Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Z is a pivotal shonen series that’s influenced a whole generation of new action series and extended its own story in surprising, satisfying ways. Dragon Ball Z‘s deeply determined and unique villains are one of the many reasons that the series became such an evergreen success.
Each memorable antagonist finds a way to separately destabilize the heroes, but few are as resilient with their rage as the galactic tyrant, Frieza. Frieza has a revered reputation in Dragon Ball Z, but it’s not without good reason. He’s done plenty of villainous deeds to qualify as the series’ biggest threat.
10 Frieza Successfully Blows Up The Earth
The Earth usually becomes a beacon for conflict in Dragon Ball due Goku’s presence. The strongest forces in the universe frequently test Goku’s strength and Earth is unfortunately used as the battlefield. Dragon Ball Z‘s heroes have kept the Earth safe on numerous occasions, but Golden Frieza successfully detonating the planet is one of the biggest shocks in the entire franchise. Vegeta’s hubris gives Frieza enough time to trigger Earth’s destruction, which would be the end of the series if not for Whis’ useful Temporal Do-Over rewind of time.
9 Frieza Kills Goku’s Best Friend
The characters in Dragon Ball Z selflessly head into battle, even when enemies are overpowered, which can sometimes lead to tragic deaths of beloved figures. Goku learns to become more comfortable with death in the original Dragon Ball, but he’s pushed past his breaking point when he watches Frieza senselessly kill Krillin simply to anger Goku. Krillin is no longer a threat at this point and Frieza’s destruction of him is calculated purely to hurt Goku. The personal nature of this act demonstrates the depths of Frieza’s evil.
8 Frieza Makes The An Saiyans Endangered Race After He Destroys Planet Vegeta
Frieza is responsible for endless carnage in Dragon Ball Z, but one of his most infamous acts is the destruction of Planet Vegeta. By extension, Frieze basically attempts the genocide of the Saiyan race. Frieza is comfortable manipulating the Saiyan population for years and using them to do his grunt work, but he doesn’t hesitate to eradicate them all once he decides that they’ve outlived their usefulness.
Frieza kills thousands in an instant, but he experiences sheer jubilation over the murderous deed. Planet Vegeta’s destruction is a distillation of all of the planets that Frieza has carelessly destroyed.
7 Frieza Successfully Escapes From Hell On Multiple Occasions
Death is typically the end for Dragon Ball Z‘s villains, so it’s surprising to see how many extra chances Frieza’s had to return to relevancy. There are multiple occasions, whether it’s in the Dragon Ball Z movie, Fusion Reborn, or the events of Dragon Ball GT, where the barrier between the land of the living and the afterlife opens up. Frieza doesn’t waste this opportunity and he returns to cause chaos on Earth, even if it remains short-lived. Frieza is ultimately given clemency to properly come back to life after his help in the Tournament of Power.
6 Frieza Popularizes The Series’ Transformation Trend For Villains
Dragon Ball is an endlessly creative series, but it does fall into repetitive patterns at times or develop certain battle strategies that become common. The fight against Frieza introduces several stages of powerful transformations until he’s reached his full strength. This approach is replicated to some degree with Cell, Majin Buu, and subsequent villains. Villain transformation hits hardest with Frieza and it makes him feel as if he has limitless stages to cycle through. Frieza’s appearance also grows more disturbing with each transformation, which only contributes to his villainy.
5 Frieza Displaces The Namekians By Destroying Their Home
The Namekians become one of the most important alien species in Dragon Ball Z, but they’re also a group that experiences exceptional loss. Frieza has no regard for Namekian life while he’s on Planet Namek, but he makes it clear how little he cares once he decides to detonate Namek in a bid to defeat Goku.
Namek’s destruction is a problem that displaces the Namekians for a long time and forces them to temporarily reside on Earth until a new planet is found for them. Destroying Namek is another example of just how many people have been irrevocably inconvenienced through Frieza’s actions.
4 Frieza Gets Rebuilt As A Cyborg & Returns To Earth With His Father
Extreme perseverance is frequently required to finally defeat a Dragon Ball Z villain. A temporary period of peace transpires on Earth following Frieza’s defeat, which makes it thoroughly horrifying when he suddenly shows up on Earth again, stronger than ever.
This is an early example where Frieza proves just how difficult it is to fully extinguish him. Future Trunks ultimately takes him out, but the presence of King Cold, and later Cooler, is all a testament to what follows when someone wrongs Frieza’s family.
3 Frieza Obliterates His Entire Army With Zero Regrets
Frieza is no slouch, but the fact that he also commands an expansive army that consists of hundreds of faithful warriors is one of his more intimidating aspects. Frieza’s Army is usually capable enough to handle their leader’s problems without Frieza ever getting involved. Frieza has a ton of manpower, but he debuts his new Golden form with a burst of energy that takes out his entire team. Frieza doesn’t care that he wiped out hundreds of willing fighters and that their sacrifices are merely a byproduct of him powering up.
2 Frieza Drains Vegeta Of His Saiyan Pride & Takes Him Out At His Lowest Moment
Plenty of villains in Dragon Ball assert their power by defeating the series’ heroes. Frieza, however, is much more vindictive with his enemies. It’s not enough to just defeat them. Frieza wants to psychologically scar those that oppose him. One of Frieza’s cruelest acts is when he tortures Vegeta and reiterates to him that he’s not some special Super Saiyan, but merely collateral damage. Vegeta has only shown tremendous pride up until this point and so it makes a huge impression that Frieza is able to break him down to his lowest point before he finally offs him.
1 Frieza’s Quick To Betrayal & His True Allegiance Is Never Clear
Frieza spends most of his life at a level of power unparalleled by his peers, so he doesn’t have to resort to partners or teamwork very often. Accordingly, Frieza only ever looks after himself, even when he’s supposed to be a part of a larger whole. Some villains are able to put aside differences if it means more strength, but Frieza doesn’t hesitate to betray whoever works with him, whether it’s the Saiyans or the false alliance that he forges with Universe 6’s Frost during the Tournament of Power.
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