Dragon Ball is home to many iconic and exciting characters hailing from different planets, or even dimensions, to compose a mighty and expansive multiverse of fighters, but one of its greatest continues to be Gohan. In Dragon Ball Z episode #1, Gohan was introduced as a character constantly hinted at having earth-shattering potential. Even in Gohan's base form, he's been shown to exponentially exceed other characters far older and more experienced than him in Dragon Ball, with multiple instances where he used his gifts to save the day.

Despite his vast potential as a born fighter, Gohan is a peaceful person throughout his life, choosing only to take action and unleash his incredible raw power when those he cares about are threatened or harmed in Dragon Ball Z-onward. One of the most curious aspects about Gohan is the several unique transformations to which he has access, with his potential empowered by both Saiyan and human blood. While Gohan's forms are certainly less numerous than Dragon Ball's other most prominent fighters, he lays a strong impression against his peers every time as one of the universe's toughest fighters.

6 Base Form Gohan

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Z Episode #1: The New Threat

Gohan's base form, through its many iterations in Dragon Ball Z, Super, and GT, is quickly indicated to be far superior even to Goku's base form at a similar age; even at three years old, Gohan exceeded a pre-teen Goku dozens of times over. This notably allowed him to momentarily contend with Raditz in raw strength, although it'd take a great deal of training with mentors like Piccolo and Goku for him to harness even his base form's power. But for the sake of simplicity, Base Form Gohan scales up or down relative to his physical conditioning and age in the Dragon Ball franchise.

Given Gohan's tendency to focus on his studies rather than seeking combat, this form is weakened in Dragon Ball Super.

Base Form Gohan has faced an impressive array of enemies, including Vegeta and Nappa, and even went to Namek to face Frieza's forces. However, he faced insurmountable challenges against Recoome at the time. After the Cell Saga, Gohan's Base Form was still strong enough to empower his crime-fighting persona, the Great Saiyaman. Still, given Gohan's tendency to focus on his studies rather than seeking combat, this form is weakened in Dragon Ball Super. While mild inconsistencies like Base Form Gohan beating Frieza's final form exist, those are typically dismissed as filler.

5 Great Ape (Ōzaru) Gohan

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Z Episode #8: Gohan Goes Bananas!

This form quickly fades to irrelevance because it requires Gohan to retain his tail, which is routinely removed and does not regrow once he and the other Saiyan characters grow their power enough not to need it. However, when training to fight the Saiyans and again against Vegeta to eke out a win early in the series, Gohan transforms into his Ōzaru form, multiplying his Base Form power several times. While this hypothetically provides an innate multiplier to a Saiyan's strength, later transformations are far more effective and convenient, not to mention easier to draw for Toriyama.

Another inconvenient factor to Gohan and other Saiyans' use of the Ōzaru form is the need for a full moon. While Vegeta, and subsequently Gohan, by this need thanks to a proxy moon, this is an inconvenience caused specifically by Piccolo's unhinged destruction of the entire moon in orbit over Earth in episode #8. The Ōzaru form is also notably the largest in sheer mass, but ironically, it soon becomes Gohan's weakest transformation.

4 Super Saiyan (SSJ) Gohan

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Z Episode #156: Bow to the Prince

Gohan is the youngest character in the present-day Dragon Ball Z timeline to achieve a Super Saiyan form, overseen by Goku in the Room of Spirit and Time. In typically dense Goku fashion, Gohan is pushed to go Super Saiyan by imagining everybody close to him being killed by Cell; due to his inability to picture Cell at the time, Gohan envisions Frieza killing Piccolo in particular. The ensuing vision sends Gohan into enough frenzy to unlock the transformation. Under Goku's guidance, he can ively maintain his Super Saiyan form outside of combat in Dragon Ball Z.

However, with other characters having poured more training into empowering this Super Saiyan form, Gohan seemingly falls behind in the Cell Games, with this transformation being noticeably weaker than Goku's. While this is almost certainly due to Goku having superior fighting skills, honed over the years, with more abilities at his disposal, it's jarring to see Cell thrash Gohan initially, even with the typical SSJ multiplier of fifty times his base power. But what would soon follow would become the most beloved of all of Gohan's forms in Dragon Ball.

3 Super Saiyan 2 (SSJ2) Gohan

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Z Episode #184: Cell Juniors Attack!

While mastering the Super Saiyan Form long enough requires great concentration and exertion, Gohan achieves the SSJ2 form at the height of the Cell Games when Cell cruelly executes Android 16. With SSJ2, Gohan's power is multiplied a hundred times over, gaining immense speed, a crackling electric aura, and more rigidly spiky yellow hair. Beyond these physical changes, Gohan's SSJ2 Form also becomes, for the time, the most powerful known being shown in the universe in Dragon Ball Z.

Other noteworthy examples of characters who tried to achieve a similar growth of their Super Saiyan Forms in Dragon Ball Z were Vegeta and Trunks' Ascended and Ultra Super Saiyan Forms, essentially SSJ1 but with more modestly increased power and greater muscle mass. Gohan's SSJ2 Form wouldn't be matched by other characters in Dragon Ball for years, with Goku showing the fruits of his labor with the SSJ3 Form in the Buu Saga, while Gohan eventually undergoes a different transformation.

2 Ultimate (Mystic) Gohan

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Z Episode #262: Unlucky Break

Gohan's potential in Dragon Ball is so frequently referenced that this form represents its greatest extremes. With even the most historically petty characters like Vegeta acknowledging Gohan as having the most potential out of Earth's defenders in Dragon Ball Super chapter #6, this form addresses it dramatically. After intense training at the World of the Kais, Gohan can unleash it similarly to how he'd channel his Super Saiyan state, with raw power enough to outdo even SSJ3.

Gohan can unleash it similarly to how he'd channel his Super Saiyan state, with raw power enough to outdo even SSJ3.

While this form is understated in appearance yet sporting a distinctive SSJ-esque aura, it's treated as a bona fide transformation. For a long time in Dragon Ball canon, this remains Gohan's greatest form, imbuing him with enough power to show a cocky swagger against Super Buu. When Buu asks Gohan if he wants to fight, Gohan fires back with an ice-cold one-liner, "No, I intend to kill you." While Gohan's fighting skills would still take time to catch up to these enormous feats of raw power, one last milestone was reached in recent years for Gohan's current greatest form in Dragon Ball.

Gohan the strongest character in Dragon Ball's universe according to Akira Toriyama.

1 Gohan Beast

First Appearance: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

Gohan Beast is the culmination of Gohan's efforts to develop an ultimate form yet-unseen in the series. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, or chapter #99 in the Dragon Ball Super manga depicts this transformation as a Super Saiyan-like transformation, as well as the results of Gohan's unique hybrid Saiyan and human heritage inaccessible to Goku. While likely falling short of Broly's upper limits, Gohan Beast can contend with Perfected Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta and Perfected Ultra Instinct Goku.

Gohan's forms in Dragon Ball are less convoluted than other core franchise characters, but they're still fascinating, especially with the character's innate power levels being hyped up so strongly. The character is a fan favorite for these reasons, and it is generally more interesting to follow than much of the rest of the main cast. While Gohan will never quite be the face of Dragon Ball, his various powerful forms have more than earned him a spot among their mightiest core heroes.