This article is about the main character. For other uses, see Vegeta (disambiguation).

"Fine, Kakarot, you are the mightiest Saiyan, I've admitted that much. At least for now. But don't you dare think that this is over. I won't let you keep me in second place forever, feeding on the scraps of your glory. I will surpass you, and even then I'll keep pushing, I'll surpass every single warrior in the Universe. I won't stop until I'm the ultimate number one."

— Vegeta in "To the Promised Resort! Vegeta Takes a Family Trip!"

Vegeta (ベジータ, Bejīta), more specifically Vegeta IV (ベジータ四世, Bejīta Yonsei)[5], recognized as Prince Vegeta (ベジータ王子, Bejīta Ōji) is the prince of the fallen Saiyan race and one of the main characters of the Dragon Ball series.

Regal, egotistical, and full of pride, Vegeta was once a ruthless, cold-blooded warrior and outright killer,[6] but later abandons his role in the Frieza Force, instead opting to remain and live on Earth. His character evolves from villain, to anti-hero, then to hero through the course of the series, repeatedly fighting alongside the universe's most powerful warriors in order to protect his new home and surpass Goku in power[7].

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Appearance

Vegeta is a slim yet very well-built man of a below-average stature, standing at 164 centimeters tall. His hair is black (or dark brown, depending on the media) and spikes upwards. Vegeta has a prominent widow's peak. Like most Saiyans, he possesses defined eyes with a consistently stern look to them. Like other Universe 7 Saiyans, he was born with a prehensile brown-furred tail, until it was permanently cut off by Yajirobe.

Over the course of the series, Vegeta's physical appearance changes. While originally appearing very short and lean, especially compared to his massive partner, Nappa, he later seems to be somewhat taller and noticeably more muscular. His hair and forehead appears to be shorter and his facial features, which are perpetually in a scowl, also look more distinct and sharply defined as the series progresses, making him look much older in later sagas compared to what he looked like in his debut.

Vegeta as a Frieza Force combatant

Vegeta in Resurrection ‘F’

Vegeta in casual clothing

Vegeta in the Prison Planet Saga

Vegeta's new blue armor 1 of 5

A major characteristic of Vegeta's is the fact that he is one of the only Saiyans who have continued to don the traditional Saiyan armor in combat. His general look is a dark blue, full-bodied jumpsuit with white gloves and boots with the said armor on top. He has also been seen wearing alternate forms of the armor, customizing the armor to better suit his persona. When first arriving on Earth, he wore a white armor with yellow shoulder pads and also padding at his hips and nether-region. Along with it, he wore a red-lens scouter on his left eye. During the Frieza Saga , he replaced his heavily damaged armor with a similar one, minus the padding around his waistline. He also briefly wore another scouter until deeming it unnecessary and destroying it. When his armor was damaged against Recoome , he replaced his outfit with an older model design consisting of a black bodysuit, white gloves and boots, and a near-purely white armor without shoulder pads. In the Trunks saga, he wore a pink short sleeved loose button shirt with the sign "Bad Man" at the back, a white sleeveless undershirt, yellow pants and green shoes with a brown trim. During the Androids Saga, he wore an updated version of his original armor, but without pads. During the Buu Saga, to be allowed to fight Goku in the World Martial Arts Tournament, Vegeta fought without armor, only wearing a a sleeveless blue bodysuit. He later wore this outfit during his sparring match against Goku in Dragon Ball Super: Broly as the color of his bodysuit is blue gray/navy blue.

Originally in the Dragon Ball Z anime, Vegeta appeared with a totally different color scheme from his usual one, having red hair and a battle armor consisting of a green khaki chest piece and burnt orange guard pieces, orange gloves, a navy blue jumpsuit, and his boots with orange tops and brown footings to them. This color scheme also appears as an alternate color for his Battle Armor in various video games.

In Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta swaps out his armor in favor of clothing more characteristic to an Earthling such as a crimson tank top, violet gloves, dark blue jeans and violet boots along with a black leather vest. He also cropped his hair, which still spikes upward, and grew a mustache (albeit temporarily, as he shaves it off after Bulla mocks him for it).

In Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta returns to wearing the same modified battle armor he wore during the Androids/Cell Sagas. During the early part of his training under Whis, Vegeta wore a new armor made by Bulma, which changes to have a grey bodysuit and a sleeker armor. Whis also placed his insignia in the left side of the armor's chest without Vegeta noticing when they were training. After the Tournament with Universe 6, Vegeta again returns to wearing the same outfit he wore in the Android/Cell sagas. In Broly, to compensate for the Ice Continent’s cold weather, Vegeta also wears a light green winter jacket on top of this outfit which consists of a high turtleneck, a long white line on each sleeve of the jacket with a bold violet colored "SAB" marking in the left chest side of the jacket. Underneath the jacket, his bodysuit has a dark teal shade. In the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga, Vegeta wears traditional Yardrat armor while training on Planet Yardrat.

In Dragon Ball Heroes, when he appears in the Prison Planet Saga, Vegeta is back to wearing his Resurrection ‘F’ armor, but with a Capsule Corp logo in place of Whis' symbol. He also has small white leg paddings handing at his hips. In the latest mission of Super Dragon Ball Heroes, the gray sections of the armor have changed to a bright blue, similar in color to Vegeta's old bodysuit.

Personality

Vegeta is arrogant throughout the series and becomes bitter due to the abuse his race suffered at the hands of Frieza. Following the destruction of his homeworld Planet Vegeta, his hatred toward Frieza grows. His royalty seems to have bestowed upon him an inflated sense of superiority, holding himself above nearly everyone he encounters. He is immensely proud of his Saiyan heritage and believes his race to be the most powerful in the universe. Despite this, even as an antagonist, he did not act as an ordinary Saiyan, being even crueler and prideful thanks to Frieza's influence. As the Prince of a demolished Planet Vegeta, Vegeta is initially introduced as an unrepentant villain. Judging from his evil intentions before joining the Z Fighters, Vegeta has been consistently characterized as extremely arrogant, vengeful, and at times, cold. Many of Vegeta's early heroic acts are because of self-interest or revenge, although he later settles down and grows fond of Earth as his home, raising a family with Bulma. Having been born into the upper tier of Saiyan society, Vegeta was fixated on achieving the legendary status of Super Saiyan and becoming the most powerful warrior in the universe. Vegeta is more of a tactical fighter who often rushes in the brawl without hesitation. However, his rage or arrogance often causes him to underestimate his opponent and usually leads to his eventual defeat and sometimes death. His royal blood and intense fighting style have both benefited and harmed him in many battles. Vegeta has been shown to be one of the more intelligent characters of the series, as well as one of the most serious, rarely exhibiting humor. When he does so, his humor is often very dry and far darker than his fellow Z Fighters. However, he does delight in mocking his enemies, as demonstrated when he offers to reconstruct Android 18 into a "toaster" or a "washing machine" (Funimation dub only). He also shows his bleak sense of humor towards Goku when he was about to battle him in the World Martial Arts Tournament. Aside from his more bleak sense of humor, he has also at times engaged in more sarcastic humor when gloating. A notable example of this was when fighting Semi-Perfect Cell. When Cell demanded to know how Vegeta was as strong as he was, Vegeta flippantly stated that he got that strong by "doing lots of push-ups and sit-ups, and [drinking] plenty of juice", as well as calling Kid Buu a "gifted speaker" when the latter barely responded at all just before the latter destroyed the Earth. Normally, his massive ego and arrogance overshadow his positive qualities. Despite his personality flaws, Vegeta is capable of respecting individuals, although he never outright states it often showing his respect non verbally. By The Majin Buu Saga, it is heavily implied that he and Piccolo were on civil terms and seemed to have mutual respect for one another. He also expressed some grief over Gohan's fate at the hands of Buu himself. Outside of these two instances, his relationship with the rest of the Dragon Team seemed cool at best.

Initially, Vegeta was extremely aggressive and cold-blooded. Since his childhood, Vegeta had proven himself to be a ruthless killer, merciless like most Saiyans. During the Namek Saga, however, he began to exhibit changes; rather than killing Krillin or Gohan as he promised in the previous saga, he instead forges an alliance with them. Throughout the first half of the Frieza Saga, whomever he defeated, he killed without mercy. His first sign of mercy was sparing Krillin and Bulma's lives in exchange for the Namekian Dragon Ball they were carrying when he could have easily killed them and taken it. Another sign of mercy came when he encounters Gohan a short time later and knees him in the stomach instead of killing him, and again when he let Namekian Frog Captain Ginyu live, taking delight at the notion of Ginyu's being stuck in the frog's body as punishment enough and not wanting to get frog guts all over his boots. After his defeat at the hands of Frieza, Vegeta tearfully explains to Goku that Frieza forced him to be ruthless and that he never had the chance to be anything else (implying that he could have been kinder and more merciful were it not for Frieza). He used to have bigotry towards other races, considered physical and emotional attachments to be meaningless, and admittedly was repulsed by children, especially those with mixed heritage. However, all these changes when he falls in love with Bulma and she bears him two half-Saiyan children. After settling on Earth, Vegeta softened up and began to exhibit compassion for his family. As a result of his love for Bulma and the birth of his children, Vegeta started to feel content settling down with a loving family while being a competitive warrior. However, Vegeta secretly felt ashamed for sacrificing his goal of becoming the strongest warrior in the universe for the sake of his family and came to believe it was his attachment to them and the planet that rendered him weak compared to Goku.

Although he kept those thoughts hidden, it was not until the Babidi Saga that he gave in to his obsession of overtaking Goku in might, becoming a Majin and "evil" once more. This was a desperate, failed ploy to restore his former wickedness, believing it to have been the source of his true power. Goku believes Vegeta is bluffing, and correctly so; Vegeta demonstrates his prevailing softness in hugging Trunks for the first time and telling him that he is proud to be his father, before performing a sacrificial Final Explosion against Majin Buu. It is when his family falls victim to Majin Buu that Vegeta finally understands the pain of losing a loved one and fully grasps the harm he has caused to so many people, and he comes to regret his many transgressions. Since then, he has refrained from killing his opponents unless necessary and tries to be cautious of situations.

"But that's the thrill... don't you wanna see this power he keeps talking about?"

— Vegeta to his son about not letting Cell achieve his perfect form in "The Last Defense".

