Vegeta
Vegeta, fully referred to as Prince Vegeta IV, is a fictional character in the Japanese franchise Dragon Ball created by Akira Toriyama. Vegeta made his appearance in chapter #204 "Sayonara, Son Goku", published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on January 7, 1989, seeking the wish-granting Dragon Balls to achieve immortality.
As the first major antagonist of Dragon Ball Z, Vegeta is the prince of an elite extraterrestrial warrior race known as the Saiyans. As a person, he is naturally blunt, regal, hard-working, and is full of his Saiyan pride; he often refers to his heritage and royal status throughout the series, but can also have negative traits such as being extremely haughty, along with a destructive temper. He believed that he should be regarded as the strongest fighter in the universe, and becomes obsessed with surpassing Son Goku after losing his battle with the Z fighters. However, after Frieza's death, Vegeta unites with the heroes to thwart greater threats to the universe, most notably Cell, Majin Buu, Gomah, Beerus, Zamasu, Jiren, Broly, Moro and Granolah. Throughout the series, Vegeta's role changes from villain to later as one of the heroes, while remaining a key rival to Goku.
Vegeta has been hailed as one of the most iconic characters not only in the Dragon Ball franchise, but also in manga and anime history as a whole. He is often cited as one of the most popular examples of rival characters in the industry, due to his character arc and narrative throughout Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super.
Development
When creating Vegeta, Toriyama originally intended for him to be a short-lived antagonist and second-tier character, with little influence on Dragon Ball's story. Toriyama intended for Goku to simply kill him at the climax of their first battle, and portrayed him as simply and one-dimensional as he should have been, considering this.Despite this, the character became more popular than he had expected, and Toriyama became afraid of the backlash of killing him unceremoniously. Thus, Toriyama decided to keep Vegeta in the story for longer. Frieza, who was designed as the antagonist of a later story arc whom Vegeta would come into conflict much later in the story, was used with the secondary aim to create a reasonable "Death" for Vegeta. But he would be revived due to his popularity.
He explained his surprise at the character's popularity in an interview during the release of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, "I had thought about bringing an end to as just a villain, but as I was writing, I felt that his villainous warped straightforwardness was unexpectedly interesting. I couldn't imagine that a guy with this kind of hairstyle would become popular, and yet he'd get more votes than Goku in favorite-character polls."
Toriyama initially harbored a dislike for Vegeta since he was created as a despicable character, but grew to like him as he considered the character's personality to be straightforward, therefore easier to write. He also found the character "Extremely helpful to have around". He stated at one point when he received a lot of fan mail telling him not to kill Vegeta, he purposely did just that. Toriyama later named Vegeta alongside Piccolo as one of his favourite warriors in Dragon Ball, he stated he liked how they don't say anything until they want to, they have a sense of aloof superiority and that they're cool. After the release of Battle of Gods, Toriyama expressed interest in having Vegeta be the lead in the event of another animated feature, though he insisted this was only his intent and no decision had been made.
Following the trend that names of members of the Saiyan race are puns on vegetables, Vegeta's name is a pun on the word vegetable itself.
Voice actors
In the original Japanese version of the anime and all media, Vegeta is voiced by Ryō Horikawa, with the only exception being Dragon Ball Daima, where a mini Vegeta was voiced by Yūdai Mino.In the Ocean Productions English dub, Vegeta was voiced by Brian Drummond. Drummond returned in the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Super to voice Vegeta's Duplicate.
In Funimation 's in-house dub, Christopher Sabat has voiced Vegeta in all Dragon Ball media, including video games. While Sabat continued to dub Vegeta's adult incarnation in Dragon Ball Z Kai, Laura Bailey voiced Vegeta's child incarnation in Dragon Ball Z Kai and Justin Briner voiced Vegeta's child incarnation in Dragon Ball Super.
In Brazil, where Dragon Ball is a huge success, Vegeta has been voiced by Alfredo Rollo since his debut. In Latin American Spanish, he's consistently been voiced by René García.
