If you've been keeping up with Dragon Ball Super, you know we've just seen a lot of new characters introduced through the other universes in the story, including a surprising number of female characters. Dragon Ball has very rarely really been a franchise where women have been depicted as powerful fighters, so this is a pretty big change for the story. By the looks of things, we're about to see several different female characters take some spots as some of the strongest people we've seen.

In light of this big change, we've decided to look at the toughest women across the entire franchise to highlight how rare they have been, and how big of a deal this is. We're only going to be looking at women who have either already shown off their power through fights, or else have been shown to be people who are respected for the power they possess. The contrast between some of these women is huge, but that just speaks to how seldom they have been given the opportunity to test their ability.

This is Dragon Ball: 15 Most Powerful Female Characters.

15. BULMA

While this article isn't intended to be a definitive ranking for these characters, there's little doubt that whatever way you slice it, Bulma is one of the weaker recurring women in the franchise. Her talents are more toward thinking things through, and inventing new technology to help her friends. It's all thanks to Bulma that the Z Fighters have had access to things like time machines, or the Blutz Wave Generator that helped Vegeta become a Super Saiyan 4 in GT.

In terms of physical abilities, Bulma knows she's way out of her league and tries to leave the fighting to others. In the first episode of the original Dragon Ball she was willing to stand up for herself enough to try and shoot Goku when he attacked her car, but she quickly surrendered when that had little effect. She's only become even more outclassed as the years have gone by, including getting knocked out by Beerus after making the mistake of getting into a slap fight with him.

14. MAI

Emperor Pilaf, Shu, and Mai have rarely been anything more to Goku than a fleeting nuisance in his journey. They're able to provide Goku a challenge very early on, but the more they return, the more obviously outclassed they are. By the time they show up again in Dragon Ball Super, the trio have been so left behind in power that the Z Fighters don't even give them a second glance in terms of being a threat, despite Pilaf still having designs on ruling the world.

Though Mai's ineffectiveness only became more apparent the longer she stuck around, early on she was one of the few women to openly attack Goku and endanger him. That was more due to the usage of guns, robots, and other technology, but it was still enough to make her a threat for a time.

Now that she has been reverted to a child in Super, however, what little power she did have has no doubt been diminished even further. Yet given the right circumstances, she could become someone to take serious again, as evidenced by Future Mai and the resistance she mounted against Goku Black.

13. CHI-CHI

In the grand scheme of things, Chi-Chi is far from an impressive fighter. When she was a child, she was able to smack people around at times, but mostly just for comedic effect. She did still have some fighting training though, and really demonstrated it when she challenged Goku at the World Martial Arts Tournament. She had some impressive moves, even if Goku was never in any danger from her attacks. In all honesty, it's Chi-Chi's fierce temper that frightens people more than anything.

Despite a lack of serious power, Chi-Chi is like the tiny dog who still barks the loudest. She is fearless in confronting anyone, whether it's her own family, or dangerous villains. Goku and Gohan live in fear of upsetting her, and they are two of the strongest fighters on Earth. And Chi-Chi had no problem marching right up to Majin Buu and berating him for his behavior. Yeah, her mouth picks fights she can't win, but Chi-Chi would never back down from those fights.

12. LAUNCH

It's surprising that Akira Toriyama seemed to forget about Launch once Dragon Ball Z came around, because up to that point, she was one of the strongest women the franchise had seen. In her friendly blue-haired form, fighting would be the furthest thing from her mind. But as Goku and his friends quickly learned, there was a whole lot more to Launch than her innocent side.

Whenever Launch sneezes, her personality switches drastically. Her blond alter ego is much more aggressive, loud, and dangerous. This other side of Launch is always looking for a fight, and frequently terrified Goku and his friends with her explosive nature. It also didn't help that this other side of Launch had easy access to firearms and other weapons, ensuring she would be taken seriously. Admittedly her power mostly came from how hot-headed she was, but of the human women on Earth, Launch would definitely be one of the toughest.

11. GINE

It took quite a long time for us to actually learn who Goku's parents were, but once we did, we got to see his powerful brother, and get hints of how powerful their dad was. We would even learn that Bardock became a Super Saiyan long before Goku ever did, so it seemed like there was a lot of power in the family. But then we finally did get to find out some more about the mom of the family: that her name was Gine, and how powerful she actually was.

It turns out that even though she was initially part of Bardock's team of warriors, she didn't have the same fighting instinct as Bardock. In fact, Bardock had to save Gine in battle on multiple occasions. Presumably since the Saiyans are a warrior race, she was able to defend herself and would have been more powerful than most humans, but she simply wasn't cut out for a warrior's life. She was known for being a kind-hearted Saiyan, so we can't imagine she would have been a match for any of the other Saiyans we've heard of.

