revisions. One of the most exciting aspects of the movie is that Broly doesn’t meet his demise and he actually pledges to train alongside Goku and Vegeta, under Beerus and Whis’ supervision.
The Dragon Ball Super manga teases ongoing sparring sessions between these powerful Saiyans, but there’s yet to be clear results, especially from Broly. It’s likely that major developments will be on the way following the manga’s current Super Hero story arc, but until then it’s an unfulfilled promise.
1 Goku Vs. Uub
Dragon Ball Z concludes in a brazen fashion when Goku, taken by the dormant potential that he sees in Uub during the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament, pledges to leave his family and friends behind in favor of training Uub to be Earth’s next protector. This puts tremendous pressure on Uub that Dragon Ball has yet to follow through on.
Conveniently, Dragon Ball Super is set before the events of Dragon Ball Z’s finale and the manga’s glimpses of Uub have been extremely brief. However, Dragon Ball GT quickly benches the character after what’s supposed to be his time to shine alongside Goku.