Dragon Ball is one of the largest and most popular anime franchises in the world. It's as resonant with viewers in Europe and North America as it is in its country of origin, and it's one of the few anime shows where characters have become household names, of sorts, even in America. It's known for having many memorable heroes and villains who have given the franchise so much life over the last few decades. Though most people tend to think of Goku and Vegeta when they think of Dragon Ball characters, some villains come to mind, as well. Probably the most recognizable villain of all is Frieza, who has been an antagonist in the series for a very long time.

Frieza is one of the most notorious characters in the Dragon Ball series. This probably has a lot to do with his insane amount of undirected power. I mean, come on, you'd think that a guy with that much power wouldn't die so many times... But, what really makes him an interesting character is the mystery around who he is and his motivations behind his ludicrous actions. Even controversial fan theories have been rising in popularity regarding the sadistic character. So, it's no surprise that Frieza brings quite a bit of attraction to himself. Prepare to learn a bit more about the epic villain you thought you knew. As a disclaimer, there will be a few spoilers for those who aren't up to date on Dragon Ball, but it may just be worth spoiling it to find out about everyone's favorite villain...

20 An Interesting Inspiration

Frieza is a ruthless spectator in the real estate world, acquiring at least eighty planets in all of his lifetimes. Although he's spent much of his time dead, Frieza has been pretty successful in displacing millions of beings in order to attain as much land as possible so that he can turn around and sell it to the highest bidder. Akira Toriyama, the writer of Dragon Ball, claims that this was inspired by the housing crisis of the 80s in Japan. During this time period, many people were making large investments in houses and land to make large profits; this spectator bubble eventually collapsed, causing a recession. It's a unique perspective, but it makes total sense that Toriyama thought of this. You just never know where your favorite character truly resonates from.

19 We've Never Seen These Power Levels

In Dragon Ball Z, Frieza was the most powerful being. So much so that even Vegeta, the egotistical Saiyan prince, dreaded fighting him. During this series, even King Kai begged Goku not to fight Frieza. Of course, he didn’t heed his advice, but it all worked out in the end. Frieza becomes one of the less powerful villains later on in the series as Beerus and Whis most definitely outperform him. But in Dragon Ball Z, Frieza struck fear in everyone who had even considered fighting him. It's stated in Dragon Ball Z: The Real 4-D that Frieza's power level was over five billion. Pretty cool, huh? It's also important to note that Frieza never had an ounce of training (until Golden Frieza). He was simply just born powerful. Although, this birthright hasn't exactly worked out in his favor since his pride gets the best of him throughout the series, causing him to lose to opponents that he could have more than likely beaten otherwise. He's still a pretty bad dude, nonetheless.

18 Overly Powerful For What He Is

Frieza’s origin race catches a lot of flak from Dragon Ball fans, especially in the online Xenoverse gaming community. Many gamers actually have a bit of a prejudice against the race because of the reputation of the ruthless ruler, Frieza. However, him and his father are actually outliers as far as his origin race goes, which is due to the fact that they’re mutants. They're aliens crossed with mutants. Frieza and King Cold are actually much stronger than the average; they’re also more evil as well. So, before you begin judging those of Frieza’s original race and completely exclude the possibility of any of them having redeeming traits, think again. Same goes for those who choose to play as Frieza’s race in the Dragon Ball Xenoverse games, which isn’t exactly the most promising player given the fact that that race isn’t naturally inclined to be strong.

17 Doubting His Motivations

Believe it or not, a growing number of fans have been questioning Frieza's motivation behind destroying Planet Vegeta. What many of us know is that he felt threatened by the Super Saiyan race and wanted to eliminate them to avoid jeopardizing his own life. However, many fans are beginning to believe that Frieza really only destroyed Planet Vegeta due to Beerus's orders. This is not true! It's claimed that this theory stems from Latin America, where the dub is even less accurate than the English dub. The confusion arises from "Battle of Gods" in which Beerus claims that he wanted to destroy Planet Vegeta because he hated King Vegeta. Not to mention, if Frieza destroyed the Saiyans purely due to Beerus's demand, then it would contradict the entire Frieza saga since he focuses pretty heavily on ridding the universe of Saiyans.

