Ever since the start of Dragon Ball Super, the main characters of the series have pretty clearly been Goku and Vegeta. Though the former was always the focal point of the franchise, Super decided to give Vegeta an equal share in the spotlight, which ended up being one of the best decisions in the series' history due to how beloved of a character the Saiyan Prince actually is.
As such, due to their immense importance as the main characters, Goku and Vegeta are also among the strongest figures in the Dragon Ball multiverse. However, with season 2 right around the corner, many powerful characters and transformations await the fans, so let's take a look at the strongest side characters that fans can't wait to see on the screen.
5 Granolah's Strength Was A Match For Goku And Vegeta
Strongest Form: Two Red-Eye Form
Image via Akira Toriyama
Introduced in the arc bearing his own name, Granolah was a Cerealian who made a wish through the Dragon Balls to become the most powerful mortal in Universe 7, which came at the cost of much of his own lifespan. However, the strength that he gained was some of the greatest in the history of the franchise.
In this arc, he not only defeated Mastered Ultra Instinct Goku with a single hit, but Granolah also pushed his power further to unlock a brand-new state that allowed him to match Ultra Ego Vegeta in strength. By the end of the arc, Granolah came away as one of the strongest allies that the Z-Fighters currently have within Universe 7.
4 Piccolo Has Awoken An Ultra Instinct-Level Form
Strongest Form: Orange Piccolo
For too long, fans have wanted Piccolo to come back to the forefront of the series, since his strength had largely been lacking for most of the franchise's history. This wish was inevitably granted in the Super Hero arc, when Shenron unlocked Piccolo's latent potential and gifted him a transformation that finally brought him to Goku and Vegeta's level.
Around the time Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero aired, the writers revealed that Goku and Vegeta were going to share the spotlight with Gohan, Piccolo, and Broly going forward, which was before the manga's hiatus. Here, they also confirmed them all to be around the same level of strength, which is why Orange Piccolo's power is absolutely absurd.
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3 Broly's Immense Potential Truly Knows No Limits
Strongest Form: Full Powered Super Saiyan
As the Saiyan with the greatest potential that the race has ever seen, Broly exists at a level of power that has seldom been seen in the series. Of course, with the path that the story is currently going in, he is no longer a side character and has been brought to the main roster of fighters, but for his initial appearances in Dragon Ball, Broly was a powerful side character.
In his first ever real fight, he managed to surpass the level of Super Saiyan Blue in his base form, and would further go on to unlock exceptional new transformations that match Ultra Instinct in overall strength. However, he only recently learned to control his powers in Chapter 103 of the manga, so now he is one of Universe 7's strongest heroes.
2 Gohan's Potential Has Given Him Insane Power
Strongest Form: Beast
Just like with Piccolo, many fans felt that Gohan had been relegated too much to the background of the series, as his general performances in Super had been quite disappointing considering how amazing of a fighter he has always been. To rectify this mistake, Akira Toriyama finally gave Gohan a form that would bring him back as one of the strongest main characters.
With Beast, Gohan's strength is very much matched with Mastered Ultra Instinct Goku, since the two fought equally in a sparring match where Gohan's speed was so great, that he was able to briefly overcome Ultra Instinct's auto-dodge capabilities. Now, with the rest of the main heroes, Gohan rests as one of the strongest figures in Dragon Ball.
1 Merus Had An Exceptional Control Over Ultra Instinct
Strongest Form: None
In the Dragon Ball franchise, there has yet to be another race that is on the level of the Angels. Though Merus is not a full-fledged Angel Attendant yet and his power was still far below that of Whis, his innate and natural control over Ultra Instinct put him at a level far beyond anything that even the strongest heroes were capable of manifesting for themselves.
Merus served to train Goku to handle Ultra Instinct properly, and their sparring matches confirmed how much greater his control over the technique was compared to the Saiyan. He even showed his superiority over Moro in their brief clash, which cemented Merus as the most powerful side character who will be introduced in season 2 of the Dragon Ball Super anime.
Dragon Ball can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