From the beginning of the series to near the end, Vegeta is shown to be exceptionally vain and egotistical. A prime example of this is in his fight with Semi-Perfect Cell. Though he could have easily destroyed this weaker form of Cell, his arrogance bested him, and he purposely let Cell absorb Android 18 just to have a challenge in Cell through which to test his power. However, it should be noted that Cell used trickery and had knowledge of Saiyans due to their cells composing his structure. While fighting Super Buu, as well as while fighting Janemba on a different occasion,[8] Vegeta vehemently opposed fusion with Goku due to his pride, but Goku managed to persuade him. Later, Vegeta becomes more willing to fuse, going so far as to propose it himself in the battle against Omega Shenron in Dragon Ball GT. On several occasions, Vegeta conceitedly underestimates his opponents; in the cases of Perfect Cell and Kid Buu, Vegeta was fooled by their diminutive appearances, believing that they had only "shrunk", which is somewhat ironic, given his own short stature, yet large power. While Vegeta lives for battling powerful foes, in some instances he has been seen to afraid of opponents for their tremendous power; such as the Legendary Super Saiyan Broly,[9] the God of Destruction Beerus (he does everything he possibly can to ensure that the God of Destruction is not angered when the latter arrives at Bulma's birthday party),[10] and Frieza. However, against Broly and Beerus he visibly had a change of heart, displayed his pride, and took to the fight. Despite his lust for fighting against powerful foes, Vegeta's arrogance has a flipside too. It's debatable that stronger the foe, the more aggressive Vegeta's fighting style becomes and vice versa. He often recklessly throws himself into the fray against foes that are drastically more powerful than he is, while he barely bothers to touch significantly weaker enemies like Pui Pui for example. It could be argued that this attitude is a Saiyan trait instead of a personal quirk of his since there have been occasions when Goku shares this mentality albeit to a somewhat lesser extent. Where Goku might see workout potential in a weaker foe, it's likely that Vegeta refuses to dirty his hands with such menial tasks altogether.

"The boy doesn't mean any harm, Zarbon. He just hasn't learned how to control his passion. Give him the hardest assignment that you have, and Vegeta... do come back alive."

— Frieza when responding the young Vegeta's plea for another combat assignment in Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku.

Arguably, his most defining trait is his rivalry with Goku and his obsession to surpass him in power. In Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, he goes so far as to break down in tears over his inability to surpass Goku. However, this obsession has led him to save Goku's life on several occasions, insisting that only he will defeat Goku. When Goku sacrifices himself to save the Earth from being destroyed by Cell, Vegeta is devastated to the point that he vows never to fight again. Indeed, it would seem that Vegeta's most unique relationship is with his fellow Saiyan. Since their first battle, his opinion of Goku always being one step ahead of him, even though Goku is a lower class Saiyan, runs the gamut from contempt to rivalry, and later to respect and friendship. After the defeat of Kid Buu, he has a change of heart and his angry grudge against Goku becomes a friendly rivalry, though he will always get annoyed and even infuriated when someone openly refers to him as second-best to Goku, such as Whis and Top. Vegeta also maintains a hint of envy and fury whenever Goku reaches a new height, such as Kao-Kin 10X or Ultra-Instinct (though in the case of the latter, he ultimately accepted that that was one power unique to only Goku himself). He'll even jump at the chance to see Goku beaten by his hand even if the circumstances are technical, such as when he rooted for his copy-version to defeat Goku and opted to fight Goku Black just because he looked like Goku himself. Even so, Vegeta expressed his disdain for Black's shameless theft of his Saiyan brother's vessel, pummeling him as he reveals that Goku worked hard his whole life to achieve his strength and that regardless of his resemblance, he will never compare to the original. Despite his respect and friendship with Goku, he still gets highly annoyed with his immature tendencies and is shocked and even a bit disgusted by the fact that despite having a wife (and two sons), Goku has no concept of romance (never having kissed Chi-Chi apparently) and therefore finds it hard to believe that he is still married. Naturally, Goku almost always takes an optimistic opinion about Vegeta and openly admits to liking him, but does occasionally criticize him for his brutality and not informing him when he is about to train. Possibly as a means of reminding him of his heritage despite his upbringing on Earth, Vegeta will nearly always refer to Goku by his birth name Kakarot, scarcely referring to him by his Earth name otherwise. In addition, particularly later on in the series, Vegeta will consistently agree with Goku during moments where he is mature, decisive, and perceptive, such as when he demanded that Trunks obey Goku's order to help resurrect Piccolo, when Goku pointed out the dangers of Future Zamusu still being around despite Whis' efforts, and especially when Goku expressed disdain at the idea of avoiding single combat during the tournament of power, which Vegeta translates as meaning their blood won't allow them to act primarily as a unit. As a perhaps ultimate symbol of his friendship and trust in Goku, Vegeta gave him the rest of his energy and an impassioned speech that proved instrumental in allowing him to complete Ultra Instinct during his battle with Jiren, earlier even mocking Belmod for his stance concerning Goku's potential. In the manga, Pan calls him "Uncle Vegeta", even though they are not blood-related, signifying a meaningful bond between Vegeta's family and Goku's.

Because of his arrogance, attitude and past wrongdoing, Vegeta gains much disdain from those around him, particularly Piccolo, Krillin, and Tien, who continually admonished him for his brutality. However, after his plan to defeat Kid Buu and save the Earth is a success, Vegeta is recognized as one of the most reliable and strongest warriors known, and this allows him to not only reconcile with all the Z Fighters but to accept them as genuine comrades. Though they grew up apart, Vegeta does care about his younger brother Tarble, though he is highly disappointed with Tarble's extreme lack of fighting power despite the fact he comes from the powerful royal bloodline.

After the Kid Buu Saga, Vegeta is much more relaxed. He is often seen smiling and cracking jokes, such as when he forced Trunks to enter the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament, threatening to "cut his allowance" if he did not enter the competition. Often being more caring and kind to his family, especially his daughter, Bulla, Vegeta admittedly has a kinder side, per his adjustment to Earthling life. His attitude towards fighting also changed; instead of training to surpass Goku, he is simply training because he is curious about what his own limits are. He does still retain his rivalry with Goku, but following his revelation at the end of the Buu Saga, Vegeta only wants to beat Goku purely to test himself rather than prove superiority. Vegeta later developed a strong age crisis, such as ignoring a group of teenagers flirting with his daughter until they called him a "geezer" and when Dr. Myuu criticized Vegeta for continuing to voice his pride as a Saiyan prince despite how much he had aged. During Dragon Ball Super, however, Vegeta has been shown to retain his arrogance and competitive mood but he is more open to teamwork with the Z Fighters and is willing to help others in need. He has grown protective of the planet as he refers to it as his home and doesn't want to bear the burden of losing another home planet as he did with Planet Vegeta. He also develops strong morals, as he rejected Whis’ offer to become the next Universe 7 God of Destruction and refused to rejoin forces with Frieza.

Due to his initial lack of sentiment, Vegeta regarded familial bonds as inferior. Vegeta showed little to no interest in fatherhood when Trunks was born and viewed him as only Bulma's child because Vegeta never wanted to have children. But Vegeta gradually came to understand the gratitude of having a family and home to return to. He even cited being able to teach Trunks everything he knows as a priority to be a father. He will often decline to participate in family activities in favor of training, which he justifies on the grounds of enhancing his strength to protect the world. Vegeta is aware this affects his family but he nevertheless strongly hints his appreciation for his family, as the Tournament of Power was being arranged, Vegeta initially turned down participating to witness the birth of his daughter. Vegeta also desires for Trunks to follow in his footsteps as a warrior but not so with Bulla, whom he dotes on, and gradually accepts if his children choose different paths as long as they are happy and safe. He is shown to be protective of his family, as it is shown Vegeta is unable to see his wife and children in pain or danger, which later serves as motivation for him to boost his capabilities in battle. Also, despite being nervous upon learning Bulma's second pregnancy, Vegeta was happy to learn he was having a daughter and enjoyed taking care of Bulla. However, he raised Trunks with a combination of respect and discipline, to where Trunks avoids misbehaving in his father's presence. Even more, he is willing to go to extreme methods to protect his family, including humiliation on his part for the sake of their well-being, and he is offended when he learns Goku would prefer training rather than spend time with his children. He is also proud of Future Trunks giving everything he had to protect his world from Zamasu and even protected Future Trunks from one of Fused Zamasu's attacks. His care for Future Trunks was further established in Super Dragon Ball Heroes where seeing Future Trunks' life was in danger by the hand of Cumber, he chose to willingly put on the Potara earring to fuse with Goku, something he was not willing to do before.

In the anime, Vegeta is shown to have a fear of worms, as when the small roundworms appear behind a larger one when inside Buu, Vegeta bolts behind Goku.[11]

In addition to his wife and children, it is implied that on some level Vegeta cared and looked up to his father, despite his claims to the contrary. His father was one of the greatest influences on young Vegeta, instilling in him his strong Saiyan pride as well as his early elitist views. Vegeta also tried to defend his father from Beerus showing that he indeed cared for him which is also supported by his assertion that he followed Frieza when he was younger cause Frieza had threatened his father. While Vegeta coldly seemed to care little for his father when Frieza mentioned killing him, it is likely he kept his true feelings towards his father to himself as such emotions were considered a sign of weakness among the Saiyans. In addition to his father, Vegeta has a positive relationship with his younger brother which is ironically in contrast to Goku and Raditz's relationship. Though Vegeta is ashamed of his brother's weakness like his father as he gets along well with him despite this though this may be due to Tarble looking up to Vegeta and even letting his brother believe he was responsible for defeating Frieza. It is unknown how they got along when they were younger as Vegeta had mellowed when it came to his family by the time they in Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! though he apparently chose not to reveal he had a brother even to his own wife and children until Tarble appeared on Earth. It is also implied that his comrades (with the potential exception of Nappa who may have kept quiet about it out of respect for the royal family and not to upset Vegeta) were unaware of Tarble as Raditz never mentioned Tarble or any other Saiyan survivors indicating that he was unaware that Vegeta had a younger brother. However, it is possible that Vegeta may have secretly wished to protect the gentle Tarble from Frieza in addition to protecting the reputation of the Saiyan royal family.

Vegeta tends to be hotheaded and quick-tempered during battles, especially ones not in his favor. According to Whis, the Saiyan Prince is too tense during fights and thinks too much before acting, putting a limit on his speed. Whis recommended that Vegeta needs to relax once in a while and not be so focused on training constantly since it is too intense for him to concentrate.

