It's hard to believe Dragon Ball originally started out as a humble adventure story about a kid with a monkey tail and a girl who just wanted a boyfriend. Over the years, Toriyama’s storytelling improved and the narrative went from a weekly gag manga to one of the greatest action series ever. Goku defined himself as the strongest man alive, and that girl who once accompanied him was overshadowed by countless warriors with motivations, hopes, and immeasurable strength.

What was once a comedy became ahard-hittingg drama and, like any good drama, there were plenty of dark moments to keep readers and viewers engaged. What makes Dragon Ball stand out, however, is how that darkness is implemented into the story. Toriyama doesn't pull any punches when it comes to creepy and morbid. He even went so far to add in an alternate timeline where everyone died.

From a genocidal space tyrant, to a bug man who drinks people out of their clothing, Dragon Ball solidified itself as more than a definitive piece of manga and anime history. Not only did it offer great character based action, but it also wasn't afraid to terrorize its cast, and audience, at every possible moment.

20 Almost Nobody Keeps Their Body When They Die

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We’re exposed to the afterlife quite a bit in the Buu saga. The anime begins the arc with Goku participating in a tournament against other dead denizens (deadnizens), and we later see Krillin and Yamcha training with those deceased martial artists during their brief lifeless stint. Dying seems a pretty awesome and inconsequential, doesn't it? It's just a shame that all of this is contradictory anime filler.

In the actual canon, death is, almost always, death. Fans often think back to Goku keeping his body when he dies, but they forget the context. Kami and King Yemma pull strings for Goku to keep his body. Otherwise, he'd end up a soul to be prepped for reincarnation. The afterlife isn't a guarantee, it's a privilege, and you aren't getting it unless someone’s really looking out for you.

19 Frieza Would Have Been Able To Kill Vegeta Even If He Turned Super Saiyan

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Every now and then, you’ll find a fan who thinks Vegeta should have turned Super Saiyan and killed Frieza on Namek. They are, of course, wrong because this would invalidate the themes and narrative of the Frieza saga, but they’re even wronger because Vegeta wouldn’t have even been strong enough as a Super Saiyan to defeat a full powered Frieza. Super Saiyan is a 50x power up. Goku’s able to surpass Frieza because his base form had a power level of 3,000,000 and Frieza, at his strongest, was 120,000,000.

At Vegeta’s strongest on Namek, he was somewhere between 250,000 and 1,000,000. It’s a big gap, but the series doesn’t document power levels nearly as much as you’d think. Let’s give Vegeta the benefit of the doubt and say he did hit 1,000,000, he only manages to hit 50,000,000: less than half of Frieza’s maximum power level. Poor guy never stood a chance.

18 The Original Timeline Ends With Everyone Brutally Dying

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We’re all familiar with Future Trunks’ story; he came from an alternate timeline to save Goku’s life.

Except that's wrong. He went to an alternate timeline. The timeline Trunks comes from is actually the original timeline. We only think of Trunks’ future as the alternate timeline because we’re watching the story of the timeline he ends up visiting. The truth of the matter is that Dragon Ball’s history takes an incredibly bleak turn.

Everything we witnessed from Goku meeting Bulma for the first time to him defeating Frieza on Namek leads to a post-apocalyptic wasteland where all your favorite characters die. What we see is just an alternate timeline because the original timeline is beyond ruined. Without time travel, Dragon Ball would have one of the harshest tone shifts in anime history.

17 Gohan’s Great Saiyaman Persona Might Be A Way Of Coping With PTSD

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You'd have to be heartless to hate Great Saiyaman. He's charming with just the right amount of dorkiness, and he loves to strike a good pose while fighting crime. He's also the manifestation of deep-rooted PTSD that stems back to a traumatic experience Gohan had fighting the Ginyu Force where he watched his friends get brutalized and had his neck snapped.

Yeah, Great Saiyaman’s not so fun anymore, is he?

