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Frieza was already a brutal tyrant before attaining his Golden Frieza form. With his ability to breathe in space, sadistic fighting style, and multiple transformation states, Frieza carved a path through multiple planets and characters to become one of Dragon Ball's most infamous villains.
Frieza’s Golden Form grants him faster speed, and harder hitting power can keep up with Goku in Super Saiyan Blue. He has proven himself to be able to stand against universe's strongest champions. However, he’s not an apex predator in Dragon Ball and has been killed at least three times throughout Dragon Ball Z and Super. There are characters during and after Dragon Ball Z that he can demolish and some he’d lose to in a heartbeat.
Here are examples of five characters in Dragon Ball whom Golden Frieza could destroy and five that would destroy him.
Note: Spoilers contained for Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball Z.
5 Dragon Ball characters Golden Frieza can defeat
1) Gohan
Much as Gohan has improved since his childhood in Dragon Ball Z, his power and training took a backseat. Contrary to popular belief, this isn’t bad on its own. The problem is that Frieza nearly killed Gohan when he arrived back on Earth in Resurrection F, and would have no trouble if they came to blows again.
Even with Gohan’s new Potential Unleashed mode, Golden Frieza has shown the ability to last against powerhouses like Broly and Jiren. It wouldn’t take much for Frieza to kill Goku’s kid, though that runs the risk of getting killed again. Chalk this victory up to continuing training, which Gohan hasn’t done in a while.
2) Piccolo
Piccolo is a good fighter, but not on a godhood level like the Saiyans are. Despite his healing factor, multiple techniques that gave Imperfect Cell and Android 17 a challenge and killing Raditz, it’s not difficult to see why Piccolo wouldn’t stand a chance against Golden Frieza.
Again, Golden Frieza can keep up with Goku in Super Saiyan Blue and withstand combat with bruisers like Jiren and Broly. Piccolo has shown nowhere near that level of speed or durability.
3) Cell
Debatable though this one may be, not to mention the next few entries, Cell lost to Gohan when he was a teen. At the time of SS2 Gohan, Cell was stronger than Frieza and had little trouble dealing with every one of the Z Fighters. Even when revived, Gotenks and Gohan managed to put Cell back in the ground multiple times.
It’s not impossible to imagine Cell getting killed by Golden Frieza. It’d be an interesting battle of the mind rather than a battle of strength, with both trying to outthink each other.
4) The entire Ginyu Force
This may be cheating, but it counts. The Ginyu Force were considered the best of the best until they were systematically destroyed by Goku and Vegeta. This was back when Super Saiyan 1 hadn’t been discovered, so it isn’t impossible to consider The Ginyu Force as Frieza’s warmup.
Reccome’s strength can be bested by Golden Frieza’s (Goku took him out with an elbow), Frieza can match Jace and Burter's speed, and it’s highly doubtful Guldo will be able to hold his breath long enough to stop time and multiple Death Beams. The only X factor they have is Captain Ginyu's body swap ability, which Frieza knows about and will probably be more than quick enough to dodge or exploit.
5) Merus
A controversial take, to be sure, but stick around. As seen in the Dragon Ball Super manga, Merus is the weakest of all the Angels but the strongest Galactic Patrolman. Though he was able to toss around Goku on SS3, and teach him more about Ultra Instinct Sign, Merus wasn’t able to beat Moro without burning himself out.
That’s not to say Frieza wouldn’t have struggled with the pre-revived Merus; it would be tough. But the Merus who lost his Angel powers and abilities? Golden Frieza would destroy him.
5 Dragon Ball Characters that can defeat Golden Frieza
1) Goku
Every single time Goku and Frieza clashed, Goku inevitably won. On Namek, Frieza was cut in half and then blasted by SS1 Goku (then sliced to ribbons and killed by Future Trunks later). Yes, Goku was beaten and overpowered by Golden Frieza in the Resurrection F arc, but Frieza had outside help on that one.
Likewise, Frieza's major downside was that he kept burning through power and stamina and not pacing himself, which meant he was wide open for Vegeta to beat down. Whis reversed the time, and Goku killed Frieza.
For the record, the gulf of power and skill has widened significantly since then. Goku now has access to Ultra Instinct Sign, had to help Frieza fight and eliminate Jiren in the Tournament of Power, and stood his ground against Moro and Granolah. If Frieza doesn't wise up, Goku will kill him again.
2) Vegeta (Ultra Ego mode)
Is this even a question? Vegeta has already kicked Frieza to the curb in his Blue form in Resurrection F, and Ultra Ego Vegeta will finish the job. To clarify, Vegeta standing up to Frieza was a highlight of the movie and the anime arc so to see Vegeta kill Frieza this time would be massively cathartic.
The fact that the Ultra Ego mode boosts Vegeta’s powers tenfold and converts damage into strength would definitely throw Frieza for a loop. Frieza typically enjoys toying with opponents, he wouldn’t get the chance with Vegeta if they came to blows.
3) Broly (Super)
Frieza made a huge mistake when he brought the Legendary Super Saiyan Broly to Earth. Despite having him under his control for a while, Frieza decided to speed up the process by killing Broly’s father Paragus. This caused Broly to go berserk with rage and grief and beat the tar out of Goku and Vegeta.
Golden Frieza didn’t expect Broly’s rage to turn on him. When it did, he was barely able to last an hour. Despite the Dragon Ball Super manga showing Golden Frieza holding his own and even pressuring Broly a little, the fact remains that if Broly had kept going Frieza would be dead twice over. If their paths ever cross again, Golden Frieza better have an escape plan.
4) Jiren
Speaking of people capable of beating Frieza, Jiren is definitely one of them. He was barely scratched during the Tournament of Power, and Frieza had to rely on sneaky tactics just to survive. Though that may have been smart, he wasn’t so lucky when it came time to fight Jiren one-on-one.
Even with Frieza’s True Golden Form, which erases the aforementioned stamina flaw, Golden Frieza was still stopped with a glare from Jiren’s true power and knocked out quickly with two punches. If Jiren went all out against Frieza alone, the odds would favor Jiren.
5) Beerus
Frieza catching Sidra’s Destruction ball was impressive, but he was barely able to redirect it. Beerus, who has no qualms about beating opponents senseless and erasing them like he did Zamasu, wouldn't hesitate to put Golden Frieza down.
Beerus was one of the three Gods of Destruction left standing in the God bout in the Dragon Ball Super manga, against other gods. He has utterly stomped the rest of the Z Fighters, overwhelmed Super Saiyan God/Blue Goku, and Frieza still fears Beerus even after four months of training to attain his Golden form.
Beerus is also able to destroy planets and tear chunks out of them with only a drop of his energy. Golden Frieza would only cause Beerus to yawn before being defeated, if not just erased for trying.
Conclusion
Golden Frieza is indeed powerful and skilled enough to destroy certain characters in Dragon Ball that he even gave Goku a hard time. As Dragon Ball has shown repeatedly, characters can only get stronger so long as their training continues.
Perhaps Frieza will be able to combat, if not defeat, characters that can obliterate him soon enough.
Note: This article reflects the opinion of the author.