During the beginning of the Tournament of Destroyers, Vegeta shows a great interest in the Saiyans from Universe 6, asking Cabba what the name of their homeworld is, and asking Cabba if he could learn more about the Saiyans of Universe 6, which is very uncanny of Vegeta as he rarely questions about the affairs of other people or planets. This shows that he has a deep-seeded passion and even curiosity about his race. Vegeta takes an instant interest in Cabba similar to a teacher-student relationship, going as far as to teach Cabba how to transform into Super Saiyan, expressing sadness when Cabba and Universe 6 are erased by the Zenos, and vowing to resurrect Cabba and his universe with the Super Dragon Balls.

Vegeta has often been shown to have a deep dislike for fighters who use unfair methods for a fight, which shows that he is someone who prefers to fight with dignity. An example of this was during the Tournament of Power, when Universe 2 warrior Prum acted as a sniper and tried to eliminate Vegeta (only managing to cut his cheek), the Saiyan Prince furiously insulted him, calling him a dishonorable coward and a shameless worm. He also shows contempt for those who abandon their own values and code as Top, who in Vegeta's eyes was only a loser who can not even protect his own pride. He also views Moro with disgust, stating how he takes the power of others and does not give a fair fight and the reason he does this is because his true power is extremely weak.

During the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga, Vegeta reflected on his last visit to Planet Namek, expressed guilt over what he had done to the Namekians, and vowed to protect them and New Namek from Moro as a form of atonement.[12] Piccolo also notes on this sense of atonement from Vegeta, amazed by how much Vegeta has grown as a person and how he is now fighting for the planet in an attempt to make up for his past and wipe the slate clean by defeating Moro. Vegeta has also come to accept the sins of his past, stating that when he dies, he will surely go to Hell because he is a villain and has come to accept the consequences for his actions, but still fights for the planet in his attempt to make up for those actions, demonstrating his significant change of character.

Relationship with Bulma

"Servant woman, bring me a drying cloth at once!"

— Vegeta ordering Bulma to bring him a towel after a shower in "Frieza's Counterattack"

Vegeta and Bulma initially met on planet Namek, but neither actually talked to the other; Bulma was too frightened, and Vegeta did not care, especially when his main concern was to find the Dragon Balls. However, their first interaction with each other was prior to his rematch with Zarbon, to which Vegeta threatened to kill both Bulma and Krillin. The first time any affection is displayed between them is in "Immortality Denied", in which Vegeta, during a conversation with Gohan, refers to Bulma as a "Gorgeous Girl" in the Ocean Group dubs. The first hint of Bulma's attraction to Vegeta is right after Goku's battle with Frieza and Planet Namek's destruction, in which Bulma told Vegeta she thought he was cute and he should lighten up a bit, much to his bafflement.

Despite their rocky start, Bulma was more than willing to put up with Vegeta, even if he scared her. Upon his resurrection after being killed by Frieza, and then being teleported to Earth, Bulma invites Vegeta to live at Capsule Corporation as he has nowhere to go, on the condition that he does not touch her. Vegeta reluctantly accepts her offer, but quickly leaves Earth in search of Goku after he discovers his unwillingness to return to Earth from the Porunga. During his absence on Earth, Bulma begins to slowly but surely show signs of affection towards the Saiyan Prince, after having a dream about him; she also shows a deep concern for him after being informed that his ship is about to run out of fuel soon. Her then-boyfriend Yamcha not only begins to get jealous but also shows resentment towards Vegeta, who has no idea about Bulma's feelings towards him. When Vegeta returns to Earth, he becomes irritated at her for her domineering attitude and criticism towards his rude behavior but he often ends up submitting to her demands, much to everyone's amazement of how much Bulma can keep Vegeta under control.

At one time, Vegeta is seriously injured after his training capsule explodes while he tries to train under 300 times Earth's gravity. Bulma shows immense concern for Vegeta and tries to convince him to stop training and to rest. Vegeta defiantly attempts to return to his training but collapses, and Bulma then takes him to Capsule Corp to nurse him back to health. Later, Vegeta awakes to find Bulma asleep beside him, and wonders why she's there (having no idea of Bulma's feelings for him). When Bulma sees Vegeta return to training, she firmly tells him to stop because of his injuries, but Vegeta refuses to listen and shouts at her to leave him alone. This leaves Bulma feeling very bitter about Vegeta and his stubbornness for a while afterward.

After approximately a year since Future Trunks' warning about the Androids, Bulma breaks up with Yamcha and has affair with Vegeta, ultimately leading to the conception of Trunks. However, even the birth of their son was not enough to bring the two together, as of that time Vegeta prioritized his rivalry with Goku before anything else, even his relationship with Bulma. In the Japanese version, Future Trunks states that his birth was the result of a one-night stand, whereas in the Funimation dub, it was said to have been simply a short-lived affair. Arguments were common between the two, with Bulma often calling Vegeta a "jerk" and Vegeta showing little to no care or emotion for either his son or his future wife; this was demonstrated during an incident in which Bulma's plane is destroyed and their lives are at risk. When Future Trunks saves the two and questions Vegeta as to why he did not try to save them, Vegeta responds that he has "more important things to worry about than that foolish woman and her blasted child." Bulma later humiliates Vegeta in front of everyone when she says that every time he sticks his "Ugly Mug" up to Trunks, it makes Trunks cry, much to Krillin and Gohan's amusement and Vegeta's anger.[13]

Vegeta's and Bulma exhibited indifference towards each other throughout the Androids and Cell Games Saga, which puzzled everyone, considering the two had a child together. Future Trunks states to Goku that in his timeline, even though Bulma fell in love with Vegeta, they did not stay together very long because their attraction was solely based on passion and loneliness, and with Vegeta's goals and priorities not concerning Bulma, they had no reason to continue the relationship.[14] Also, in the alternate timeline, Future Vegeta was killed by the Androids soon after Trunks was born, so his relationship with Bulma did not have a chance to progress in that timeline.

However, the seven years of peace that came after the conclusion of the Cell Games would suggest that the two settled their differences and began to have a much better relationship than previously, as they were already married by the time the Majin Buu conflict took place. Initially choosing to remain on Earth and marry Bulma because he wanted to be there for Trunks, Vegeta eventually became fond of his family and it became apparent that he had fallen deeply in love with Bulma by the time of the Majin Buu Saga, but was ashamed of himself for doing so and for sacrificing his warrior lifestyle for the sake of his family, wanting to be the cold-hearted prince he once was. He attempted to return to his former self by allowing Babidi take control of him and denounced his ties to Bulma and Trunks, but Goku deduced that Vegeta was bluffing when Vegeta admitted he felt torn between his desire to be evil again to get stronger versus his growing love for his family and the contentment of living on Earth. Nonetheless, Vegeta eventually realizes what is really important in his life, and he feels remorse for betraying his family just to fulfill an empty goal he knows he can't achieve. He ultimately sacrifices himself to save his family and Earth when fighting Majin Buu, although it was in vain. When he learns his family has been killed or absorbed by Majin Buu, Vegeta is overcome with sadness and rage that he lost his wife and son, and is even willing to fuse with Goku, even if permanently, because he wants to avenge his family. After Majin Buu's defeat, Vegeta's accomplishment in saving the Earth was enough for Bulma to forgive him, and from then onward, their relationship became more content and happy, as Vegeta acknowledged he truly wishes to remain on Earth with his family.

By the start of the Kid Buu Saga, Vegeta shows a comical jealous side in his love for Bulma, such as his angry reaction when he finds out that Goku promised Old Kai that he could kiss her (in the original version, Goku promised to show Old Kai some sexy pictures of Bulma), causing Vegeta to throw a fit, yelling to Goku "Let him kiss your woman!", to which Goku's replies "Your wife is prettier than mine!" (in the original version, Vegeta yells at Goku to show the Old Kai pictures of Chi-Chi, to which Goku responds "But Chi-Chi would kill me!"). Vegeta sometimes shows jealousy towards other men who are around Bulma, such as ordering Jaco to not try anything "suspicious" with her. Vegeta was also seen completely shocked and embarrassed when Goku is at his house with Bulma when she is wearing only a towel, and his face turns red when Goku notes that Bulma's breasts are sagging.

"How dare you... THAT'S MY BULMA!!"

— Vegeta to Beerus after the latter slapped Bulma in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods

By his own admission, Vegeta's respect for and attraction to Bulma is known to be partially due to her somewhat overbearing and willful personality, as it has been noted in the past that such qualities were much sought after in mates by Saiyan males (including Goku). Her ability to intimidate her overwhelmingly strong husband is both a source of irritation as well as attraction to Vegeta, as his often quietly menacing body language and expressions are known to terrify most humans with no effort.

In Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta's relationship with Bulma has grown to be a very loving one. When Beerus slapped her despite Vegeta's pleas to not hurt her, Vegeta flew into a heated rage and attacked Beerus, whom he was initially afraid of; Master Roshi and Goku note that Vegeta's power surpassed the latter's in that moment of anger.[10] He has also grown to fear Bulma's temper and tries to avoid angering her, such as when he mentioned Trunks and Goten wouldn't have left with Monaka if Bulma hadn't ordered the supplies and she accused him of blaming her, and he took back what he said. He has grown to be protective of her and proud of her, often praising her inventions and will do anything she says even if he doesn't want to. When Future Trunks arrived in the past and informed him of the events in his timeline, Vegeta secretly felt sad that Future Bulma was killed and vowed to never forgive Goku Black when he was alone. This showed that regardless of the difference in the timelines that Vegeta cares deeply about his wife, and that no matter the incarnation, Bulma is Bulma to him. He did, however, express silent, extreme annoyance at the fact that Bulma told Goten and Trunks that Goku is the best chance they have against Goku Black and Zamusu, not once mentioning him despite the fact that the future they are fighting for is their (which means, also his) son's and starts to yell at her before Gohan and Chi-Chi arrive. When Bulma was pregnant with their daughter Bulla, Vegeta not only chose against training for Zeno's tournament so that he could be by his wife's side during the birth but he dropped training altogether to take care of her throughout the pregnancy. Vegeta was displeased when Bulma named their daughter without his consultation, as he wanted to give their daughter a Saiyan name out of respect for his heritage, but he quickly accepted the name. Although Vegeta refused to cooperate with Frieza in the Tournament of Power, Vegeta was willing to set aside this resentment because he wanted to save his wife and children from erasure if their universe loses. As he was losing against Jiren, Vegeta thought of Bulma and their children, giving him the desire to protect them. When Vegeta ultimately lost, he felt guilty for failing to protect his family and shed tears as he apologized to Bulma.

