Dragon Ball 10 Times Plot Armor Saved The Day

Dragon Ball is no stranger to plot armor. Here are 10 times a character probably should have been hurt or died but managed to make it out.

In most fiction, plot armor tends to be how the protagonists get through the entire story. For the uninitiated into common fiction tropes, plot armor tends to be how a character survives situations that would have been otherwise impossible to live through, whether it be through not getting injured or just surviving something that would have taken out anyone else.

In the world of Dragon Ball, where villains are frequently several times stronger than the protagonist, plot armor is required just as much as the rigorous training the protagonists put themselves through. Without it, several storylines would likely have gone in a completely different direction.

10 Gohan Bouncing The Spirit Bomb At Vegeta

The Saiyan Saga was one of the most surprising storylines in Dragon Ball history. The Saiyans came to Earth and didn’t just beat the Z Fighters, they took out half of them in less than a day. In the end, Goku’s battle against Vegeta was one of the most memorable in anime history, but Vegeta had managed to “win” with his transformation.

Even having his tail cut off, Vegeta was still able to beat everyone there...except there was one chance: the Spirit Bomb. Goku had the energy from the Spirit Bomb, giving it to Krillin to toss at Vegeta, who dodged. That really should have been the end, but of course Gohan could bounce it back, taking Vegeta down for good.

9 Dende Healing The Z Fighters While They Fought Frieza

Vegeta, Krillin, and Gohan gave Frieza enough of a challenge to make him transform into his second form. But upon reaching that form, Frieza was vastly more powerful than any of them, and he proved it when he attacked Krillin right after transforming. But Krillin lived thanks to Dende healing him, something that saved every member of their group during the battle against Frieza until Goku arrived. This allowed them to fight far longer than they otherwise would have, as otherwise Frieza would have killed them all before Goku and even Piccolo ever got there.

8 Androids Not Killing The Z Warriors

Trunks sold the Androids as unstoppable killing machines that tore his entire world apart, killing every single member of the Z Warriors after hunting them down and defeating them. So, everyone faced the Androids after three years of training, but they were all immediately defeated. That should have been the end of it, but in this timeline the Androids just happened to be decent kids who didn’t actually want to destroy anything. This gave the Z Warriors the chance to train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and become strong enough to stop the Androids easily.

7 Frieza Not Killing Goku

Goku smacked Frieza with the Spirit Bomb and that really should have been the end of the fight. He’d summoned energy from the entire solar system to take Frieza out, that should have been enough to beat anyone.

But instead, Frieza not only survived but killed the first person he saw. Why didn’t Frieza kill Goku instead? He was the person who had damaged Frieza the most, caused him the most pain and humiliation. Goku managing to see Frieza kill Krillin changed the course of history, introducing the Super Saiyan transformation to the Dragon Ball Z Universe.

6 Trunks Using Super Saiyan Rage Mode

To this day, Super Saiyan Rage mode doesn’t make any sense. Super Saiyan is already a transformation that comes from rage to begin with. Goku and Vegeta spent months training to learn Super Saiyan Blue, and despite their training they weren’t able to beat Goku Black when it mattered. But Trunks managed to survive all of Zamasu and Goku Black’s attempts on his life to reach a brand new Super Saiyan form that was strong enough to keep pace with Super Saiyan Blue and take Fused Zamasu out.

5 Gohan Going Super Saiyan 2 Against Perfect Cell

Goku faced Perfect Cell in one of the best fights in Dragon Ball Z. It was a close match, but Cell was a little bit stronger. Still, Goku was positive his son could beat Cell...which was probably right, until Goku tossed him a Senzu Bean. Gohan should have been easily defeated and killed after that, but Cell was arrogant enough to smack Gohan around long enough for Gohan to show off a spark of power that made Cell believe he could be an actual challenge in a fight. So he pushed Gohan’s buttons until he went Super Saiyan 2, instead of just killing him after he got bored.

4 Goku Punching Broly In The Stomach

People love the movie where Broly was first introduced, but the film makes no sense. After Broly reveals he’s the Legendary Super Saiyan, he spends the remainder of the movie beating everyone in the film with ease.

Even Vegeta showing up at the last second does nothing, and he’s knocked around like the rest of them. But just because the credits were about to roll, they decided to remind everyone about the weakness Broly had from being stabbed in the stomach as a baby, and Goku attacked that exact spot to defeat him and save the day, even though he didn’t have nearly enough energy left to stop Broly anymore.

3 Mercenary Tao Attacking Goku

Mercenary Tao gave Goku his first truly embarrassing defeat. Up until that point, his losses had to do with him either being hungry or narrowly outmatched. But Tao was just far stronger and more skilled than Goku. He had no problem beating him and finished him off with a Dodon Ray which should have been the end of Goku. But it wasn’t, purely because Goku had a Dragon Ball that protected him from most of the damage. In the end, Goku surviving this was enough to allow him to climb up the Tower and train with Korin to come back and easily defeat Mercenary Tao in the rematch they had just a little while later.

2 Whis Rewinding Time To Stop The Planet From Blowing Up

In fairness, this whole fight was a bit messy for no reason. Frieza should’ve just been defeated by Vegeta and that should have been the end of it. But for whatever reason, Frieza snapped and decided to blow up Earth, killing everyone. But Whis managed to live, and gave them all a second chance by rewinding time just a few minutes to let Goku rush in at the last moment and finish Frieza off for good. These characters weren’t even supposed to be interfering with the battles of regular mortals like that.

1 Goku Learning Ultra Instinct Against Jiren

In the Tournament of Power, Goku ran into a fighter he had no answer to for the first time in a while. Jiren wasn’t just strong, he was an immovable force that Goku couldn’t do anything with. Eventually he decided to toss the Spirit Bomb at him, but Jiren bounced it back without any trouble. That should have been the end of Goku, but being struck with the Spirit Bomb made Goku able to tap into the power of Ultra Instinct. That made no sense, but the show has to go on and Universe 7 couldn’t lose.