The Dragon Ball franchise has the benefit of having some of the most iconic super villains in all of pop culture. Cell, King Piccolo, and Majin Buu, are some of the most popular villains ever. However, all of them pale in comparison to the impact that Frieza left on the fandom. An evil alien galactic emperor, Frieza literally had the entire universe under his thumb. He was considered to be the strongest in the universe – there was no one that was able to compete against him.
His sadistic nature and condescending personality made him an easy villain to loathe. His strength seemed unmatched, which is why his ultimate defeat by Goku is one of the most satisfying in the series. Pushed beyond his limits, Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan for the first time when Frieza unmercifully eliminates Krillin. Their epic duel would end up being one of the most iconic (and longest) fights in the franchise.
Since then, Frieza has found himself returning to the series more than once. He comes back as a cyborg, a spirit, and is even briefly resurrected, before perishing by Goku’s hands. Frieza, in a lot of ways, is the franchise's main villain. He isn’t a rival to Goku in the same vein as Vegeta; Frieza wants nothing more than to make Goku suffer, making him Goku’s biggest threat and arch nemesis. Despite the fact that Goku somehow always comes out on top, Frieza has a certain set of skills that even he doesn’t have. That is why we will be going over 15 Things Frieza Can Do That Goku Can’t.
15 Finger Beams
Frieza is generally a person who doesn’t like to get their hands dirty. He spends most of his time in his hover chair thingy, ordering others to do his bidding. When he does actually do something, he can dispose of his enemies with barely a thought. All his moves are about how simple and clean he takes care of his opponents.
A simple laser beam from his fingertips is more than enough to end a person’s life. Whereas Goku has to use the palms of his hands to summon up a powerful enough Kamehameha, Frieza can literally destroy mountains with just his fingers. Him using only his fingertips to take care of his opponents highlights his overconfident personality. Before he encounters Goku, he had no equal. He never needed to use more than his fingertips until his climactic duel with Goku, and even now he mostly uses his finger lasers as his primary move.
14 Owns Most Of The Universe
Frieza and his clan pretty much own the entire universe. They are part conquers and part rulers of the galaxy. They wipe out the population of a planet and then sell it to the highest bidder. Even though Frieza’s father, King Cold, is very much alive by the time Frieza is introduced, it is Frieza that appears to be in charge of everything.
Every soldier, worker, and scientist answers directly to Lord Frieza.
He controls everyone, and in his mind, owns everything. Frieza saw himself the strongest in the universe, and for a very long time, he was. Every planet was at his mercy until Trunks was finally able to an end Frieza’s rule. Trunks would even dispose of King Cold, leaving their galactic empire in shambles.
13 Has An Intergalactic Army
One of the benefits of owning the entire universe is that you can amass a large army of soldiers. Willing or not, Frieza’s men are all completely obedient to their master. If one goes out of line, Frieza can just stare at them and they are finished. The only incentive of joining Frieza’s army is living, which is probably in Frieza’s point of view, an act of mercy.
Even though having an army of superpower beings would be beneficial for Earth, Goku and the other Z warriors never bothered to gather an army to protect the planet. Every time the Earth is in danger, it is up to the same small group of people to save the day. Maybe King Furry should invest in a Super Soldier Program, a la Captain America. An army of superpowered beings would have been really useful when Frieza came to destroy the Earth twice.
12 Able To Completely Overwhelm Vegeta In A Fight
Vegeta is Goku’s ultimate rival. They are two sides of the same coin; they’re both Saiyans with the need to continue to grow stronger and face more powerful foes. Vegeta strives to one day be stronger than Goku, and the two would have several matches throughout the mega-franchise. Even though there have been many points in the series where Goku was more powerful than Vegeta, all their fights would almost feature them being even in strength.
There has never been a point when Goku was able to completely dominate against Vegeta.
Frieza, on the other hand, was not only able to overpower Vegeta, he did it with using only a little bit of his strength. Vegeta’s defeat against Frieza broke him in a way that Goku could never do. Frieza hurt Vegeta’s pride, the thing most important to him, and was able to make the proud Saiyan cry.
