Magnificent Bastard/Anime/Dragon Ball

The most fiendishly clever, ruthless, and stylish antagonists in the Dragon Ball franchise can be found here.


 * King Piccolo was truly the original Magnificent Bastard of the entire series. His first course of action upon being reborn is to send out his sons to assassinate every great martial artist in the world in order to prevent anyone from using the Mafuba technique against him ever again. And when he beats Goku down the first time they met, he checks for a pulse before assuming he's dead, and only fails to truly kill him thanks to having no way to account for his ridiculous Saiyan resilience restarting his heart. Also, he was also Genre Savvy enough to realize the heroes would most likely attempt to stop him with the Dragon Balls either before or after he got the wish, so at first, he swallowed them. Then he threw them back up once he was sure there was no-one else around left to challenge him, and to finish it off, he killed Chiaotzu when he attempted to give his own wish and interfere with Piccolo's before he could finish, and after having his wish granted, he then proceeded to one-hit-kill Shenron with his breath blast just to ensure that none of the heroes attempt to use the Dragon Balls to defeat him. And even when he finally dies, he spits out an egg carrying his son/reincarnation to finish what he started as his final gambit. And while Piccolo Jr. fails to defeat Goku, he does go on to become one of his best friends and most reliable allies, giving him a legacy as one of Goku's most influential opponents one way or another.
 * While Vegeta was more a stoic Smug Super in his debut saga, he did show shades of this that made viewers appreciate him. Notably when he told Nappa to stop fighting the good guys and wait three hours for Goku to arrive because he wanted to break Goku's spirits by crushing his son and remaining friends in front of him once he got there, when he avoided Goku's spirit bomb and Krillin's disc attack meant to cut off his tail while in Oozaru form, and when he immediately realized his false moon would still be in effect the moment he saw Gohan's tail had grown back, prompting him to attempt to remove it. In the Namek saga, however, he ascended to full Magnificent Bastardry. He successfully hides his true power from Frieza and his men so that not even their scouters detect it, revealing his secret of doing this to the unsuspecting Cui before killing him. He outmaneuvers Dodoria and kills him only after being told a secret about the Saiyans' destruction. Then he implements his strategy for obtaining the Dragon Balls that will allow him to wish for eternal life: he figures he'll take just one Dragon Ball from a Namekian village and hide it underwater, then lie in wait for Frieza to gather the remaining balls. And not only is this exactly what he does, but he ends up acquiring five balls from Frieza's ship when he's taken there after losing to Zarbon in order to have his health restored (Frieza had hoped he'd tell him where his hidden Dragon Ball was), meaning he took them right from under Frieza' nose! He takes the last ball from Krillin after he had made full use of a Saiyan's power growing stronger after a previous defeat by killing Zarbon. The only reason his plan falls apart is because Gohan finds the Dragon Ball hidden underwater using a Dragon Ball locator. Even after this failure and being forced into an Enemy Mine with the good guys, Vegeta continues to employ cunning plans and come dangerously close to having his way. He lost this magnificence after his first revival due to his characterization being altered significantly to being a Hot-Blooded, foul tempered Anti-Hero prone to making downright stupid decisions, but damn if he wasn't impressive as a bad guy.
 * In his imperfect form, Cell runs rings around the Z fighters as he masterfully evades their attempts to ambush him while draining countless cities of their population's bio extract. Upon finding himself sorely outclassed by Vegeta later in the series, Cell tricks the Saiyan prince into allowing him to absorb Android 18 and reach his perfect form by promising to provide him with an opportunity to test the full extent of his newfound power. In the ensuing rematch, he succeeds in reaping vengeance upon Vegeta by breaking him down physically and psychologically. When facing Trunks, he shows how savvy he is about how raising his strength and muscles only slow him down. He then more or less toys with the Z-Warriors by forcing them to play by his own rules in the Cell Games or face outright annihilation. In the Cell Games, however, is when he starts to get more overconfident and the reason he loses in the end ironically enough, is that his plan to push all Gohan's Berserk Buttons in order to make him a worthy challenge ends up working far too well. He regains his magnificence, however, when he comes back from the seeming dead, more powerful than ever, and almost defeating Gohan and destroying the planet.