Biography

Background

Vegeta was born in Age 732. His father, King Vegeta, was the king of the Saiyan race. Vegeta and his race are also under the rule of the interplanetary warlord Frieza, and King Vegeta was also forced by Frieza to surrender him to the latter through undisclosed means. While under Frieza's grip, Vegeta was pressured by Frieza to do his bidding or else Frieza would murder Vegeta's father. In his youth, Vegeta saw his father being stepped over by the God of Destruction Beerus.[10] In Battle of Gods, Vegeta doesn't try to assist his father but in Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta attempts to help but he gets paralyzed by Beerus, restraining him from moving.

Jaco the Galactic Patrolman

Main articles: Jaco the Galactic Patrolman and Dragon Ball Super: Broly

While Vegeta and Raditz are on a mission to on another planet with Nappa and two other Saiyans they are given the message to return to Planet Vegeta, however Vegeta ignored the call - planning to tell Frieza that he and Raditz had not heard it. A month later, Frieza destroys Planet Vegeta, killing most of the Saiyans while Vegeta and Raditz are still away. Discovering that Planet Vegeta is no more, Nappa quickly informs Vegeta, who does not care about the planet or the whereabouts of his brother.

In an anime only flashback in the Frieza Saga, Vegeta is instead shown to be on Frieza's ship during the genocide of the Saiyans.

Between Jaco and Dragon Ball Z

"Man! Frieza... the day will soon be here that we won't take any more orders from him, you watch."

— The young Vegeta when speaking to Nappa in Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku

Frieza kept Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz as combatants to do his bidding. Vegeta is especially reluctant to take orders from Frieza's right-hand man, Zarbon, whom Vegeta states is responsible for mocking him for many years and "working him like a slave." Despite being Frieza's underling, Vegeta constantly and proudly calls himself the "Prince of all Saiyans." Vegeta does not refer to himself as the "King of all Saiyans", possibly out of respect for his father, a refusal to admit the extinction of the Saiyans, or because he was never formally declared King. Vegeta planned to assassinate Frieza several times. However, after witnessing Frieza's incredible display of power when he destroyed an entire planet and the rebels who opposed Frieza on it with a single gigantic energy ball fired from his index finger, Vegeta decided that he would need to wait before challenging Frieza.[15] After an assignment to wipe out the planet Shikk alongside his comrades Raditz and Nappa, Vegeta restrained Nappa when the latter attempted to brashly attack Frieza, Zarbon, and Dodoria for mocking the manner in which they took out the planet as he realized that his group did not stand a chance against Frieza's Elite. Nonetheless, he was still visibly angry and had to restrain himself from attacking when Zarbon mocked him as he was leaving.

At one point during his time serving under Frieza, Vegeta gets into a squabble with the Ginyu Force member Guldo, over how Vegeta is more important in the eyes of Frieza. Guldo mocks Vegeta for being a Saiyan and says he should take orders from them, and Vegeta responds that Guldo takes orders from Frieza the same as he does and mocks Guldo for being a "four-eyed freak". As the angry Guldo prepares to attack Vegeta, Frieza arrives and blasts Guldo away. Frieza then has Vegeta come with him to conquer a planet.

Dragon Ball Z

Saiyan Saga

Main articles: Raditz Saga and Vegeta Saga

"Now I'll show you the wall that you can never scale with "hard work" alone..."

— Vegeta taunting Goku prior to their battle (FUNimation dub)

Vegeta is first made aware of Earth when he receives Raditz's dying report of seven magic objects known as the Dragon Balls which will grant wishes. After hearing this report, and of Raditz's death, Vegeta and his companion, Nappa, decide to head to the planet and use the Dragon Balls to wish for immortality (it is implied in later sagas that he desired immortality so he could defeat Frieza for his many years of suffering). Goku and the Z Fighters are warned that the two will arrive in roughly one years time, and begin to train themselves so that they can be ready for when they show up.

While Vegeta and Nappa travel to Earth, they stop by Arlia in an anime filler. They were only there for a short time, and while they were there, they made short work of the planet's strongest warriors, before destroying Planet Arlia. When they landed on Earth, Nappa and Vegeta wreaked havoc with little to stop them. They then found Piccolo, Krillin, and Gohan waiting for them, with Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha appearing just after. After losing Yamcha (after one Saibaman self destructed), Krillin destroys most of the Saibamen with Piccolo destroying the last Saibaman.

This causes Vegeta and Nappa to become impressed, but Nappa decides to heat things up by being the first to battle Earth's defenders. Vegeta sits back and watches the beatings. Nappa easily dominates all the Z Fighters, resulting in Chiaotzu sacrificing himself by blowing up on Nappa's back, which was in vain, leaving his best friend Tien sacrificing himself to avenge him, which was also proves to be in vain. While Nappa does manage to get wounded every now and then, he seems to have complete control of the battle. In the middle of the battle, Vegeta demands that Nappa stop his rampage for three hours to give Goku a chance to arrive at the scene. Nappa succumbs to Vegeta's orders and obeys him. In filler, Vegeta allows Nappa to destroy the Earth's Military and Navy with the condition that he doesn't use up enough energy to break a sweat. Throughout both parts of the battle, Vegeta chuckles to himself whenever Nappa stumbles on a technique, or when one of the Z Fighters gain the upperhand on Nappa for a limited amount of time, also constantly belittling Nappa, calling him weak and idiotic. However, despite Vegeta's lack of faith in Nappa, he does assist Nappa in dire situations, such as when he warns Nappa about Krillin's Destructo Disc. As Nappa continues to hold the advantage in the battle, the remaining Z Fighters desperately call for Goku to assist them. When Goku finally comes back on Earth and heads directly towards them using his Flying Nimbus, Vegeta reads Goku's power level and then orders Nappa to kill Goku's friends, noting that their assistance with Goku in the battle could be difficult for he and Nappa to defeat. When Gohan angers Nappa to higher levels, Nappa attempts to annihilate Gohan, but Piccolo quickly stands in the way of his attack, thus sacrificing himself for Gohan's sake.

After Piccolo bids his farewell to Gohan, Gohan furiously attacks Nappa at full force with a Super Masenko, which is still not enough to injure Nappa. Vegeta recognizes that Gohan's power only increases with intense displays of emotion, and orders Nappa to kill the boy. Goku arrives just before Nappa can crush Gohan with his foot. Vegeta detects the high power level of Goku with his scouter, and after a quick introduction, Goku begins to fight Nappa. Goku and Nappa seem to be evenly matched at first, but the benefits of Goku's training quickly became evident. Eventually, Vegeta calls Nappa back after taking too long, so Nappa decides that he will kill Gohan and Krillin instead. Goku activates the Kaio-ken, and stops Nappa before he can do anything, crippling him in the process. Goku orders Vegeta to take his injured friend back to where they came from for immediate medical attention. Because of Nappa's failure to defeat a low class Saiyan like Goku, when Nappa begs Vegeta to help him, Vegeta fools Nappa into thinking he will assist him, but instead throws Nappa in the air and kills him for his failure. After giving Krillin and Gohan Senzu Beans, which fully recovers their strength, Goku tells Gohan and Krillin to leave Vegeta to him and requests to Vegeta to fight somewhere else.

Vegeta eventually agrees, and they leave the battle field. At Gizard Wasteland, Vegeta offers Goku a chance to join him, but Goku quickly turns down the offer as he already has everything he wanted, completely disagrees with Vegeta's selfish intentions, and has already seen how Vegeta treats his partners. Vegeta and Goku continue discussing who is truly right, with Vegeta stating that even Goku's multiplying Kaio-ken technique will not reach his elite rank power level, with Goku replying by stating if someone struggles hard enough, a low-class can reach the rank of an elite warrior. Their fight now begins, and it is made clear that Vegeta is much stronger than the much-improved Goku. Even using Kaio-ken, it was not enough to stop Vegeta. Thus, Goku had to push the multiplier of the technique even higher, ignoring King Kai's warnings. With this power, Goku was able to fight Vegeta on equal ground to an extent, and the prince of Saiyans lost his temper and decided he would destroy the planet with his Galick Gun technique, and go find the Dragon Balls on Namek instead.

However, Goku countered the Galick Gun with a Kamehameha, and the two struggled for several minutes. When it seemed Vegeta was gaining the upper hand, Goku finally pushed himself to unforeseen levels and used Kaio-ken times four to boost his power even higher, in turn surprising and overwhelming Vegeta and sending him skywards. Vegeta managed to survive the beam carrying him ever higher. Thus, Vegeta decided to transform himself into a Great Ape, which would multiply his power tenfold, throwing a Power Ball into the air, as Piccolo destroyed the moon a couple of months before.

When Vegeta transformed, Goku was completely outclassed and had to resort to using the Spirit Bomb technique. However, before he could use it, Vegeta disrupted it with a Chou Makouhou. Then Vegeta grabbed Goku and began to slowly crush him, making him suffer instead of killing him quickly. Krillin and Gohan had seen the Power Ball that Vegeta had used to transform, and had returned to the battle. Upon finding Goku defeated, they attempted to distract Vegeta and cut off his tail, in order to force him back to his normal form. This attempt failed, but Yajirobe succeeded where the strong Z Fighters had not. When he was back to normal, Vegeta became enraged and fought Gohan briefly. Despite Gohan's efforts, Vegeta proved to be far stronger and faster than the boy. Goku then decides to give Krillin the last of the Spirit Bomb he managed to retain. Krillin accepted this new energy, and was instructed by Goku how to unleash it on Vegeta.

Panicking at first, Krillin receives further instructions from North Kai, and he hurls the Spirit Bomb at Vegeta. When Yajirobe shouted at Krillin to throw it, making Vegeta notice him, Krillin throws it, and at first it missed, but Gohan was pure enough that he could bounce the energy back, striking Vegeta. The Spirit Bomb hit him and severely damaged him, reducing his energy and strength greatly; but he survived. Vegeta then draws upon his Ki reserves and unleashes a mighty blast that strikes down everyone nearby. Vegeta notices that Gohan has regrown his tail from the effects of the Power Ball, and realizes that he may soon transform. The villain is unable to prevent this thanks to Yajirobe distracting him with an attack from behind. Realizing his mistake, Vegeta quickly returns to Gohan, but was too late. Gohan assumes the Great Ape form, and Vegeta in his severely weakened state could not defeat him. However, Vegeta could out-think the primitive ape form of Gohan, and manages to cut off Gohan's tail, returning the young half-breed to normal size and power. Before Gohan could fully return to normal, however, he fell on Vegeta as a Great Ape, and Vegeta was unable to dodge in his wounded state.