11 Can Blow Up People With His Mind
Every fan remembers when Frieza blows up Krillin – it is the moment that drove Goku angry enough to unlock Super Saiyan for the first time. It is an iconic scene in the series and is also a deeply sad one to witness for viewers. Krillin was able to survive most of the Namekian Saga, having survived matches with enemies much stronger than him. To see him perish in such a violent way is hard to witness, and further cements Frieza as a being of pure evil.
With all that said, if Frieza can blow up people that easy, why he doesn’t do it more often. Like why didn’t he just blow up everyone, or at least attempt to blow up everyone? Heck, he shoots Piccolo in the chest right before he blows up Krillin. Why didn’t he just blow up Piccolo as well? What are the limitations for this power that Frieza, and why doesn’t he use it all the time?
10 Telekinesis Powers
Frieza showcases a variety of psychic abilities in his fights against the heroes. He is able to lift rocks and throw them. He is able to trap people in a bubble and send them whirling around. Sometimes he is able to destroy things by simply looking at them, and can push away his foes with the simplest gestures. He can just stare at someone, and they would perish, he is apparently that powerful. Goku has been shown to have some psychic abilities. He did read Krillin’s mind when he first arrived on Namek. However, it is never to the extent of Frieza, who constantly uses psychic powers in his fights against the Z Warriors. Imagine having to face a foe that could harm you without having to touch you.
9 Survive The Vacuum Of Space
The reason why we humans can live on Earth is because the planet has two of the most essential needs for all of life – oxygen and water. Without either, Earth would just be another rock orbiting around the sun. This is why humans can’t survive in space; there isn’t any air to breathe. Even Saiyans like Goku and Vegeta can’t survive the emptiness of space, at least without holding their breath for a long period of time.
Somehow, Frieza and his race can survive in the vacuum of space.
The biology of how they are able to survive is never explained, which is kind of strange. Dragon Ball Z explains the pseudo-science why Saiyans transform into giant apes when they see a full moon, yet no explanation on how Frieza can survive in space. Does his species have an endless source of oxygen inside them, or do they not need to breathe air a la vampires?
8 Survive Being Cut In Half
Speaking of impossible biology, Frieza can also apparently survive having his lower half be cut off. When Goku decided he no longer wanted to fight him anymore, Frieza decided to use one more trick up his sleeve. Coping from Krillin, Frieza summons two energy discs and throws them at Goku. Goku is able to dodge them handily, whereas Frieza’s arrogance got the better of him and he accidentally cuts himself in half by one of his discs.
Somehow he was able to continue speaking and was still capable of flying. Goku perished for the first time when Piccolo shot the Special Beam Cannon through him. If he is able to pass away by a simple hole in his chest, then it is doubtful he would survive one of those energy discs cutting him in half.
7 Survive A Planet Exploding
Frieza’s improbable biology continues when not only does he survive being cut in half, he then survives a planet exploding. Despite being literally half the man he used to be, Frieza somehow remained alive long enough after Namek’s explosion for his father’s men to find him. He was then given cyber enhancements, boosting his power.
Many of the fighters in Dragon Ball have the power to destroy planets. Most of the main cast have the capability to destroy the Earth with just a powerful energy beam. These same warriors are able to endure many of these powerful energy beams head-on, meaning they can survive planet destroying energy. With that said, surviving an actual planet exploding is an entirely different matter. Nothing can survive a planet exploding, not even a Saiyan. Somehow Frieza’s unique physiology gives him enough endurance to survive a planet collapsing right underneath his feet.
6 Destroy Planets
As mentioned, most of the main cast of Dragon Ball are capable of destroying planets. Goku is clearly capable to destroy a planet with minimal effort, he just chooses not to. Frieza, on the other hand, destroys planets willy-nilly. Before the start of the series, Frieza destroys the Saiyan home planet of Vegeta, wiping out nearly the entire Saiyan race.
