Frieza isn’t just one of the greatest villains in anime or manga history, he’s one of the greatest villains in fiction, period. Frieza’s introduction marked a serious change for Dragon Ball. It had already been a dramatic manga since Demon King Piccolo was introduced, but Frieza created an archetype that DB, and by extension Shonen manga, would follow for years to come. Villains were conniving with deceptively simple motivations; they had intimate connections to the main characters and a sharp tongue for banter; and they could transform to level the playing field in their favor. Without a doubt, Frieza is as important to manga and anime as Goku.

Needless to say, you don’t become one of the most important characters in fiction without being well written. Frieza is perhaps the most well written antagonist Toriyama conceived throughout the course of Dragon Ball’s serialization. Frieza never reformed, he never learned a lesson, but he was always endearing and even growing. He was introduced with a great deal of mystery surrounding him and he was written out with that mystique intact. Toriyama is a far more nuanced writer than you’d expect, though, and true fans are more than attentive enough to pick up on all the weird details he wrote into Frieza’s character.

25 Frieza Is The Strongest Villain In The Series

Despite being the weakest of Dragon Ball Z’s three main villains, Frieza never lost relevance. Both the Cell and Buu arcs referenced him as a measure of power, and the effect he had on the characters and world were never forgotten. Even if he wasn’t the strongest, Frieza was clearly the most important. In bringing Frieza back for Dragon Ball Super, Toriyama chose to shake up the situation and give Frieza the strength to match his popularity. Starting with Resurrection F, Frieza’s Golden form rocketed him right to the top with his seemingly unlimited potential keeping him perpetually on top.

There's more to strength than just hitting hard. 

Now, it is worth mentioning that Fused Zamasu is a more formidable opponent than Golden Frieza, but it’s highly debatable just how powerful he is. Not only is Fused Zamasu the product of a potato fusion, he’s also only as dangerous as he is thanks to his immortality. In the manga, Goku even outright manages to overpower him with Mastered Super Saiyan Blue. In comparison, Golden Frieza is equal to Goku at his absolute strongest (at least before he triggers Ultra Instinct.) Considering he now knows how to properly train and, once again, has a living body, Frieza’s very much Dragon Ball’s strongest, and most dangerous, villain.

24 Frieza Can Create His Own Transformations

Transformations in Dragon Ball are really weird when you think about it. Turning Super Saiyan changes your hair color and shape; absorbing other people basically gives you new abilities while bestowing upon you a new form, and Frieza’s forms outright change the biology and physique of his body. There’s really no telling why transformations work the way they do, especially since Toriyama isn’t the kind of author to dwell on the little details. Theories have existed for years regarding the inner machinations of Frieza’s form out of a lack of information, but, surprisingly, Toriyama ended up using Resurrection F to confirm how Frieza’s forms work.

When triggering his Golden form for the first time, Frieza comments to Goku how he deliberately designed the form to be recognizable. Obviously, Frieza means he made the transformation golden to invoke the same feelings as Super Saiyan’s golden hair. This outright confirms Frieza’s ability to develop his own forms. Golden Frieza is designed as an intentional perversion of Super Saiyan. To Frieza, it’s an insult on the highest level. Not only does Golden completely trump Super Saiyan in terms of power, its glimmer outshines Goku’s SSJ hair completely. It’s a quick comment meant to insult Goku, but it also ends years of debate.

23 Frieza Modeled His Second Form After His Father

What exactly is the deal with King Cold? Is he stronger than Frieza? Is he in his second form? Does he have more forms? Is this just what he looks like? Wherever you stand on the King Cold dilemma, one thing is certain in light of Resurrection F: Frieza honored his dear old papa by modeling his second transformation after him. Of course, it is worth noting that there’s no direct confirmation within the series that Frieza designed his second form with King Cold in mind, but the mere fact Resurrection F states Frieza models his own forms is more than enough confirmation.

Like father, like son. 