Getting pulverized by the Ginyu Force clearly had an effect on Gohan. He was only four, after all. In that moment, all he could do was desperately hope that his father would somehow arrive and save the day. He gets his neck snapped without getting a chance to realize his dad even made it. It all works out in the end, of course, but it very much almost didn't.

16 Vegeta’s Wish For Immortality Would Have Backfired Horrifically

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When a Saiyan is beaten to near-death and then heals, they get a power boost called a Zenkai. Zenkais supposedly exist to push a Saiyan towards their natural Super Saiyan state. This is how Goku and Vegeta manage to get so strong so fast during their run on Namek. If Vegeta was able to make his wish for immortality on Namek, though, he would forfeit himself from any more Zenkais and basically resign himself to watching Frieza terrorize the whole universe.

By this point in the series, Vegeta clearly doesn't know how to train, and he's only motivated to do so after Goku turns Super Saiyan. With no SS Goku and no the ego behind immortality, Vegeta can't die, but he also can't kill Frieza who’s over fifty times stronger than him. The moment Frieza gets the upper hand he’ll just enslave Vegeta and keep him on the brink of death for all eternity.

15 If Vegetto Had Defused A Minute Earlier, Super Buu Would Have Won

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When Goku and Vegeta defuse inside of Super Buu, Goku assumes it's because of “bad air.” Super retcons this explanation by having Gowasu explain that potara fusions wear off after an hour of the two users aren't Kais. This means that Vegetto’s plan was pulled off entirely through luck considering he defuses moments after getting absorbed.

Had Vegetto played around with Buu a bit more, he would have defused into Goku and Vegeta and Buu would have won. He most likely would have absorbed both of them, but it's possible he'd kill them out of spite at that point. With no one to stop him, humanity meets a brisk, painful extinction.

14 The First Trunks We See May Have Actually Died

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Along with a cool sword and the total degradation of Super Saiyan’s novelty, Trunks brings with him a very confusing time travel plot. Trunks mentions the wrong Androids when he first arrives and he has to wait eight months to time travel three years. It's weird, but there are workarounds here. In an attempt to clear up how time travel worked, Super added information with some unfortunately implications.

According to Super, Trunks cannot change the coordinates on the time machine because it'll create a new timeline. This means he can only return to our timeline by waiting in real time. “So Trunks just waited three years,” you're saying. Wrong. When Trunks comes back, he says that 19 and 20 are not his Androids, but he recognizes 17 and 18’s numbers. This has to be a different Trunks. The first Trunks we saw is likely the Trunks Cell kills to get his time machine.

Or maybe he just learned 17 and 18’s names after realizing he couldn't wait 8 months to time travel 3 years. It's hard to tell with Toriyama.

13 If Goku Let Krillin Kill Vegeta, Everyone Would Have Died On Namek

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Remember when Goku forced Krillin to spare Vegeta so they could fight again? Remember how much Krillin thought it was a bad idea? If Krillin actually got his way, the series would have come to a brutal end as soon as the cast landed on Namek.

Vegeta, quite literally, keeps everyone alive on Namek. He singlehandedly defeats Frieza’s initial forces and then stalls for Goku against the Ginyu Force. Without him there, Gohan and Krillin die fighting the Ginyus. Goku would also show up and permanently lose his body to Ginyu before dying. Frieza then gets his wish for immortality and blows up Namek along with everyone on it.

For an added bonus, Earth is now defenseless against the Androids, and no Vegeta means no Trunks. Have fun, Cell!

12 Vegeta Could Have Been Erased Forever While Fighting Kid Buu

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Thanks to Majin Buu terrorizing the world, King Yemma decides to keep Vegeta’s body around after he dies as a fail-safe. Once Gohan fails, Yemma sends Vegeta out to help Goku fight Buu as a Hail Mary. It's a brief moment but right before Vegeta takes his turn at Buu, Goku mentions that if he dies, he’ll be gone for good. Not even the Dragon Balls would be able to bring him back.