 * Super Buu was the most Dangerously Genre Savvy villain in the history of the series and he was only person that was able to Out Gambit Piccolo of all people by wiping out all of humanity in only a few minutes when Piccolo was expecting him to take hours to do it, so that Goten and Trunks got extra time to train, and on top of that, never even leaving Kami's lookout while doing it. He then masterfully pulled off Xanatos Speed Chess when he noticed Gohan's growing power, and so he fought against Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks and tested the limits of his strength and his weaknesses (e.g. fusion limit). After briefly fighting Gohan and finding himself overwhelmed, he goes through an intentional Superpower Meltdown, knowing he will regenerate and buys time (and getting Goten and Trunks to recuperate, to fuse again). When he returns he goads Goten and Trunks into fusing again at full power and absorbs Gotenks and Piccolo into his being, deciding 30 minutes is more than enough to handle Gohan, and he was right in that regard. Goku then arrives and the fusion breaks down. Goku says Gohan alone is strong enough to defeat Buu, but then Buu reveals that he planned for this eventuality as well, and had a piece of himself ready to absorb Gohan the whole time, who he goaded into standing still until it was too late. He was also the only villain that did not succumb to Bond Villain Stupidity, which is very atypical for this series.
 * In the Future Trunks Saga of Super, we have the Alternate Future Zamasu - both of him. Particularly the one who's become Goku Black; he's a thorough No-Nonsense Nemesis with a Mysterious Past who wastes no time in divulging his identity, rather opting to fight his opponents head on without hesitation, and in the present, when discovering Trunk’s time machine, he destroys it in an attempt to leave Trunks there before being forced back into the future, and even when Trunks returns, with Goku and Vegeta no less, he is only amused and in fact excited to fight them both. He is keen on bringing his foes into his traps, such as when he stabbed Vegeta, and is such a Combat Pragmatist that he doesn’t allow a one-on-one fight between Goku and his partner. He was able to meld the Saiyan power of Goku's stolen body with his own divine energy to power up into a new transformation called Super Saiyan Rose, and kept making up new techniques on the fly to counter his foes. He keeps a sadistic form of polite grace at all times, genuinely complimenting the heroes in their battles and never losing his temper or raising his voice even once in any of his appearances, completely averting major Villainous Breakdowns of any kind. And not only are they one of very few villains to actually gain immortality (and unlike anime Filler Villain Garlic Jr., they exploit the advantage of this rather than suffering a drawback of it), but after becoming Merged Zamasu and even after getting seemingly defeated
 * As of the Universe Survival Saga, Frieza has managed to very nearly graduate to this level. While he remains an utterly sadistic bastard, he's more level-headed, cunning, charismatic, and savvy this time around, as demonstrated with his bargaining with Goku and manipulation of Frost. To this end, he's even willing to help his mortal enemies for a long-term goal, and in contrast to the Saiyans, he is perfectly content to sit back and wait while the other strong contestants tire themselves out fighting each other before making his move, all while still acting his usual self. He has managed to terrify his foes, his teammates, and the spectating Gods of Destruction alike, long before exhibiting his full potential.
 * The version of Paragus, father of Broly from the now non-canonical 8th movie, is also a qualifier by virtue of being a persuasive manipulator and a Large Ham on top of it. After being stabbed and Left for Dead along with his infant son by King Vegeta out of fear for the latter's power, Paragus desired to take revenge through the King's son. To do this, he recruits the Shamosians to build an infrastructure on a planet on a collision course with a comet before arriving on Earth and offer Prince Vegeta a planet to rule over, purposely taking advantage of his egotistical personality. When his plans are inevitably exposed, Paragus does not descend into a Villainous Breakdown but rather freely confesses his plans and backstory to the Z-Fighters. Even though he did not intend to trigger Broly's transformation due to previously having wiped out the South Galaxy before, Paragus nevertheless showed pride in his son's strength while letting him kill the Z-Fighters for him. Paragus attempts to eliminate Vegeta not through brute strength but by knowledge and manipulations of the arrogant prince, managing this without having much power at all.