Summary
Fan power scaling of the various characters inDragon Ballhas been going on for as long as the franchise has been airing. Though there are many ways that fans have compared the strength of characters over the years, one of the best ways to gauge how powerful one is when compared to another is by looking at their feats and battles with the same opponents they’ve shared.
One of the hottest debates among theDragon Ballfandom is the one that asks the question about who the stronger character is between Broly and Jiren. Both of these characters have served as the main antagonists in the story arc where they appeared and were both far more powerful thanGoku and Vegeta’s strongest forms. So, let’s see who the more powerful character is between the two and why the answer is actually quite clear.
A Look At Who Is Stronger Between Them
Jiren’s First Appearance
Dragon Ball Super, Episode 85, “The Universes Go Into Action – Each With Their Own Motives”
Broly’s First Appearance
Dragon Ball Super: Broly
For all their differences in power and abilities, Broly and Jiren are fairly similar in many ways. For example, when they were introduced, they were both far stronger than Goku and Vegeta intheir Super Saiyan Blue states, enough to completely ragdoll the heroes at once in their most powerful forms at the time. Both of these mortals proved that one doesn’t need God Ki to reach the highest level of strength.
In fact, both antagonists needed a power-up to defeat them that was far greater than anything that came before it. Now, the fandom is split between whether Jiren taking on Ultra Instinct Goku was more impressive or Broly taking on Super Saiyan Blue Gogeta, but what is clear is the fact that without a substantial power boost on top of what they already had, there was no way for Goku or Vegeta to defeat these enemies. However, with contextual analysis and further clues from within the manga, it can be deduced that Broly may just be the mightier of the two, at least for now.
The main reason is confirmed in theSupermanga; that God Ki or other Divine Techniques aren’t necessary in order to overpower someone who is using them. In the manga, Beast Gohan and Granolah’s incredible speed made them so fast thatUltra Instinct Goku’s instinctual dodgingcouldn’t react to their attacks, showing that Broly’s unmatched potential may have eventually allowed him to overpower Goku if the latter used Ultra Instinct in their battle.
While Jiren also held his own initially, Ultra Instinct Goku was toying with him by the end of their fight. On top of this, Goku and Vegeta were far stronger against Broly compared to themselves in the Tournament of Power due to their Zenkai Boosts, so this knowledge makes Broly beating them mercilessly in his base form far more impressive than what was thought before.
I was so sure my strength was getting close to it’s peak. But, then this guy showed up and was so much stronger than me! He’s probably even stronger than Beerus!
Moreover, Super Saiyan Blue Gogeta was needed to defeat Broly, which is not only the strengths of Goku and Vegeta joined together, but an extra boost in power on top of that which they gained due to the fusion dance. While many argue that the fusion could have even done this inhis regular Super Saiyan form, he felt that he needed to go Blue to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Keeping all this in mind, Broly holding out for as long as he did is truly a sign of how strong he is, since Gogeta is far stronger than Ultra Instinct Goku.
A counterargument some make here is how quickly Jiren dispatched Golden Frieza compared to Broly, who kept beating him for an hour. The answer to this lies in theSuper Heromovie, where Vegeta states that Jiren’s power wasn’t much greater than his or Goku’s during the tournament, just that his level of Ki control was far superior. So, this just shows he knows how to maximize his power whereas Broly, in his frantic Berserker state, was just mauling his enemy without even thinking about what he was doing. In a conversation about who’s an all-out stronger fighter, Broly takes the win.
Will It Always Stay Like This?
What’s The Answer To This In The Current Setting?
While the answer to the question is pretty clear based on what fans have seen from the series, it gets tricky once again when speculating about how a battle between the two would play out where the story is right now. Although Broly hasperfected his Berserker Saiyan stateand can control his power to be far stronger than he has ever been before, fans have no idea what Jiren has been up to ever since the Tournament of Power ended.
Being a combat genius as well as a master at controlling and applying his power, it’s entirely in the realm of possibility for Jiren to have unlocked some version of Ultra Instinct as well. After seeing Goku unlock the state during the tournament, Jiren could have been training for all these years to do so as well and, seeing how calm and collected he already is, could achieve it far easier than Goku did. If this is the case or if he has unlocked any other kind of power-up, this debate will definitely spring up again.