That's actually horrifying if you think about it. For years, these characters fought life or death battles knowing the dragon balls could revive them in a worst case scenario, but now that safety net is gone. In a series where death doesn't always feel final, this revelation is morbidly unsettling.

11 There’s A Timeline That’s Entirely Defenseless

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As previously mentioned, Cell had to kill some version of Trunks to get his time machine. Supposedly, that Trunks had already found a way to defeat the Androids before he was murdered so that timeline should be fine even without Trunks, right? Well, Babidi never showed up so theoretically, yeah, we’re all good.

Then Super happened.

According to the Goku Black saga, Babidi does come to Earth, he just comes much later in the timeline. In this Trunksless timeline, Babidi has his way with Earth, reviving Majin Buu and wreaking havoc on the universe.

10 Some Of Cell’s Victims Were Revived Just To Die Again

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At the end of the Cell saga, the Z-fighters wish for all of Cell’s victims to come back to life. This is a pretty traditional way to end an arc at this point and the big “twist” on the formula is Goku deciding he wants to stay dead since he's basically a danger magnet. The issue with this wish is that Cell kills a bunch of people by blowing up an island, and the island wasn't wished back…

Essentially, all those revived people would be dropping right into the ocean. It's unlikely many of them, or any for that matter, would have the stamina to swim to the closest land mass. There is precedent for the Dragons bending the rules with wishes, but Shenron doesn't seem like the type to do the cast a favor like that.

9 Android 16 Can Never Come back

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Android 16 is most notable for being the final trigger for our first glimpse at Super Saiyan 2. His death makes Gohan so angry, that he's able to break through the Super Saiyan wall and humiliate Cell. Unlike other characters in the series though, Android 16 can never be revived on account of being 100% machine.

That gentle giant, that sincere man who deserved to be wished back more than anyone, will never get the chance to see a bird again, to breathe fresh air, or just stare into the sky and wonder how anyone could hate such a peaceful planet. We know that death can be final in DBZ, but to experience it is astronomical.

8 Trunks’ Timeline Doesn’t Exist Anymore

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For a character whose entire arc revolves around the promise of hope, Trunks suffers more than any other character in the franchise. He’s born in a dying timeline, his father rejects him when they finally get a chance to meet, and the future he so desperately fought to protect is ransacked by someone hijacking Goku’s body. To add insult to injury, Trunks goes back in time again only for Goku to accidentally have his entire timeline erased. Every person Trunks tried to save, every soul that died throughout the course of history: gone. It’s not so much that they’re dead, or double dead, but that they actually do not exist anymore. Nothing does. When your entire universe is erased, what else is there to hope for?

7 Goku Didn’t Keep His Body When He Died In Trunks’ Timeline

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Considering Goku kept his body every other time he died, you probably assumed he kept his body when the heart virus took his life in Trunks’ timeline. You often see people arguing over why Goku didn’t just come down to earth for one day to try and defeat the Androids but, the truth is, Goku didn’t keep a body this time around.

There are specific circumstances surrounding each of Goku’s death that allow him to keep a body. The first time it’s because Kami wants him to train with King Kai, otherwise Goku would have just become a soul. The other time, it’s because Goku sacrificed his life to protect the Earth and this was deemed a heroic enough feat to justify giving him his body. The heart virus though? That’s just a natural passing. Goku became a soul just like everyone else.

6 Frieza Could Have Taken Over The Entire Universe Had He Just Trained

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The biggest thing to come out of Ressurection F besides Super Saiyan Blue was the revelation that Frieza could reach God levels of ki by training for just four months. If at any point in the series Frieza had trained, the heroes never would have stood a chance. In just four months, Frieza went from weaker than a Super Saiyan to as strong, if not stronger, than Super Saiyan Blue. Imagine if Frieza trained for just one month before the heroes arrived on Namek; nobody would have stood a chance. Frieza would literally have been unstoppable. The implications of Frieza’s latent abilities are frankly terrifying. In a way, the Z-Fighters survived on Namek through the sheer luck of Frieza’s innate laziness.

