Summary
Size doesn’t matter inDragon Ball. Not usually anyway. More often than not, its strongest, most fearsome characters have been of average size at best. Vegeta was a deadlier threat than the larger Nappa. Frieza’s burly second and third forms are weaker than his classic fourth form. Then the tall, statuesque bug-droid Cell got atomized by a kid fighting with one good arm. However, that hasn’t meant its bigger characters have been easy pickings.
Being giant-sized still has its perks inDragon Ball, and many giants have used them to their advantage. So, let’s look at the biggest characters in the franchise and see how they measure up to each other. Not every character has been given official statistics, so many of these sizes have been estimated by fans comparing their heights to the other characters (seeLeeZY ComparisonsandMoodZi).
Until recently, theDragon Ballanimated movies weren’t really official follow-ups to the series. They were more like side-ventures for the characters. Some of them were essentially microcosms of arcs in the series, likeDragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, whereJanemba, a giant, goofy demon that turns things into jellybeans, is accidentally released and wreaks havoc in the underworld.
He was basically Majin Buu with the serial numbers filed off, only he was somehow dumber (he can only say his name), and much bigger. He’s roughly 50ft tall, edging out the similarly huge Dr. Wheelo fromDBZ: The World’s Strongest. Though like Buu, he was much stronger when he got smaller, as his Super Janemba form is only about 6ft 3in, but rivals Super Saiyan 3 Goku in strength.
Bergamo the Crusher, the eldest and strongest member of Universe 9’s Trio of Danger, was no slouch at his usual height of 5ft. If anyone hit him, he could absorb its impact and double it through his own attacks. He could even use them to grow further intoGiant Bergamo, reaching 60ft in his fight against Goku inDragon Ball Super.
At base level, he could rival and even surpass regular Goku. But Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Goku (or Super Saiyan Blue Goku for short) proved to be too much for the canine warrior to take. Still, he held up better against SSB Goku’s God Kamehameha than most opponents, as he managed to deflect it with his Wolfgang Penetrator. Larger foes have done worseagainst Goku’s other forms.
9Giant Slug
Approx. 70ft
Just as Saiyans can turn into giant apes, some Namekians can turn into Great Namekians.King Piccolo and Piccolo Jrmanaged it in the originalDB, though they didn’t reach the heights Lord Slug did in his titular movie. Once he regained his youth, Slug tapped into his Great Namekian form, becomingGiant Slugright when Goku’s Nearly-Super-Saiyan power ran out.
He reached roughly 70ft in height, and his strength surpassed Frieza’s, let alone Goku’s Nearly-Super-Saiyan form. It’s a shame this transformation also made his hearing more sensitive, which made him more susceptible to Gohan’s whistling. It’s apparently an innate weakness that all Namekians have, and it only turned up in theLord Slugmovie. Either way, it was enough to stun Slug long enough for Goku to dispatch him with a Spirit Bomb.
DB’s original transformation saw Kid Goku transform into aGreat Apeunder a full moon. Like a werewolf, he lost control in this form, going on impulsive rages that could destroy whole cities. His friends were able to bring him back to his normal form by blowing up the moon, or by cutting off his tail.
Since then, the Great Ape form has rarely been seen. Vegeta managed it in the Saiyan arc, where he got to keep his senses, andDBSBroly managed to get the Great Ape strength without the full transformation. Otherwise, it’s largely been left behind. Their size depends on the Saiyan, but they’ve roughly been estimated to reach a max height of 80ft.
7Agnilasa
82ft
DBS’Tournament of Power arc introduced all sorts of different characters, like the first female Super Saiyans in Kaulifla, Kale,and their fused Kefla form. They weren’t the only ones to do that, as Universe 3’s odd team of Dr. Paparoni and his AI mechwarriors Koitsukai, Pancea, and Borareta had their own fusions. First, the bots merged into their ultimate form, Koiceareta, to try and overcome Gohan, Goku, and Vegeta.