16 We Haven't Seen Everything He's Capable of

It's a known fact that many of the American production companies censor some of the original content in anime when creating the English dub. But some of these seem like the most unnecessary cuts and it actually causes many to question if there's not more meaning behind the original content. This is sort of the case with Frieza and his fight with Vegeta. While they're fighting, Vegeta gets flung into a lake by Frieza, who then rises the water away from Vegeta. As he approaches him, he notices a crab crawling on Vegeta's neck, which he picks up and eats in one whole bite. It may not seem like a very important scene, but it expresses Frieza's toughness, by crunching into a whole crab with pleasure. The problem that the American production company likely had with this scene is reasons of animal rights. It was likely perceived as a bit cruel to kill an animal that ruthlessly, and deemed unfit for a child audience.

15 Even Villains Get Scared

We've all got our hidden secrets that we wish to never be revealed. Frieza's isn't exactly concealed well, but could ultimately affect his reputation of being a ruthless, fearless leader. It's demonstrated throughout Dragon Ball that Frieza is actually afraid of Beerus and Whis. This makes sense since each of them are likely the most powerful beings in all of Dragon Ball, but it's kind of funny when Frieza, once the most powerful character, is the one acting cowardly. It's also shocking considering the fact that he doesn't normally give up, even if he's been beaten by an opponent before. Although, Frieza's father, King Cold, had advised him to steer clear of Beerus and Whis due to their unbeatable amount of power. Old King Cold didn't want to have to create a cyborg son again.

14 Immortalized In Song

Just when you thought creative works for the Dragon Ball series couldn’t get much stranger, you realize that Nu Metal is still a thing, and it likes Frieza. Yes, there has actually been a song made about Frieza named, “F.” It was created by the Japanese band Maximum the Hormone. Not sure if the name of the band has met its maximum potential, but the song is actually pretty cool, especially if you're into the Dragon Ball series. Disclaimer: you'll need to read the lyrics in order to get all of the references described throughout the song, as it's obviously in Japanese. Overall, the song talks about Frieza's goals and motivations, and then describes many of the things that he's done. If you're a Frieza fan, or even just a Dragon Ball fan, you should consider adding this one to your playlist.

13 As Seen On TV

In addition to the song that was created in honor of Frieza, he was also on a television commercial for a Japanese drink. Kirin Mets is a highly popular soda that's had over thirty years of sales in Japan, and also provided the platform for Frieza's first commercial appearance independent of Dragon Ball itself. In the ad, Kirin Mets is advertising their grape soda, featuring Frieza and his soldiers dancing to a catchy beat. Some would even say they had "Thriller"-esque moves throughout the video. Nonetheless, the trendy drink was popularized even more from the Dragon Ball character's appearance, especially since it's one of the most legendary anime films ever.

12 What You Can Do With The Power Of Your Mind

Frieza trained for four months and was able to achieve a massive amount of power to compete with full-power God Goku. This is when his gold form was revealed, made to resemble a gold medal and it’s also comparable to the Super Saiyan who defeated him. It’s his unofficial fifth form. What’s actually most remarkable about Golden Frieza is the fact that while he was in hell, unable to perform any physical training, Frieza actually trained himself to become this extremely powerful being entirely with his mind. Yup. He did it all purely by meditation. And what’s even more noteworthy is the fact that Frieza had never even trained before in his life. He’s not just the spoiled, bratty prince of the galaxy as you may have previously thought, but Frieza is actually a very powerful mutant not to be messed with. Unless, of course, you’re a highly-trained Super Saiyan, like Goku.

