The Dragon Ball franchise is filled with powerful warriors who have trained their whole lives to be the best fighters in the universe. From the humble beginnings of the World Martial Arts Tournament to the farthest depths of space to the survival of entire universes, the series has escalated the stakes and upped the threat time and time again. No matter who the heroes were fighting, though, it was always some being who managed to become that powerful on their own. Enemies li👍ke Vegeta, Frieza, Cell, and even Jiren trained themselves to become the dangerous living weapons they were. However, it’s the androids who were built this way. They didn’t have to do a thing, and already they were the most powerful beings on Earth.
The Red Ribbon Army, starting all the way back in Dragon Ball, unleashed wave after wave of powerful android menaces as the first artificial lifeforms to truly challenge Goku and the others. No matter what they looked like, and no matter the unit’s designated number, each android has proven to be built for combat. Androids 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, and 20 were designed to be ready for battle at a🦩ny moment, proving how deadly they can be. Even the peaceful one, Androids 8 and Androids 16 possessed their own massive power levels. It got to the point where these creations were simply too strong to make any logical sense. How could these artificial beings somehow harness their ki and manage to be stronger than some of the fiercest warriors ever? Here are 25 things that make the androids too powerful.
25 ꦫ They Wipe Out The Future
The biggest storyline involving androids was the Android Saga that ultimately proved to be part of the overarching Cell Saga. Tru✅nks showed up from the future in order to warn the Z Fighters about the powerful androids who were unleashed in the future and ultimately took over the world. It would seem that without Goku to save them, the rest of the Earth’s defenders were no match for Androids 17 and 18. They made swift work of Vegeta, Piccolo, Krillin, and the rest before only Gohan and Trunks remained.
In the end, they finished off Gohan, but not even a Super Saiyan Trunks could stop them.
In order to truly defeat his enemy, Trunks decided to travel back in time and warn everyone about the arrival of the androids. He had hoped that they could do something to change their fates in the future, however, it ultimately came down to Trunks doing the dirty work hims𝐆elf. After Cell was defeated, he finally had the power to elimin🐈ate the android threat in his timeline. While the threat of an android apocalypse was a promising one, it seemed a little bit of a stretch to suggest that the combined might of the show’s heroes couldn’t eventually overcome the threat.
24 Androids Can Keep Up 💟
Perhaps one reason the androids pose such a dangerous threat is from the fact that they never tire in combat. While others might be just as powerful as they are, eventually organic fighters grow tired and are no longer able to maintain their power levels. Remember, in Dragon Ball, Goku would get hungry after a while and no longer be able to fight. Powerful transformations like Super Saiyan 3 might be able to take them down androids, but they take a tremendous amount of energy to maintain befor♛e ultimately running out of juic🍎e. Even the Super Saiyan God form has that pesky time limit.
Androids never tire in combat, so it makes them the most terrifying opponents of all. They can play the long game in battle, play the defensive, and si🐓mply wait for their opponent to tire out. That’s likely how they approached their battle with the Z Fighters in Trunks’ future. Maybe the heroes could have eventually beaten them, but by that point, they were too tired to really put up a fight. However, it would be nuts to suggest that they can continue to fight indefinitely, right? Even an android, who doesn’t get tired, would have to run out of energy eventually. Maybe.
23 ﷽ You Can’t Find Them ⛎
Since the introduction of the technique Ki Sense, power levels have played a prominent part in the franchise. Just about everyone can sense the power of their opponent and either shake in their boots or laugh in their face. It’s an easy way to tell the audience who is going💯 to win and who is going to lose. However, yo🦩u know who managed mess that all up and leave the Z Fighters confused over who they are facing? The androids. Because of their artificial nature, they do not give off a measurable power level to give anyone any warning of how powerful they are.
This proves to be something of a problem for the heroes because they have no ability to track where they are.
When the androids go on the run, it becomes a mad dash to track them down using only conventional means. Even Cell has the ability to suppress his ki, making it impossible to find him. Just to make it worse, his ability to use the techniques of others makes his ki register like he is oꦇne of the Z Fighters. When he uses the Solar Flare, his energy registers as Tien, and when he does the Kamehameha he gives off the energy of Goku. It’s extremely confusing for everyone involved.
22 A Hard Nut To Crack 🐈
From the very beginning of Dragon Ball, weapons have not played a very big part in battle. Guns someho💙w don’t seem to affect you if you’re strong enough, like Goku proved when Bulma shot him. He also managed to take down the entire Red Ribbon Army without much difficulty, despite their advanced weaponry. Despite this fact, several characters have wielded swords throughout the franchise, and have used them to great effect. Yajirobe cut Cymbal in half and Future Trunks used his blade to cut Frieza to ribbons. Despite their initial effectiveness, all that came to an end when the androids showed up.
Not only are these inorganic beings strong, but they are apparently impervious to conventional weapons, even when it is wielded by the strongest warriors around. Android 18 manages to break Trunks’ sword, even after he proved how effective it is against strong opponents. All she had to do was block one swing, and the blade was broken. O𝓡ther androids have bee🔯n established to be made out of stronger material. Android 13 is said to be composed out of adamantium, making his body harder and more durable than Trunks’ sword. When he becomes Super Android 13, the sword simply shatters against his body without having any kind of effect.
21 By Our Pow꧒ers Combined
If androids weren’t strong enough on their own, it’s particularly troubling that they can also fuse together in order to become even stronger than they were before. We have seen how strong Trunks and Goten get when they fuse into Gotenks, and Goku and Vegeta as Vegito are nearly unstoppable. Now imagine the bad guys doing the same thing and proving to be too much for the heroes to take. In Super Android 13!, 13 absorbs the pieces of 14 and 15 to become Super Android 🧔13.
