Throughout the entirety of Dragon Ball, Goku and the Z-Fighters have had to deal with a plethora of increasingly deadly enemies–though after defeating one of the deadliest of them all, Goku comes to the grim conclusion that he is Dragon Ball’s greatest villain.
Goku was introduced in the first chapter of Dragon Ball, and throughout that original run, he proved to be the greatest hero Earth had ever seen. Every bad guy–from a low-level crime boss to a centuries-old entity originally believed to be a literal demon–was taken down by Goku. It wasn’t until Dragon Ball Z that Goku stopped simply responding to pre-existing villains, and started to have a hand in their creation–and that trend steadily increased until it came to its natural conclusion.
In Dragon Ball chapter 418 by Akira Toriyama, the Z-Fighters are celebrating as Gohan had just defeated Cell, though the price they paid was great. Before Gohan delivered the killing blow, Goku sacrificed his life to save the world from an explosion created by Cell that would have obliterated the planet. Now that Cell is gone, the Z-Fighters are reflecting on that sacrifice as well as on the fact that Goku is seemingly gone forever. However, just as they are coming to grips with that immense loss, every one of them hears Goku’s voice in their heads as he is communicating with them from the afterlife by using the telepathic powers King Kai temporarily offered him. Goku tells his friends and family that he is okay with being dead–and while the reason he gives is shocking, after some thought, it actually makes a lot of sense.
Dragon Ball’s Earth is a Safer Place Without Goku
Goku tells everyone from beyond the grave that the world is better off without him, and he’s absolutely right. While that claim would not be accurate in the original Dragon Ball as Goku prevented the world from being taken over by villains more than once, Dragon Ball Z shows that his existence on Earth only brought trouble to the planet. If it wasn’t for Goku, Raditz wouldn’t have invaded Earth, and by extension, neither would Vegeta and Nappa. If Vegeta and Nappa didn’t come to Earth, Frieza would have never heard about the Dragon Balls meaning he wouldn’t have been a threat to the Z-Fighters. If Frieza was never in the picture, then Cell wouldn’t have collected his DNA to become as strong and sadistic as he was. Not only that, but Cell was literally created by Dr. Gero because of Goku, making Goku unwittingly responsible for his own demise.
Essentially, every Saga within the Dragon Ball Z era of the franchise would have been avoided if it weren’t for Goku, and upon his death, Goku finally realizes it–proving that even Goku knows that he, indirectly or otherwise, is Dragon Ball’s greatest villain.
