Frieza
Frieza, also spelled as Freeza in Funimation's English subtitles and Viz Media's release of the manga, is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists of the Dragon Ball series created by Akira Toriyama. He makes his debut in Chapter #247: "Dark Clouds Swirl Over Planet Namek", first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on October 24, 1989, as the main antagonist of his eponymous saga, depicted as a galactic tyrant feared as the most powerful being in the universe.
Despite not appearing until the manga's second half, Frieza is widely considered to be the most iconic and popular villain in Dragon Ball, and the archenemy of Goku – since he effectively catalyzes many of the events depicted in the story, due to the destruction of the Saiyan homeworld Planet Vegeta at his hands and Goku's arrival on Earth and subsequent conflicts with Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta. Frieza later appears as the primary villain in the 2015 film Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' and as a recurring character in Dragon Ball Super.
Creation and conception
Frieza, a broker who forcibly takes over planets to resell them, often rendering the planet's population extinct first, was created around the time of the Japanese economic bubble and was inspired by real estate speculators, whom Toriyama called the "worst kind of people." Toriyama purposely does not draw bad guys so unscrupulous that it affects one psychologically, although he admits Frieza is close. Therefore, he paid special attention to how Frieza spoke; because villains typically speak rudely, he gave him polite speech, making for an unsettling contrast with his cruelty. The character's name is a pun on freezer, and because of this, his minions and the members of the Ginyu Force are named after fruits and dairy products, items one would normally put in a refrigerator. The Shenlong Times issue #2, a bonus pamphlet given to some buyers of the Daizenshuu 2: Story Guide guidebook, says that Frieza was modeled after Toriyama's editor at the time, Yū Kondō.Toriyama had the idea to bring Frieza back while attending a concert by the metal band Maximum the Hormone. It came to him while watching them perform their 2008 song "F", which is about the fictional character.
Frieza possesses a variety of forms, each one being quite different and more powerful from the previous ones. It is implied that Frieza's fourth form is actually his basic one, with the other three being transformations that suppress his power in order to conserve it, while the fifth one unleashes his true power. Toriyama revealed that he did not think to have Frieza transform until about midway through. He said he has a habit of making characters gradually more tough and complex-looking, until finally making them very sleek, as it is a pain to draw them if their appearance is too complex. The author confirmed this is why Frieza's third and most intricate form is only shown for a short time, and joked that three transformations might be one too many.
Voice actors
In the original Japanese version, Frieza is voiced by Ryūsei Nakao in every single piece of Dragon Ball media.In English, Frieza was voiced by Pauline Newstone in the Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Z. In Funimation's in-house English dub, Frieza was voiced by Linda Young in the Dragon Ball Z series and continued playing him in all subsequent media up until the first episode of Dragon Ball Z Kai. Christopher Ayres voiced the character in later episodes of Kai and all subsequent media through Dragon Ball Super. Due to being diagnosed with end-stage COPD and requiring a double lung transplant, Ayres was forced to step down from the role in 2018. He briefly reprised the role in 2019 for Dragon Ball Super: Broly and the home media releases of the Universal Survival Saga of Dragon Ball Super before dying in 2021. Ayres' understudy Daman Mills, who has a strong ability to imitate Ayres, assumed the role, beginning with the television broadcast of the Universal Survival Saga, and has voiced Frieza indefinitely in all subsequent appearances, with the exception of Broly.
Appearances
''Dragon Ball Z''
Before the start of the series, Frieza destroys Planet Vegeta out of both fear of a potential uprising by the Saiyans due to their increasing power, and the prophecy of the coming of the legendary Super Saiyan, and Lord Beerus telling and instigating him to destroy Planet Vegeta. Frieza only knowingly spares Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz, who were away on a mission when he blew Planet Vegeta up, after telling them it was struck by a meteor. However, when Bardock made a final stand when Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, he did not notice the Saiyan's second son being sent to Earth, where he became known as Goku.Frieza makes his official appearance in the story after Vegeta's defeat on Earth at Goku's hands, having traveled to Planet Namek to find the seven Namekian Dragon Balls to wish for immortality. He and his men massacre Namekian villages one after another, until Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta begin to hamper his efforts in their way. Though Frieza manages to gain the Dragon Balls, with the Ginyu Force dealing with the interlopers, his inability to speak Namekian forces him to find the Great Elder of Namek. Frieza ends up fighting Namekian warrior Nail, whom he beats repeatedly until Nail reveals that their fight was only to buy time for Dende to give the words needed to activate the Namekian Dragon Balls, for the warriors from Earth. With his entire army killed by Vegeta and the Ginyu Force defeated by Goku, Frieza intercepts Vegeta and the others personally.