Vegeta finally retreats, and crawls to his space pod, realizing he cannot keep fighting in his current condition. A weakened Krillin gains consciousness, and just when he is about to stab Vegeta with Yajirobe's katana sword, Goku telepathically pleaded for Krillin to let Vegeta go, wanting to have a rematch one day and also wanting Vegeta to have the same chance to change his ways that Piccolo got; after much persuasion, Krillin agrees. Vegeta then departs Earth, vowing to make Goku regret sparing him, and his space pod takes him to one of the planets controlled by Frieza. With his extreme arrogance he cannot understand how a "Low-Class" Saiyan like Goku could have done so well against him, unwilling to factor the contributions of the other three warriors into the battle.

Frieza Saga

Main articles: Namek Saga, Captain Ginyu Saga, Frieza Saga, and Garlic Jr. Saga

"Don't worry, I'll be fine, but you won't! I don't care about my home planet, my family, or any of other Saiyans Frieza did away with! I'm disappointed in myself for never having figured it out a lot sooner. If I had, I'd have never wasted my life doing your dirty work! "

— Vegeta to Dodoria

After rehabilitation, Cui tells Vegeta that Frieza is already on Namek alongside his henchmen Zarbon and Dodoria, and that they are searching for the Dragon Balls. Without wasting any time, Vegeta makes his way to Planet Namek, now planning to make a wish with the Dragon Balls. During his stay on the planet, he meets up with Krillin and Gohan, who were also in search of the Namekian Dragon Balls. He tries to track them down and torment them, but eventually leaves them alone since he has much bigger problems such as Frieza, his previous master and the warlord who was also in search of the mystical Balls. While on Namek, Vegeta is followed and ambushed by Cui. Frieza had given Cui the order to terminate Vegeta, a command Cui had been hoping to hear for many years. However, unbeknownst to Cui, Vegeta's encounter with the earthlings allowed his strength to grow exponentially higher (as a Saiyan's strength increases every time a battle leaves him at near death). Now seeing Vegeta's true power, Cui attacks Vegeta, but Vegeta easily evades Cui's attack, telling him that when his power increased, so did his speed. He then easily kills Cui.

Vegeta later takes the opportunity to dispatch Dodoria as well. Once Dodoria is alone, Vegeta learns from him the true circumstances of Planet Vegeta's destruction by Frieza himself. Dodoria offers Vegeta the opportunity to join forces with him to defeat Frieza, however Vegeta declines the offer and as he reveals his true power, Dodoria runs away cowardly calling for Frieza's help. Vegeta then ruthlessly executes Dodoria as well. After killing Dodoria, Vegeta goes and causes mass havoc in a Namekian village in order to obtain one of the Dragon Balls. Frieza and his henchmen had already collected five Dragon Balls, so he planned to hang on to one and steal the rest from Frieza when the opportunity arose, thus preventing Frieza from making his wish. Once Vegeta obtains the Dragon Ball from the Namekian village and hides it, he takes flight and soon comes face to face with Frieza's most powerful henchman: Zarbon.

Vegeta and Zarbon enter a fierce battle and Vegeta seems to have the upper hand until Zarbon undergoes a powerful reptilian transformation. Zarbon and Vegeta resume the brutal battle, with Zarbon making sport of the Saiyan prince, pounding him around and completely dominating him. Before finishing the battle, Zarbon reveals to Vegeta that Frieza can also transform, much to his horror. Zarbon easily defeats Vegeta with multiple kicks and combos and performs a powerful piledriver, sending Vegeta headfirst into the ground and completely battered in a crater that soon filled up with sea water, which Zarbon detested going into (as it would make him wet), and simply left him for dead. Zarbon returned to Frieza to relay the message of his victory, but Frieza was not satisfied. Frieza is well aware that Vegeta may know the location of one of the Dragon Balls so he sends Zarbon to go and retrieve Vegeta's battered body and bring him back in order to heal him for interrogation.

Vegeta was later dragged back to Frieza's Spaceship by Zarbon, where he healed him in a Medical Machine. Vegeta waited for the right opportunity to escape. He made a clever distraction (he blasted the wall to the outside off leading Frieza and Zarbon to believe he ran off, although he was actually hiding in the ship) and ran away with Frieza's collected Dragon Balls, dropping them inside the pools of water nearby and then recovering them. He spots Krillin flying nearby with a Dragon Ball and follows him to Bulma's hideout. Vegeta threatens harm to both of them if he doesn't get the Dragon Ball but says he will show mercy if they comply. Frieza is extremely angered and he sends Zarbon after Vegeta once more, giving him a limit of one hour. Zarbon is able to locate Vegeta, along with Krillin and Bulma. A fierce clash ensues and the now healed and fully rejuvenated Vegeta reveals that he has become far stronger from his near death experience. Zarbon cannot believe it, but he is unable to defeat Vegeta even in his transformed state. Vegeta ruthlessly slams his fist clean through Zarbon's stomach and blasts him, sending him to a watery grave in the Namekian sea.

Realizing that he can not keep the Dragon Ball from Vegeta, Krillin begrudgingly hands it over without a fight. Now in a fine mood, Vegeta spares his life and Bulma's for the time being. Vegeta now has six of the seven Dragon Balls in his grasp, and needs only one more to make his dream of immortality a reality. While en route to where he had hidden his Dragon Ball, he meets up with Gohan and hits the boy in the stomach for fun before continuing onward. After getting back to where he had hidden his Dragon Ball, Vegeta realizes that Gohan has stolen it and berates himself for letting a kid fool him. He heads back to where Bulma had made her hideout and destroys it, but to his frustration, finds that everyone had already left. He then swears to get them for this humiliation.

"There's no such thing as fair or unfair in battle. There is only victory, or in your case, defeat."

— Vegeta after responding to Guldo's accusations of Vegeta fighting unfairly.

When Vegeta escaped Frieza's ship with five of the seven Namekian Dragon Balls, Frieza sent word to summon the Ginyu Force, the most powerful warriors in his army. The Ginyu Force were a team of five, consisting of: Recoome, Burter, Jeice, Guldo, and their leader, Captain Ginyu. They were strange, often making amusingly choreographed dances and poses, but were also extremely powerful, said to be the mightiest in the universe. Once they arrived on planet Namek, Frieza ordered them to retrieve the Namekian Dragon Balls, bring Vegeta back to him alive, and kill any others that got in their way. Meanwhile, Vegeta sensed the arrival of the Ginyu Force and forged an alliance with Gohan and Krillin, all three deciding that their only chance for survival was to wish for Vegeta's immortality with the Dragon Balls (Vegeta had six and Gohan and Krillin had the last one).

Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin race back to where Vegeta was keeping his six Dragon Balls, and are about to wish for Vegeta's immortality, but Krillin hesitates out of fear of an immortal Vegeta, despite Vegeta's (false) promises that he would not harm them. Suddenly, the Ginyu Force arrives on the island where Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin are, right next to the other six Dragon Balls. Terrified, Vegeta attempts to "hide" one of the Dragon Balls by throwing it far off into the sea, but Burter uses his incredible speed to catch it in mid-air. Vegeta then desperately orders Krillin to destroy the Dragon Ball he is holding so that Frieza cannot make his wish for immortality, but before Krillin can destroy it, Guldo freezes time and snatches the Dragon Ball out of his hands. Outmaneuvered, Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin look on in terror as Captain Ginyu takes the seven Dragon Balls and flies off to report to Frieza, leaving the four remaining members of the Ginyu Force to deal with Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin.

After playing Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine who would fight who, Guldo prepares to engage Gohan and Krillin. As the three begin fighting, it appears as if Gohan and Krillin have Guldo on the ropes, as Guldo is barely able to freeze time long enough to escape the two's energy blasts. Just when it seems that Gohan and Krillin will win, Guldo reveals his trump card: the ability to mentally petrify his enemies. He uses this desperate move to trap Gohan and Krillin in place as he uses telekinesis to make a skewer out of a nearby tree. He launches the skewer at the frozen Gohan and Krillin. Just when it seems like Gohan and Krillin are about to become shish kebab, Vegeta fires an energy beam at Guldo and cuts his head off, stopping the skewer just seconds away from impaling Gohan and Krillin. After Guldo's decapitated head insults Vegeta for not playing fair, the Saiyan prince disintegrates it, now fearing his fight against the brute Recoome.

With Guldo gone, Recoome steps up to challenge Vegeta. With his newfound power after recovering from his battle on Earth and his battle with Zarbon, Vegeta launches into a powerful assault on Recoome, landing several powerful hits and firing an intense energy blast, the Final Crash, at Recoome that appears to take care of him. However, as the dust settles and Recoome emerges unharmed from the debris, it looks like the trio is in trouble. When Recoome effortlessly takes down Vegeta, Krillin goes in to help, believing that the only chance they have of surviving is if Vegeta survives. However, Krillin's efforts are in vain as Recoome easily knocks him aside with a single blow. Gohan then goes in to help Krillin, and despite the young warrior's newly unlocked hidden powers (courtesy of Grand Elder Guru), Recoome manages to easily fend him off. Just when all hope seems lost, Goku lands on planet Namek and quickly rushes onto the scene where the three remaining members of the Ginyu Force (excluding Captain Ginyu) and his friends are. Goku heals his friends and Vegeta (against Krillin's protests) with Senzu Beans that he brought from Earth, although out of his desire to allow his rival a chance to settle the score, and partially to repay Vegeta for helping Gohan and Krillin when they were in danger of Guldo's attack.

The remaining members of the Ginyu Force, agitated by the interruption of Goku's arrival, proceed to engage him in battle, but they prove to be no match for Goku, and he soundly defeats them all, knocking out Recoome (with a single hit) and Burter, and letting Jeice flee. Angered that Goku refuses to finish off Recoome and Burter, Vegeta kills them himself by cracking the unconscious Burter's neck and blowing up the fallen Recoome from behind with an Energy Wave. Goku becomes upset that Vegeta would do such a thing and Vegeta explains that by letting them live, he and Gohan's lives would be at risk. After the fighting is over, the others state that all hope is lost as Captain Ginyu has probably already brought Frieza the Dragon Balls and Frieza may already be immortal. Krillin remarks that on Earth, the sky turns black when the Dragon is summoned, and since that has not happened, Frieza probably has not made his wish. That's when Goku fills the others in on a little secret: the Namekian Dragon Balls can only be activated when one says the correct password, and in the Namekian language. Meanwhile, Jeice arrives at Frieza's ship and requests Captain Ginyu's help to deal with Goku. Annoyed at having to get his hands dirty, Captain Ginyu agrees and flies off with Jeice to fight Goku.