It does make sense why would Frieza would design a transformation with his father in mind. While King Cold seems more than okay with Future Trunks slicing Frieza in half, the two are depicted with a fairly amicable relationship. All things considered, that’s probably “loving” in Frieza’s family. They seem heartless by nature so just getting along and being able to have a friendly conversation might be enough to constitute familial bonding. There’s also the implication that Frieza just isn’t creative. Golden is based off his hatred of Super Saiyan and his second form looks exactly like his dad. It’s entirely possible the tyrant simply lacks an imagination.

22 Frieza Has A Son

Dragon Ball is a story inherently about legacy. From as early as the first arc, it’s established that the next generation is on a fast track to passing the previous. This is a thread that continues throughout the whole series, specifically with the additions of Gohan, Trunks, Goten, Pan, and Uub. By the end of Dragon Ball Z, it’s clear that Goku is ready to push the next generation to its limits. A character having a child stronger than them, even if just potentially, is a staple of the Dragon Ball franchise. Even Frieza has a son!

One of Neko Majin Z’s main antagonists, Kuriza is Frieza’s one and only son. Modeled after this father’s first and fourth forms, Kuriza is a chestnut headed frost demon with a surprisingly tame personality in comparison to Frieza. While he’s certainly a villain, he’s nowhere near as evil as his father nor does he get a chance to do anything especially bad. In fact, his introductory chapter runs out of pages before he can act, a fact that Kuriza takes incredibly poorly. It perhaps goes without saying that Kuriza is non-canon, but there really is nothing in Dragon Ball that would contradict his existence. Frieza’s definitely the type to neglect his children.

21 Frieza’s A Big Xenomorph Fan

If Frieza’s fourth form is his real form, his Golden form a reference to the Super Saiyan form, his second form an ode to his father, and his first form just a downsized version of his second, what is his third form based off of? We already know Frieza takes inspiration for his transformation designs and that he’s not particularly creative in his own right, so it’s not out of the question to believe that his third form is also based off someone he knows. An offhand comment on Namek implies that he has parents and not just one parent, so his third form could be honoring his mother, but it’s just as likely Frieza’s a big xenomorph fan.

The resemblance really is too uncanny to ignore. 

The main antagonists of the Alien franchise, Xenomorphs are one of H.R. Giger’s most iconic creations and the direct basis for Frieza’s third form. This isn’t to say that Frieza is literally a fan of the movie series Alien in Dragon Ball, but the resemblance is far too similar to ignore. There’s also the fact that Toriyama was clearly into science fiction while writing the Frieza saga and that may have played a role in his storytelling during that arc. The best way to reconcile Frieza’s third form is to accept Toriyama referenced Alien directly and that maybe Frieza’s mother looked like one of western media’s scariest movie monsters.

20 Frieza Is Directly Responsible For Every Saiyan’s End

Not every Saiyan has been eliminated by Frieza, but Frieza has eliminated every Saiyan through his actions. Confusing, I know. Regardless if whether or not Frieza has met them, every single Saiyan’s demise, in Universe 7 at least, can be directly traced back to either something Frieza has done or Frieza himself. Getting the big one out of the way first, Frieza literally blew up Planet Vegeta, vaporizing every single Saiyan on it. Its destruction only left four Saiyans alive: Goku, Raditz, Nappa, and Vegeta. You could debate that Tarble was alive, too, but Super seems to have retconned him in favor of Cabba.

Going off the destruction of Planet Vegeta, Frieza’s action lead: Goku to arriving on Earth as per Dragon Ball Minus; Raditz arriving on Earth to sway Goku back to the Saiyans; Piccolo piercing both Goku and Raditz with his Makankosappo; Nappa and Vegeta arriving on Earth to claim the Dragon Balls; Vegeta wasting Nappa for losing to Goku; Vegeta heading to Namek to get those Dragon Balls; Vegeta getting Death Beamed by Frieza; and Goku sacrificing his life to stop Cell, a being made out of Frieza’s DNA. Frieza is somehow responsible for every Saiyan’s demise. Now that’s commitment.