Enraged to find he is too late, as the Dragon Balls have become inert on Guru's death, Frieza briefly battles Vegeta, with the Saiyan Prince goading him into transforming and revealing his true power. Frieza transforms into his second form, and during the battle, he finally admits to being the one who had destroyed the planet where the Saiyans had settled. After defeating Vegeta, Frieza takes on Piccolo, who has at this point fused with Nail. Although Piccolo appears to be even with him, he transforms into his third form and dominates the powerful Namekian. Following a brief tussle with Gohan, Frieza decides to transform into his final form. He kills Dende to stop him from healing the others and mortally wounds Vegeta just as Goku arrives, who just recovered following his fight with the Ginyu Force. Frieza fights Goku and the two seem evenly matched, but Frieza powers up to 50% of his maximum power and brutally beats him; however, Goku manages to seriously wound the tyrant with a Spirit Bomb. In retaliation, Frieza critically injures Piccolo and kills Krillin, which sends Goku into a rage, consequently assuming Super Saiyan form for the first time. Goku takes the upper hand and viciously pummels Frieza, who damages the core of Namek in an act of desperation, knowing he can survive in the vacuum of space. The tyrant then uses 100% of his power and briefly regains the advantage, but his power level begins to drop and he is again outclassed by Goku and ultimately sliced in half by one of his own attacks. Though Goku spares the crippled Frieza while leaving for his ship to escape the planet's destruction, Frieza attempts to blast Goku from behind, prompting Goku to retaliate with his own attack that apparently destroys Frieza.
However, Frieza survives both the attack and Namek's explosion and drifts through space until he is found by his father List of Dragon Ball characters#King Cold, who was on his way to Namek to aid him against Goku. Over the next year, Frieza is rebuilt with cybernetic prosthetics, increasing his strength significantly, and the two immediately head for Earth to exact revenge on Goku and his friends, but they are confronted by Trunks, the son of Vegeta and Bulma, who has traveled back to their time from the future. After a brief battle, Frieza is sliced to pieces by Trunks and his remains are blasted into oblivion, with his father following shortly afterward. Though finally gone, Frieza's cells are later used as a catalyst for the future villain Cell. Cell is eventually destroyed by Gohan, thereby destroying the last traces of Frieza's biological tissue.
In the original unaltered timeline where Goku dies of a viral heart disease, Frieza and King Cold are intercepted and killed on Earth by Goku, who arrived via Instant Transmission, and Cell is later killed by Future Trunks.
''Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F''' / ''Dragon Ball Super''
Ending up in Earth's Hell after being killed by Future Trunks, Frieza spends the next fourteen years being tortured by the playful antics of an overly saccharine cadre of angels and fairies while reliving the memories of his defeats at the hands of Goku and Trunks. Frieza is resurrected by Sorbet, who saw Frieza's return as essential to restore the Frieza Force to its former glory, and his right hand, Tagoma. The two then bring Frieza's diced Mecha Frieza form to their ship, where they use their advanced medical technology to restore him to his full organic form. After learning that Goku defeated Majin Buu and fought Beerus to a stalemate, both being the two figures his father warned him never to cross, Frieza decides to undergo four months of intensive training. This led to him achieving a new form, which he dubs "Golden Frieza," before setting off for Earth with his army. The Z Fighters hold back Tagoma and Frieza's minions long enough for Goku and Vegeta to return from their training session on Beerus's planet. Frieza executes his defeated army for their incompetence just as Goku, Vegeta, Beerus, and Whis arrive. Goku reveals his new Super Saiyan Blue form, although Frieza overpowers him, yet he lacks the stamina for a prolonged fight in his powered state. He then has Sorbet shoot Goku, forcing Vegeta to take up his place. Vegeta nearly kills Frieza, who instead causes his death by destroying Earth. Whis rewinds time so Goku can quickly kill off Frieza before he destroys the planet. Frieza returns to Hell, where he is once more tormented by the angels. Frieza appears in the manga adaption omake alongside Sorbet and Susami in Hell.Frieza later returns in the Universal Tournament Arc as a replacement member for the Seventh Universe team after Majin Buu is ineligible to fight due to having fallen into a deep sleep from which nobody could wake him, revealed to have mentally trained himself to maintain his Golden form. When approached by Goku, who is arranging for him to be temporarily revived by Fortuneteller Baba for a day, Frieza accepts the offer on the condition of being fully resurrected by the Dragon Balls after the tournament. Upon being revived, Frieza slaughters a group of assassins hired by the deities of the Ninth Universe to kill him while trapping Goku in a Destroyer-based energy attack meant for him. He then attempted to offer his services to the Ninth Universe deities in return for a place in their universe until Beerus and Whis appeared. Despite Beerus's reservations, Goku vouches for him as they join the rest of their team.
As the tournament commences, Frieza meets his Sixth Universe counterpart List of Dragon Ball characters#Frost, a con artist who posed as a hero until a previous contest between the Seventh and Sixth Universes exposed his criminal activities and forced him into hiding. Frieza tricks Frost into believing they have forged an alliance to take out the Saiyans, proceeding to take out both the Ninth Universe's Roselle and the Tenth Universe's Murichim as the tournament commences. After eliminating Frost when he appears to commence their arrangement, Frieza eventually ends up being one of the four remaining combatants alongside Goku, Android 17, and Jiren of the Eleventh Universe. Frieza unexpectedly teams up with Goku to force Jiren out in a triple elimination, with 17 declared the winner, resurrected soon after by Whis at Beerus's behest as a reward for his efforts. Frieza then takes his leave to begin rebuilding his empire, but is warned by Goku that he will be destroyed if he ever torments the universe again.
During the events of the film Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Frieza starts rebuilding the Frieza Force while deciding to use Earth's Dragon Balls to make a wish to increase his height by five centimeters, having become disillusioned with the idea of eternal life from his time in Earth's Hell. Frieza recruits the Saiyan Broly and his father Paragus, who accompany him to Earth for the last Dragon Ball, realizing the former's potential as he matched Goku and Vegeta in their Super Saiyan Blue forms. This inspires Frieza to kill Paragus to force Broly's transformation into a Super Saiyan, only to be caught in Broly's rampage after the latter quickly defeats Goku. Frieza is saved at the last second by Gogeta, a merged warrior between Goku and Vegeta created when they perform the fusion dance technique, who thwarts his attempt to kill off his former subordinates Cheelai and Lemo when they use the Dragon Balls to save Broly's life by wishing him off the planet. Frieza falls back while deciding not to go after Cheelai and Lemo, as he intends to use them to make Broly docile enough for him to use against Goku in the future.
Years later, Frieza is contacted by a former subordinate named Elec to meet him and his group on planet Cereal. Meanwhile, Elec wishes for his younger brother, Gas, to be the strongest warrior in the universe. After Elec sets up a trap to have Granolah and Gas kill Goku and Vegeta, Frieza arrives and murders Gas. Frieza then kills Elec after revealing that he was aware of the latter's plan to assassinate him. Frieza reveals to Goku and Vegeta that he had found a place very similar to the Room of Spirit and Time on a distant planet and trained in the room for 10 years in just a matter of days, which is why Elec's wish did not take him into account at the time it was granted. Frieza presents his new form, Black Frieza, before knocking Goku and Vegeta to the ground, sparing the Saiyans as he only traveled to kill Elec and Gas before leaving Cereal.