Dragon Ball 10 Times The Heroes Shouldnt Have Held Back

Too many times, a Dragon Ball character has gone too easy on an opponent instead of finishing them off, and it came with consequences.

Part of any battle manga and anime is about having the two opponents gradually ramp up in their abilities. Usually, no one starts out at full strength, which allows the story to have it's ebbs and flows as both opponents show off more of what they're capable of.

But in Dragon Ball, sometimes this straight up does not pay off. It's more trouble than it's worth, because the heroes will often hold back their full power and it comes back to bite them later. The villain will find their own way to become stronger, making the drama all the more intense, even if the hero should have just done it right the first time.

10 When Gohan Refused To Attack Nappa

The Z Fighters had one moment in their battle against Nappa where they had a chance to do some real damage. Piccolo came up with a solid plan that involved distracting Nappa, getting some solid hits in between him and Krillin, and eventually letting Gohan finish him off.

But Piccolo forgot that he was asking a five year old kid to fight back against a grown man. Nappa terrified Gohan, and he didn’t have it in him to shoot a Masenko. This led Piccolo to do his own attack, but by then Nappa had recovered and was able to block it. This likely wouldn’t have won them the fight and if it did Vegeta would have wiped them out in seconds, but it still represented a problem in the Z Fighters’ strategy that they weren’t organized properly.

9 Goku Shouldn't Have Spared Frieza On Planet Namek

Goku did the most in his first fight against Frieza. He turned Super Saiyan and at that point was obviously the better fighter. But instead of abandoning Frieza to an exploding Namek, he decided he needed to beat Frieza once and for all. But once he did, instead of simply finishing Frieza off, he let him live.

He even gave Frieza energy, and Frieza immediately turned on him to try and attack him one last time. Of course, Goku was so far beyond Frieza he was able counter that attack with his own, but why give Frieza a second chance? It was obvious he was irredeemable.

8 Piccolo Should Have Finished Cell Off Instead Of Learning More About Him

Piccolo had Cell before every other person did. He ran into the guy not long after fusing with Kami, and he was the first person Piccolo fought with his new power. Piccolo was the strongest member of the Z Warriors at that time, and had more than enough power to finish Cell off right then and there.

Instead, he chose to try and get as much information out of him as possible. By the time Cell appeared again, he’d absorbed enough humans to be stronger than Piccolo or Android 17, and the two of them were exhausted from fighting so long.

7 Vegeta Should Have Ended Cell Rather Than Let Him Get His Perfect Form

This is the worst loss Vegeta has ever taken by far. Not by scale of the beatdown, but simply because he actually had the fight won. He couldn’t have beaten Zarbon the first time, or Frieza, or Android 18. But Super Vegeta was legitimately more powerful than Cell in his Semi-Perfect form. Yet for whatever reason, it wasn’t enough.

Cell was able to prey on Vegeta’s prideful nature, and in doing so he convinced Vegeta to let him attain his Perfect form. Vegeta’s mindset was of course to crush Cell at his strongest to prove he was the superior warrior no matter what. It was his Saiyan Pride that caused him to not finish him off and resulted in the Cell Games.

6 After Turning Super Saiyan 2, Gohan Should Have Just Defeated Cell

Gohan doesn’t have the same Saiyan desire to prove he’s the strongest fighter ever, but when he transformed into a Super Saiyan 2 he had a different problem. He wanted Cell to pay for what he had done to everyone during the Cell Games and before. He’d developed more than enough power to defeat Cell—he dispatched the Cell Jrs. with a single kick, after all.

He played around with Cell until Cell decided he would rather explode himself than be defeated, and this resulted in Goku sacrificing his life to take Cell away from Earth. Of course Cell would come back and Gohan would defeat him, but Gohan should have just finished him off from the beginning when Goku told him to.

5 Goku Hid An Entire Super Saiyan Transformation And Had A Battle That Woke Majin Buu Up

In the Buu Saga, the thing everyone wanted the most was to see Goku and Vegeta fight again. It had been since the first arc since they fought seriously, but the tournament was giving them a chance to battle one another again. When that didn’t happen, Vegeta chose to let Babidi take him over so he could gain enough power and force Goku to fight him.

Goku really should have taken Vegeta seriously from the jump, knowing their battle would result in enough energy being released to awaken Majin Buu. He had an entirely new Super Saiyan form he was hiding that he didn’t want to use because it would’ve shortened his time. But that was going to happen regardless, so he should have just gone all out and defeated Vegeta, and Buu would never have woken up.

4 Goku Should Have Finished Buu Off Instead Of Trying To Train Goten And Trunks

After Goku awoke from being knocked out fighting Vegeta, he knew he needed to address Majin Buu. Unlike the others, Goku was the only one who had a chance at defeating Buu thanks to having Super Saiyan 3.

It was a draining form that burned up his time on Earth, but it was strong enough to deal massive damage to the monster. But between Goku not having much time and wanting the next generation to do it, he chose to hold back and leave. From here, Buu would only grow in strength as he absorbed more powerful fighters to become even more dangerous.

3 Gohan Wasted Too Much Time And Should Have Put Super Buu Down Before He Absorbed Gotenks

When Gohan first attained the power-up from the older Kai, he was by far the strongest character in the show. More powerful than Super Saiyan 3 Goku without any drain on his stamina, he was ready to give Buu the beating he deserved. And for what it’s worth, he did give it to him—he was precise in his attacks and humbled the monster. But rather than going all out and killing him, he let Buu goad Goten and Trunks into fusing. Afterwards, Gotenks was absorbed which resulted in him being far stronger than Gohan and easily defeating him.

2 Goku Never Should Have Offered Moro A Senzu Bean

Dragon Ball Super has one truly unforgivable fight. Despite seeing the depths of Moro’s disdain for life that isn’t his, Goku still can’t help himself. After attaining Ultra Instinct, he gives Moro a Senzu Bean, allowing him to power up again. This results in a bunch of nonsense because Goku just has to beat someone at their very best instead of finishing them off. Moro nearly destroyed the entire planet rather than lose, a lesson Goku really should have learned from fighting multiple other opponents who behaved exactly the same way.

1 Vegeta Needed To Finish Frieza Off Before He Decided To Blow The Planet Up

This is the most understandable loss Vegeta’s ever taken. Realizing Frieza’s golden form had a stamina limit to it, Vegeta stepped in with the intention of beating Frieza. Of course he would want to humble Frieza, a man who ruined his life and killed him the last time they met. With his Super Saiyan Blue power he was more than enough to handle a Frieza who couldn’t go gold. But he couldn’t just finish him off, so Frieza was once again petty enough to destroy Earth to kill everyone rather than lose to a Saiyan again.