11 This Is The Fight That Never Ends...

As crazy as it may sound, Frieza and Goku's fight actually lasted for nineteen episodes. Dragon Ball is infamous for having the longest, most drawn-out dramatic scenes. But, since this specific fight was especially long, a few fan theories have emerged. One of which proposes the idea that Frieza actually won, at first, because Goku may have died while he was down. Some say that King Kai actually wished him back to life. But this can actually be refuted because, as we all know, during this time period in the series Goku had already been wished back to life by a dragon ball and this could only happen once. Even if Frieza didn’t win, he still put up a great fight, one that was apparently worthy of nineteen episodes…

10 This Third Form Seems Familiar...

Toriyama, the original writer of the Dragon Ball series, loves to make references to many different movies and other works within Dragon Ball. So, it’s no surprise that he used a reference to the movie Aliens when he was creating a third form for his notorious alien villain, Frieza. Frieza’s third form actually resembles the Xenomorph from the Aliens movie. He has an elongated head, spikes in his back, as well as a long, creepy tail. His face is even similar to the Xenomorph's. In this form, Frieza's voice actually sounds different as well, taking on his first form and second form voices combined. While looking at the side-by-side, this is pretty undeniable.

9 The Future God Of Destruction

Now, this is going to create a large amount of debate, but is actually a considerably possible series of events. There's a fan theory which assumes that Frieza could become the next God of Destruction. This sounds like crazy talk and all, but take a moment to let it marinate. The only thing standing in Frieza's way is the link between the God of Destruction and the Supreme Kai. It's believed that Frieza would likely discover this link via Katella. Queue the evil music. If Frieza then took out the Supreme Kai, Beerus would vanish. This leads theorists to believe that Frieza would then be appointed as the replacement God of Destruction, likely by the Grand Priest. Beating Beerus in a fight is an unlikely outcome for Frieza, so this link is actually his way of getting around Beerus to steal his throne. This would lead to an epic series of events to follow. The more you consider this theory, the more you want it to be confirmed.

8 Mr. Mom

It’s funny because a lot of fans attempt to fill in the gaps of Frieza’s empty childhood, each with slightly different theories. However, very few of these are actually supported by the films or manga. In an interview, Akira Toriyama states that Frieza was, in fact, born from his father whom reproduced alone. So, there you have it. The reason why all of Frieza’s relatives happen to be male: it’s because they’re not really "males"! They just have more masculine characteristics. Many claim that they know that Frieza has a mom because the English dub very specifically says “parents” instead of “parent.” However, this is because in Japanese there is only the word “parent”, a plural form of the word does not exist. Basically, the truth was lost in translation; King Cold was a single dad.

7 Parallels To A Historical Tyrant

A few anime series' have had references to a certain WWII dictator which have been removed from English dubs, but what if an entire character was reminiscent of the man himself? This may seem a bit outlandish at first glimpse, but after careful examination it’s not too far-fetched to claim that Frieza could actually be akin to him. If you begin to think about it, they both have attempted (and to a certain extent were somewhat successful) in wiping out an entire race. And they were also very obsessive about it, for that matter. Both of them had their own armies. Each of them are psychotic dictators who commit cruel and evil acts, even killing children. Lastly, they've both died at their own hand. Although this is a pretty controversial claim, it seems that even in the real world, a Frieza has existed.

6 A Race By Any Other Name

So, it’s often questioned what Frieza’s alien-mutant race is actually called. A little deeper digging reveals that they’re actually known as Frost Demons. They’re a mutant alien race that hails from the Planet Geyser, which is in the South Galaxy. Their planet is one of the coldest in the galaxy, giving reason behind the naming theme of Frieza’s clan. This race is also genderless, as they’re ace, but they all have male characteristics. So, for arguments' sake, you can claim that they're all male. They’re often viewed as xenophobic, destroying any race that may threaten their existence. Frieza, especially, defines the race in this way when he destroyed Planet Vegeta. Frieza’s extreme strength could also be explained by the fact that his home planet is low in food supply due to the constant snowstorm, which creates a survival-of-the-fittest epidemic. Additionally, Frost Demons can breathe in the vacuum of space which gives them many advantages, especially as far as power goes.

