Due to escalating stakes and Sorting Algorithm of Evil being applied, Dragon Ball has a lot of fighters who claim this title.
Main Series
- Goku is the straight version of this trope. He holds this title at various points throughout Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, although he has been upstaged several times. After Piccolo merges with Kami, he become the strongest of all the heroes and Gohan held this title after the Cell Games once he become a Super Saiyan 2 (and Goku dies) and the end of Buu Arc once old Kai awakened all of Gohan's hidden power. By Battle of Gods it's strongly hinted that Goku regains this status, which is why Vegeta freaks out when he hears Goku lost to Beerus with only two hits. After becoming a Super Saiyan God, Goku is able to fight on par with Beerus. It doesn't last long and he loses his Super Saiyan God form, but keeps the memory of godhood, which boosts his power to the point that there is no real power difference even as a regular Super Saiyan. Even then, he still loses to Beerus, who only uses 70% of his full power (and we later learn that was severe overkill on Beerus's part). In Resurrection 'F', Goku not only mastered Super Saiyan God, but can now he merge it with his regular Super Saiyan form, becoming a Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan (or Super Saiyan Blue). He's still not on Beerus' level, but he's much closer to closing the gap and is the strongest thing on Earth. In Dragon Ball Super, after the revelation that Monaka isn't the powerful fighter that Beerus makes him out to be, Goku becomes the strongest mortal fighter in Universe 7, at least until Dragon Ball Super: Broly, where the titular Saiyan takes the title from Goku due to not only being able to defeat Goku, Vegeta and Frieza at their strongest, but requiring Goku and Vegeta to fuse into Gogeta and then transform into their most powerful form to defeat Broly's own strongest transformation. Even then, Goku in all likelyhood would probably put up a decent fight against Broly if he used Ultra Instinct, but since Goku cannot conciously access that power Broly can be reliably deemed stronger.
- Vegeta gains the title about late Z. He and Goku trade this title off between one another for Universe 7 quite often, though admittedly Goku has the edge more often. In Battle of Gods, Beerus slapping Bulma presses Vegeta's Berserk Button so hard that he goes positively ape-shit and attacks at full force, becoming the first fighter to actually land a solid hit on the God of Destruction. At the end of the movie, Goku freely admits that at that time, Vegeta's strength surpassed his own. In the anime version of the Universe Survival arc, he gains a currently-exclusive-to-him upgrade to Super Saiyan Blue that, while still weaker than Jiren, is shown to be at least as strong as Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-ken x20 Goku, and at max output surpassed that of freshly-ascended God of Destruction Top. As of the end of the arc, while Mastered Ultra Instinct is the strongest transformation achieved by a mortal in the entire franchise so far, Goku still needs to be in extreme peril to even call upon its weakened Omen form, while Vegeta was able to briefly access his new form even in-universe seconds after completely running out of stamina. As of the end of Super, at least, Vegeta is tied for strongest mortal in Universe 7 in terms of consistent output. The manga simplifies this: Vegeta seemed to only get a temporary boost of power against Top, and reverts to regular Blue level after the tournament, as Goku does. Goku in the manga does have a Kaio-Ken-esque technique he can stack on top of Blue, but unlike in the anime, he can only do this for a few seconds. So Vegeta is still tied with him for consistent output. Though kinda Played for Laughs the ending of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero has Vegeta managed to actually defeat Goku in a fight, purely using their base forms with their base abilities so Vegeta may be the strongest in terms of raw unenhanced physical prowess, at least putting base Broly and Jiren out of the equation.
- In a weird twist, Krillin ends up being the strongest normal human in the group, although some of his friends like Yamcha are sometimes pointed out giving him a run for his money. That is, if we're not counting Uub (biologically 100% human, but the magical reincarnation of an incredibly powerful majin) and Tenshinhan (who is, according to the Word of God, partially descended from an Alien race).
- Master Roshi in the past. In the Dragon Ball Super manga, Roshi holds in his own against Jiren with his own Ultra Instinct power thanks to three hundreds of training as an Old Master, meaning he may be World's Strongest human once again.
