On account of Akira Toriyama not writing or drawing Dragon Ball Super himself, there are some understandable narrative differences between the original manga and Toyotaro’s continuation/Toei’s sequel anime. Dragon Ball Super’s storytelling is a different beast entirely, prioritizing specific characters & generally framing story arcs through its villains.
Dragon Ball Super’s main villains feel like the stars of their own arcs, often hyped up to astronomic level. Taking place after the Majin Buu arc, Super raises the stakes as high as it can be with the villains coming dangerously close to winning. Moro even came dangerously close to defeating Goku recently, only losing through Dai Kaioshin and Uub’s interference.
7 Broly
In truth, Frieza is the real main villain of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, but it’s the titular character who fulfills the traditional antagonist role for the franchise. The first half of the movie sets up Broly’s character so that there’s pathos when he loses his mind and starts coming after Goku, Vegeta, & Frieza.
For as strong as Broly gets, he doesn’t exactly come close to winning. Goku and Vegeta have enough time to practice fusion before finally becoming Gogeta and the fused warrior doesn’t break a single sweat taking out Broly. Broly could have won if Goku & Vegeta opted not to fuse, but then Beerus would have just stepped in.
6 Moro
Moro comes close to winning multiple times in the sense that he defeats the main characters on more than one occasion; but Moro’s motivations require him to keep the Dragon Team alive, as he needs their energy to continually feed himself. Beyond that, Moro desperately merges himself with the Earth at the end of the arc, forcing Goku to either destroy the planet or allow Moro to consume all of its life. Goku only manages to kill Moro after the Dai Kaioshin lends him his & Uub’s energy from afar. At the end of the day, though, Beerus would have to intervene and take out Moro if Goku failed – especially since the Grand Priest was keeping an eye on things.
5 Jiren
Jiren basically had the Tournament of Power in his hands and would have won if he wasn’t such a terrible team player. Time and time again, Jiren allows his team to get knocked out as he conserves his energy. On the flipside, Universe 7 keeps their team together long enough for Goku, Frieza, and Android 17 to gang up on him and win the tournament.
To say nothing of the fact that Jiren does almost lose the tournament legitimately at other points. In the anime, Goku nearly wins by ring out, Jiren only getting back in through a lucky piece of debris. In both mediums, Ultra Instinct gives Goku the strength to beat Jiren into submission before it fries out on him.
4 Frieza
It’s important to remember that Frieza actually succeeds in blowing up the Earth during Resurrection F. Even though Goku delivers a brutal beatdown that leaves Frieza ready to be manhandled by Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans hesitates just long enough for Frieza to funnel some Ki into the Earth – destroying the planet on the spot.
Goku and some of the supporting cast only survive because Whis happened to be in their vicinity when Frieza detonated the Earth. As a one time courtesy (and to teach Goku & Vegeta an important lesson as their martial arts master,) Whis rewinds time so Goku can kill Frieza. Otherwise, Frieza legitimately won on all counts. He probably would have benefitted from a few more months of training, though.
3 Hit
Hit also wins, albeit not the Universe 6 Tournament on a whole and not by defeating Goku by traditional means. In both mediums, Goku is able to start overpowering Hit by pushing Super Saiyan Blue to its limit (in the case of the anime, mixing in some Kaioken.) Goku relents, however, when he realizes that Hit can’t fight at full power since he’s an assassin and the tournament has a no killing rule.
Unsatisfied with winning against such a restricted opponent, Goku forfeits the match and concedes to Hit. Hit, impressed with Goku’s attitude and motivated by their fight, decides to honor his new rival by throwing the match with Monaka. Universe 7 wins the tournament because of Hit’s good sportsmanship.
2 Zamasu
Zamasu becomes so obscenely powerful that it takes Zeno erasing an entire multiverse’s timeline just to stop him. An immortal being, Zamasu cannot be killed and he only becomes stronger when he fuses with Goku Black. Goku and Vegeta fuse into Vegetto to take on Merged Zamasu, but even that doesn’t prove to be enough.
Goku outright Hakais Zamasu in the manga, failing to kill him. Trunks slices him with a Genki Dama charged blade in the anime, failing to kill him. Zamasu defies both death and destruction, demanding total erasure. In many respects, he got exactly what he wanted: no mortals.
1 Beerus
No character has ever defeated Goku as decisively as Beerus. Even after undergoing the Super Saiyan God ritual and absorbing God Ki into his own body, Goku can’t compete with the God of Destruction’s full might. Beerus is too powerful & too skilled, and he forces Goku to surrender. But it’s exactly
Beerus is the better fighter on every fundamental level, but Goku’s attitude impresses him. Even in the face of a God, Goku doesn’t give up. Even in the face of defeat, Goku puts on a smile. Touched by Goku, impressed by their fight, and hungry for their food, Beerus spares planet Earth from destruction.