19 Goku Versus Frieza Is The Longest Fight In Anime History

Filler is bound to happen with any anime adaptation, especially one that’s in production while the source manga is still in serialization. It goes without saying that this was the case with Dragon Ball. Given the manga’s popularity, it didn't take particularly long for Toei to whip up an anime to run alongside the manga’s run, especially after Toriyama built up his goodwill with Dr. Slump. While the original Dragon Ball never needed too much filler to pad things out, DBZ was notorious for its filler to the point where the climax of the Namek arc ended up the longest fight in anime history due to how dangerously close the anime was to catching up to the manga.

Clocking in at three and a half hours, Goku and Frieza’s roughly 22 episode fight in Dragon Ball Z stands out as the most overwhelmingly long battle in the franchise and anime in general. If you count the episodes leading up to Goku’s fight with Frieza, then the whole bout is sitting at an insane 30 episodes. The first few episodes are actually well paced, but the moment Goku goes Super Saiyan, Toei halts the breaks in an attempt to damage control what little content they have left. By the end of the fight, they were only adapting one chapter per episode, a massive mistake in anime adaptation.

18 Goku’s Final Fight With Frieza In The Manga Is Significantly Shorter

Comparatively, Goku’s final fight with Frieza in the manga was significantly shorter, to the point where Frieza’s “five minutes” comment actually makes sense without raising any eyebrows. Where Goku and Frieza’s fight takes about 22 episodes in the anime, it’s only 20 chapters in the manga. This might still seem like a lot, but for an anime like Dragon Ball, a single episode would be about three chapters of the manga. This means, at most, Goku’s fight with Frieza should have been six and a half episodes pushing seven. This is a reasonable amount for a final battle and one that keeps the pacing respectable.

It's amazing what good pacing can do for a fight.

It really is night and day watching the fight and then reading it. The fight in the anime drags with some rather sloppy animation, art, and padding. The manga version, in comparison, is incredibly fast paced, well drawn, and features some of Toriyama’s best choreography in the manga. You truly get the sense that this is an epic showdown where both warriors are fighting against the clock. It’s a shame Toei got so close to catching up to the manga, because this fight genuinely is one of the highlights of Toriyama in his prime. Kai trims it down to a decent episode count, but it doesn’t fix the poor animation and art.

17 Frieza Keeps Losing His Tail

There’s a good chance you’re going to lose a limb at some point if you’re a character in Dragon Ball. Goku lost his tail all the time in the original Dragon Ball; Piccolo tears off his arms like its paper; and Cell and Majin Buu both end up losing entire chunks of their bodies during their respective arms. As frequent as limb loss is, it’s never as consistent as it is with Frieza. While Frieza at one point loses the entire lower half of his body, it’s his tail that ends up taking the most punishment throughout the series.

In the Namek arc alone, Frieza loses his tail twice. The first time is when he’s hit by Krillin’s Kienzan in his second form and the second is when he’s hit by Goku’s Genki Dama near the end of their first fight. In the Cell saga, Frieza loses his tail, and life, yet again when Future Trunks cuts him into pieces. In the Tournament of Power, Jiren straight up rips off Frieza’s tail during the last episode of Dragon Ball Super. At this point, Frieza should seriously consider investing in some tail insurance. It’s the one limb in Dragon Ball that’s guaranteed to get cut off at some point.

16 Why Trunks Defeating Frieza So Easily Was A Good Thing

Some fans seem to take offense at the notion of Future Trunks showing up at the start of the Cell saga and slaying Frieza in no time flat. Not only does his introduction happen right after Frieza’s defeat in the manga, it’s perceived as an insult to Goku’s final battle with Frieza on Namek. The Legendary Super Saiyan Saiyan is suddenly shown up by a teenager with a sword who can also turn Super Saiyan. Not only that, Trunks defeat Frieza with far more ease than Goku. Granted, that’s because Trunks caught Frieza off guard, but it’s still seen as a narrative misstep.

Toriyama had two choices: make Super Saiyan something unique to Goku and keep it an insta-win technique, or trivialize it instantly and use that to his advantage.

