Dragon Ball GT covers a lot of ground despite being a comparatively short series. In less than half the episodes of DBZ, Dragon Ball GT covers 4 major story arcs, each with its own overarching villain – some of whom have just as much potential as those in Toriyama’s original manga. Of course, they never get the chance to be nearly as fleshed out as Dragon Ball’s greatest villains were, with many of them defeated long before they should’ve been.
In fact, a good majority of GT’s most promising villains were defeated far too easily. The quasi-episodic format of GT led to villains who were often beaten just an episode or two after their introduction, leaving much to be desired in terms of their characterization. GT also has the tendency to introduce increasingly powerful villains, with each “final boss” ending up deferring to a greater and greater one. Many minor villains in GT promised to be major threats of their own, but the series never quite let them get that far.
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10 Ledgic Went Through an Entire Redemption Arc in One Episode
First Appearance: Dragon Ball GT Episode 4, “The Most Wanted List”
Ledgic served under Don Kee, a ruthless and greedy ruler who took more from his people than he gave. However, it was only through the money he paid Ledgic that Don Kee held any real power. As the number one hired muscle of Don Kee, Ledgic served as the first major opponent Goku faced on his quest to find the Black Star Dragon Balls.
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Ledgic was a powerful fighter with some awesome abilities, including the power to materialize swords from the spikes on his shoulders. Ledgic was definitely the strongest enemy Goku fought after becoming a kid in early GT, but that didn’t last long. While Ledgic stood a chance against Base Goku, he was vastly outmatched once Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan. In the end, Ledgic and Goku seemed to develop a mutual respect for each other, which only makes it more unfortunate that Ledgic never appeared again in the series.
9 The Sigma Force Weren’t As Much of a Threat as They Should’ve Been
First Appearance: Dragon Ball GT Episode 16, “Giru’s Checkered Past”
Like so many GT villains before them, the Sigma Force was merely another underling for Dr Myuu. Nevertheless, they had all the makings of a powerful and deadly villain early on. Like the Androids of DBZ, the Sigma machines knew all Goku’s techniques and were able to predict how he’d move before even he knew himself. This wasn’t unlike Android 13 from the DBZ film of the same name, and the Sigma Force had even more in common with 13 than just his foreknowledge of Goku’s abilities.
Also like Android 13, the Sigma Force could combine into one ultimate machine, Mega Cannon Sigma. In fact, they even took it a step further when Rilldo assimilated the Sigma Force’s bodies into his own to become Meta Rilldo in a fashion that was even more eerily similar to Android 13. Despite their great power, Goku was able to easily defeat the Sigma Force while still in his base form, with even the narrator of GT inquiring whether Goku had been “sandbagging” the entire time.
8 The Denizens of Hell Were All Once Major Villains
First Appearance: Dragon Ball GT Episode 42, “A Dangerous Union”
After Doctors Myuu and Gero use their two identical Android 17s to create a rift between Hell and the outside world, the villains Goku and the Z Fighters defeated over the years returned for revenge. Bringing back iconic villains like Frieza and Cell was a great brief detour, and their fight with Goku in Hell went as expected. However, even better was the introduction of “non-canon” DBZ film villains like Cooler and Bojack. Unfortunately, none of these characters other than Cell and Frieza got much screen time.
It makes sense that the Z Fighters would be far stronger by the time of GT than they were when they faced the villains of DBZ, but by that same logic, the villains should have had time to train and get stronger as well. Seeing even more powerful versions of DBZ’s classic villains would have made for an awesome brief arc, and would have given characters like Gohan and Goten more to do. Brief scenes such as Pan making quick work of the Red Ribbon Army and Vegeta reuniting with Nappa show the potential the Denizens of Hell had to make a fun, nostalgic Saga.