10. FORTUNETELLER BABA

Fortuneteller Baba definitely is not a warrior, and would likely die easily against the majority of the franchise's current martial artists. There are multiple kinds of power, though, and Baba is not useless just because she hasn't physically won any battles. Sometimes the characters who sit on the sidelines on Dragon Ball have some of the greatest power of anyone due to their ability to manipulate events through their mystical abilities. Just look at someone like Babidi, who was a pushover as a fighter, but had the power to control others and revive Majin Buu.

Baba admittedly never does anything that drastic, but her power is showcased early in the franchise when she temporarily revives Granda Gohan for an encounter with Goku. She uses this power again in the Buu saga, allowing Goku to return to the Earth in his physical body to compete in the World Martial Arts Tournament and later fight Buu. She does the same for Vegeta as well after he dies.

So sure, she probably can't knock out a Saiyan or anything, but with the power to revive the dead, she's definitely someone to be respected.

9. FASHA

Fasha was the first female Saiyan we got to see in action, and was part of Bardock's team of warriors. Since we knew exactly who was left alive among the Saiyans after planet Vegeta was destroyed, it was a forgone conclusion that she wasn't going to live for long in the franchise. But in Bardock—The Father of Goku, we did get to see her potential as a fighter before she was killed.

Like the other members of Bardock's team, she is shown being able to transform into a Great Ape, making her the first and only female Saiyan to do so thus far. Since the Saiyans, at this point, were being used by Frieza to take over or destroy other planets, the majority of the fighting we see Fasha do is against weaker species. She's successful at her job, though, helping to subjugate two planets in the movie before she is betrayed by Frieza and killed by Dodoria and his forces.

8. VIDEL

Though Videl is just a typical human and not part of some powerful warrior race, she managed to grow more powerful pretty rapidly. Apparently Videl is one of the few humans who has actually had an interest in learning how the Z Fighters do all the supernatural things they do, so she demanded Gohan teach her as well. In a relatively short time, she went on to learn how to not only fly, but also fight and defend herself.

Of course when many people think of Videl's fighting days, they recall her brutal beat down from Spopovich. But in fairness, Spopovich was under the control of Babidi at the time, meaning his power was likely magnified from the wizard's power. It's not as if Videl totally gave up wanting to be a fighter, though, and has on occasion joined the "Great Saiyaman" for some crime fighting. Sure, she can't destroy the planet with her power, but of all the Earth women married to Saiyans, she's about the only one who could feasibly defend herself.

7. ANDROID 18

For a long time, Android 18 was able to claim the honor of being one of Dragon Ball's most dominant women. Though, honestly, in Dragon Ball Z, she was pretty much the only serious female fighter in the entirety of the series. She made a huge impression, though, being one half of the androids that Future Trunks was so afraid of, and going on to swat around the Z Fighters like it was nothing. Even Vegeta, fresh off unveiling his Super Saiyan form for the first time, got his arm broken by 18 with just one kick.

Once Cell showed up, Android 18 took a backseat for the remainder of DBZ, but her power still shouldn't be understated. In the timeline of Future Trunks, her and 17 were able to devastate the entire world and kill off almost all the Z Fighters. Before Goku Black did the whole obliterating the future thing, 18 was doing it first. And while, in Dragon Ball GT, she seemed to have settled down into life as a mother, Dragon Ball Super has shown that her fighting days might not actually be over yet.

6. PAN

Before Dragon Ball Super, Pan would have been the one we called the most powerful female Z Fighter seen in the franchise. Thanks to Dragon Ball GT, we saw Pan was capable of hanging with some of the toughest fighters around. She played Goku's sidekick throughout the series, helping him battle the likes of Baby and the Shadow Dragons. The only thing that held her back was her inability to transform into a Super Saiyan, but she was still the only female Saiyan we had seen achieve such heights.

With Dragon Ball GT now being disregarded, it's unclear what Pan's power will be like in Super. By the end of Dragon Ball Z, we saw her able to toss around grown men with ease. Yet for all we know, Super might wind up surpassing the epilogue of DBZ and going into totally new territory. It's unlikely we'll see her as an adult in Super, since the series would still have to advance many years, so that means the full depths of her power likely won't be displayed.

Goku was very strong from a young age, so if Pan is intended to be a fighter in Super, we should find out soon. She's already capable of flying, though, so things are looking bright for her.