- Frieza, at the time of his introduction, was the most powerful living mortal in the universe when everything stronger was a god, dead and training in the afterlife, or sealed away. Defeating him was akin to taking on a god in and of itself, and it took fulfilling an ancient prophecy of the Saiyan race to achieve. After coming back from the dead and buckling down to do some actual training with some extra mental training in Hell on the side, he managed to quickly rise the ranks once more, and while still weaker than the likes of Goku and Vegeta could very likely comfortably sit at "third-strongest" mortal. In Broly he actually lasts longer against the titular character than either Goku or Vegeta, and could be inferred as being the second most powerful mortal in terms of reliable power. In Granolah the Survivor arc, it is implied that he is the one whom the Oracle Fish predicted would be the one to awaken as the strongest in the universe. Since after spending a decade of training in a Hyperbolic Time Chamber and technically not being in the universe when Granolah and the Heeters made their wish, he is able to attain a new form called "Black Frieza" and uses it to easily kill Gas and knock out both True Ultra Instinct Goku and Ultra Ego Vegeta with one punch, certainly making him the strongest mortal in Universe 7, if not the entire Multiverse.
- By Super, Android 17 could technically be considered the strongest Earthling. Granted, he is a cyborg, so comparing him to the likes of Krillin and Tien wouldn't be fair, which is probably why Toriyama considers Krillin the strongest 'human'. But as far as is known his android design was still created using entirely Earthly materials, and by Super, he's basically become god tier, enough to clash with Super Saiyan Blue Goku. If nothing else, the summaries outright say he's the strongest Android by a gigantic margin.
- By virtue of winning the Tournament of Power, 17 is technically the strongest mortal in the entire multiverse. Though he'd probably rank seventh at highest in terms of actual power level behind at least Goku, Jiren, Vegeta, Top, Frieza, and Broly, 17 certainly survived through enough that he can at least be called the most resilient mortal in the multiverse.
- Chi-Chi is the strongest woman on the planet untrained in ki control, as pointed out by other characters, including her youngest son, Goten.
- Android 18 is most certainly the most powerful female mortal of Universe 7. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her one of the most dangerous women in the series. She's certainly the only one to win against main characters in a fair fight, in addition to being the first person to defeat a healthy Super Saiyan in general, which is a really impressive feat when you consider the series's legendary power-creep. She officially claims this title by being the only female character representing Universe 7. She also proves to be one of their more reliable fighters, only dropping out right before the final round in order to save 17, but not because she was actually defeated. The only female characters that aren't Gods or Angels that are for sure stronger than her is Kefla, Kale, and potentially Caulifla, and even then, those three are Saiyans, meaning its even more impressive. Cocotte, the female Pride Trooper, is also a possibility; they seem about evenly matched in their brief clash in the anime with different specialties (barriers and infinite stamina), and never directly clash in the manga (though Cocotte being able to somewhat hurt a tired SS Kale, who even in her heavily reduced state was miles above 18, suggests she'd have the edge in that continuity).
- Piccolo is easily the strongest Namekian (discounting the non-canon Lord Slug) and his father King Piccolo was the strongest character on Earth and was completely unequaled, forcing Master Mutaito to use the Evil Containment Wave to defeat him. Goku being able to defeat him was shocking for everyone especially Daimao Piccolo himself. His son/reincarnation was tied with Goku (before Vegeta and other Saiyans showed up) but Piccolo managed to temporarily reclaim this title in the Android Saga after fusing with Kami, becoming the strongest of the heroes and able to easily match 17, but he gets overtaken by Cell and the Saiyans again. In Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Piccolo becomes a contender again with his Orange form which allowed him to clobber Gamma 2 who was as explicitly as powerful as Goku and Vegeta (at least in their base forms), Piccolo also managed to do well against Cell Max who is ludicrously powerful meaning Piccolo is now well within the ballpark of the Saiyans, Frieza and Jiren.
- Cell also qualifies. He was already strong enough, but Super Perfect Cell is the one that really qualifies. Cell was designed to be the Ultimate Life Form, and his designer succeeded. Among other abilities, he has: super strength, super speed, and super durability greater than the gods themselves, instant teleportation (just like Goku), the ability to spawn powerful warriors who are extremely strong themselves (the Cell Juniors), regeneration From a Single Cell, the ability to come back stronger after being blown to bits, extremely powerful telekinesis (which he uses to build an arena, among other things), the ability to absorb things and gain their power with his tail, the ability to survive any injury (including half of his body being blown clean off), and energy blasts powerful enough to destroy entire solar systems.
- Mr. Satan is touted in-universe as the world's strongest man, and it might actually be true if only counting humans who rely solely on muscle strength rather than being enhanced by Ki Manipulation (outside of characters such as Yajirobe and Nam, who have since retired).