When that didn’t work, they merged with Dr. Paparoni to formAgnilasa, an 82ft behemoth that held its own against the Saiyan trio, even with backup from Androids 17 and 18. It might’ve even won against them if 17 hadn’t noticed its weak point: its reactor core. Once it was sufficiently smashed, Agnilaza was blasted out of the ring and eliminated from the tournament.
6Hirudegarn
157ft
The last movie-only foe,Hirudegarnis a “Phantom Majin,” a demon god corrupted by Kashvar sorcerers. The warrior brothers Tapion and Minotia managed to defeat it but, unable to kill it, they sealed its top and bottom halves into spiritual forms inside them. Then the brothers were sealed in music boxes and sent to separate ends of the galaxy to keep someone from freeing them and uniting Hirudegarn in the process.
However, they didn’t reckon on Hoi, a Kashvar wizard, tricking Goten, Trunks, Goku, and Co. into finding Tapion’s box on Earth and unsealing it with the Dragon Balls. Hoi then summoned Hirudegarn’s bottom half, where it reunited with its top half to recreate the beast to its full size of over 150ft. It withstood all the heroes' attacks until Goku went Super Saiyan 3 and unleashed the Dragon Fist attack, destroying it for good.
There are Great Ape Saiyans, and then there’s theGolden Great Ape Baby. The last survivor of the Tuffles, Baby was reborn as a mechanical mutant who sought to bring back his people by taking over the human race. Then he’d get his revenge on the aliens who exterminated the Tuffles, who just happened to be the Saiyans.
He managed to possess Vegeta, where he was able to take on different Tuffle-ized Super Saiyan forms when fighting Goku. Then he forced Bulma to use the Blutz Wave Generator to turn him into GGA Baby, a nimble 197ft giant that was too much for Goku to handle. If only he didn’t eat something that disagreed with him, as Majuub stunned GGA Baby internally long enough for Goku to blast off his tail, bringing him back down to size.
4Shenron
Approx. 1,640ft
As of this writing, GGA Baby is arguably the largest enemy Goku has had to fight, but he’s not the largest figure in the franchise. His 200ft size is still dwarfed by the divine dragonShenron. He’s roughly 1,600ft in length, thoughit’s hard to tell exactly, as he often appears in a snakelike tangle, rarely stretching himself out to his full length.
Shenron is the divine dragon of Earth, who can be summoned by its Dragon Balls to grant its collector any wish within its power. He can’t kill any foe more powerful than the wisher, can’t grant repeated wishes (i.e. wishing the same wish the second time around), and doesn’t usually grant multiple wishes. Though his rules have often changed over the years, like revealing he can grant up to three wishes, but only for regulars. First-timers only get one shot, so they better not blow it.
3Porunga
Approx. 2,100+ft
Porungais the divine dragon of Planet Namek, and he can grant three wishes if the collector manages to find all seven of its much larger Dragon Balls. They also have to speak Namekian and stay on his good side. He’s more cynical than his Earth counterpart and more willing to turn the wisher’s desire against them if they don’t know their place. He also looks like a buff reptilian with a tail, making it easier to measure his size.
In place of official statistics, fans have generally scaled him to be on the north side of 2,000ft, having an extra few hundred feet on top of his Earthly equivalent. Like Shenron, Porunga has usually been summoned to help the heroes out of a pickle, like restoring Earth multiple times, bringing back the dead,and restoring Goku enoughto obliterate Kid Buu for good.
2Ultimate Shenron
33,000ft
Shenron has limits on his wishes as his power can only do so much. As such, collectors might be more tempted to gather the Black Star Dragon Balls to summonUltimate Shenron. On top of having more power, he’s also much bigger than his regular green rival. He’s roughly 33,000ft in length, and he could grant any wish, even killing people if the collector so wished.
However, his wishes come with a caveat. If the Black Star Dragon Balls can’t be regathered within a year after the wish is granted, their negative energy will destroy the planet, and they scatter across the galaxy once the wish is granted. Humanity only survived because they had another planet to escape to, with Piccolo sacrificing himself by staying on Earth to render the Black Star Dragon Balls permanently inert.