Appearances
''Dragon Ball Z''
Vegeta is introduced as a member of the Saiyan race. He travels to Earth with his partner Nappa to use the Dragon Balls to wish for immortality. Nappa easily fights off Earth's heroes and kills Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, and Piccolo in the process. Goku then arrives after completing his training with Kaiō-sama. Goku easily defeats Nappa, who is then killed by Vegeta, for the shame of being defeated by a low-class Saiyan such as Goku. Vegeta fights Goku and is severely beaten by Goku's Kaioken technique, forcing him to resort to his Ozaru form to overpower Goku, the first time he has ever transformed in single combat, but he is unable to beat the rest of the heroes due to his sustained injuries from Goku, Gohan, Krillin and Yajirobe. Exhausted and on the brink of death, he barely escapes with his life and is further humiliated by the fact that Goku pleaded with Krillin to spare his life.Vegeta then travels to planet Namek in an attempt to wish for immortality using that planet's Dragon Balls, Earth's Dragon Balls having ceased to exist following Piccolo's death, cutting the tyrant Frieza off from making the same wish in the process. Upon arrival, Vegeta manages to kill many of Frieza's henchmen and also mercilessly destroys a defenseless Namekian village for their Dragon Ball. Later on, Vegeta is forced to team up with Gohan, Goku, Piccolo, and Krillin so they can fight off the Ginyu Force and later Frieza. He also kills most members of the Ginyu Force after Goku weakens them. Ultimately, Frieza beats him severely and mortally wounds him; as he dies, he begs Goku to avenge him and all the other Saiyans whom he was their prince. Vegeta is later unintentionally revived with a wish to revive all of Frieza's victims from the Dragon Balls from Earth, and is subsequently sent to Earth with another wish so that he will survive Namek's impending explosion. Vegeta later learns that Goku defeated Frieza and managed to flee Namek in time.
After Frieza's final defeat, Vegeta chooses to stay on Earth to await Goku's return and has a son named Trunks with Bulma. Three years later, Vegeta finally becomes a Super Saiyan and easily destroys Android 19, sent by Dr. Gero to kill Goku. However, even as a Super Saiyan, he is easily defeated by Android 18. Afterwards, Vegeta ascends beyond the Super Saiyan level while training with Future Trunks, a version of his son from an alternate timeline, in the Room of Spirit and Time and pummels the artificial life form Cell after he has absorbed Android 17. Vegeta's overconfidence leads him to allow Cell to absorb Android 18, upon which Cell achieves his third "perfect" form. After Vegeta fails to defeat Perfect Cell, he is forced to participate in Cell's martial arts tournament known as the Cell Games, in which he makes a crucial intervention so Gohan can overpower and defeat Cell in his Super Perfect form.
Seven years later, Vegeta allows himself to be consumed by Babidi's evil power for his own desire to become powerful enough to fight and defeat Goku. The M on Vegeta’s forehead stands for Majin. It is a seal put by Babidi to indicate that he controls Vegeta in a certain way. It was placed through black magic. He knew that he was powerful enough to resist mind control. He then goes on an indiscriminate killing spree to provoke Goku to fight him. However, when the monster Majin Buu is revived as a result of the energy released from their fight, Vegeta knocks out Goku from behind after deceiving Goku by feigning a truce. Vegeta then faces Majin Buu alone and ends up sacrificing himself in an attempt to defeat Buu, dedicating his sacrifice to Bulma, Trunks, and Goku. With all other fighters dead or absorbed, Vegeta is allowed to recover his body and returns to Earth to help Goku, the last warrior remaining, against the threat of Buu. He reluctantly combines bodies with Goku using the Potara earrings, to create the fused warrior Vegito, who completely overwhelms Buu with his strength. Eventually, Vegito allows himself to be absorbed into Buu's body to free the other heroes absorbed by Buu, but this leads to the splitting of the fusion. Goku and Vegeta manage to free their allies who have been absorbed by Buu, causing him to undergo a final transformation, which results in his return to his original Kid Buu form. On the Kaiō-shin's planet, after getting revived once more thanks to the Namekian Dragon Balls, Vegeta battles Buu again to buy time for Goku to gather energy for the Genki Dama, which he uses to defeat Majin Buu once and for all. It is during this fight that Vegeta finally admits Goku as both his superior and friend.
Ten years later, at the next World Martial Arts Tournament, Vegeta is among those who witness Goku's battle with Buu's human reincarnation, Uub, and later bids Goku farewell as Goku departs with Uub to his village to train him as his successor.