He chose the latter by introducing Trunks as a Super Saiyan and having him defeat the last arc’s villain right away. Immediately, we now know just about any Saiyan can turn SSJ meaning that Gohan and Vegeta can actually catch up to Goku now. On top of that, the playing field has been leveled so Goku isn’t just perpetually on top of the hierarchy. Offing Frieza was a sacrifice that needed to be made.

15 Cyborg Frieza Is The Perfect Way To Open The Cell Saga

On that note, Cyborg Frieza was literally the best decision Toriyama ever made in regards to the Cell saga. No only does his inclusion end up turning into one of the franchise’s best subversions, it actually feels incredibly appropriate given the story arc. In Japan, the Cell saga is actually known as the Artificial Humans arc. Artificial Human is basically a catch all term for the different androids we see throughout the saga. 17, 18, and 20 are biological; 16 and 19 are entirely robotic; and Cell is a weird inbetween. You can also brand Frieza under the Artificial Human moniker.

Not only is he literally an artificial being at the start of the arc, mechanically augmented after the end of the Namek saga, every living humanoid in Dragon Ball is considered a “ningen” which literally translates from Japanese into “human.” Many fans erroneously only call characters from Earth humans, but everyone is actually a human in Dragon Ball. Frieza is literally an Artificial Human at the start of the Cell saga and that makes his inclusion make all the more sense. The entire arc is less about Cell himself and more about the threat of augmented beings. Frieza is now man made giving him a justifiable role within the plot.

14 Frieza Is The Closest Thing To An Overarching Villain For Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball is not the kind of series with an overarching plot. Rather, each arc tends to stand on its own while transitioning into the next story. Character development sticks and Toriyama continuously moves the story forward in a serialized manner, but this is far from the sort of franchise that embeds an endgame into the narrative as early as the first arc. That said, there is one instance of a character acting as an almost overarching villain for the entirety of the franchise: Frieza. Despite only being introduced in the third to last arc, Frieza’s impact recontextualizes the manga quite a bit.

For starters, there’s the fact that the only reason Goku is on Earth in the first place is because of Frieza. That alone changes how one views the original Dragon Ball, adding Frieza’s looming shadow to the mix; knowing Frieza is in charge of Vegeta gives the Saiyan saga a completely different feel as you now know Frieza’s right around the corner; the Frieza saga speaks for itself; the Cell saga opens with Frieza as the villain; the Buu saga directly references Frieza; and DBS straight up reuses Frieza as a villain and then revives him. Whether dead or alive, Frieza is constantly affecting the franchise.

13 Frieza Is Goku’s Antithesis

There is not a single character in Dragon Ball who plays a better foil to Goku than Frieza. While Goku has definitely have rivals who play off him well and should be considered foils, Frieza is Goku’s truest literary antithesis. They are opposites in every sense of the word. Both are prodigies, but Goku acts on his talents to better himself while Frieza coasts by on natural power alone. Both comes from wildly different upbringings, Goku the lowest of the low and Frieza a literal prince. Both have a passion for fighting, but Goku seeks it out while Frieza would rather sit back whenever possible.

Even Dragon Ball makes use of classical literary techniques. 

Their fight on Namek is just as much about avenging the Saiyans, Namekians, and Goku’s friends as it is about clash of ideologies. For Goku, pushing himself is the most important thing in the world, but he understands the importance of putting others before him. This is why he turns Super Saiyan when Krillin is blown up by Frieza. He’s selfish, but not heartless. Frieza, on the other hand, only cares about himself. Every action he takes is out of self preservation. When Goku spares him, he chooses to take advantage of this moment and turn it on Goku which Goku, in turn, directs back at Frieza, ending the fight. While other villains serve as foils to Goku, only Frieza truly rivals him in a literary sense.

12 Frieza Has The Highest Power Level We See On A Scouter

Power Levels are dumb. Not because they’re a bad narrative concept, but because fans give them way too much worth than Toriyama ever does. Within the series, Toriyama only ever uses Power Levels as a means of critcizing Frieza’s forces. Their over reliance on numbers allow our heroes to catch them off guard with their ability to fluctuate their Ki. Scouters are technically accurate readings of someone’s innate battle power, but they’re meant to be taken with a grain of salt. Not that fans care. To put it in perspective, the highest Power Level we ever see on a scouter is Frieza’s, but it’s not ridiculously high like you’d expect.