Later, during his climactic battle with Super Saiyan Goku, he tries to destroy Namek in order to beat Goku. He, fortunately, didn’t use enough energy to hit the core immediately, which gave Goku five minutes to defeat Frieza and escape. Frieza, deluded by his own arrogance and pride, decides he can actually defeat Goku as well within the five minutes. Rather than throw another energy ball to the planet’s core, he decided to go full power and face Goku in an all-out duel. It didn’t turn out well for him in the end – he should’ve just destroyed Namek.
5 Rule Over The Saiyans
Goku is a simple man. He just wants to train to his heart’s content, and to continue facing against opponents much stronger than him. He has no desire to rule over people, or really to be in any position of power.
Frieza, on the other hand, is addicted to power and having control over everything.
With his strength unmatched in the entire universe, he was able to literally take control of any planet he wished to own. This includes the Saiyans. The Saiyans are generally a prideful race, yet for Frieza they are willing to work under him. Despite the Saiyans great strength, even they feared Frieza’s power. Frieza was able to rule over them for a while, until he became fearful of their potential. He recognizes that the Saiyans were getting stronger, and feared that the legendary Super Saiyan may become a reality sooner rather than later.
4 Have A Metal Song Named After Him
The influence that Dragon Ball has had on people can never be understated. Many people around the globe love the franchise, and they often express it in unique ways. This has led to the usual stuff, like incredible fan art and remixes of classic Dragon Ball tunes.
However there are some metal bands that go little further to showcase their love for the franchise. There are two rock metal songs named after the nefarious Frieza. One of them is simply called “Frieza The Tyrant," and it was written and performed by the Spanish thrash metal band Crisix. The Japanese nu metal band called Maximum the Hormone dedicated a song to Frieza titled “F." Akira Toriyama would be influenced by “F” to create Resurrection F, the Dragon Ball movie. Simply referring to Frieza as “F” gave Toriyama the idea of resurrecting “F," which led to the creation of the film.
3 Have A Larger Body Count
Goku didn’t really dispose a lot of his enemies in Dragon Ball Z. While in Dragon Ball he was totally okay disposing enemies left and right (he did take care of most of the Red Ribbon Army), he decided to be mellower towards his foes in Z. He did dispose some of the big bads in the series, like Kid Buu, but he relatively has a low body count.
Frieza on the other hand has a huge body count. His huge body count is mostly contributed to the fact that Frieza has this nasty habit of destroying planets full of living beings. Not only did he dispose of most of Namek’s population, he also got rid of a lot of his own men. He also annihilated almost the entire Saiyan race before the start of the series. That’s not even including the billions of lives he probably enslaved or force to join his army. It is safe to say that Frieza probably has the biggest body count of Dragon Ball Z.
2 Has A Supportive Father
Goku never even knew his father; Bardock, father of Goku, was one of the millions of Saiyans that perished when Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta. However, Bardock, from what we know, was kind of a jerk. He was disappointed that his son was a low-level Saiyan warrior, and refused to acknowledge him because of it. Bardock was scumbag until the very end, and is only able to finally be proud of his son when he witnesses a vision of him facing against Frieza.
Frieza is kind of the opposite; his father was very supportive of him, and was even protective. King Cold cared enough of his son that he saves him from Namek’s debris, and constructs him a new body. They then join forces to take revenge on the Super Saiyan, and destroy his home planet. Destroying planets is probably the equivalent of playing catch for Frieza’s clan, something Goku never got to do with his father.
1 He Can Manipulate Others For His Own Benefits
Goku is not the brightest. Many jokes stem of how little he knows about everything outside of fighting. He can’t sweet talk his way out of things, and sure as hell won’t be able to manipulate people. While Frieza usually gets what he wants through force, he can also be very manipulative as well. During the Tournament of Power, he convinces Frost from Universe 6 to join forces with him so that they can both get what they want in the end.
However, Frieza betrays him and shoots Frost out of the arena.
While in the Tournament of Power he is fighting with Goku and the others to insure Universe 7’s survival, he clearly has his own agenda. He may be fighting on the side of the angels at the moment; it doesn’t appear he would be going the same redemption route as Piccolo or Vegeta. He is evil to his core, and would manipulate everyone and anyone to achieve what he truly wants.