- Gohan. At the end of the Cell Saga, he becomes the strongest character after becoming a Super Saiyan 2. By the end of the Buu arc, he was the strongest unfused character after Old Kai unlocked his full power. However, he falls behind both times because he lacks the dedication to train unlike his father and Vegeta and is more interested in academics than fighting. By the time of Resurrection 'F he can only go up to a base Super Saiyan, and his poor performance during that time and the universe being in danger again causes him to start training again. It's worth noting Goku and Vegeta agree that Gohan's limitless potential exceeds either of theirs, even after they both obtained Super Saiyan Blue, Gohan could catch up and surpass his father if he committed to training. This is confirmed Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero where Gohan after reaching into his well of power awakens his “Gohan Beast” form to curb stomp Cell Max, who was explicitly would’ve given even Goku and Vegeta trouble. This means Gohan may well have reclaimed this title, but it’s still unclear if Gohan in this state would be actually able to overpower his father’s Ultra Instinct form, Vegeta, Broly and Frieza’s strongest forms or Jiren (though suffice to say Gohan Beast would give them a run for their money at the very least). This is later confirmed in the Super manga where Beast Gohan is able to match his father’s mastered Ultra Instinct form in a clash so powerful Whis has to protect everyone with a force field.
- Dabura is said to be by far the strongest in the Demon Realm. Toriyama further clarifies that even the Demon Supreme Kai’s are weaker than him. Specifically he says that the current Supreme Kai is stronger than the Demon Supreme Kai’s, Shin admits that he is much weaker than him.
- Vegito, the Potara fusion of Goku and Vegeta, is the strongest character of the original manga, he easily outmatches both his sons and especially Buu. In Super he’s even more powerful since both Goku and Vegeta gained the powers of the gods and Vegito in his Super Saiyan Blue form was able to fight on par with Fused Zamasu who was in his corrupted form. In the manga version of Super Dragon Ball Heroes, Vegito was able to fight evenly with the ancient Saiyan Cumber, when he decided to get serious, he uses Super Saiyan Blue and Kaioken to fight evenly with Cumbers Golden Great Ape form and Vegito was strong enough to briefly overpower him, averted in the anime version however as Vegito struggled against Cumber and had to use Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken to fight him more evenly. In the Universe Creation Saga, he outmatches Fu who was in his demonic Super Saiyan form and later when Fu becomes the new Dark King, Vegito was still holding his own against Fu despite the latters increase in power and was capable of handling Super Full Power Saiyan 4 Limit Breaker Broly on his own.
- Gogeta, Vegito's Fusion Dance counterpart, is also a contender for this and manages to overshadow Vegito a bit despite having a shorter Fusion time. In his first non-canon appearance in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, Gogeta atomises Janemba, a Humanoid Abomination born from all recycled evil in the world who had just previously defeated SS3 Goku. In Gogeta's next appearance in Dragon Ball GT, he humiliates Omega Syn Shenron, the Final Boss of the series. In Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Gogeta (in his first canonical appearance) absolutely clobbers Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan and would've killed him had Cheelai not wished him to safety. In Super Dragon Ball Heroes, Gogeta is pretty much confirmed as this when he defeats Hearts in his Ultimate Godslayer form powered up by the universe seed, to which Hearts claims that Gogeta might even defeat the Omni-King Zeno himself! Jiren himself is genuinely shocked and a little intimidated by Gogeta's might, and questions Goku and Vegeta why they didn't fuse during the Tournament of Power, with the implication that they would've easily won if they did so. In the New Space-Time War Saga, he fights Super Saiyan Rosé 3 Crimson Masked Saiyan in his Super Saiyan Blue Evolved form, and defeats him.
- Whis is without a doubt the strongest being in U7. Beerus admits that Whis trained him and is actually much more powerful than he is, making him the single most powerful known being in his universe. Beerus does hint though that other universes might have beings that are even more powerful. According to Toriyama himself, on a scale of 1 to 10, Goku is a 6 and Beerus is a 10. As for Whis? He's a 15. In Resurrection ‘F’ and Super, he is shown training Goku and Vegeta, and neither of them can so much as touch him. Keep in mind, both of them have been able to inflict some damage on Beerus, and have since ascended to Saiyan Beyond God status. Heck, he even moves so fast that he's able to draw his personal mark on their clothes without either of them noticing until he points it out. Later, when Frieza destroys the Earth, he rewinds time, giving Goku the chance to Set Right What Once Went Wrong. Dragon Ball Super: Broly shows him briefly fight Broly in what is a joke on Broly's part. He cannot hit Whis at all, while Whis is not even trying to fight him seriously. To put that into perspective; Goku outright states he thinks Broly is stronger than Beerus, and at max power, Broly was comparable to Super Saiyan Blue Gogeta. That's right; a being as strong as Super Broly, is a plaything to Whis.