5 Goten And Trunks Could Have Killed Piccolo And Krillin

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While Dabura doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things, his spit does incapacitate Krillin and Piccolo for a while, so the Z-fighters know he's at least a reasonable threat. When Goten and Trunks show up on the scene, they accidentally knock down the Piccolo statue and think nothing of it. The creepiness of the scenario sets in when you realize, they could have easily killed both of them right then and there.

Piccolo’s able to come back in one piece because he can regenerate so long as his head is intact, but Krillin would have died the moment the spit spell wore off. If Goten and Trunks ended up shattering Piccolo’s head, he'd be dead too. It's not often our heroes get put in situations where they can casually murder one another by accident.

4 Bulma Was Murdered By Her Best Friend

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Most people consider the Goku Black saga to be the breath of tense, polluted air Dragon Ball Super desperately needed. It reintroduced Future Trunks, upped the violence, and brought back some Z levels of morbidity. One of those morbid moments being Future Bulma’s death. As an audience, all we see is a shadowy figure strangling Bulma. What Bulma sees, however, is Son Goku, her oldest friend, destroying the city she lived in her entire life before maniacally choking her to death. We know it's not Goku, but did she? Her last living moment was spent staring her best friend in the eyes.

3 For GT’s Ending To Work, All The Z-Fighters Need To Be Forgotten By History

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For all of GT’s problems, it does have an admittedly incredible ending. Goku makes his peace with the world, flies off on Shenron’s back, and we’re given a sentimental montage of all of Goku's greatest moments. Among all of this surprisingly high-end quality is a tournament involving Goku and Vegeta’s great grand-children 100 years later. Nobody recognizes them, though. Pan doesn't even recognize Vegeta Jr’s mother. The sad truth is, time has forgotten our heroes, and likely won't ever remember.

It all ties into one of GT’s main themes (it actually has those, surprisingly enough): purging the unnatural. Piccolo has to go to Hell, the Earth needs be destroyed, and the Dragon Balls have to lose their power. It only makes sense that the most unnatural mortals alive should disappear with everything else.

2 Future Gohan’s Story Is What Happens When Heroes Give Up

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Fans always think of Future Trunks as the quintessential tragic Dragon Ball character, but he's got it easy compared to Future Gohan. Gohan watched his father die from a heart virus, his green dad die fighting androids, and every friend he ever made perish trying to protect a dying world. Gohan dedicates his life to fighting off these androids but with no one to train him, or with, Gohan remains pitifully weak, getting toyed with at every possible turn.

His life comes to an end when he finally gives up and puts all his faith into Trunks. With one arm, he flies off to what he must know is a suicide mission. The androids make quick, easy work of him and Gohan dies believing humanity’s only hope is an even weaker Trunks. It's a moment of harsh reality that could only be pulled off in a series like Dragon Ball.

1 Goku’s Brain Injury Is The One Thing That Kept Him Stable

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Goku turning out to be a murderous space alien is the biggest plot twist in the series, by far. A less talented writer would have made this the moment the series jumped the shark, but Toriyama somehow made it feel like he had been planning this all along and hadn't suddenly come up with the idea while procrastinating some odd day. So how did he pull it off so well? He turned it into a discussion on nature versus nurture.

You see, Saiyan nature is ruthless. Saiyans are sent to planets to eliminate all natural life and get the world ready for trade. Goku was sent to earth for that purpose alone. Thankfully, a bump to the head mellowed him out and made him forget all about that nasty plan. The horror sets in when you realize that's pretty much the only thing that kept Goku sane. Our kind-hearted, naive hero is the way he is by pure chance. Would another blow to the head trigger his old Saiyan mission? Who could even be able to stop him at that point? It's entirely possible that the Goku we know is the furthest thing from the real Goku: Kakarot.