Dragon Ball Z Characters

Vegeta

Prince of all Saiyans

Vegeta arrives as the Saiyan saga's final villain, and his whole life after that revolves around one goal: being better than Goku. His pride makes him reckless, cruel and sometimes heroic. His sacrifice against Majin Buu is the moment he becomes one of the good guys for good. In Super he develops Ultra Ego, a form that grows stronger the more damage he takes.

Voice

Ryō Horikawa (JP) · Christopher Sabat (EN)

Gohan

Goku's elder son

Gohan is a gentle, bookish boy with enormous hidden power that comes out when he's pushed. He's the one who beats Cell, becoming the first Super Saiyan 2. He'd rather be a scholar than a fighter, which frustrates everyone who's seen what he can do. In Super Hero he unlocks a new form, Beast.

Voice

Masako Nozawa (JP) · Kyle Hebert (EN, adult)

Piccolo

Namekian warrior · Gohan's mentor

Piccolo is the reincarnation of the demon king who once tried to rule Earth, and he spends the original series as Goku's sworn enemy. Training Gohan changes him. He comes to love the boy more than his own revenge. He's the Z Fighters' strategist, and in Super Hero he gains a powerful orange form.

Voice

Toshio Furukawa (JP) · Christopher Sabat (EN)

Krillin

Goku's best friend

Krillin trained alongside Goku under Master Roshi and is the strongest pure human in most of Z. He's funny, kind and constantly out of his depth, and his death at Frieza's hands is what triggers Goku's first Super Saiyan transformation. He marries Android 18 and they have a daughter, Marron.

Voice

Mayumi Tanaka (JP) · Sonny Strait (EN)

Yamcha

Former desert bandit

Yamcha was one of Goku's first rivals and Bulma's long-time boyfriend. In Z he falls behind fast, and his crumpled pose after a Saibaman kills him became one of anime's best-known memes. He's a good sport about it, mostly.

Tien Shinhan

Three-eyed martial artist

Tien is a disciplined fighter who started as the Crane School's star pupil and Goku's rival before switching sides. He's not in the Saiyans' league, but he keeps fighting anyway. His Neo Tri-Beam buys Goku crucial time against Cell.

Chiaotzu

Tien's best friend

Chiaotzu is a small, pale telekinetic who goes everywhere Tien goes. He self-destructs on Nappa in the Saiyan saga to no effect at all. He mostly appears in the background after that.

Future Trunks

Vegeta and Bulma's son from another timeline

Trunks comes from a future where the Androids have killed almost everyone, and he travels back with a warning and a cure for Goku's heart virus. His quiet seriousness is a striking contrast with his father. He returns in Super to face Goku Black.

Voice

Takeshi Kusao (JP) · Eric Vale (EN)

Goten and Kid Trunks

The next generation

Goten, Goku's younger son, and Trunks, Vegeta's son in the present timeline, are best friends who both reach Super Saiyan as small children. Fused, they become Gotenks, who is enormously powerful and far too cocky to use it well. They're the Buu saga's comic relief and its emergency plan.

Android 18

Former Red Ribbon android

Android 18 was built by Dr. Gero to kill Goku and instead spent her time shopping and beating Vegeta. Cell absorbs her to reach his perfect form. Afterward she marries Krillin, and her dry humour makes her one of the more grounded members of the group.

Android 17

Android 18's twin · Park ranger

Android 17 starts as a bored teenage menace and is absorbed by Cell. In Super he's a wildlife ranger with a family, and he's the last fighter standing at the end of the Tournament of Power. He uses his wish to restore every erased universe.

Raditz

Goku's older brother

Raditz arrives to recruit his brother into conquering planets, and kidnaps Gohan when Goku refuses. Goku dies holding him in place so Piccolo can kill them both. His messages to the other Saiyans set up everything that follows.

Nappa

Vegeta's partner

Nappa is a huge, bald Saiyan elite who is responsible for the deaths of Tien, Chiaotzu and Piccolo before Goku arrives. When Goku cripples him, Vegeta kills him rather than carry dead weight. It's a quick, brutal sign of who Vegeta is.

Bardock

Goku's father

Bardock is a low-class Saiyan soldier who dies trying to stop Frieza from destroying Planet Vegeta. He's best known from a TV special and later appearances.

The Ginyu Force

Frieza's elite squad

Captain Ginyu, Recoome, Burter, Jeice and Guldo strike sentai poses before every fight and are genuinely dangerous. Ginyu can swap bodies, which goes badly for him. They're the saga's comic break.

