Gohan is an underrated and overlooked character in many ways. For one, he's been referred to as the one with the greatest potential in Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama, yet he often ends up out of the fight at its climax, leaving Goku to deliver the finishing blows. On the other hand, his fight scenes are often the most cinematic and emotionally impactful, though they usually get left out of the conversation for Goku and Vegeta's more commonly cited showings.
One of the reasons Gohan's fights are such an anomaly in Dragon Ball is that -- unlike the other Z Fighters -- he is a person who is usually thrust into battle unwillingly. Gohan never liked to fight, and that's a huge part of his personality and his character arc. He has the most untapped potential, and pulling that potential out of him is so difficult, mainly because it's against his personal judgment. It's fitting that Gohan's latest and greatest forms, from SSJ2 to Gohan Beast, are always coerced out of him by witnessing his loved ones in pain, and hardly ever come about by purposefully training to surpass his limits.
Gohan's Fight Against Dabura Led to Vegeta's Fall From Grace
When he fought against Dabura, Gohan was largely out of practice after living in relative peace for years following the destruction of Cell Gohan hadn't been training rigorously for years, instead choosing to focus on his studies and clean up the streets of petty criminals as the Great Saiyaman. The great king of the demon world, Dabura was the furthest thing from a petty criminal in contrast. Dabura was Babadi's greatest warrior minion, and displayed that by turning Piccolo to stone early on in the arc. Though Gohan put up a good fight against Dabura that was fairly evenly matched, Davura and Babidi used Gohan's inability to quickly defeat him to their advantage in converting Vegeta to the side of the Majins.
Gohan's Fight With Recoome Displayed His Heightened Resolve
The fight between the Z Fighters and Recoome is one of the most brutal. At the start of Gohan's fight with Recoome, Recoome beats the young saiyan down to a bloody mess with relative ease. Nothing Gohan can throw at the villain seems to land, and Recoome just tosses the boy around like a rag doll. However, Gohan's resolve should never be questioned. He inevitably finds a deeper level of strength within himself that allows him to continue to get up and keep fighting, regardless of how badly beaten he is. It's a powerful moment for him that shows how far Gohan has come as a person who has the courage to stick up for his friends. This contrasts greatly with the Gohan that fans had seen during the fight with Raditz: a scared little boy who had no place on the battlefield.
Future Gohan Never Let The Androids Change Who He Was
In many ways, Future Gohan is like an entirely different character from the Gohan most fans know and love. A person's experiences have a powerful impact on who they become in terms of their personality, and that fact informs the differences between the Gohan from the main timeline and his counterpart in Future Trunks' time period. However, despite their differences, Gohan is still Gohan, and a fight that helps to demonstrate the innate similarity between the two Gohans is Future Gohan's fight against the androids. The Gohan of the Future is a hardened warrior who has witnessed unthinkable horrors that have made him cold and serious, yet he still has a soft side and big heart just like Gohan from the main timeline.
Gohan Reached His Greatest Level of Strength Yet Against Cell Max
Gohan's fight with Cell Max wasn't just a one-on-one match up. He had the help of Goten, Trunks, the Gamme androids, Piccolo, Krillin and Android 18 to have his back. This shows just how powerful Cell Max was. He was able to fight off multiple powerful opponents while hardly taking a scratch of damage. In the end, it was still up to Gohan in the end, to ascend to a level of power great enough to bring the beastly behemoth down once and for all. Using his master's signature technique, the Special Beam Cannon, Gohan channeled all the energy in his newly achieved Gohan Beast form into one powerful beam attack which cut right through Cell Max's core and caused it to self-destruct.
Gohan Took His Anger Out on the Cell Juniors
"I said before, I could never forgive you!"
- Gohan to Cell Junior
Gohan's fight against the Cell Juniors is a stand-out moment for the Cell Saga and Gohan as a character. The fight with Cell was Gohan's first true test of strength as a Super Saiyan, and things got far more serious when Cell used his Cell Juniors to wreak havoc on Gohan's friends. Seeing his loved ones hurt brought out an inner power that even Gohan didn't know he had, and that was the Super Saiyan 2 transformation. Gohan was not playing around anymore after how the Juniors treated his friends, and he showed them no mercy.
Gohan Learned a Valuable Lesson Against Buu
After his single-handed defeat of Cell, Gohan emerged as the greatest hero in Dragon Ball at that point. Goku, decided to remain dead, and Gohan became a superhero to defend the world in his absence. The rise of Buu gave Gohan a chance to shine once again to become the main character once and for all, especially with his Mystic Gohan power-up after training with Grand Kai. This made him the strongest warrior on Earth and the Z Fighter's greatest hope against the purely even monster that was Buu. Unfortunately, after Buu absorbed Gotenks and Piccolo, it didn't matter how strong Gohan had become. Things got even worse when Gohan was absorbed by Buu as well, turning Buu into his ultimate form, which even SSJ3 Goku couldn't beat on his own.
Gohan's Fight With Nappa Led to one of Dragon Ball's Most Well-Known Tragedies
Gohan's first true test of strength was against Nappa during the Saiyan Saga. This was also the first showing of what would prove to be a fatal flaw in Gohan's personality throughout DBZ, his overconfidence. Gohan often treads the line between cowardice and cockiness in his early fights. He will often start out fearful of his enemies, but after recognizing his own strength, he ends up giving into pride, which causes troubling consequences for his friends. This is exactly what happened against Nappa, as Gohan impressively displayed the strength to do real damage to Nappa, but his overconfidence led to Piccolo's untimely demise in defense of his pupil.
Gohan Tapped Into His Hidden Potential Against Frieza
Gohan's fight with Frieza was something of a turning point for him. While Gohan displayed a lot of courage in previous fights against Recoome and the Ginyu Force, he was still wet behind the ears. By the time the fight with Frieza came, Gohan had real combat experience and had a zenkai boost behind him. As a result, it was Gohan who held off Frieza's second form single-handedly when no one else could, and even briefly surpassed Frieza's third form. After Krillin was fatally wounded by Frieza, Gohan tapped into a hidden power that not many recognized within him. Even Frieza didn't know what hit him, and Vegeta was the only one who saw it coming. The fact that Gohan at this point in the series was only around five or six years old just makes it even more impressive.
Gohan's Fight Against Gamma 1 Was a Standout Scene in Super Hero
In terms of pure production value and fight choreography, Gohan's battle with Gamma 1 during the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero film is easily one of his best. Gohan looks like a true superhero in this fight, and that's likely due to the fact that he's fighting to rescue his daughter, Pan. The fight starts out fairly even, with Gamma 1 adapting to everything Gohan throws at him, even in his Super Saiyan form. When Gohan powers up to his Mystic Gohan form, though, he humbles Gamma 1 even more. Gohan would surely have defeated Gamma 1 had the android not come to his senses and realized that he and his master, Dr Hedo, were being misled by the Red Ribbon Army.
Gohan's Fight With Cell Is Still His Greatest Moment
Gohan's fight with Cell was not only his greatest moment, it was one of the highest points in the Dragon Ball franchise, period. Gohan's innate potential was one of the underlying plot threads that connected every other arc to each other in the series, and that all culminated in his unlocking the SSJ2 form against Perfect Cell. From Gohan's surprise strike on Radditz in the Saiyan Saga, to Vegeta inquiring that perhaps Gohan might be a super saiyan before he and Nappa even arrived at Earth, Gohan was always destined to be the strongest. Gohan's final attack, the Father-Son Kamehameha, is easily one of the most iconic images in all of Dragon Ball Z, and a fitting bookend to Gohan's growth throughout the series.
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