''Dragon Ball Super''
In Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Vegeta tries to appease Beerus so that he will not destroy the Earth and briefly surpasses Goku because of a power boost induced by rage by Beerus slapping Bulma; he then later participates in a ritual to transform Goku into a Super Saiyan god and watches him fight the god of destruction, and in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F', Vegeta trains off planet with Whis and returns to Earth to combat the resurrected Frieza, being killed by him when he destroys the Earth, which is reversed by Whis, allowing Goku in the nick of time to finish the tyrant off with a Kamehameha wave, in which Vegeta moves out of range.After the latter two films and anime adaptation in Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta participates in a tournament where he defeats Frost, Magetta, and Cabba, but is defeated by the assassin Hit. He travels to Planet Potaufeu to retrieve Goten and Trunks, where he fights a copy of himself created by Commeson. He is then reunited with Future Trunks and begins training to fight the evil Goku Black, also training Trunks for the fight. Vegeta travels to the future to counter Goku Black, but is defeated and returns to the past. Vegeta heals and returns to the future for a rematch. Failing to defeat Goku Black before traveling to the present, where he trains, giving him enough strength to best Goku Black in their next encounter. Vegeta and Goku then meet their match against Zamasu's fused form, forcing them to once again fuse into Vegito, who defuses from overusing his energy. Vegeta later aids Trunks in defeating Zamasu. Vegeta loses a battle to Arale, and later declines training with Goku due to Bulma's pregnancy. When his daughter, Bulla, is born, Vegeta develops a strong attachment to her and becomes very protective of her well-being.
Vegeta decides to enter the Tournament of Power to protect his family. During the tournament, Vegeta successfully knocks out numerous fighters. He knocks out Toppo, who achieved the power of a God of Destruction, and then aids Goku in fighting the last remaining member of Universe 11, Jiren. It is during his fight with Jiren and Toppo that Vegeta breaks his limits. With two minutes remaining in the tournament, Jiren knocks Vegeta out, who then tearfully sends the last of his remaining power to Goku. In the film Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Vegeta and Goku battle Frieza's newest recruit, the Saiyan Broly, but he proves too powerful for either of them. Left with no other options, Vegeta learns the fusion dance and fuses with Goku, becoming Gogeta and stopping Broly's rampage. After these events, Vegeta and Goku had been recruited by the Galactic Patrol to stop the wicked warlock Moro, who escaped along with his comrades. They confront and fail to defeat him, suffering wounds from the battle. Vegeta resolves to go to Yardrat to train and obtain a means to stop Moro. Returning after having used Shunkan Ido, Vegeta takes away Moro's stolen life energy and revives the victims of Namek in an act of redemption using a new technique. He maintains the upper hand, savagely beating the warlock until the tide turns against his favour when Moro absorbs one of his comrades to bolster his power, beating Vegeta into unconsciousness. When Moro starts absorbing the Earth's energy after having merged with it, a healed up Vegeta arrives just in time to aid Goku by not only fissioning the energy out of him to prevent him from hiding his weakpoint, but also by personally gathering the necessary energy from the other Dragon Team members and Oob to send it to Goku for him to channel his Ultra Instinct powers one more time and kill Moro for good.
Later on, Vegeta and Goku were invited by the alien beings called the Heeters to defeat the powerful Cerealean sniper named Granolah. He engages Granolah in battle after he defeats Goku in his Ultra Instinct state, and gains the upper-hand using the power of Destroyer Gods in a new form he labels Ultra Ego, in opposition to his rival's Ultra Instinct, that he achieved during training with Beerus, but is beaten in turn after Granolah unleashes his true power. After the Namekian, Monaito, intervenes, he confirms to Goku about the identity of his father, Bardock. After the Heeter, Gas, shows up to settle a grudge on the Cerealean, Vegeta, in a show of stubborn pride, gives Granolah a senzu bean so he can fight Gas. Later, he and Goku struggle against the powerful Heeter and are beaten, but are saved at the last moment by the unexpected arrival of Frieza, who proceeds to murder Gas and Elec for their betrayal. He beats Vegeta and Goku down in one blow upon unveiling his new powers, but ultimately spares them.
In Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Vegeta trains with Goku and Broly on Beerus' planet, where he attempts to learn the ways Jiren uses to efficiently use his power. He spars with Goku without transformations or energy attacks. He is unable to get in contact because of Beerus' ice cream cup obstructing Whis' staff, leaving the situation on Earth to be handled by Piccolo and whoever he can enlist. In the post-credits scene, exhausted, Vegeta lands the last blow on Goku, triumphantly declaring himself the winner, much to the boredom of Cheelai and comically moved emotion from Broly and Lemo.