5. ZANGYA

Obviously Bojack is who fans remember best from Bojack Unbound, but his underlings were no slouches in power either. Even individually, most of Bojack's allies were able to take out the Z Fighters. Zangya got paired off in a one-on-one fight against Krillin at first and defeated him easily. But it's not like she couldn't take on the best of the Z Fighters either. We saw her taking on Future Trunks and holding her own, and with the help of the rest of Bojack's crew, she was initially able to beat down Gohan.

We know for sure that she was no match for a Super Saiyan 2, though, since once Gohan unveiled his strongest form she backed away in fear. Still, that would put her power threshold even above Android 18's since we saw the androids could handle newly transformed Super Saiyans like Vegeta, but were outclassed after the warriors trained in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. And this movie took place after the death of Cell, so if Zangya was giving Future Trunks a challenge at this time, that would have made her the most powerful female fighter at this point.

4. ARALE

Arale will likely never be someone the Z Fighters can depend on to save them from a villain threatening the world, but she might just be the most powerful good character in the franchise. The protagonist of Dr. Slump briefly showed up in the original Dragon Ball, but for a long while it looked like that would be the end of her crossovers with the world of Dragon Ball. But Dragon Ball Super has been showing an increasing willingness to embrace these crossovers, first by bringing in characters from Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, and then with the return of Dr. Slump's Arale.

Arale really showed off just how powerful she was by easily defeating Vegeta and sending him rocketing off into the horizon. Next, Goku tried to defend against her in an energy blast battle, but even as a Super Saiyan Blue he was only able to stand evenly matched against her. So Goku was quite dismayed when Arale said her next attack would have one hundred times the power, something Goku admitted he didn't think he could stop. Fortunately Beerus showed up to defuse the situation from there, but fans were still left wondering if Beerus would have been able to beat Arale, or if she could have actually taken down the god of destruction as easily as she did Vegeta.

3. THE FEMALE SUPER SAIYAN

Just a total disclaimer: at the time of this writing, most of what we have to go on for this character is speculation. As you can tell, we don't even know what her name is yet. So we can't say definitely who she is more powerful than because we simply have not seen her in action yet. Judging by the fact that she's showing up at this point in the franchise, we'd assume she's someone who can at the very least rival Goku, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Even with there being such a huge question mark surrounding her, we have to include the female Super Saiyan because she's the first of her kind we've seen. We know for a fact that the Super Saiyan form dramatically increases a Saiyan's power, so it's probably a pretty safe assumption that she's stronger than Pan, who was the strongest female Saiyan up to this point.

This female Super Saiyan will likely be able to stack up against a Super Saiyan Blue, though, since she appears to be the Legendary Super Saiyan of one of the other universes. Her huge bulky form, and green tinted hair look so familiar that fans have already dubbed her the female Broly.

2. HELLES

One of the newest women attracting a lot of attention in Dragon Ball Super is the only female god of the twelve universes. We haven't had a chance to see what she can do yet, but seeing as how she's a god, people are assuming she'll be in the same power range as fellow gods Beerus and Champa. It's hard to imagine any of the gods being weak, so Helles will likely be more powerful than Goku at this point.

While we don't know anything about Helles for sure yet, she certainly has everyone's attention to see what she can do. With twelve gods there have to be ones who are more powerful than others. So could this goddess with a resemblance to Cleopatra wind up being even stronger than Beerus? We'll just have to wait and see, but this is one of the gods of destruction who fans are watching the closest.

1. VADOS AND THE ANGELS OF UNIVERSES 10, 11, AND 12

Though we're not ranking the characters in this list, we'd still have to think Vados and her fellow female angels are the strongest women the franchise has shown us thus far. Though Saiyans are constantly increasing in power and will likely stand at the top of the totem pole when the franchise concludes, we know gods are stronger than Saiyans at the moment. And based on what we've seen from Beerus and Whis, and Champa and Vados, angels seem like they are all going to be stronger than gods. So as things stand now, we'd think the female angels are currently the strongest women in the franchise.

Like with the female Super Saiyan, we don't even know the names of the angels representing Universes 10, 11, and 12. It's hard to imagine the gods of those universes keeping around weak overseers though. Regardless, we have seen a fair amount of Vados so far, and Whis certainly doesn't take her lightly, despite him being strong enough to take down Beerus.

After Dragon Ball going decades with barely any formidable women around, it's really fresh and intriguing to see multiple powerful women brought in at once. As the latest saga in Dragon Ball Super unfolds, a lot of eyes will undoubtedly be on the female angels to see just how dangerous they are.

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How do you feel about the new female fighters in Dragon Ball Super so far? Share your thoughts and theories on them in the comments!