- Hit is said to be the strongest unfused mortal fighter from Universe 6, hand chosen by Champa to win him the entire tournament, and he more than lives up to his hype. His Time-Skip technique allows him to move faster than even a Super Saiyan Blue, and he's fast enough normally to be close to that level. Furthermore, he can adapt at an incredible rate, improving his Time-Skip numerous times as Goku adapts and develop counter-strategies. Because of this, he's able to easily one-shot Frost, handily beat Vegeta at full strength, and fight Goku to a standstill despite Goku having prior knowledge of Hit's abilities and fighting style from seeing Vegeta's fight and in the anime using the Kaio-ken to make himself ten times stronger and faster as a Super Saiyan Blue. Goku notes that, if not for the tournament rules forbidding killing blows, Hit would have likely killed him with his last attack. Even more impressive given that Goku and Vegeta in Super Saiyan Blue likely surpass him in raw power, yet Hit's skill and time skip abilities give him just that much of an edge.
- Goku Black is the strongest character after Beerus if you don't count fusions during the Future Trunks Saga (at least in the anime version). He has the edge on both Super Saiyan Blues in all of their fights. Of course, even in the anime, he is outdone by several fighters in the Tournament of Power, like Kefla, Jiren, and Toppo. The manga version does not have this title, as he gets thrashed by Vegeta even with Rosé, after Vegeta learns to negate Super Saiyan Blue's stamina drain problem.
- Kale in her transformed state, she is far more powerful than Caulifla. As they are the only two females representing Universe 6, Kale must be the most powerful female mortal in Universe 6 while in her transformed state.
- Kefla the fusion of Caulifla and Kale, is not only the strongest female mortal of Universe 6 but is also the strongest warrior of Universe 6 in terms of battle power thanks to her status as a fusion. As a byproduct of this, she's also the strongest female character that isn't a God of Destruction, or an Angel in Super. It's quite telling she can give a match to Super Saiyan God Goku and alert Vegeta of her presence in her base form.
- Jiren the Gray of Universe 11 is quite possibly the most powerful mortal in the multiverse, to the attempt that his power dwarfs that of the actual Gods of Destruction themselves. Of all the fighters in the Tournament of Power (constituting the best fighters of 8 of the 12 universes), Jiren is leaps and bounds above them all. Yes, including our heroes in Universe 7. When the Universe 6 Saiyan Kale loses control of her Super Saiyan form, Jiren casually blasts her to stop her (and this was a being who casually tanked a Super Saiyan Blue Kamehameha point-blank). When Goku and Jiren fought, Jiren shrugged off all of Goku's forms and even turned the Spirit Bomb on Goku. He even casually finds a way to break out of Hit's Time Stop! 11th-Hour Superpower after 11th-Hour Superpower gets smacked down by him. In the end, it takes Goku's Mastered Ultra Instinct, a form that not even the Angels and Gods can use, to actually give Jiren a serious fight... and it still isn't enough to beat him due to Goku not mastering that form. The heroes only 'win' by dogpiling him and taking advantage of tournament rules by physically forcing him out of the ring. His title is further reinforced in Dragon Ball Heroes when he is referred to as "The strongest man in all the Universes".
- Cocotte is the strongest female mortal of Universe 11 due to her being the sole female member of the Pride Troopers and team Universe 11, in the anime she was able to fight on par with Android 18 who is considered to be the strongest female mortal of Universe 7. In the manga she fights an exhausted Kale and manages to land a hit on her while caught off guard.
- The canonical Broly from Super that first appeared in the film of the same name, is technically the most powerful mortal in Universe 7 greatly eclipsing Goku, Vegeta and Frieza and having managed to defeat all three of them. Goku thinks he's likely stronger than Beerus. Promotional materials also state he's the strongest foe Goku and company had faced up until that point, meaning he might be even stronger than Jiren, which would make him the most powerful mortal in the multiverse, though it isn't entirely clear. And to note: this is all without ever getting much in the way of actual training. To exemplify this, even without any transformations Broly was able match and overpower Goku and Vegeta in their universe shaking god forms, in just his freaking base form and with his unenhanced strength.
- This is the main plot point of the Granolah the Survivor Saga due to the Oracle Fish's prophecy of the strongest being in the universe awakening:
- Granolah, the supposed Big Bad of the Granolah the Survivor Saga, became this after making a wish using the Cerealian Dragon Balls to be the strongest in the universe in order to get revenge on both Frieza and the Saiyans, though despite lacking in both the battle experience and sacrificing his lifespan to achieve his wish, he was still powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with Goku and Vegeta.
- Later, the Heeter Gas becomes this after Elec the leader of the Heeters wishes for Gas to be the new strongest in the universe, and he proves it by dominating Goku and Granolah. Since his wish came after Granolah’s, that makes him far stronger. Even after Goku and Vegeta power up to Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego respectively, he can still keep up with them despite the power of their strongest divine forms. This power is not without a cost; drawing on own his life force ages Gas considarably and eventually, he'll die. Not that he knew about this. Or have it be told to him...
