The Dragon Ball franchise is perhaps the most popular anime in the entire world. Fans all across the globe love the series for its compelling characters, dynamic action, and over-the-top storylines. Despite first premiering more than thirty years ago, the series is still going strong with the upcoming Dragon Ball Super: Broly film being one of the most anticipated events in the history of the franchise. Literally millions of people cannot wait to see Broly, Goku, and Vegeta duke it out while also exploring each of the three’s origins.
Despite Goku being the main character of the long-running franchise, the Saiyan Prince Vegeta became a fan favorite character as soon as he first appeared towards the beginning of Dragon Ball Z. The Prince packs a lot of personality into his small stature and manages to have one of the most emotional character arcs in the entire series. He manages to go from a totally self-interested villain to reluctant father, to beloved family man over the course of his time in the series. Of course, his almost unmatched power and devastating techniques also help to make Vegeta one of the best characters in Dragon Ball.
Whether it be his monstrous physical strength, an array of energy attacks, or staggering level of endurance; Vegeta is ridiculously powerful. By the end of Dragon Ball Super, only a few characters can hope to best the Saiyan Prince in a fight, and even then Vegeta would make it a close match. These 25 features make Vegeta one of the most powerful warriors in any universe.
25 Gets Stronger After Every Defeat
One of the most powerful aspects of Saiyan biology is their ability to grow remarkably stronger every time they recover from a near-perished state. This means that every time Vegeta loses or nearly loses a fight, he only gains more combat ability. He exploits this ability numerous times throughout the series, like when he tries to quickly power up to fight Frieza or when he spars nonstop with Future Trunks to become stronger than the Androids. This handy ability almost guarantees that Vegeta will not lose to the same opponent twice.
24 Oozaru Transformation
Before he loses his tail, Vegeta is able to transform into the gargantuan Oozaru, or Great Ape depending on which version of the anime a person is watching. This form lets Vegeta literally crush entire cities and armies under his feet as he stomps around and fires energy blasts from his mouth. Even if this form does prevent him from using the majority of his other techniques, the sheer size and strength of the Oozaru transformation lets Vegeta defeat nearly any foe that crosses his path.
23 Artificial Moon Technique
The only weakness to Vegeta’s Oozaru transformation is that it requires the light of the full moon to trigger his shift into the form. This means that it is totally unusable during the daytime or on planets that don’t have such a large satellite in their orbit. Vegeta, however, possesses a technique that lets him temporarily create an artificial moon out of energy. This lets him trigger the powerful transformation whenever he wants and unleash the devastating power whenever he wants.
22 The Galik Gun Attack
The Galik Gun is one of Vegeta’s signature attacks and one half of perhaps the most iconic beam struggle in all of Dragon Ball. This technique has the prince gather energy in his palms while bringing both hands towards one shoulder, and then firing the energy in a beam from his fully outstretched arms and open palms. The blast is roughly equal in strength to Goku’s Kamehameha Wave and the Prince’s go to attack for much of the series. This signature move is definitely one of Vegeta’s most memorable and powerful attacks.
21 Ability To Sense Energy
While on Earth, Vegeta somehow manages to learn how to sense energy, which proves vital during the Namek Saga. He’s able to avoid Frieza’s forces and hunt down the dragon balls by sensing people’s natural energy, which members of the Frieza Force cannot do without scouters. This turns the majority of this portion of the story into a thrilling game of cat and mouse, where stealth and tactics mean far more than power. This ability is not a directly offensive one, but sensing energy is still a useful skill that makes Vegeta all the more capable and powerful.
20 Incredible Durability
A lifetime of combat makes the Saiyan Prince very experienced in dishing out and taking beatings. Vegeta posses an incredible level of endurance and durability, to the point where he can withstand blows that would certainly end nearly any other fighter. He’s withstood punches from foes many times stronger than him, withstands powerful energy blasts with only superficial damage, and can even survive in the vacuum of space for some time. Vegeta is one of the tankiest fighters in the whole series and can take more damage than just about anyone else.
19 Gravity Training
After learning that Goku became stronger than him thanks to rigorous training at 100 times Earth’s gravity, Vegeta dedicates himself to the method of training. He is now able to withstand up to 500 times Earth’s gravity rather easily and is totally unaffected by smaller gravity alterations, as seen during his fight with Pui Pui. This unusual method of training proves to be extremely beneficial to the fighter, as it helps Vegeta quickly gain more physical prowess and helps close the gap between him and Goku.
18 Super Saiyan Transformation
After rigorous training in space and quite a bit of soul-searching, Vegeta is able to transform into a Super Saiyan. Not only does this transformation give the Prince a free hair dye, but it also lets him easily best foes that were previously out of his league. After reaching this state, Vegeta can easily destroy Android 19 and make Dr. Gero flee for his life. This transformation gives Vegeta access to a level of power foretold in ancient Saiyan prophecy and is the beginning of him become much more powerful than most other major characters.