Goku tells Gohan and Krillin to fetch the Dragon Radar and locate the Dragon Balls. Captain Ginyu and Jeice arrive on the scene just as Gohan and Krillin leave. Goku asks for Vegeta's help in fighting the remaining Ginyu Force members and Vegeta agrees, but quickly flies off laughing, leaving Goku to deal with Jeice and Captain Ginyu by himself. After some short fighting, Captain Ginyu realizes that Goku is holding back, and asks that he reveal his full power. Using his scouter, Captain Ginyu is shocked to find Goku reaching a power level of 180,000 with just the normal Kaio-ken. Coming to the conclusion that he can not hope to defeat Goku, he instead to use the Body Change (his special ability) to swap bodies with Goku, but not before fatally injuring his own body (causing Goku to suffer from pain when he enters Captain Ginyu's body). Satisfied with his cunning trick, Captain Ginyu flies off in Goku's body, with Jeice trailing.

The new Captain Ginyu in Goku's body, now wields a great power from Goku. He starts to fool Vegeta, Krillin, and Gohan. Vegeta, however, realized that Goku was not himself. Krillin and Gohan were easily fooled, but immediately came to their senses that Goku is not himself when they saw Goku wearing a scouter, and hanging around Jeice. Krillin and Gohan then joined forces to stop Captain Ginyu in Goku's body. Meanwhile, Vegeta handles Jeice on his own. He swiftly kills the meddling Ginyu Force member, and heads off to fight Captain Ginyu. Goku, now in Captain Ginyu's body, makes an alliance with Vegeta to stop Ginyu in Goku's body. As Ginyu had figured out how to use Goku's body, he took the upper hand against Krillin and Gohan. Vegeta, however, completely overpowered him and was about to finish him off. Captain Ginyu fired another change beam, which was fortunately intercepted by Goku, and both returned to their original bodies. Captain Ginyu, now in his injured old body, was no match for Goku or Vegeta, and was soon being pummeled by him. Knowing he is finished, Captain Ginyu planned another Body Switch using his change beam, with Vegeta. The beam was about to connect with Vegeta, however, Goku intervenes and tosses a frog in the middle of the attack, switching Ginyu's body with that of the frog. Vegeta merely scoffs at the powerlessness of the once-proud Captain Ginyu, and decides to not kill Goku and take his revenge on him, because he needs his help to fight Frieza. Vegeta, Krillin, and Gohan take Goku into a recovery chamber, where he would begin healing.

Eventually, after Cui, Dodoria, Appule, Zarbon, Guldo, Recoome, Burter, Jeice and Captain Ginyu have all failed in their attempts to kill Vegeta, Frieza decided to take matters into his own hands. After realizing his powerful Ginyu Force members were all taken down in battle, Frieza was furious. He fled towards his ship to find any traces of his collected Dragon Balls. Meanwhile, Vegeta stands by a rejuvenating Goku. Vegeta spares Goku only in time on his assistance against Frieza. While Vegeta falls asleep, tired after all the battles, Krillin and Gohan sneakily gather the seven Namekian Dragon Balls, and began telling their wishes. Their first wish was for Piccolo's return. Then they wished to transport him back on Namek. Their third and final wish was interrupted by an enraged Vegeta, waking up and spotting the Namekian Dragon. Frieza also realized this strange feature, and was gaining on them at high speeds. Vegeta pries Dende, the wisher of Porunga the Namekian Dragon, to wish him immortality to stop Frieza. The wish almost succeeded, but Guru, the eldest of all Nameks, died just before they could finish. Vegeta goes into a rage, but stops when he spots Frieza, and becomes slightly fearful, as Frieza looks down on them from above. He provided a sneak peek at his amazing power, but Vegeta was just able to match him.

Vegeta ordered Frieza to transform and explained that Zarbon had already mentioned that Frieza also had the ability to transform, seeing it was no longer a secret. As a result, Frieza decided to transform with some provocation from Vegeta, after telling Vegeta the fate of his own father in a flashback. In this new form, Frieza was too powerful for Vegeta, and especially Krillin, Dende, and Gohan. Frieza impales Krillin, and after defeating Gohan, Frieza asks Vegeta if he will help the defenseless child, but Vegeta backs away from helping in fear. Frieza is then confronted by Piccolo, who Vegeta thinks is a worthless waste of a wish and wonders what the Namekian who lost to Nappa can possibly do against Frieza, as he does not know that Piccolo had fused with Nail to become even more powerful. In filler, while Piccolo and Frieza are fighting, Vegeta attempts to run away, but he is spotted by Frieza and kicked into a Namekian mountain. It seems Piccolo can handle Frieza in his Second Transformation. As a result, Frieza decides to transform into his most hideous form. After transforming yet again, Frieza is once again too powerful for anyone, including the fused Piccolo, who is saved by Gohan.

When Frieza eventually manages to deflect Gohan's Wild Rush Blaster, Vegeta realizes Frieza may be too strong for even him or Goku, and concocts a plan to reach the rank of Super Saiyan by having Krillin seriously wound him, leaving him within only an inch of his life, then having Dende heal him (because Saiyans grow increasingly stronger when they recover from near-death experiences). He fails as Frieza decides yet again to transform due to Gohan, when angered, being powerful enough to almost deter his third form.

After Frieza kills Dende, Vegeta watches Gohan, Krillin and Piccolo battle the tyrant all at once with no success, and jumps in to save Gohan's life when Frieza fires another Bang Beam at him. Vegeta then declares himself a Super Saiyan and attacks Frieza directly, trying to hit Frieza with a raging flurry of punches, which Frieza manages to dodge quite easily, as his speed and power are still far superior to Vegeta's. Angered by this, Vegeta fires the Final Burst Cannon at Frieza, using all of his power, however, the tyrant still easily deflects the attack, making Vegeta lose all hope, and for the first time in his life, cry.

Frieza goes on the assault and begins pummeling Vegeta, leaving him on the brink of death until the renewed Goku shows up and distracts him. Sensing Goku's increased strength and watching Goku outsmart Frieza and even kick him in the jaw, Vegeta begins laughing and taunting Frieza that Goku is the Super Saiyan who will defeat him. Frieza fires a Death Beam right through Vegeta's heart, ending the Saiyan Prince's tortured life.

Vegeta dies slowly and painfully, telling Goku that he needs to harden his heart against Frieza in order to achieve the Super Saiyan transformation, yet Goku tells him he could never stop so low as to become as heartless as him and Frieza. Then, in order to fill him with rage and to tell him about the race, he begins pouring his heart and his past out to Goku as the only other pure-blooded Saiyan left alive, this with tears rushing down the Saiyan Prince's face. He also becomes somewhat reformed; he no longer cares about immortality or conquering the universe, but becomes obsessed with becoming stronger. Vegeta continues on, begging Goku to defeat Frieza for the pride of the saiyan race. Goku in honor prepares a grave, realizing that although Vegeta did care about his race being destroyed, he was more upset that Frieza had used him as a puppet for all of his life, and no matter what he did to try and stop Frieza, he could do nothing, nearly destroying the saiyan's pride. Goku vows to take revenge for Vegeta on behalf of their race, burying the fallen prince as a sign of gratitude for Vegeta saving Gohan and helping to revive Piccolo.

"The blood in your veins. That perfect instinct for battle. There's no denying what you are. Reach down deep. Feel the pain of those who fell. Your brethren were all decimated. Your home world lost. Does it not enrage you to stand before the monster responsible for driving us to extinction? My father. Your father. Both gone. Dead. Killed by him. Lord Frieza. You are the last of our kind, Kakarot. Everything we were survives now only in you. And he won't rest until every trace of that has vanished. Because he is haunted every day and night by a single overriding fear. That the Legendary Super Saiyan will rise up from the ashes and obliterate him. I dreamt, I urned to be the one to avenge us. Yet he battered and broke me just as he did the others. You cannot know the torment I died in. Unless you're the one to finish this, we will be lost, lost forever to the memory of time. "

— Vegeta's inspiring speech to Goku

After Goku is being beat by Frieza, Vegeta, King Vegeta and Bardock appear to Goku in a vision and convince him that he can defeat Frieza by becoming a Super Saiyan, giving him a very inspiration speech about Frieza's fear of the legends of the Saiyan race, how Goku should be filled with rage with the thought of his species and homeworld having been destroyed by Frieza, and convincing Goku that he needs to avenge the Saiyans, or else they will be lost to the memory of time.

Vegeta is later resurrected when a wish is made with the Earth's Dragon Balls to bring back everyone killed on Planet Namek by Frieza and his men. He is revived and brought to Earth, but not before he sees that Goku has transformed into the legendary Super Saiyan warrior that Saiyan legend says will appear only every one millennia (three millennia in the English dub, this only occurs in the anime, and is ignored by the series itself). He also attempts to launch an attack on a bewildered Frieza after the latter asked if he was a ghost, but is transported to Earth by Porunga before he can finish the attack. Meanwhile, Goku defeats Frieza but is apparently killed in Namek's explosion. Only in the anime, Vegeta hides his remorse for Goku by boasting happily about it until Gohan challenges him to a fight. Vegeta subdues Gohan but is stopped from hurting him seriously by Piccolo, and flies off. Desiring to learn how to become a Super Saiyan, Vegeta comes up with the idea of wishing Goku to the Check-In Station in the Other World and then wishing him back so that he will be brought to Earth instead of where Namek used to be. When the wish is made, however, Goku is revealed to have survived and refuses to be wished to Earth, promising that he will return himself later. Only in the anime, as he is unwilling to wait, Vegeta steals a Capsule Corporation spaceship and ventures out to search for Goku and bring him back.

Only in the anime, Vegeta travels through space with the Capsule Corporation spaceship in an attempt to locate Goku and find out how to become a Super Saiyan. He eventually attacks and kills a number of Frieza's remaining minions to prove to them that their leader is dead. As some warriors are still refusing to believe him, Vegeta ruthlessly executes any remaining combatants. At one point, he senses Goku on a nearby planet and races to the other to see him, however a large asteroid gets in his way and upon destroying it finds that Goku has disappeared. He vows that he will become a Super Saiyan one day as he takes off.

Cell Saga

Main articles: Trunks Saga, Androids Saga, Perfect Cell Saga, and Cell Games Saga

"What? Haven't you seen a pink shirt before? If you like it so much, you can have it!"