- Cell Max the Big Bad Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero may well of been the most powerful being in The 'Verse (greater than even Jiren). He was able to beat the tar out of Gamma 1, Gamma 2, Android 18, Goten, Trunks, Orange Piccolo as well as Gohan (before his Next Tier Power-Up) forcing them to have to use a Combination Attack to hold him still and to Attack Its Weak Point in form of Beast Gohan shooting a Makankosappo/Special Beam Cannon through his head. Both Gohan and Piccolo agree that even if Goku and Vegeta had been there they would’ve still had trouble. Not to mention that the Cell Max they fought was a Clipped-Wing Angel, according Word of God if he been completed and not awakened prematurely, he would be even stronger than Broly.
Other
- The Xeno counterparts of Goku and Vegeta are likely more powerful than their main counterparts and even the Xeno counterparts of their fusions are also considered to be stronger than their main counterparts.
- Some of the Dragon Ball movie villains have this title too.
- Lord Slug is one His giant form is stated by King Kai to be far stronger than Frieza, which makes him an absolute powerhouse for the era. However, the production of the movie predates the reveal of Frieza's final form, so it could be interpreted as Slug only being more powerful than Frieza's earlier forms, as even his second form was a closely guarded secret.
- Cooler was this for a long time, being superior to his little brother (and by extension, his father, who admitted anyone who could beat Frieza is the strongest by default) and even Goku when he originally transformed... but by the time of his movie, after more training, Super Saiyan Goku has surpassed him. During his second movie, he was stronger than both Super Saiyan Goku and Super Saiyan Vegeta... but Cell, back on Earth, was still arguably his superior (assuming this happened during Cell's rampage; if it happened in the three-year gap then he'd indeed be the strongest again). He achieves this status again in Super Dragon Ball Heroes as Golden Meta-Cooler, when he manages to completely overwhelm Cumber, who until then had held at bay SS4 Gogeta and SSB Goku, putting Cooler right at the very top of the power scale of his universe.
- Downplayed and possibly subverted in the manga version where Cumber was strongly battered after a tough fight with Toppo and being accidentally injured by Ultimate Kamioren and where Cooler attacked Cumber quickly before the evil Saiyan could get the chance to recover and fight back.
- The Hera Zangya is one as well, being strong enough to restrain and wound post Cell Games Super Saiyan Gohan and hold her own against post Cell Games Trunks 1 v 1 (putting her well beyond Shin, the strongest and highest-ranking God in Z), Zangya was by far the most powerful female in the universe throughout her entire life and in Z in general, alongside Android 18. And yet she subverts this trope, as she is not actually from Earth. Perhaps "Galaxy's Strongest Woman" would be a better title for her?
- Pikkon is has this title pre-Super or more accurately, Otherworld's strongest man. He's easily powerful enough that Grand kai calls on him to shut down the villains when they start making a ruckus in Hell, as does Goku in Bio-Broly. Pre-Super, Pikkon was actually one of the strongest non-saiyans in the series, with Goku needing to use both Super Saiyan Kaioken (materials like Raging Blast 2 states Pikkon still had the upper hand) and exploiting a glaring flaw in Pikkon's move to win.
- Mechikabura is the strongest demon in Heroes, in his prime, he was called the strongest evil, and when he used the Darm Dragon Balls to wish for his youth to be restored, Chronoa had to seal him away using her full power however it ultimately fails. In his Dark King form, he was able to battle the Time Patrol and Demigra with little difficulty, and in his Time Power unleashed form he was able to fight both the Time Patrol and the Dark Empire traitors on his own until he was defeated and sealed by Xeno Trunks.
- Cumber in the anime, he is this in Golden Great Ape form, being 500 times stronger than his first form, which is already powerful enough to fight with base Kaio-Ken state Vegito Blue. And in both the anime and manga, Cumber has enough power to match the likes of Jiren and Golden Meta Cooler in power and strength.
- Hearts is another contender, and he’s proven to be one of the strongest characters in Heroes, with his gravity manipulation he brings down the main heroes to the ground, has used one of his gravity cubes to destroy a planet with ease and powerful enough to restrain even the mighty Jiren. As Super Hearts, he fought on par with Super Saiyan Blue Goku and eventually defeated him with his Gravity Fist. As the Ultimate Godslayer, Hearts can erase Zamasu from existence, wipe out an entire city and has easily dominated the main characters without breaking a sweat.
