3. Freezer

Freezer is number 3 on this list (some of you might question why he’s not further up) because he is one of most despicable and villainous characters in mainstream anime/manga. Freezer was renowned for his cruelty, his strength, and of course being the guy who even Vegeta was afraid of/worked for.

We’re introduced to Freezer as he is slaughtering (or ordering his men to slaughter) an entire village worth of people, children being amongst them, just for a Dragon Ball. And of course, in true villainous manner, even when he received the Dragon Ball, he still finished murdering everyone in the village. But the buck doesn’t stop there.

We later find out that Freezer is the one responsible for the death of not just Goku’s father, but the entire Saiyan race and planet. He then proceeds to commit genocide on the Namekian race, simply for the Dragon Balls, not to mention that he kills even his own men with no remorse. Adding on to his wicked nature, he shows that he enjoys torturing others (Krillin with his horns, Piccolo with his blasts) and even tries to kill Goku after he spares his life.

Now what’s worse than a genocidal, sadistic maniac who has an army behind him? A genocidal, sadistic maniac who is also the most powerful being in the universe; another reason Freezer is this high up. Freezer started off as powerful, having a power level of around 250,000 (500,000 when released) when his second in command was only 120,000.

Then he transformed (another one of his abilities) and was over 1 million, and easily dominated all before him, even impaling and torturing Krillin with his horns. Fans rooting against Freezer had a small moment of reprieve when Piccolo, fused with Nail, came down and delivered a beating to Freezer as if he would finally end him. Then he transformed AGAIN, into a grotesque being with a long, phallic head and proceeded to destroy Piccolo with ease, torturing him with his finger blasts.

After that, by abusing Dende’s healing ability+ Saiyans’ ability to get more powerful after injury, Vegeta gained the power to defeat that form. And then he transformed one last time and beat Vegeta mercilessly. He fought viciously and with extreme power and even dominated Goku (who was using kaioken) using only a percentage of his power. Yes, transformations AND percentages, Freezer was that strong.

Finally, came perhaps Freezer’s greatest moment: when he caused the Super Saiyan transformation. Freezer, simply because of his sadistic nature, decided to attack Goku’s best friend in Krillin, exploding him with a mere movement of the hand. This set Goku off into one of the most iconic and awesome transformation sequences of all time.

Freezer is also the first villain to blow up a planet on screen/panel, and with a finger at that. As far as villains go, he’s one of the meanest and most impactful.

2. Cell

Number two on the list is Cell and he’s here for essentially…being who he is. What does that mean? It means that Cell’s entire character concept of being an amalgamation of all of the Z-fighters and their enemies makes him a great villain in itself. Cell is the Amazo to the Justice League, the Mimic to the X-Men, the Super Adaptoid to the Avengers, the final boss of Virtua Fighters, and he forces the Z-fighters to fight themselves basically.

Kamehameha? Cell has that. Galick Gun? Solar Flare? Cell has those too. Even more, he has Piccolo’s regeneration (to a higher level actually, needing only a cell to be alive) and a Saiyan’s ability to get stronger from near death experience. So he has everything the Z-fighters have, everything the villains have, and more.

More? Yes, he has more. His ability to absorb life energy with his tail is something no one else has displayed thus far (even the androids before him didn’t seem to have absorption so potent) and it led to an iconic and chilling scene of cities full of empty clothes, the bodies drained of energy until they no longer existed.

In addition to absorbing life energy, was Cell’s transformations that he received from absorbing the androids. Like Freezer, each transformation gained vast amounts of power and changed Cell’s entire being for the most part. In the case of Perfect Cell, it even changed his attitude completely.

Now to discuss Cell’s impact. Not only did Cell have impact with his many different powers (transformations, having all of the powers and techniques of the Z-fighters and villains before him, having his life draining tail, etc.) but he made an impact with his actions.
First to discuss is the Cell Games. Cell brought Dragon Ball Z back to the nostalgia of Dragon Ball (or the first part of the manga if you read instead of watched) with his own form of the World Tournament. After that, he proceeded to beat Goku, have his “children” (another power he had: spawning Cell J.R. s) beat down the Z-fighters, and completed the trifecta by triggering Gohan’s SSJ2 transformation by killing Android 16.

Being the gift (or the villain) that keeps on giving, Cell doesn’t stop there. Even after being completely demolished by Gohan, Cell appears to have a backup plan and a gambit of sorts when he threatens to Kamikaze himself and blow up the planet. So even when he loses, he wins. Of course, Goku then saved the day with instant transmission, takes Cell to King Kai’s planet, and they all die in the explosion. All of them except Cell. Cell comes back from his OWN SUICIDE much stronger, with instant transmission, kills Trunks with a Freezer-esque death beam and then overpowers even SSJ2 Gohan after he sacrifices himself to save an enraged Vegeta. Eventually, he was defeated by the Father-Son Kamehameha and some help by Vegeta, but it doesn’t erase what he did. He killed Goku for only the second time and even killed King Kai as well (and his planet with him).

So Cell didn’t just represent a threat of the Z-fighters fighting themselves, he triggered the SSJ2 transformation, he effectively killed Goku (the hero and protagonist of the story), killed Trunks, and brought on a change of the guard in having Gohan be the one to finish him off (despite Buu Saga trying to erase that). That is why Cell is Number 2.

1. King Piccolo

Yes, I went all the way back to Dragon Ball (or the first half of the manga) to get the Number 1 pick in king Piccolo. But why King Piccolo? Short answer: He’s the first/Original Freezer. Long answer: Keep reading.

The first thing to establish with King Piccolo is this: nearly everything Freezer did, King Piccolo did first and then some. Genocide? King Piccolo had most of the world dead and under his rule. Killing Krillin? He was the first to do it (well his son/minion did) and that was just for the names of martial artists in the world tournament. Yep, he killed Krillin as collateral damage to his true goal. Have other villains working for him? King Piccolo had Pilaf and his crew under his rule. Killing people for the Dragon Balls? Master Roshi and Chiaotzu were his victims.
Now for the “and then some” part of his deeds…

King Piccolo, as mentioned killed Goku’s master (Roshi), something that was a big deal at the time and something no one else has done. Even more he killed the Dragon itself, Shenron, so that no one else would get a chance at the Dragon Balls (something that was thought impossible by the way). His wish was something that Vegeta and Freezer wanted in a different way: Eternal Youth (vs. Immortality), and he displayed his power by easily destroying a city in one shot, the first to exhibit such widespread destruction in the series.

King Piccolo doesn’t stop there either. He was also literally known as the Demon King Piccolo and at the time (especially when we met Kami, his other half whose name means “God”) was thought to be the Devil himself (before Namekians were brought up). The way to defeat him initially? The evil containment wave: a move that cost the user his life in return for simply delaying the inevitable of King Piccolo breaking out and wreaking havoc again.

He had it all going for him as a villain, beating all in his path and getting ready to enslave the Earth for a second time. Even his defeat was the immortalized moment of Goku charging him with his fist raised, and punching a hole in his stomach. Yet even in death, King Piccolo had a last laugh, shooting his egg (that became Piccolo, his reincarnation and the next big threat in Dragon Ball) out of his mouth so that he wouldn’t truly die.

King Piccolo was a pioneer of villains in Dragon Ball/Z with his genocide, his world domination, his wish for Eternal Youth, his killing of Krillin and more. He also did things no one else did like killing Goku’s master, and more impressively killing the Dragon Shenron himself. His death brought us Piccolo, a character who is favorite to many, and for a while, he was in fact the Devil himself. All of this combined makes him an easy Number 1 on the list and high up on any list of anime/manga villains.

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