Raditz

Raditz arrived on Earth searching for his younger brother Kakarot, whom he expected to have already conquered the planet. Instead, he found Goku living peacefully as a martial artist with no memory of his Saiyan heritage. When Goku refused to join the remaining Saiyans, Raditz kidnapped his young son Gohan and gave Goku an ultimatum: kill 100 humans or never see the boy again.

The resulting battle forced the unthinkable: Goku and Piccolo, longtime enemies, had to team up to fight a common threat. Even together, they struggled against Raditz, whose power level of roughly 1,500 dwarfed their own. The fight ended only when Goku sacrificed himself, restraining Raditz from behind while Piccolo fired his Special Beam Cannon through both brothers. It was the first death of the main character in Dragon Ball Z, and it set the stakes for everything that followed.

Before dying, Raditz taunted the Earth warriors by revealing that two even more powerful Saiyans would arrive in one year, having heard the entire battle through his scouter. This warning triggered the training arc that prepared the Dragon Team for the arrival of Vegeta and Nappa, launching the series into its next major conflict.

By later Dragon Ball Z standards, Raditz was relatively weak. His power level of approximately 1,500 would be trivial for any of the main characters after the Saiyan Saga. However, at the time of his arrival, he was overwhelmingly powerful compared to anyone on Earth. He could catch bullets, tank energy attacks, and move faster than trained martial artists could follow.

Raditz's true importance lies in what his arrival accomplished narratively. He revealed Goku's alien origins, introduced the concept of the Saiyan race, brought Piccolo and Goku together as allies, triggered Goku's first death, awakened Gohan's hidden potential, and set up the arrival of Vegeta and Nappa. No other single-arc villain accomplished as much worldbuilding in so few episodes.

Despite his significance, Raditz has never been revived in any canonical storyline. He remains one of the most notable characters in Dragon Ball history who was introduced, defeated, and permanently discarded within a single saga. Fans have long speculated about what Raditz could have become with proper training, making him one of the franchise's most enduring "what if" characters.