Dragon Ball Z: was SSJ2 Gohan the strongest in the Cell Games?

Super Saiyan 2 Gohan was unquestionably the strongest character on Earth during the Cell Games, and I don't think it's close. I've heard fans claim that Gohan would never have beaten Cell without Vegeta, that Super Perfect Cell was stronger than Gohan, and even that Goku was stronger than Gohan during the Cell Games. Statements from both the manga and the anime show exactly why Super Saiyan 2 Gohan was a complete freak in that arc.

Everything here comes from the original sources: the manga and the Japanese version of Dragon Ball Z, which premiered in 1989. It doesn't matter how much you might like the English dub. There are too many dub changes in this arc for it to be a relevant source.

Grade 3 Super Saiyan Trunks was never stronger than Cell

Before getting to Gohan versus Cell, there's a rumor to clear up: the idea that Super Saiyan Grade 3 Trunks and full power Goku were stronger than Cell. No matter which way you slice it, that's not the case. Yes, Trunks was very powerful in Grade 3, but he was not more powerful than Cell.

People say Trunks could have beaten Cell but was too slow. That misreads the scene. Cell was mocking Trunks for being too slow because Trunks thought he had truly surpassed Vegeta, not realizing that Vegeta knew about the weakness of the Grade 3 form and chose not to use it against Cell. Cell even goes into his own version of Grade 3, getting just as bulky as Trunks, to demonstrate that the form has speed issues. Goku later shows the same thing to Gohan.

So the idea that Grade 3 Trunks could have beaten Cell, or was stronger than him, is incorrect, and the series itself explains why. Even while Cell fought Trunks, he still wasn't going at full power.

Goku never said he could have beaten Cell

When Goku and Gohan leave the Room of Spirit and Time, everybody is amazed at their power, Vegeta included. Goku had become a much stronger and smarter fighter. He was more powerful than he had ever been before, and he surpassed Trunks and Vegeta in Grade 2, Grade 3 or whatever else. Even then, Goku says he isn't sure he can win if he fights Cell. In one scene he shows his power to Master Korin, and Korin also tells him he isn't sure Goku can defeat Cell.

Goku and Cell then have a long and fun fight. Goku does get the upper hand with the warp Kamehameha, but Cell regenerates thanks to the nucleus inside his body, which can somehow move around and avoid being destroyed unless he's totally disintegrated. Meanwhile Goku's stamina kept going down until it was running out.

Some people say Goku could have beaten Cell but held off so Gohan could do it. That's nonsense. I think people are confusing it with the Buu saga, where Goku says he could have beaten Fat Buu but wanted Goten and Trunks to have something to do. Goku never once said he could have beaten Cell. After Goku surrendered, Gohan asked him about it, and Goku said he was going all out and giving his true power, but he wasn't sure Cell was. Gohan's fight, which came right after, gave us definitive proof that Cell had been holding back against Goku. It was a great fight, but it wasn't Cell's absolute best.

Gohan was probably stronger than Goku even before Super Saiyan 2

Gohan's fight with Cell begins with full power Super Saiyan Grade 4 Gohan. Even before reaching Super Saiyan 2, Gohan was proving he was more powerful, if only by a little. I'd say he was probably slightly stronger than Goku at that point. Goku kept insisting Gohan was stronger, and in one scene Cell says, "perhaps what son Goku said was not a bluff." Even so, Cell stays overconfident, because he's hiding his true power.

Then comes the scene everyone knows: Android 16 gets stomped on, Gohan gets angry and transforms into Super Saiyan 2. From there, Gohan single-handedly makes the Cell Juniors look like 1980s WWF jobbers. It was a complete massacre, and it's one of my favorite episodes and chapters in the entire series.

Remember how powerful the Cell Juniors were. These are the same Cell Juniors that were annihilating the Z Fighters. Goku was exhausted and hadn't taken a Senzu Bean, but the others got pummeled, including Vegeta and Trunks after their second trip to the Room of Spirit and Time. One of the Cell Juniors even bounced off a Final Flash. Think about that level of power, and then remember that Gohan dismantled them.

Perfect Cell powered up twice and still could not hurt Gohan

What many fans forget is that Cell powers up not once but twice during his fight with Super Saiyan 2 Gohan. Go back to that fight: he raises his energy level two times, which without a shadow of a doubt proves he was holding that power back against Goku. This is Super Saiyan 2 Gohan against Perfect Cell, not Super Perfect Cell. At this point Cell is at his true maximum, way beyond Trunks, Vegeta and Goku.

Gohan still takes no damage in this part of the fight. None. He laughs at Cell. Gohan delivers two punches that rock Cell to his core. There's even a moment where the narrator steps in during the middle of the episode. That's very rare, because outside the beginning and end of episodes the narrator never really spoke in Dragon Ball. He states plainly that for the first time, Cell has experienced true fear. That should tell you how dangerous Gohan is.