The only way Goku is able to defeat him is by absorbing the power of his Spirit Bomb and using the excess energy to take him out.
The Z Fighters are also challenged by Super 17 in Dragon Ball GT. Android 17 and Hell Fighter 17 combine forces and become one of the strongest enemies Goku has ever faced. He is only able to be defeated after Goku goes Super Saiyan 4. It is also implied that 17 had influenced Super 17’s actions to reveal his weakness and allow Goku to defeat him. In the video game Dragon Ball Fusions, there are several 𝓰new androids who can fuse with each other to create even more powerful beings. It's incredible that anyone is able to beat them at all.
20 She Can Beat Anyone ༺ ⛎
Androids may not be the most powerful being in the Dragon Ball universe, but they are in another universe created by Akira Toriyama. Before Goku, Toriyama created another pint-sized powerhouse for his gag manga Dr. Slump. In this universe, Senbai Normaki created an android by the name of Arale. She looked like a small child, but was capable of performing great feats without even trying. During Goku’s confrontation with the Red Ribbon Army, he managed to visit Arale in Penguin Village, and it established that Dr. Slump was part of the Dragon Ball universe. She again showed up in Dragon Ball Super.
Despite her size, Arale has a lot of natural ability and raw power. She has shown herself to be incredibly fast and super strong. With her Earth-Splitter attack, Arale can actually break the planet in half. Other techniques involve launching a powerful beam of energy out of her mouth and turning her entire body into a projectile. In her crossover with Dragon Ball Super she proves to easily beat up Vegeta and is actually able to fight Super Saiyan Blue Goku to a draw. It’s obvious that t💜he joke is how ridiculously strong she is, but she still would have been a lot of help during the Tournament of Power. People should watch out for her.
19 ๊ How Can They Be This Strong?
Dragon Ball Z always had a problem with escalation. Each new threat was introduced to be stronger than the last, so when the heroes increased their power to defeat them, it meant the next opponent had to be that much stronger. This formula ultimately reached its natural end with Frieza and Goku’s epic battle on Planet Namek with him, however, the show went on, so the next bad guy needed to be stronger. It is during the Android Saga that the show’s escalation goes to such an extreme that it begins to start losing all sense of𝓰 believability.
Since Cell was held back in order to serve as the main course of the Cell Saga, the androids had to serve as the appetizer in a way, so we ended up with Androids 17 and 18 somehow magically being stronger than Frieza. It’s no doubt that Dr. Gero had the technology to create strong warriors capable of standing up against the Z Fighters. However, the idea of them actually being more powerful than a galactic tyrant, who may have been considered the strongest person in the universe to that point, seems a little over the top. DBZ already took Gokuꦺ off the board for most of that storyline, so the androids didn’t really need to be that strong to still be a threat.
18 ღ Pick A Power, Any Power
It’s not just enough that the androids have their own powerful attacks, some of them can copy the moves of their opponents. This ability was most famously used by Cell because he possessed the genetic material of all the strongest warriors he had to fight. It allowed him to perform Goku’s Kamehameha, Vegeta’s Big Bang Attack, Frieza’s Death Beam, Tien’s Solar Flare, and so much more. This meant that he💃 could literally counter the Z Fighters with their own power reflected right back at them. Just imagine if he used them in combination with one another.
A Solar Flare Kamehameha would have been unstoppable.
Cell is not the only android with the power to mimic the attacks of others. In the video game Dragon Ball FighterZ, Android 21 is also composed of the genetic material of all the Z Fighters, plus Frieza, Cell, and even Buu. This makes her even more advanced than Cell was, and turns all their abilities against them. Her imitation attacks work a little differently than Cell’s do. She must first absorb the ki of an opponent with her Connoisseur Cut attack, then🐻 convert it into an attack. Android 21 has been shown capable of using Solar Flare, Kamehameha, Android Barrier, Instant Transmission, and other signature attacks.
17 ꦑ They Have All The Intel
They say that knowledge is power, and the androids that Dr. Gero built have a lot of it. Despite their young ages, all his androids come to life for the first time with an advanced understanding of the world around them and the threats they have been programmed to target. Many androids have the ability to scan their targets and instantly be given intimate knowledge of their abilities. This was an ability established back in Dragon Ball with the introduction of Major Metallitron. In the film Super Android 13!, all three androids are sho🦋wn to be able to communicate with Dr. Gero’s𓂃 computer, which provided them with all kinds of important data.
When the doctor created Cell, he used the genetic material of the strongest fighters in the universe. However, he also programmed his creation with a vast level of knowledge about his abilities and the powers of his opponents. This meant that he already had an understanding of how to use the special attacks he inh💧erited from those he copied. It also meant that he understood the vastness of his potential and how he could achieve his perfect form. In a way, Dr. Gero gave Cell a strong sense of instincts that helped him be a legitimate threat to the world.
16 Make Them Anywher🗹e You Want
Something as powerful as an android likely takes a lot of time and care in order to ensure that they come online in perfect working order. Aft༺er all, it is clear that Dr. Gero took a long time to finalize his methods, since several models have never been seen. It is widely believed that android models 1 through 7 and 10, 11, and 12 never came out right, and were ultimate🌼ly destroyed. Despite the clear delicate nature of creating an android, none of it seems to matter when you’re in the afterlife, because apparently they can be made there too.
In Dragon Ball GT, Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu team up in the underworld to create a Mutant Machine duplicate of Android 17. This new entity is not only a perfectly functioning android, it also proves to have control over the 17 that still lives on Earth. Thanks to the power Gero and Myuu infused their creation with, he is able to break out of the afterlife and the two androids fuse together to form Super Android 17. This new being proves to be one of the most powerful androids in the Dragon Ball universe. It makes no sense that something that requires such delicate precision was somehow created in the after❀life. What was he even made out of?