7 Zoonama Wasn’t The Earth-Shattering Threat He Appeared To Be
First Appearance: Dragon Ball GT Episode 7, “Trunks, the Bride”
Upon his introduction, Zoonama was presented as an utter powerhouse by the inhabitants of Planet Gelbo. Zoonama’s backstory has a lot in common with Oolong’s, in that both terrorize a village and demand a bride under threat of their great powers. In Zoonama’s case, those powers meant the ability to cause earthquakes by simply wiggling his whiskers.
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In the end, Zoonama became more of a gag character than a legitimate villain. His ability to cause earthquakes actually tirned out to be nothing more than the ability to predict earthquakes, and his actual strength was nothing compared to Goku, Trunks or even Pan. Zoonama’s fate was ultimately fine for what it was, but it would have been interesting to see a character with the actual ability to cause Earthquakes so easily and how Goku would have had to deal with that unique power.
6 Mutchy’s Ability to Subjugate Objects Should’ve Been Overpowered
First Appearance: Dragon Ball GT Episode 9, “Lord Luud”
Cardinal Mutchy Mutchy appeared to just be the average diabolical ringleader archetype complete with a whip to force his servants to fall in line. However, his true identity proved to be much more than that. After Cardinal Mutchy Mutchy was defeated by Goku and Trunks, they soon learned that the Cardinal was never the one with the true power, it was his anthropomorphized whip, Mutchy, who called the shots all along.
There’s a questionable undertone to Mutchy’s ability in that he can subjugate anything he touches with his whips to his will, giving him an almost slavemaster-style ability that hasn’t really been acknowledged by the fandom. When Mutchy holds people with his whip for Luud to turn into dolls, he’s literally objectifying them by turning them into inanimate objects. Whether Toei was trying to make an interesting allegorical statement with Mutchy is uncertain, but he’s at the very least a character with a lot of potential in terms of his abilities alone that wasn’t fully utilized in GT.
5 Lord Luud’s Full Power Was Underwhelming
First Appearance: Dragon Ball GT Episode 9, “Lord Luud”
Lord Luud is a major overarching villain in early GT. Served by underlings like Cardinal Mutchy Mutchy and the Para Para Brothers, Lord Luud’s name takes on almost mythical significance before his true identity is revealed. This builds the anticipation for this figure as a terrifying being, and his eventually awakening seems to be the ultimate payoff for that. However, as it turns out, he’s only a powerful machine controlled by the devious Dolltaki.
Lord Luud promised to be the “God of Destruction” before Lord Beerus ever was, though Luud is quickly dealt with in less than two episodes. Dr Myuu even claimed Luud was his “greatest masterpiece”, though fans never exactly got to see why. At Level 3, Luud was able to fight both Goku and Trunks, but he was never allowed to reach his full strength in the series. There’s no telling how powerful Luud could have been if Dolltaki was able to power him up completely.
4 The Para Brothers Were Tougher Than They Got Credit For
First Appearance: Dragon Ball GT Episode 8, “Whisker Power”
The Para Brothers were an underling to Cardinal Mutchy Mutchy who gave Goku and the gang trouble early in their adventure. Bon, Pon and are far from powerful individually, but their contemporary song and dance routine is enough to get even their greatest enemies in the groove. After hypnotically enticing Goku, Trunks and Pan to dance along to their beat, the Para Brothers had them completely at their mercy.
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A lot about the Para Brothers make them feel like the logical conclusion of the Ginyu Force. Their propensity for posing and their flamboyant senses of style fit perfectly alongside Ginyu, and their underhanded fighting tactics are not dissimilar to the Force’s own. While the Para Brothers put up a better fight than most likely expected, they were quickly dealt with after a group of Mouma (giant flesh-eating centipede monsters) interrupted their dance routine. There’s no denying that Goku got off easy thanks to unforeseen circumstances, showing that the Para Brothers could have been an even greater threat were they given the chance.