17 The Big Bang Attack
Another one of Vegeta’s signature attacks, the Big Bang Attack involves Vegeta compressing his energy into a dense orb at the end of his outstretched arm. Release the orb sends it hurtling through the air at an amazing speed without losing any energy over the distance. Once it makes contact with something, the orb explodes and creates a massive crater in its wake. It’s appropriate that this attack shares its name with the event that birthed the universe because the amount of power involved in the technique is practically on an immeasurable scale.
16 The Final Flash Attack
One of Vegeta’s finishing moves, the Final Flash, contains enough power to destroy a planet if he fires the attack towards its core. Upon outstretching his arms, focusing his energy, and blasting almost all of it in a single attack, this technique is by far one of his most powerful. First used in a desperate attempt to defeat Perfect Cell, this technique would appear again throughout Dragon Ball Z and Super whenever the Prince feels like he’s getting backed into a corner.
15 His Love For Trunks
Even if he won’t admit it, Vegeta loves his son Trunks in both his main timeline and Future Trunks forms. He’s utterly devastated when Cell ends Future Trunks and his love for Kid Trunks gives him the motivation he needs to try to destroy Majin Buu. The Saiyan Prince is way more of an emotional softie than he’d care to admit, and his love for his son is key to him accessing his full potential. His love for Trunks helps Vegeta get past his ego and do what it takes to defeat even the strongest of enemies.
14 The Majin Vegeta Form
During a kind of midlife crisis for Vegeta, he accepts a boost in strength from the evil wizard Babidi. Frustrated with his domestic life when grew up thinking he’d rule the cosmos as a galactic king, Vegeta takes a kind of steroid from Babidi and claims to return to his evil roots once more to fight Goku. This battle is one of the best in all of Dragon Ball and thoroughly explores the rivalry between the two characters, between the two launching terrain leveling attacks at each other.
13 Super Saiyan 2 Transformation
In between the Android Saga and the Majin Buu Saga, Vegeta learns how to transform into the ultra-powerful Super Saiyan 2 form. This elevated state lets him go toe to toe with Goku during their battle easily tower over most antagonists in this arc in terms of raw strength. Vegeta’s diligent training during the time between these story arcs gave him access to this overwhelming power and this storyline makes it clear that it was well worth the effort.
12 The Final Explosion Technique
After accepting his love for his life and family, Vegeta tries to undo the mess he’s made and nearly ends Majin Buu with his Final Explosion technique. By converting his life energy into a destructive force, Vegeta gives up his life in exchange for obliterating nearly anything around him. While Buu does manage to regenerate after getting torn to pieces by this devastating attack, the emotional impact of Vegeta giving his life for his loved ones is no less significant.
11 His Mastery Of Fusion Techniques
Vegeta and Goku are the only two characters in all of Dragon Ball to have experience with two different kinds of fusion techniques. Vegeta can fuse with Goku using both the Potara Earrings and the Fusion Dance. Both these methods combine the two into immensely powerful warriors whose abilities far exceed what they are capable of individually. While neither of the Saiyans like to use this technique as it means they cannot defeat a powerful foe on their own, knowing they have these abilities in their back pocket makes them an even more deadly pair.
10 Bulma’s Money
Vegeta would not be anywhere close to as strong as he is if not for Bulma’s money. As one of the richest people in the world, Bulma can pay for Vegeta’s expensive gravity training room, large food consumption, and other costs of living. Considering the Prince has no references, no non-fighting based skills, and a notoriously bad attitude; there’s almost no chance he could find a job to support himself on Earth. Not only does Bulma’s money let him spend all day training, but it also keeps him from starving on the street.
9 Whis’ Training
Over the course of Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta receives personal training from one of the strongest beings in the entire franchise. The angel Whis – the teacher and attendant to the God of Destruction Beerus – instructs Vegeta on how he can improve both his fighting style and physique. Super implies the Whis is one of the most powerful characters in the entirety of the franchise and Vegeta learning from this stupendous teacher is certainly a boon to the Prince’s fighting prowess.
8 Super Saiyan Blue Transformation
After Goku confronts Beerus and before a revived Frieza invades Earth for a second time, Vegeta learns how to transform into a Super Saiyan Blue. While the full name of the form is technically Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, the important thing to note is that Vegeta possesses godly energy in this state and more power than ever before. Super Saiyan Blue lets Vegeta face off against unbelievably powerful foes like Frieza in his powerful golden form and the villainous god Zamasu.
7 His Saiyan Pride
One of Vegeta’s greatest sources of strength is his pride in being a Saiyan. As prince of the nearly extinct race, Vegeta feels like it’s up to him to maintain the honor and glory of the warrior race. Even when serving Frieza, Vegeta firmly believed that the Saiyan people were the strongest in the universe and that he would someday overthrow the space tyrant. Vegeta holds himself to this incredibly high standard and is able to draw strength from his desire to embody this ideal.
6 Hyperbolic Time Chamber Training
As one of Earth’s mightiest warriors and someone aware of the location of Kami’s Lookout, Vegeta can train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber whenever he wants. This room allows a person to complete an entire year’s worth of training in a single day and lets them do so without any interruptions. Considering that the three-use limit on the chamber was more or less written out of the series, this means that Vegeta can pack in as much training as he wants, whenever he wants.