Highlights

  • Cell Max was an incredibly powerful enemy, stronger than most villains introduced in the Dragon Ball franchise.
  • The strength of Cell Max is difficult to quantify due to inconsistent storytelling and the character's ability to overpower strong fighters while being damaged by weaker ones.
  • If Cell Max reached a perfected form, he would likely be on the same level as Black Frieza, possibly even surpassing him, and the strongest heroes would likely need to fuse to defeat him.

Dragon Ball Super's latest movie, Super Hero, introduced fans to a villain that was so powerful, it required Gohan to tap into the depths of his hidden potential to end him. Cell Max was a mindless monster whom the combined forces of all the Z-Fighters, including the strength of Orange Piccolo, could not defeat, so they had to rely on Gohan's new 'Beast' form to put him down for good.

This level of strength made the fans regard him among the most powerful enemies ever introduced in the entire Dragon Ball franchise. However, many believe that if he was left to evolve and reach his Perfect Cell Max state, his strength would be far too much for even the strongest heroes to contend with, so, let's take a look at how strong Perfect Cell Max would be!

How Strong Was Cell Max?

images/news/2024/1/21/dragon-ball-how-strong-would-perfect-cell-max-be_1.jpg

Cell Max, even in his incomplete and imperfect form, was an enemy far stronger than the likes of most of the villains that the series had introduced up till that point in the story. His strength was displayed multiple times during his battle with the Z-Fighters, as he was seen taking on many fighters all at once, which included Ultimate Gohan as well as the heavy hitter at the time, Orange Piccolo.

However, therein also lies the trouble with quantifying how strong he is due to the inconsistency of the storytelling, as Cell Max was seen to be even stronger than Orange Piccolo for most parts of the movie. However, at the same time, he was seen to have taken substantial damage from characters like Krillin and Android 18, who were only at around the level of Super Saiyan 3 Goku at the time.This same villain who overpowered Orange Piccolo and almost killed him towards the end of the movie had parts of his body destroyed by characters who were far weaker

images/news/2024/1/21/dragon-ball-how-strong-would-perfect-cell-max-be_2.jpg

Still, though, Cell Max was a terrifying threat that many in the fandom believed to be on the same level as Jiren and while there do remain some problems with this, such as how characters below the power of Ultra Instinct Omen Goku could barely touch him, unlike what they did with Cell Max, fans largely agree that these 2 are more or less on the same level.

The Strength of Perfect Cell Max Might've Been Too Much For Gohan Beast

images/news/2024/1/21/dragon-ball-how-strong-would-perfect-cell-max-be_3.jpg

While the power of Cell Max may be a topic of dispute among fans, a perfected version of the character would put any doubts to rest. This is because Perfect Cell Max may well be on the same level of strength as Black Frieza. However, until the character is officially introduced into the franchise, any claims of how strong he would be are pure speculation.

Still, one can make reasonable assumptions. The main reason why fans think this speculative character would be so powerful is because he is similar in his design to Imperfect Cell when he is activated at the hands of Magenta, so fans theorize about what would happen if he underwent a similar power-up like what happened between Imperfect Cell and Perfect Cell after Android 18 was absorbed.

Before absorbing Android 18, Super Vegeta was far stronger than Cell. However, after the absorption, Perfect Cell was so powerful that only Super Saiyan 2 Gohan was powerful enough to finally put him down. If such an increase in power was undergone by Cell Max at this stage of the story, even Gohan Beast would not be enough, with Goku and Vegeta in their Ultimate Transformations being needed to even do anything to him at the very least, most likely even undergoing a fusion to destroy the monster.

Cell Max, however, was already completed by the time of his activation in the movie, only lacking the mind control that would let the Red Ribbon Army use him. So, realistically, there was no way for Cell Max to get stronger than he was in the fight where he got destroyed with minimal effort from Beast Gohan. However, if there was, it would likely be something that all of the Z-Fighters would need to work together to stop, though even then there's no guarantee that they could do it.

Perfect Cell Max would be a villain that would create a massive power gap between himself and the strongest forms of the heroes, cementing himself as being on the same level as Black Frieza, if not higher. Many in the community believe that a standard fusion between Goku and Vegeta may not even be enough, so, they may have to fuse with their Ultimate Forms into the mightiest warrior in the multiverse!

Dragon Ball can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Funimation.