3 Baby Gohan Had Way More Potential Than Vegeta
First Appearance: Dragon Ball GT Episode 26, “Saiyan Hunting”
The prospect of Gohan becoming a villain akin to Majin Vegeta is one that has always excited fans. Even Toyotarou’s own early fan manga, Dragon Ball AF, Toriyama’s protege was experimenting with the concept of an evil version of Gohan. Of course, GT did it first, even if it was an extremely short-lived period during the Baby Saga.
Gohan is known to have the highest level of potential of any of the Z Fighters, and his power is also closely connected to his emotions. This would make Gohan a terrifying villain, because the angrier he gets, the more powerful he could become. Baby Gohan was a great starting point for what a villainous version of Gohan could be, but GT chose Vegeta as the superior vessel for Baby in the end. There’s no denying Baby Vegeta was an awesome villain in the long run, but Baby Gohan was a sorely underutilized version of the character with a lot of potential.
2 Super 17’s Arc Was Cut Short Just Like His DBZ Counterpart
First Appearance: Dragon Ball GT Episode 42, “A Dangerous Union”
After Dr Gero and Dr Myuu’s versions of Android 17 joined forces and fused, they became the supremely powerful artificial being known as Super 17. Super 17 is a villain with a lot of potential who sadly had one of the shortest major villain arcs in GT. In total, the “Super 17 Saga only lasted 6 episodes (Episodes 41 to 47), leading many fans to look at it more like a brief filler Saga than something of substance.
Androids 17 and 18 were originally supposed to be the main villains of DBZ before Toriyama came up with Cell to outdo them, so bringing 17 back in an even more powerful – and tougher looking – form was actually one of the better concepts GT came up with. The actual defeat of 17 at 18’s hands was also a poetic conclusion, but it would have been far more impactful had the conflict built up a bit longer and 17’s inner struggle been more fleshed out.
1 The Caretakers Remain One of Dragon Ball’s Greatest Enigmas
First Appearance: Dragon Ball GT Episode 30, “The Game After Life”
Only appearing in two episodes, the Caretakers are potentially some of the most powerful beings in the Dragon Ball universe. They’re also some of the most mysterious, as they’re never directly seen and never shown or referenced again after Goku escaped their Sugoroku Space. While Goku’s time in Sugoroku Space is easily the most random episode in GT, it does have interesting implications.
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According to Elder Kai, the alternate dimension of Sugoroku Space is the one place his powers don’t work. This alone seems to imply that the Caretakers have a level of authority higher than the Kais themselves in their own World. The Sugoroku Space could potentially add another layer to the cosmology of the Dragon Ball World, but GT’s questionable place in the franchise’s canon has meant that most fans ignore it entirely. If Sugoroku Space were an actual part of the greater Dragon Ball Universe, though, that would make the Caretakers a group of entities as powerful as any in the anime pantheon.
After Goku is made a kid again by the Black Star Dragon Balls, he goes on a journey to get back to his old self.
- Release Date
- March 26, 1997
- Cast
- Masako Nozawa , Yûko Minaguchi
- Seasons
- 1
- Characters By
- Creator
- Production Company
- Story By
- akira toriyama
- Writers
- Akira Toriyama
- Network
- Fuji TV
- Streaming Service(s)
- Hulu
- Directors
- Minoru Okazaki , Mitsuo Hashimoto , Yoshihiro Ueda , Takahiro Imamura , Hidehiko Kadota , Osamu Kasai , Hiroyuki Kakudou , Shigeyasu Yamauchi
- Showrunner
- Akira Toriyama
- Producers
- Kōzō Morishita
- Character(s)
- Oob (voice) , Uncredited , Blake Smoke Dragon/Enma-Daiō/Gyūmaō/Mr. Satan/Umigame (voice) , Son Gohan / Son Goku / Son Goten (voice) , Kuririn (voice) , Vegeta (voice) , Lady in Movie , Pan / Videl (voice) , Trunks (voice) , Son Para / Sūgorō (voice) , Piccolo (voice) , Android 18 (voice) , Bulma / Bra (voice) , King / Narrator / North Kaiō (voice) , Lady in Film (voice)
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