Zarbon and Dodoria

Frieza's lieutenants

Zarbon is a vain fighter with a monstrous transformed state, and Dodoria is a spiky brute. Both are disposed of by Vegeta as he turns against Frieza.

Nail and Guru

Namek's warrior and elder

Guru, the Grand Elder, unlocks Krillin's and Gohan's potential. Nail, his guardian, fights Frieza and then merges with Piccolo, greatly boosting his strength.

King Cold

Frieza's father

King Cold arrives on Earth with a rebuilt Frieza seeking revenge and is cut down by Future Trunks, along with his son, in Trunks' first appearance.

Cooler

Frieza's brother (films)

Cooler appears in two Z films as Frieza's harder, more competent brother. He isn't in the TV series, but he's a fan favourite.

Dr. Gero (Android 20)

Red Ribbon Army scientist

Dr. Gero turned himself into an android to get revenge on Goku for destroying the Red Ribbon Army. He activates 17 and 18, and they kill him almost at once.

Android 16

Gentle giant

Android 16 was built to kill Goku but loves birds and nature. His dying plea to Gohan to stop holding back helps unlock Super Saiyan 2.

Android 19

Energy-absorbing android

Android 19 is one of the first two androids the heroes face. Vegeta, newly Super Saiyan, destroys him.

Babidi

Wizard

Babidi is a tiny, spiteful wizard who brainwashes fighters with his Majin spell, including Vegeta. He's the one who wakes Buu, and Buu eventually kills him.

Dabura

King of the Demon Realm

Dabura is the demon king Babidi uses as his enforcer. He can turn people to stone with his spit and is far stronger than anyone the heroes expected. Buu kills him, and in a typically Toriyama twist he ends up in Heaven.

Supreme Kai (Shin)

Supreme Kai of Universe 7

Shin is the god who comes to warn the Z Fighters about Buu, and he turns out to be far weaker than a supreme deity ought to be. Super reveals that his life is tied to Beerus's: if one dies, so does the other.

Gotenks and Vegito

Fusions

Gotenks is Goten and Trunks fused by the Fusion Dance. Vegito is Goku and Vegeta fused by the Potara earrings, and he's so far beyond Super Buu that he toys with him. Gogeta, the Fusion Dance version of the same pair, first appeared in a 1995 film and became canon in 2018's Broly.

Beerus

God of Destruction, Universe 7

Beerus is a cat-like deity who sleeps for decades and wakes up wanting to fight the Super Saiyan God he dreamed about. He's selfish, quick to anger and easily bribed with food. His role is to balance creation by destroying planets, and he's become a reluctant patron for Goku and Vegeta.

Voice

Kōichi Yamadera (JP) · Jason Douglas (EN)

Whis

Angel attendant

Whis is Beerus's attendant and teacher, and he's much stronger than Beerus. He's serene, polite and loves Earth food. He trains Goku and Vegeta, and he's the one who explains Ultra Instinct.

Voice

Masakazu Morita (JP) · Ian Sinclair (EN)

Zeno

The Omni-King

Zeno is the ruler of all twelve universes, and he looks and acts like a small child. He can erase universes on a whim. He calls Goku his friend, to the horror of every god.

Jiren

Pride Trooper, Universe 11

Jiren is a stoic warrior stronger than his own God of Destruction, who believes only power matters because he once lost everything. He's the final opponent in the Tournament of Power and the one who pushes Goku into Mastered Ultra Instinct.

Broly

Legendary Super Saiyan

Broly was a 1990s film villain. His 2018 film rewrites him as a sympathetic exile, raised on a barren planet by a controlling father, whose power is limitless when he's angry. He ends the film at peace, living with new friends.

Goku Black and Zamasu

Rogue Kai

Zamasu is a Kai apprentice who decides mortals are the universe's problem. One version steals Goku's body to become Goku Black. They fuse into Merged Zamasu, and Future Trunks's timeline pays the price.

Hit

Assassin, Universe 6

Hit is a legendary assassin who can skip forward in time, half a second at a time. He fights Goku in two tournaments. He's the closest thing Super has to a cool, professional rival.

Champa and Vados

Universe 6's God of Destruction and angel

Champa is Beerus's twin brother and rival, and Vados is Whis's sister. Their tournament with Universe 7 kicks off the multiverse storyline.

Caulifla and Kale

Universe 6 Saiyans

Caulifla is a cocky gang leader who learns Super Saiyan in minutes, and Kale is her shy friend with a Broly-like berserk form. Together they fuse into Kefla in the Tournament of Power.

Gamma 1 and Gamma 2

Red Ribbon androids

The Gammas are superhero-themed androids in Super Hero (2022), who believe they're fighting for justice until they learn who they really work for.