5 A Father Before Anything Else

It’s revealed in the manga that Frieza actually has a son named Kuriza. His name is actually a play on words, partly inspired by Frieza’s own name and partly based upon the word Kuriz which means chestnut in Japanese. This is because of Kuriza’s chestnut-shaped head; aside from that, he really resembles his father. Before the sea of complaints begin to flood in, let me allow a little disclaimer that not all will agree that Kuriza is actually “canon” to the Dragon Ball anime since he was featured in the manga. However, if you’ve ever played the Dragon Ball game for PlayStation 2, there’s an easter egg which allows you to play as Kuriza if you highlight Frieza’s name and choose the third form.

4 The Most Defeated

Frieza may have had the title of "Most Powerful" back in Dragon Ball Z, but that was short-lived. Not only did other villains rise above Frieza, but he actually was defeated several times by heroes; more than any other villain, in fact. He's come back several times, but never has he been able to defeat Goku to avenge his own death. There were actually six occasions in which he was beaten down, obviously one of those being the legendary fight between Frieza and Goku. In addition, there were also other fights including when Frieza fought Future Trunks and God Goku. On the one hand, it causes one to wonder, "Does this guy ever give up?" On the flip side, you've got to hand it to Frieza for never quitting despite the embarrassing amount of failures he's had. Plus, he actually puts up a good fight, but he's just no match for Goku's crew.

3 How Old Is He?

One question has been on the minds of many Dragon Ball fans for a number of years, now. Its itching the brains of the characters themselves, as well. How old is Frieza? He's been around for many different events, and it seems that, based on his power, he's not very old considering his own lifespan. While there is no exact answer, there's a pretty safe estimate that he's at least seventy years old. Although, it's said that King Cold's age is likely close to a century. Some fans even claim to believe that Frieza is possibly dead due to his lack of aging. However, this is obviously not true considering the fact that we see Frieza go to Hell upon his death from his fight with Goku. He may no longer be the most powerful in the Dragon Ball series, but he's most definitely going to be around for a while, which makes him relevant.

2 Sociopathic Maniac

I suppose this one shouldn't come as such a shock, but it's actually confirmed that Frieza is a sociopath. This is evident in his behavior alone. If you can recall, Frieza has killed many people, some of which were children, without even batting an eyelash. This psychotic villain can actually be seen laughing as he commits horrible acts. For instance, this is seen during the scene when he destroys Planet Vegeta. His hostility isn't the only sign of sociopathy, though. It's also demonstrated in his relationship with his father, which doesn't seem to have any emotional substance to it whatsoever. This, in the end, has made Frieza a feared individual and a ruthless villain, but it's also cost him his own life in some cases. For instance, during his first battle with Goku, Goku actually gives Frieza a chance for redemption seeing that his opponent is on the brink of death. Goku gives Frieza some power to prevent death. But immediately after, Frieza attempts to strike Goku, however, Goku ends up deflecting his power, essentially causing Frieza to kill himself.

1 Self-Inflicted Saiyan Hate

It's really ironic that of all people, Frieza has caused the most Saiyan transformations. After many efforts to wipe out the last of the Saiyans, Frieza has only made them stronger. This is seen when he caused Goku to become a Super Saiyan when he kills Krillin. He also caused Gohan to become a Super Saiyan in the hyperbolic chamber when he envisioned Frieza killing his family and friends. Lastly, when Frieza blasts Bardock years into the past, he ends up fighting Frieza's ancestor, Chilled, and becomes a Super Saiyan. This also causes Frieza to later destroy Planet Vegeta, after hearing the story of the fight with Bardock and Chilled. So, not only does Frieza actually empower the Super Saiyans, he actually causes his own hatred for them from the beginning by sending Bardock into the past to fight Chilled (unintentionally). Mind blown.