— Vegeta responding to Future Trunks' fake reason for staring at him, which he says is his pink shirt.

One year and eight months after the events on planet Namek, Vegeta returned to Earth, not having found Goku. Vegeta had been training during that time and was quite a bit more powerful than before. However, he still did not achieve the Super Saiyan transformation. After calling off his search, he returns to Capsule Corporation, where Bulma forces him to take a shower and gives him a pink shirt to wear as his alternate clothing. Vegeta acts hostile towards Bulma and the others due to the mistrust between them but he finds himself speechless and submissive towards Bulma's orders, much to everyone's shock. While he is still living at Capsule Corporation, Frieza and his father King Cold are sensed on their way to Earth, Frieza having survived the explosion of Namek. However, a young man named Trunks appears, transforms into a Super Saiyan, and destroys both Frieza and his father. After the fight, the boy tells them that Goku will soon arrive. The Z Fighters (Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, Gohan, and Krillin), along with Bulma and Puar, wait for 2 hours for Goku's arrival. Vegeta is curious as to who the stranger really is and is jealous of the young warrior's ability to become a Super Saiyan, seeing him as an obstacle to his goal of becoming the strongest fighter in the universe by obtaining the Super Saiyan form himself as well as being in denial about Future Trunks being a Saiyan. While waiting for Goku, Future Trunks keeps staring at Vegeta, causing Vegeta to demand why he is staring at him. Eventually, Goku shows up and he explains that he ended up on Planet Yardrat and learned Instant Transmission from the natives. Future Trunks speaks with Goku privately (though Piccolo was able to hear them with his sharp hearing), after testing the Saiyan's power briefly. He tells Goku that his father is Vegeta, his mother is Bulma, and he is a Super Saiyan from 20 years in the future. In actuality, the reason why Future Trunks was staring at Vegeta was that this had been the first time he actually met his father, due to Future Vegeta being killed by the Androids while Future Trunks was still an infant. Goku does not talk about this with the others but he does speak about Future Trunks being a Saiyan, which makes Vegeta angry and jealous. Vegeta says it is impossible because there is no way for the boy to have Saiyan blood (he and Goku being the last of the Saiyans, and Gohan being a half-breed).

Future Trunks then gives Goku an antidote for a heart virus that Future Trunks says Goku will develop in a few years time. He also says that in three years, two Androids, created by former Red Ribbon Army scientist Dr. Gero, will appear, kill all of the Z Fighters, and begin a reign of terror over the Earth. During the next three years, the Z Fighters began to train very hard. Vegeta was no exception, as he trained the hardest to become a Super Saiyan. After witnessing the lower class Goku and another stranger he does not even recognize as from his race being Super Saiyans, Vegeta trains with pure determination. This eventually leads to him getting injured in a training-related accident and being hospitalized temporarily and causes Bulma to get closer to him, rendering Yamcha jealous.[16]

"Such a shame you're not a fraction as tough as you'd like to believe. It's easy enough to know that from the few moves I've seen all that anyone need do is avoid the extraction node on your palm.(...)Funny, I seem to recall you feeding Kakarot the same bull right before he transformed. The distinct looks on your faces when he went Super Saiyan didn't exactly inspire confidence. One doesn't predict or calculate power such as ours. But I am curious, are Androids capable of experiencing anything akin to real fear?!"

— Vegeta toward Android 19 as he prepares to unveil his Super Saiyan form in "No Victory for Android 19! Enter Super Vegeta!"

Two years later, Vegeta and Bulma develop an intimate relationship and, as a result, Bulma gives birth to a son named Trunks. However, Vegeta shows little to no interest in his son due to his priority to surpass Goku and his inability to act as a father. During this time, Vegeta trains himself intensely, determined to become a Super Saiyan like Goku. Training at 450 times normal gravity, Vegeta pushes his strength to the limit but still finds himself unable to achieve the level of Super Saiyan. Eventually, in the anime only, Vegeta takes the ship with the Gravity Machine on it to a planet so he can train without distraction. While on this planet, Vegeta is forced to defend the ship from a sudden meteor shower, a task which proves to be difficult for him as he is weakened from his training. Just as it seems that both himself and the ship are going to be destroyed by a giant meteor, Vegeta, out of sheer hopelessness and desperation, finally becomes a Super Saiyan and is easily able to destroy the meteor (in the manga, Vegeta instead claimed he achieved the transformation because, like Goku, he did ultimately have purity of heart, albeit one of pure evil).

It is not long after that the prophesied Android 19 and Android 20 appear and wreak havoc a year later. Vegeta is at age 35 at the time. When the heart disease begins to attack Goku while fighting Android 19, Vegeta appears out of nowhere and kicks the Android in the face, saving Goku. Vegeta tells them to give Goku his medicine. Goku is then flown home by Yamcha, where the heart medicine is given to him. Vegeta then greatly surprises everyone by transforming into a Super Saiyan. Vegeta then begins to effortlessly demolish Android 19 with his increased power and after ripping the Android's hands off, he finishes it off with his Big Bang Attack.

Vegeta seems to be far more powerful than both of the Androids, and Android 20 decides to flee. During this time, Future Trunks arrives and informs everyone that Android 19 and 20 are not the androids of his future world. After Vegeta takes a Senzu Bean to recover his power, Piccolo calls Future Trunks by name, causing Vegeta to realize who he really is; Vegeta is initially shocked by this realization, although he is also apparently resolved as this explains how the boy could become a Super Saiyan (Vegeta is also implied to be proud to be Trunks' father, as he reacts with surprise at Trunks' Super Saiyan transformation at his age, and then thinks "But then again, he is my son"). Android 20 tries to kill Bulma, baby Trunks, and Yajirobe (all who had been wanting to see the battle) to escape but are saved by Future Trunks, who questions why Vegeta didn't try to save Bulma and their child. Vegeta replies they are no concern to him and continues his pursuit of the android. After pursuing Android 20 (who is really Dr. Gero, with his brain in a cyborg body) Vegeta and the rest of the team discover Android 16, Android 17, and Android 18, who were activated by Android 20 in a desperate attempt to save himself. These Androids were far more powerful than either Dr. Gero, or Android 19. However, Android 17 crushes Dr. Gero's head, not being loyal to his creator at all.

"The Super Saiyans of legend were an invincible warrior race! I am their son. And at long last, I have risen to claim my birthright. I have stepped into the ranks of greatness. All my life, I have worked toward this goal and for what? To be brushed aside as easily as a common housefly by an android? A true Super Saiyan would not have fallen. Maybe I am not who I think I am. Perhaps there are still new plateaus for me to reach, far greater heights to which I must ascend. Yes, I will ascend. The universe will marvel to see the ultimate Saiyan potential once again realized... and I will be legendary. And then Kakarot, then I will see you bow before your Prince."

— "Unwelcome Discovery"

The three new Androids fly away from Dr. Gero's secret laboratory, but the Z Fighters follow them, and Vegeta challenges them to battle. He fights with Android 18, and seems to be doing fairly well at first and surprises the Androids with his newfound power, but is eventually defeated due to the fact that Android 18 has infinite power while Vegeta has to use all his power to fight her. When Piccolo, Tien, and Future Trunks step in, they too are beaten into submission. The Androids then head off to look for Goku in order to destroy him - the mission they were made for. Krillin, the only Z Fighter not to have gotten involved in the skirmish with the Androids, gives everyone Senzu Beans, which revived all of his fallen comrades. Vegeta then spends three days standing on a cliff, thinking about his defeat. His anger erupts, causing him to transform into a Super Saiyan. He decides that there must be a level beyond Super Saiyan, and resolves to reach it. Vegeta later senses Piccolo's power, he is shocked to hear he fused with Kami. Piccolo then informs Vegeta and the others about Dr. Gero's creation Cell, Vegeta is especially stunned to hear that Cell has some of his cells and Goku's as well as others. He resolves to ascend higher than Super Saiyan and flies off to find a way. He is approached by Goku who tells him of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber at The Lookout and Vegeta theorizes to attain higher power if he trains for nearly a year (a day outside) in the room. Vegeta goes in the room with Future Trunks.

"Now, I'm going to show you what true power REALLY is! That's right! I'm SUPER VEGETA!"

— Vegeta after transforming into an 2nd Grade Super Saiyan for the fight with Cell.

After Imperfect Cell manages to absorb Android 17 and becomes even stronger than Piccolo, Vegeta and Future Trunks emerge from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and confront Semi-Perfect Cell. After powering up into a Super Saiyan Second Grade, Vegeta completely dominated Semi-Perfect Cell and even made the evil android beg him to allow him to absorb Android 18, in order to become complete and make the fight more interesting. This strategy was obvious to everyone, including Vegeta, and he initially refuses. However, eager to show off his new power, Vegeta eventually permits Semi-Perfect Cell to do as he wishes, even going so far as to fight Future Trunks and stop him from preventing Semi-Perfect Cell's attainment of his perfect form. Vegeta doubted Future Trunks would fight back, though he is proven wrong when Trunks actually blasts him away from the battle into the sea, in the process drawing Vegeta's blood.

Vegeta became proud that his son dared to attack him but becomes angry at his wound, he quickly returns to the battlefield, just as Cell has obtained his Perfect form. Cell fights Vegeta again, but this time, Vegeta is the weaker one, with Vegeta angry that Cell was not taking their battle seriously. Vegeta had to resort to using his Final Flash technique, which, to his credit, was too strong for Cell to block. He dares Perfect Cell to take the attack head-on, and Perfect Cell, confident that it will not harm him, stays put as the beam hits him. Though it failed to destroy Perfect Cell, the attack's power was obvious, as Perfect Cell was missing a third of his body from the blast. When Vegeta thought he had won, Perfect Cell regenerated, though, thanks to Piccolo's Cells, and then badly beat the weakened Vegeta. Perfect Cell then fought Future Trunks, who managed to put up a fight against the perfect Android, but he was defeated as well when he gave up after realizing the 3rd Grade Super Saiyan form was too slow to fight Cell. Instead of killing the defeated Z Warriors, Perfect Cell proposes a tournament so that he can have some fun before destroying Earth. Cell then broadcasts a message to tell Earth that the tournament would commence in ten days.

"It is painfully clear at this point that no one among this group is stronger than Kakarot is. Not even...myself. So, he deserves to have the fight of a true warrior, and that means...to the death."