Sitting at a comfortable 530,000, first form Frieza is the highest number we see on a scouter. He does say his second form has a Power Level of over 1,000,000, but we never actually see that on a scouter. Given the cast’s tendency to boast about their abilities, this number needs to be taken with a grain of salt, especially since we have no direct confirmation for it. Even if you want to consider 1,000,000 the highest official number, it’s still relatively small compared to the billions fans tend to make up for characters in the Cell and Buu sagas. Dragon Ball really doesn’t go overboard with Power Levels. That’s entirely a fan problem.

11 How Frieza Forces The Main Characters To Develop On Namek

One of Dragon Ball’s greatest strengths is how Toriyama develops his character though the action. Every tournament is a gold mine for character development with Goku, Roshi, Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Piccolo, and even Kami developing through their fights. This is a trend that continues into DBZ and one the fight against Frieza takes a great deal of advantage of. Every single character who fights Frieza at the end of the arc comes out of the saga a different character. This goes for Gohan, Krillin, Piccolo, Vegeta, and Goku.

In the fight against Frieza, we finally see payoff to Gohan’s development in the Saiyan saga. He’s the only member of the team to actively fight from start to finish and he shows a tremendous amount of bravery in light of each transformation; Krillin accepts his role as the weakest fighter on the team, but does so in a supportive manner, taking on Frieza whenever he can and never becoming useless; Vegeta is humbled from his fight with Frieza and it’s his loss here that allows him to grow as a person; Piccolo accepts his Namekian heritage and chooses to fight for his race despite never actually meeting them; Goku finally accepts that he’s a Saiyan while fighting Frieza and uses this to his advantage, blending his Earthling and Saiyan heritage together into a warrior fully capable of defeating the tyrant. All this occurs directly within the action and directly tied to Frieza.

10 Vegeta Loses His Life Every Time He Fights Frieza

Vegeta, and fans for that matter, continuously make this weird assumption that Frieza is his true rival. It does make sense to a degree in large part thanks to how far back their history goes, but Frieza has always been and will always be Goku’s arch nemesis. Vegeta’s hatred of Frieza is an important facet of his character that cannot or should not be ignored, but Frieza doesn’t particularly pay him much mind other than being one of the few Saiyans he allowed to live. This notion makes fans believe Vegeta should have defeated Frieza at least once, but losing every time they fight is a far more fitting fate for the Prince of all Saiyans.

You'd think Vegeta would pick up on the pattern. 

It is quite funny when you think about it. Vegeta has never had a single positive encounter with Frieza. The first time they fight on Namek, Frieza pushes him to a pulp, immobilizes him out of sheer terror, and then launched a Death Beam right at his chest. The second time they fight during Resurrection F, Vegeta actually does manage to pulverize a weakened Frieza, but Frieza takes advantage of Vegeta’s inability to live in the moment and blows up the Earth, Vegeta with it. It’s unlikely they’ll fight again, but one thing’s certain if they do: Vegeta’s in for a bad time.

9 Frieza Is The Most Popular Villain In The Franchise By A Mile

Perhaps it goes without saying, but there is not a single villain in the Dragon Ball series who manages to rival Frieza in terms of popularity. There are villains who have reformed that are more popular- you’d be hard pressed to find a casual fan who prefers Frieza over Piccolo or Vegeta- but Frieza stands on top when it comes to pure villainy. Not only do you just love to hate him, his scope within the franchise makes him incredibly memorable. He’s the overarching villain for the Saiyan saga and arguably the entire original series; he’s the main antagonist of the Namek saga; he’s the preliminary villain of the Cell saga; and he’s used as a benchmark for the Buu saga.

Two arcs into Super and Frieza’s already back in the picture as a main villain. By the end of the Tournament of Power, he’s a member of the main cast and even alive so he can participate in future events. This is to say nothing about his dynamic with the rest of the cast. Frieza’s sarcastic personality makes him a treat to see on screen, and his banter with Goku shines as some of Toriyama’s best writing. In the Dragon Ball Forever guidebook, Frieza was even voted into the top ten for favorite characters. Majin Buu did beat him, but remember that Fat Buu beat him and he was never truly a villain. Frieza’s still the king when it comes to baddies.

