Gohan’s never been a killer by nature. While he clearly likes martial arts and treats training with a healthy sportsmanship when he doesn’t partake, Gohan doesn’t care for violence – at least not intentionally. One of Dragon Ball’s angriest characters, Gohan’s early development is defined by his issues with rage.
When pushed too far, the usually docile Gohan becomes arguably the most dangerous character in Dragon Ball. He doesn’t kill nearly as much as the rest of the cast, but Gohan’s come close to killing a few Dragon Ball villains. Gohan doesn’t care for needless bloodshed, but he’ll do what needs to be done.
8 Vegeta
Gohan’s cowardice is one of his defining characteristics during the Saiyan arc. Training with Piccolo only helps him overcome so much of his passiveness as well, leading to him slipping up while fighting Nappa. Gohan hesitates at a key moment, resulting in Piccolo’s death and leaving him & Krillin virtually hopeless against Nappa.
Instead of letting this get the better of him, Gohan uses Piccolo’s sacrifice as a means to grow stronger. He realizes now that he must fight, seeing the consequences first hand of what happens when he doesn’t. Gohan rushes back to Goku the moment he notices his father in danger, ready to put down Vegeta himself if need be.
7 Frieza Force Soldiers
By the time Gohan and Krillin reach Namek, he’s not pulling his punches anymore. Gohan’s ready to find the Dragon Balls at all costs, even if it means confronting Frieza Force soldiers time and time again (something Krillin would rather avoid.) The moment the two are ambushed by Frieza’s men, Gohan and Krillin waste no time into kicking them into Namek’s waters – presumably killing the both of them in the process. Surprisingly, this is actually the first character Gohan kills on-screen.
6 Dodoria
Witnessing how cruel Frieza and his men can be first hand, Gohan wastes no time in kicking Dodoria in the face to save Dende’s life. After watching a Namekian village be slaughtered – and a young Namekian lose his life – Gohan refuses to just sit idly by while others suffer, truly taking Piccolo’s death to heart.
Gohan wouldn’t have been strong enough to kill Dodoria at this point, but if push came to shove, he certainly wouldn’t have hesitated. Dodoria arguably represents the Frieza Force at its worst: an obedient laptop who will commit any atrocity in the name of his master. And unlike other members of the army, Dodoria clearly loves his work & station.
5 Frieza
Although the game plan during the fight against Frieza is to buy as much time as possible for Piccolo and Goku to arrive, Gohan & Krillin fight back with an active intent to kill Frieza if they can (Vegeta less so.) Gohan ends up fighting Frieza more than anyone else, taking the brunt of his second form. While Vegeta cowers in a corner unable to make himself fight back, Gohan risks his life. He even taps into a massive rage boost that actually does some damage on Frieza, but it unfortunately isn’t enough to keep Gohan in the fight for much longer.
4 Cell
Gohan has a complicated relationship with anger and it all comes to a head in the Cell Games. After a life of giving into rage to make himself stronger, Gohan doesn’t want to do that against Cell. He doesn’t even want to fight. He doesn’t understand what’s happening despite how strong he is – Gohan just wants all this to be done.
Cell uses this innocence to push Gohan past his emotional breaking point, torturing the Dragon Team with Cell Juniors and crushing Android 16 before his eyes. Enraged at all the senseless violence he’s seen, Gohan taps into Super Saiyan 2 and slaughters every single Cell Junior on the field before turning his carnage towards Cell himself. Goku loses his life at the end of the day, but Gohan kills Cell with one of the strongest Kamehamehas in all of Dragon Ball.
3 Spopovich
Watching Spopovich hurt Videl while he’s forced to wait on the sidelines awakens a deep, primal rage within Gohan. Videl’s loss is brutal, but it still occurs in a tournament capacity that Gohan is forced to respect – only lending to the drama. By the time Gohan steps up for his match against Kibito, he is angry enough to effortlessly tap into Super Saiyan 2. This immediately sets Spopovich and Yamu on him, draining his energy to bring back to Bobbidi and revive Majin Buu. Bobbidi ends up killing Spopovich and Yamu himself, but given the opportunity, Gohan would have been more than willing to tear Spopovich to pieces. It’s kind of a shame he never got the chance.
2 Dabra
Gohan would have killed Dabra if he could have. He was excited to enter Bobbidi’s ship alongside his father, and was generally enjoying the fights against Pui Pui & Yakon. Unfortunately, Gohan’s lack of training hasn’t made him much better than he was during the Cell Games, struggling against Dabra.
Without his anger to tap into, Gohan (debatably) can’t even trigger Super Saiyan 2. He’s left fighting Dabra to a stalemate before the King of Hell slips out to give Bobbidi the news of Vegeta’s deeply rooted insecurities. Had the fight lasted longer, however, Gohan likely could have found an opportunity to kill Dabra and descend further into the ship legitimately.
1 Majin Buu
It’s really not Gohan’s fault he couldn’t kill Majin Buu. He intended to finish him off every time they fought, but other circumstances got in Gohan’s way. The first time around, Fat Buu was just too overwhelmingly powerful. The second time, Majin Buu ran away like a coward the moment he realized Gohan could kill him.
The last time, Buu goaded Gotenks into targeting him before Gohan could realistically do anything. After unlocking his Ultimate potential, Gohan was more than ready to finish Majin Buu off once and for all. He arguably even should have to bring his arc to a neater close, but that would have been at the expense of Dragon Ball’s otherwise solid ending.