Dragon Ball 10 Times The Heroes Underestimated Their Opponents

Dragon Ball’s heroes have underestimated their opponents on more than one occasion– leading to some of the franchise's most dire do or die moments.

One of the earliest lessons Dragon Ball teaches Goku is that he can’t win every fight. More importantly, there will always be someone stronger. Losing in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai teaches Goku a level of humility that allows him to become a master martial artist by the time Dragon Ball is over, but this doesn’t prevent him from underestimating his opponents.

With as powerful as the main characters in Dragon Ball become, it makes sense a few of them would go into battle overconfident. Although it doesn’t happen all too often, Dragon Ball’s heroes have underestimated their opponents on more than one occasion– leading to some of Dragon Ball’s most dire do or die moments.

10 Yamcha Vs Jackie Chun

A skilled martial artist in his own right, Yamcha enters his sole match in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai with a considerable amount of confidence. Unbeknownst to him, Yamcha was actually up against Master Roshi, one of Dragon Ball’s finest martial artists.

Yamcha isn’t able to land a single hit on Chun, whiffing all of his attacks and even the Roga Fufu Ken. In the end, Jackie Chun is able to knock Yamcha out of the arena without doing any serious damage, completely outclassing the former desert bandit in technical prowess.

9 Son Goku Vs Tao Pai Pai

Goku doesn’t struggle all too much during the first half of the Red Ribbon Army arc. Although General Blue poses a genuine threat on more than one occasion, the heroes always find some way to either outsmart or outmaneuver him. Taking into account how many run-ins Goku has had with the Red Ribbon Army as well, and it’s as if nothing can challenge the boy.

Until Tao Pai Pai is introduced. Treating the assassin like any other opponent, Goku’s overconfidence is thrown right back into his face when Tao Pai Pai tanks a Kamehameha head on and then fires a Dodonpa right into Goku’s chest.

8 Yamcha Vs Saibaiman

Yamcha’s fight against his lone Saibaiman is a rather tragic one. In terms of choreography, the battle doesn’t get half as much credit as it deserves for delivering a fast paced fight that puts Yamcha front & center. Most fans tend to only remember how Yamcha dies, not how he beats a Saibaiman into submission.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a tournament match. By leaving his opponent alive, Yamcha gives Vegeta an opportunity to demand that the Saibaiman take out his opponent at whatever the cost. Latching onto Yamcha, the downed Saibaiman blows itself up, taking one of Goku’s oldest friends with it.

7 Earthlings Vs Nappa

Yamcha’s death signals the beginning of the end for the Earthlings. It doesn’t take long for Krillin and Piccolo to take care of the remaining Saibaimen, but this proves to be a massive mistake. With no way to stall for more time, the main cast are forced into a fight against Nappa without Goku.

Having not trained hard enough to subdue Nappa themselves, half of the survivors end up dying: Chaozu kills himself in a kamikaze attack gone wrong, Tenshinhan expends all his energy into a Kikoho that doesn’t work, and Piccolo sacrifices his life in order to save Gohan’s.

6 Vegeta Vs Frieza

Vegeta actually underestimates Frieza more than once during their final battle. Initially, Vegeta believes that forcing Frieza into transforming will give them a leg up in battle. If Frieza’s already in his final form, the main characters don’t need to waste energy on a lesser Frieza only for him to transform. Two problems: Frieza has four forms, not two like Vegeta thought, and they’re disgustingly strong.

Second form Frieza is so powerful that Vegeta outright refuses to fight back, crying at his overwhelming might. Inexplicably, this doesn’t serve as a wake up call for the Prince. Rather, Vegeta forces Krillin to nearly kill him so he can get a near-death boost. Believing this’ll put him on final form Frieza’s level, Vegeta walks into a fight that ends with him bloody, beaten, and in tears.

5 Goku Vs Frieza

The real tragedy of Goku’s initial fight with Frieza is that he had no idea his opponent was holding back. Using Kaioken x20 the entire time, Goku is able to keep up with Frieza as their battle takes them across Namek. Goku fights strategically, intelligently, and manages to get in several good hits: only to learn that Frieza is fighting at half power.

The entire time Goku was expending all his energy just to stay alive, Frieza was just humoring the Saiyan. Exhausted and unable to comprehend Frieza’s full power, Goku puts everything he has into a Genki Dama.

4 Vegeta Vs Cell

It’s not so much that Vegeta underestimated Cell as he overestimated him. By the time Vegeta comes out of the Room of Spirit and Time with Trunks, they’ve trained hard enough where they can soundly defeat Semi-Perfect Cell without too much effort. This fact bothers Vegeta so much, he actually allows Cell to absorb 18.

It’s here where Vegeta starts to underestimate Cell. Where Vegeta believes Perfect Cell will be around his level, if not weaker, the Artificial Human is significantly stronger. Cell ends up humiliating Vegeta, beating the Prince out of Super Saiyan Grade 2.

3 Trunks Vs Cell

With Vegeta defeated by the now Perfect Cell, Future Trunks has no choice but to step in and take on an opponent even his father couldn’t defeat. Unlike Vegeta, however, Trunks has a stronger form: Super Saiyan Grade 3. Unfortunately, Trunks also erroneously believes this is enough to take on Cell.

While Grade 3 might actually be physically strong enough to hurt Cell if contact is made, the form is so slow that Trunks misses every single punch & kick he throws at Cell (in the manga, at least.) Trunks is only saved by Cell’s ultimate desire to host the Cell Games.

2 Son Goku Vs Fat Buu

In general, Goku ends up making some major miscalculations during the Majin Buu arc. As he later reveals, Goku wasn’t even trying during this fight with Fat Buu, despite the fact he was fully away he could kill his foe. Goku explains he wanted the next generation to protect the Earth since he’s dead, but he’s also personally responsible for waking up Majin Buu. Worse, Goku was dead at the time he fought Fat Buu, which means he underestimated just how useful Super Saiyan 3 actually is. Come his fight with Pure Buu, this ends up biting Goku badly.

1 Gotenks Vs Evil Buu

Gotenks’ superpower is basically underestimating his opponents while grossly overestimated his abilities. Gotenks may have the strength to back up his boasting, but he’s still an immature child who doesn’t know how to fight or when to bring a battle to its close. As a result, Gotenks throws away every single chance he has to kill Evil Buu, resulting in a chain reaction that ends in him absorbed alongside Gohan & Piccolo, plus the Earth’s complete annihilation.