8 Frieza Will Never Be As Strong As A God Of Destruction

People always go on about how Goku and Gohan are natural prodigies, but neither of them compare to what Frieza is capable of. Despite never having trained a day in his life, Frieza ended up the strongest biological being in the entire Dragon Ball universe by the start of the Namek arc. Granted, Goku did end up surpassing him, but he needed a transformation. “But wait, Frieza needed a transformation to be strong too!” Wrong! Frieza’s transformations limit his power. His natural state is what’s often called his fourth form, making him even stronger. By the time he’s revived in Resurrection F, he gets infinitely stronger by just training for four months. That alone should imply his ability to surpass even the Gods of Destruction.

Frieza would actually make a pretty great God of Destruction when you think about it. 

Or so you’d think. Despite Frieza growing so strong in such a short time, Toriyama revealed in Volume ‘F,’ a manga adaptation of the first half of Resurrection F, that Frieza would never be able to reach Beerus’ level no matter how hard he trained. It seems almost realistic, but it does make sense. Beerus’ role in the series is to be an unattainable benchmark. He gives Goku something to strive for while being something he can never truly be. This keeps the franchise’s overarching theme of there always being someone better alive while also pushing the narrative forward. Toriyama’s comment also limits Frieza’s growth, a necessity should he remain an active player in Dragon Ball’s future.

7 Golden Frieza Is Stronger Than Super Saiyan Blue

One of the biggest misconceptions about Resurrection F is that Super Saiyan Blue elevates both Goku and Vegeta to near untouchable levels. While they’re nowhere near Whis or Beerus’ levels, as evidenced by Whis’ training during the film’s second act, they’re also not the strongest non-deities in the movie. That honor goes to Frieza. Although fans may think otherwise, the fact of the matter is that Golden Frieza is actually quite stronger than Super Saiyan Blue. We see this explicitly during SSB Goku’s battle with Golden Frieza where the latter manages to overpower the former fairly often. It isn’t until the second half where Goku turns the table.

You may be thinking that Goku overpowering Frieza at all is enough to imply he’s stronger, but the only reason he manages to defeat Frieza in the end is because he has control over Super Saiyan Blue’s Ki and stamina while Frieza never bothered developing Golden any further. What this means is that, by the second half of the fight, Frieza was getting exhausted and could no longer keep up with Goku. Goku was struggling early on, but he maintained his composure and simply waited for Frieza’s stamina to expire so he could secure the victory. Frieza fought hard, but Goku fought smart. That said, this does still mean Golden is stronger than Super Saiyan Blue.

6 Frieza Has Appeared In Nine Dragon Ball Movies

Prior to Battle of Gods, just about every Dragon Ball movie followed the same pattern: copy whatever’s currently happening in the anime. Dead Zone is basically a retread of Raditz; Cooler’s Revenge is the Frieza fight; Super Android 13 is the Android attack; and Fusion Reborn is the fight against Super Buu. While the films have their differences, they’re mainly just ways of captizaling on whatever the anime’s dealing with. Naturally, this means we probably shouldn’t see villains from the main series, but that’s actually not the case. For whatever reason, Frieza keeps appearing in the movies, even when he’s not relevant.

Looking at the Dragon Ball Z movies alone, Frieza appears in: Bardock - The Father of Goku, Cooler’s Revenge, Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan, and Fusion Reborn. While he only appears in stock footage during Cooler’s Revenge and Broly, he plays a major role in the Bardock special and a minor one in Fusion Reborn. Counting spin-off films, Frieza appears in: both versions of Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans and The Real 4-D. Disregarding the fact he’s the main villain of Resurrection F, Frieza also makes a cameo appearance during the end credits of History of Trunks. Even though he only appeared in two arcs in DBZ, Frieza has managed to appear more often in the movies than most of the main characters.