Super Perfect Cell got a major boost and was still no match for Gohan

Gohan neutralizes everything Cell throws at him. Then Cell regurgitates Android 18, swells up and threatens to blow up the entire planet, and Goku teleports him away and sacrifices his life. Cell comes back as Super Perfect Cell because of a Zenkai boost. People consider this his version of Super Saiyan 2, beyond the power of Perfect Cell, and he did get a significant boost in power. He's still no match for Gohan.

When Cell returns, knowing he's more powerful, Gohan smiles sadistically and says, in essence, that now he has the chance to kill Cell and get revenge. He could sense Cell was stronger and didn't sweat it at all.

Then Cell kills Trunks, Vegeta goes berserk, and Cell fires a finger blast at Vegeta. That blast was a death beam meant to take Vegeta's life, and this is Vegeta after his second session in the Room of Spirit and Time. Gohan dives in without thinking, planning or putting up his defenses, and all that happens is his arm goes limp. The concept isn't that different from the ring blast that hit Goku in the chest in Resurrection F. If you're unprepared and have your guard down, things can hurt you a lot more than you'd think, and in some cases take you out completely. Gohan only lost the use of an arm for the fight.

Goku knew Gohan was holding back in the beam struggle

That leads to the final beam struggle between Gohan, with one arm, and Super Perfect Cell. This is where people get confused. It's explicitly stated in the Japanese version of Dragon Ball Z and in the manga that Gohan, even with one arm and even after fighting the Cell Juniors and Cell himself, is not even close to his maximum power.

Goku speaks to Gohan from the Other World and tells him he isn't showing his full power and that he knows Gohan is stronger than this. Gohan is close to giving up because he doesn't believe in himself as much as Goku believes in him, and he's afraid of destroying the Earth. Goku tells him he can't be afraid of that, because if he doesn't beat Cell the Earth will be destroyed anyway. Goku knew something Gohan didn't: how powerful Gohan truly was. In the anime the Z Fighters try to attack Cell during the struggle, but that isn't in the manga. Goku keeps pushing Gohan to give more power, and remember, Gohan has one arm, is heavily battle damaged, and is still holding back Super Perfect Cell's Kamehameha.

At one point Piccolo says he felt Gohan's ki was too weak, and he turned out to be completely wrong. Gohan was mentally defeated during this part of the battle, while Goku believed he could push himself further. In the panel right after Piccolo says it, Goku tells Gohan he hasn't used all of his power yet. Goku's word is gospel here because he had just spent a year in the Room of Spirit and Time with Gohan. Piccolo had no idea; he hadn't seen Gohan's true power or sensed his potential. Plus, Gohan won the fight.

Vegeta's blast did not kill Cell

Many people feel Vegeta's blast was the distraction that let Gohan win. It was a distraction, but it isn't what killed Cell. The attack did almost nothing to Cell. Saying Gohan couldn't have won without Vegeta is complete and utter nonsense. I think part of the problem is a line in the English dub at the moment Vegeta hits Cell, which isn't in the Japanese version or the manga at all. In the original, Goku is just telling Gohan to give it his all.

Vegeta's attack did nothing more than annoy Cell. It didn't weaken him. Gohan took that opportunity to push back, gain ground faster and unleash his true power, and at that point there was nothing Cell could do because Gohan was far more powerful. Some will argue Cell was caught off guard. That's wrong. We've seen characters in Dragon Ball take blasts at point blank range and survive, and react to and block close range attacks many times, for example in Goku versus Nappa. If Cell had been stronger, since that blast only annoyed him, he could have bounced back the Kamehameha the way he had been doing earlier in the struggle. He didn't, because this was Gohan's true final power completely unleashed. Cell survived Goku's warp Kamehameha but couldn't survive this one, because Gohan was astronomically stronger.

Narratively, the only reason Vegeta got involved was to return the favor for Gohan saving him from the beam that knocked out Gohan's arm. It was an internal thing for Vegeta's character. You can see him struggling over whether to get involved, and he does it anyway because he's changing into a better person in this part of the series. Saying Vegeta killed Cell is like saying Han Solo blew up the Death Star. Han Solo helped Luke Skywalker by blasting Darth Vader, but Luke blew up the Death Star. Here, Gohan is the one who killed Cell. Vegeta did what he needed to do for himself, and it did no real damage: Cell didn't even feel it. He just said Vegeta's name and that was it.

Gohan won with his own power, not Goku's

I know that in Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle there's a line where Gohan talks about his and his father's combined power. He's talking more about spirit. Goku didn't give Gohan any power. He gave him the motivational push and passed the torch to him as the main character.

It was all Gohan. He had been holding back the entire time, and when he killed Cell it was him at his absolute full power, unleashed at point blank range. Whether he had one arm or two, Gohan was stronger than Super Perfect Cell. There's no way Super Perfect Cell was stronger than Super Saiyan 2 Gohan, no chance. Gohan didn't believe in himself, Goku did, and that's the story.