Daniel Kurland is a staff writer, comedian, and critic, who lives in the cultural mosaic that is Brooklyn, New York. Daniel’s work can be read on CBR, Vulture, Bloody Disgusting, Den of Geek, and across the Internet. Daniel recently completed work on a noir anthology graphic novel titled, "Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Noir: A Rag of Bizarre Noir and Hard Boiled Tales" and he’s currently toiling away on his first novel. Daniel's extra musings can be found @DanielKurlansky on Twitter.

Dragon Ball has worked hard to continually push its action-packed storytelling to bigger and bolder places, which has led to an abundance of intimidating transformations, with one of the most famous in modern times being Ultra Instinct. Goku's inaugural Ultra Instinct breakthrough during the Tournament of Power happened completely by accident, but it's since become his strongest means of power.

Ultra Instinct is a zen-like transformation that’s established as the all-powerful Angels’ standard state. Goku's Ultra Instinct journey hasn't been easy, and he's put in immense work to hone and evolve it over the course of his battles against Kefla, Jiren, Moro, Granolah, and Gas. However, even all this time later, there are three mortal Dragon Ball Super characters Goku still can't beat.

Vegeta's Ultra Instinct Alternative Gives Him The Advantage Against Goku

Goku has his fair share of rivals-turned-allies, but none have left as much of an impression as Vegeta. Vegeta and Goku's competitive dynamic has become one of Dragon Ball's most rewarding relationships, even if Vegeta has spent the majority of Dragon Ball catching up to Goku's successes and matching his Saiyan peer's milestones.

However, Vegeta has experienced tremendous character development in Dragon Ball Super that's helped him emerge from Goku's shadow, and establish his own groundbreaking techniques and transformations. Dragon Ball fans are used to seeing Goku defeat Vegeta in battle, but their latest clash in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero finally gave Vegeta his hard-won victory.

Vegeta defeats Goku, even if it's just during a friendly sparring session while they're both in their base forms. This doesn't change the fact that nobody knows Goku's fighting style, strategies, and attacks better than Vegeta. He's not just a powerful peer, but someone he's spent decades studying.

Vegeta's journey of self-discovery in Dragon Ball Super has led to revelatory techniques, such as Final God Explosion, Super Saiyan God-to-Blue switching, Hakai, and Forced Spirit Fission. The latter of these techniques redistributes energy and can even separate fusions.

Vegeta could use this ability to siphon Ultra Instinct Goku's power and channel it into his own attacks. Techniques aside, Vegeta's struggles with Ultra Instinct have led to the development of his own equivalent alternative — Ultra Ego.

Ultra Ego feeds on pain and aggression and converts it into greater strength. It's a dangerous maneuver that can be taken too far, but this means that it has even fewer limitations than Ultra Instinct. Ultra Ego Vegeta's performance against Granolah and Gas, contrasted against Ultra Instinct Goku's, indicates that Vegeta has the superior form.

Gohan's Beast Mode Has Helped Him Finally Reach His Full Potential As Dragon Ball's Strongest Hero

It's difficult to see Gohan struggle and for his potential to go to waste throughout most of Dragon Ball Super, even if he's ultimately happy. To many fans' surprise, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero changed course by intentionally benching Goku and Vegeta in favor of celebrating Gohan and Piccolo.

Their battle against Red Ribbon's Gamma Androids and Cell Max results in Gohan's greatest transformation yet — Gohan Beast. Gohan is suddenly elevated to the top of the heroic hierarchy with his new form, which synthesizes everything that he's previously learned.

Gohan Beast is the only character who is strong enough to defeat Cell Max, and it's been confirmed that he is now Dragon Ball's strongest hero. Goku doesn't get the opportunity to fight against Cell Max, but Dragon Ball Super's manga features a cathartic Saiyan showdown in which Gohan Beast proceeds to overpower not just Ultra Instinct Goku, but also Vegeta and Broly.

Goku doesn't necessarily put his all into this sparring session, but he detects Gohan Beast's strength and acknowledges that he's become the superior fighter. Gohan has had Beast mode for a fraction of the time that Goku has been able to refine his Ultra Instinct form, yet he's still able to do more with it. This presumably means that his power will only continue to grow, and it's possible that he unlocks even greater power with it down the line.

Black Frieza Is The Strongest Mortal in the Multiverse

Frieza's surprise comeback at the end of Dragon Ball Super's Granolah the Survivor Saga hit harder than anyone could have imagined. Full-Power Granolah, Ultra Ego Vegeta, and Ultra Instinct Goku collectively struggled against Gas' Dragon Ball-boosted power, only for Frieza to crash the party, show off his latest transformation, and wipe out Gas with a single punch.

After Gas' destruction, Frieza proceeds to casually knock out Ultra Instinct Goku and Ultra Ego Vegeta at the same time, with just as much ease. Granted, Goku and Vegeta are both exhausted from non-stop combat at this point, but Frieza's unwavering confidence against these characters, who typically have the upper hand, is still a remarkable sign of his newfound strength.

Frieza explains that his new form — Black Frieza — was accomplished by the equivalent of a decade of training in a time-dilated pocket dimension that's akin to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Even a year of training under these circumstances would be extreme, but a decade means that Frieza is now operating at a completely different level.

Frieza is so certain of his Black form's power that he's ready to take out the Zeno twins and become God Emperor of the multiverse. It's an incredibly troubling admission that's likely set up Black Frieza to be Dragon Ball Super's endgame antagonist.