Power, strength, magic, ability, skills and many more, these are the things that come at a high price and unless you are someone born on the Gifted scale, these things always demand a price to be paid. This skillset helps us in situations and as the saying goes “there is always a badass above you” we will take a look at those creatures and beings in Dragon Ball Z who are way superior to our Son Kakarott and are in a league of their own when it comes down to strength and power.
There is often time that we fail to give importance and recognition to those who are a part of Dragon Ball and make for better and stronger beings than Son Goku. We have been so indulged in the main protagonist and his core strength and back story that we fail to give credits to the ones who made it possible for him to be at the top and gain that he is now worthy and demanding of. These are the mystical beings without whom the level of challengers would come out to be zero and Dragon Ball as we know would lose interest and fun when it comes down to showcasing power and high-end strength.
To start with the obvious, we have Son Goku whose strength alone is no match for those that come his way, and even if at times they get the better of him, he again manages to train his way up the ladder and get the better of those that he is fighting against. “His natural ability for fighting and his clairvoyance to think through situations make him one of the most powerful forces the series has ever seen. Goku doesn’t fight for power, money or control, his motivations are way beyond that. He does so for the pure love of increasing his strength, and to protect Earth from whatever threat may come its way.”
This is the sole reason that Goku ranks as one of the highest beings’ in Dragon Ball Z because of his lust and craving for power unlike others. As we see in the anime itself, he is someone who repeatedly sets the bar high for those that roam around him and serve as motivation to his friends who tag along him. There are times when due to his unique and divergent transformation he has gone on to grasp new forms and abilities making him the first ever warrior to touch our hearts and set an image which sets him apart from anyone else in the game.
Coming down to the second fighter in our list, we have Vegeta, the Saiyan Prince. As we see in the anime, he does not lack far behind Goku and also at times has served like an inspiration to the Kakarott son as well. At the beginning of the anime, Vegeta was already someone with far superior power than Goku and had a level of his own when he worked on the side of the evil making him way higher in terms of power and strength.
We have already known his craving for power for quite sometime and also know about the extent he can travel to, to get stronger than his competition. He has repeatedly proved himself as the best and with the smirky look on his face through the Saiyan Saga, we can imagine just how strong he is when it really comes down to showcasing his power and strength. Even along the Cell Saga in Dragon Ball Z we got to see his desperation for power and the craving that he held to get stronger than Son Goku even if it was for a minute. In the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, we see Vegeta enter the chamber with his son Trunks and literally come out as a whole different individual after his time in it is over.
One of the newest additions to Dragon Ball Z was the inclusion of Gods of Destruction and among them it is Beerus that steals the show and makes his image go worldwide when he finally shows-off his energy ability and power. Crowned the God of Destruction, the fighter has a power level that’s almost incomprehensible when stacked up against other opponents.
Portrayed as the Egyptian Cat God directly from the mythologies he already has a mean look to him which gets him an image of a badass in turn making him look more powerful and deadly than those that stand around him. As we know through the anime, Beerus is someone who has a desire to fight and only fights for the fun of it. It is only with his bout with Son Goku that we see his true power being unleased for a little while. Here Son Goku finally manages to transform himself to Super Saiyan God but still remains as no match for the God of Destruction and is only able to spar for a little longer than two strikes.
Whis, as it is later revealed by Beerus after the Battle of the Gods, is the only fighter that went heavy and chaotic on Beerus. He is the slim, tall, human like character in Dragon Ball Z whose appearance doesn’t mean much to us but is actually the toughest fighter to ever be featured on Dragon Ball canon. He has the ability to turn back time by maximum of 3 minutes and also possesses a strength without which the Earth would’ve been toast and done for long ago by Frieza.
With the events that take place rapidly around Whis, the only moment where we can see his true strength is at the moment when he decides to spar with Goku and Vegeta in a two versus one match. While the fight is going on and the two Saiyans warriors are taking their shot at defeating Whis or even making him sweat, we see a moment where Whis stops both their punches and with two frail fingers of his (thumb and the little finger.) This scene has gone on to break the internet many times and give credit to the power that lurks within Whis making him the strongest fighter that has ever been introduced in Dragon Ball Z.
“In the words of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama himself, Whis is the current strongest fighter in Dragon Ball Z. In order to put it into terms us fans can understand, Toriyama has stated that, power wise, Goku is a 6, Beerus is a 10, and Whis is a 15.”
Now that we have talked about all the obvious and the main characters who take up the prime spot in strength and power, let’s take a look at the character whose strength alone is no match for the Saiyans and is someone who even dared to shake up Frieza’s dad and divert the strongest move which may have been present in Goku arsenal.
As we know, antagonists being the type of people that they are, get far less credit than they deserve and if someone among them had to top the list then Jiren would without a doubt be the first selection among all the other individuals. He is someone with massive strength and it may be due to his fighting alone mind-set that he has managed to top the charts when it come to playing solo and being the lone wolf in every fights and attacks.
We saw him take part in the Tournament of Power and emerge as the person as the strongest one, with his base strength being leaps and bounds over other fighters and where no fighter in the tournament, not even Goku could manage to get him serious. This showed us his core gut strength and depicted us just how strong Jiren is when it comes down to power and strength.
We also know of the time when he was offered one seat as the God of Destruction but he rejected it on a basis that the seat went beyond his beliefs and only was used to cause mayhem and chaos when he was an honourable Pride Trooper who only fought when necessary and justice had to be implied.
As we know strength is something that comes at a price and unless we are born gifted with it, there is a lot of hard labour and digging waiting in order for us to possess the power which only a select few can hope to obtain after years of training and dedication.
Though there are times when our strength can go unrecognised, there will always be a moment when we can flaunt it with style and admiration because when the time calls for it only those capable will be able to withstand the storm and stand strong on the ground like these almighty beings who became capable enough to enter and capture our hearts in few snaps and turns.