While Dragon Ball isn’t known for deep, hidden mysteries, one secret the series has long avoided exploring is what happened to the Frieza race. This powerful clan seems almost extinct, with only Frieza, King Cold, and Cooler known to exist. So who was strong enough to wipe out the rest of this mighty species?
Many fans suspect Beerus, but that theory would have been revealed during the Golden Frieza saga. So who is the real culprit? Although the anime never gives a clear answer, Dragon Ball Super quietly dropped a crucial hint that most viewers missed.
When you connect this clue with details from the original manga, everything fits perfectly. There’s a very strong possibility that the one responsible for destroying the Frieza clan is none other than Dragon Ball Z’s final villain, Majin Buu.
Dragon Ball Super subtly reveals who destroyed the Frieza clan
Although Dragon Ball Super offers a subtle hint about the Frieza clan’s fate, the origin of this idea was planted long ago in the original manga.
In chapter 445 of Dragon Ball, when Supreme Kai and the Z fighters are tracking Majin Buu’s location, Shin explains Buu’s history. According to Shin, when Majin Buu first appeared, he wiped out hundreds of planets within just a few years.
In this scene, the manga shows one of the planets destroyed by Majin Buu. Among the ruins, the illustration depicts corpses of a species that closely resemble the original form of Frieza. This detail sparked the theory that Majin Buu might have been the one who annihilated the Frieza race.
The manga never confirms this outright, but Dragon Ball Super later reinforces the idea when Frieza reveals a warning from his father. King Cold instructed Frieza to avoid fighting two entities: the God of Destruction Beerus and Majin Buu.
The warning about Beerus makes sense since the Frieza clan knows about the God of Destruction (Beerus once ordered Frieza to eliminate the Saiyans). However, this caution about Majin Buu is more puzzling.
According to Shin, Majin Buu’s infamous rampage happened millions of years ago. So the Frieza clan shouldn’t have known about him unless they had directly confronted Buu in the past or passed down knowledge of him through generations. King Cold’s direct warning is the strongest evidence of a brutal, deep connection between the Frieza clan and Majin Buu.
Toriyama’s use of Frieza as a power benchmark supports this theory
Although Akira Toriyama never directly confirmed that Majin Buu destroyed the Frieza clan, the original creator may have indirectly supported this theory during the Majin Buu saga.
When Shin explains Majin Buu’s history, he mentions that the five Kaioshins at the time were strong enough to defeat Frieza with a single blow.
Clearly, Toriyama used Frieza as a power standard to show fans just how terrifying Majin Buu is. This connection further strengthens the idea that Majin Buu is responsible for the near extinction of the Frieza race.
Sadly, with Akira Toriyama’s passing, fans can only hope Toyotaro, the author of Dragon Ball Super, will confirm this theory. However, it’s unlikely the Dragon Ball Super author will alter Toriyama’s original work to that extent. Still, these clues feel like a quiet confirmation straight from Dragon Ball’s roots.