— Vegeta when commenting on Goku's fight with Cell

During this time, Goku and Gohan got their turn in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and began training, mostly for the purpose of Gohan becoming a Super Saiyan, his hidden power would be very useful then if he could at least keep up with Perfect Cell normally. Goku and Gohan then appear from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber with Vegeta being shocked they exit so early. He is surprised at them achieving the Full-Powered Super Saiyan state and how they are normal in demeanor. After talking with Goku, Vegeta then decides to once again enter the Hyperbolic Time Chamber hopeful to gain an increase in power as he had before but this time decided to do things differently, first by entering alone instead of with Future Trunks deciding that he would just slow him down and to instead gain control over the original Super Saiyan transformation as Goku and Gohan had done before rather than increasing his power as much as possible. Vegeta then reappeared from the chamber disappointed at how little increase in power he had achieved. All the Z Warriors then gathered at the tournament after nine days had passed. On the day of the tournament, the martial arts champion Mr. Satan (Hercule) and his trainees attack Perfect Cell first, but they are easily defeated. Then the tournament truly begins, as Goku is the first of our heroes to fight Perfect Cell, even though he already knows that he will probably not be able to beat him. He matches Perfect Cell blow for blow and puts up a good fight; but as Goku expected, Perfect Cell is quite a bit stronger than him.

Goku eventually quits the fight after a huge Kamehameha that decreases his own power and remembers the training inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber that he and Gohan went through. Goku is confident in his son's abilities and sends the 11-year-old Gohan out to fight Perfect Cell, assuring Perfect Cell that if Gohan could not beat him, no one would be able to. Gohan reluctantly fights Perfect Cell, but Gohan does not show the same love for fighting and confidence that Goku does, and it is that lack of interest in fighting and lack of confidence that gets him into trouble. Gohan does not use his full strength and Perfect Cell makes seven miniature versions of himself to fight the Z Fighters and eventually kill them. This charade continues until Android 16 (who is now allied with Goku) is killed - when this happens, Gohan's dormant power erupts in his rage and he transforms to a level that surpasses the known limits of any Super Saiyan. This new level of power is "Super Saiyan 2". It was just as Goku had predicted; Vegeta was shocked to watch Gohan with his awakened power, as the latter dominates the perfect android until a well-placed kick to the stomach makes Perfect Cell regurgitate Android 18, forcing him to become semi-perfect again. No longer at his ultimate power, he begins to self destruct as a last resort. Vegeta is further shocked when Goku sacrifices himself by teleporting Cell to King Kai's Planet and is killed in the explosion. Semi-Perfect Cell survives and comes back in his perfect form, but due to his Saiyan genetics, Super Perfect Cell comes back stronger after his near-fatal injury. He returns to Earth, where he kills Future Trunks with a Full Power Death Beam.

Vegeta, distraught to see his son get killed and guilt-ridden for rejecting his efforts to help him, attacks Super Perfect Cell in a fit of rage, blasting the android straight on with an incredible volley of Ki Blasts. When it is all over, Super Perfect Cell emerges, completely unharmed. He knocks Vegeta aside and then attempts to finish him off once and for all with a ki blast, but Gohan throws himself in the way of the blast, losing the use of his left arm in the process. What follows is a turning point in the life of the Warrior Prince: seeing that his pride and rage has taken the victory from a brother Saiyan and warrior, Vegeta, for the first time in his life, apologizes to Gohan for his actions.

During the Kamehameha struggle, Vegeta observes the battle and briefly expresses some doubts about the other Z-fighters (namely Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, and Krillin) going to aid Piccolo in trying to distract Cell long enough to have Gohan overpower Cell, thinking their actions won't make a difference either way. However, after witnessing them distract Cell long enough to yell at them for interfering, Vegeta starts wondering whether it would actually work. He then has some remaining doubts, before eventually becoming a Super Saiyan again. After an intense Kamehameha duel, Super Perfect Cell is about to finish Gohan but is finally defeated by Gohan's Kamehameha after Vegeta distracts him with a Galick Blazer to the back, allowing Gohan's beam to finally overcome Super Perfect Cell's. Realizing that both Goku and Gohan are superior to him not only in power but in character and honor as well, Vegeta understands that he was beaten by Goku in more ways than one. His last words on the battlefield are "Kakarot, you died without fear. What does that make of me?" With the battle over, Vegeta begins to finally accept his rapidly changing morality (as he, like Piccolo before him, has now grown to care for others), and begins to settle down on Earth, becoming quite fond of it, he marries Bulma and begins to truly care about his family. With Goku dead and gone, and perhaps due to guilt from allowing Perfect Cell to come to be and wreak havoc on the world, Vegeta vows to never fight again and resolves to be a better husband and father.

Majin Buu Saga

Main articles: Great Saiyaman Saga, World Tournament Saga, Babidi Saga, Majin Buu Saga, Fusion Saga, Kid Buu Saga, and Peaceful World Saga

"Yeah, when's the last time you trained? Seriously, just because we live in peaceful times isn't an excuse to be lazy, boy."

— Vegeta after meeting with Gohan for the first time in 7 years

Seven years after the Cell Games, despite lacking a worthy opponent, and having abandoned his role as a fighter, Vegeta continues his vigorous training at Bulma's house, coming much closer to Gohan's Super Saiyan 2 power due to Gohan focusing on his studies. Now that Goku is gone, Vegeta's goal is no longer to become stronger than him, but to make Trunks stronger than both Gohan and Goku's second son, Goten, as he strongly believes Gohan's Super Saiyan 2 was Goku's doing. He is first seen emerging from a gravity room after training with Trunks, when Gohan comes to have fun with Trunks. While Gohan greets Vegeta kindly, Vegeta gives Gohan a cold look and tells him that he should've continued training, in his opinion, "living in times of peace is no excuse to be lazy".

At Capsule Corporation, Gohan tells Bulma about how he's being blackmailed into entering the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament by Videl, who saw through his Great Saiyaman disguise. Bulma decides to give him a turban to put over his head along with some sunglasses in place of the helmet as helmets or armor are not allowed in the tournament, which unfortunately does little to reduce just how ridiculous the costume is. When Bulma points out that Gohan would have no challenge when he enters the Tournament, Vegeta enters, deciding to compete as well, wanting to see if he's surpassed Gohan by continuing to train while the young half Saiyan has grown complacent. Goku, listening in from the Other World, contacts them through King Kai and tells them he'll compete too, using his one-day pass to the living world. Vegeta is happy that they can finally have a rematch and boasts that he will beat Goku and his sons in the tournament. With the Tournament now getting even more interesting, Gohan flies off to tell the others about the Tournament and Goku's return.

During training for the tournament, Vegeta is shown to be a rather harsh and stern teacher towards Trunks, commenting rudely on Trunks's inability to adapt to the intense gravity in the training room, but at the same time worrying about his well-being by asking him to rest. He then becomes shocked and proud when Trunks effortlessly goes Super Saiyan and adapts well (thus reducing the "transformation into the legendary warrior" to a "child's play thing"). Vegeta orders Trunks to attack him, promising to take him to the amusement park if he manages to hit him in the face. Trunks manages to land a blow on Vegeta, who strikes him to the floor. Impressed with his son's fighting abilities, Vegeta decides to take him to the park as promised. However, Vegeta becomes slightly irritated when he hears that Goten is also a Super Saiyan (especially after hearing it was Chi-Chi who triggered the transformation in the first place) and only slightly weaker than Trunks, and vows to make the gap between Trunks and Goten's power as big as possible.

"You needn't worry about the publicity, dear. If too many come, I'll deal with them swiftly and mercilessly!"

— Vegeta on Bulma's comment about journalists flooding her yard

Vegeta then arrives at the tournament with his family and in turn joins up with the Z Fighters in order to greet Goku on his return. When Goku appears, Vegeta, with his son, look on as the others greet Goku in happiness. They then all take turns hitting the punch reader machine. While the Z Fighters lower their strength to hit the machine, Vegeta hits it without holding back, completely destroying the machine, to the disgrace of the others. Vegeta is eager to fight Goku in the tournament to prove that he was the stronger one and to his delight, his first match is with Goku. Goku meets his son Goten and the tournament starts. When Trunks won the Junior Division final match against Goten, Vegeta is very proud of his son's victory. Soon, Shin and Kibito appear and tell Goku that a wizard named Babidi is about to unleash an evil monster named Majin Buu on the world, and they must help stop him. Majin Buu needs energy from fighters so he can be freed from the shell he is trapped inside. Goku prepares to go with Shin, but Vegeta is enraged - he was scheduled to fight Goku and thinks Goku is trying to wiggle out of it. He joins Goku, Gohan, Videl, Piccolo and Krillin. They follow Shin to Babidi's spaceship. However, the gang is ambushed. Piccolo and Krillin are turned to stone statues by Dabura, one of Babidi's henchmen. Videl returns to the tournament, advised that the fight against Babidi might be too dangerous for her as she is inexperienced. Goku, Gohan, Vegeta and Shin enter Babidi's ship.

They fight their way down the levels, encountering a different Majin (Babidi's fighters) at each level. Vegeta was the first of the three to fight, after winning a match of Rock-Paper-Scissors. He fights the minion Pui Pui with absolute ease, not even having to transform into a Super Saiyan. Seeing Pui-Pui fall to Vegeta's might, Babidi transports Pui Pui and the others to Pui Pui's home planet Zoon, which has 10x the gravity of earth. Vegeta, having already trained under 500X gravity when preparing for the androids, is not fazed at all by this change (also note that Vegeta grew up on Planet Vegeta, which already had 10X the gravity of earth). Vegeta then proceeds to eliminate Pui-Pui swiftly by killing him instantly with a point-blank energy blast, completely disintegrating the minion. Goku was up next, and he fought a pet creature of Babidi known as Yakon. At first, Yakon was troublesome, seeing as though he has the ability to see in dark, whereas Goku could not. However, Goku manages to defeat the creature by forcing him to absorb too much of his energy and blow up, briefly giving Vegeta a glimpse of Goku's Super Saiyan 2 powers.

"It will take more than head games to stop me! You may have invaded my mind and my body, but there's one thing a Saiyan always keeps...HIS PRIDE!"

— Majin Vegeta breaking free from Babidi's control

At this point, Vegeta realizes that even though he has trained as hard as he could for seven years, there was still a gap between Goku's power and his. Then Gohan begins to fight Dabura. During the fight between Gohan and Dabura, Vegeta and Goku have an argument about how to best handle the Babidi/Majin Buu threat. Dabura notices Vegeta's anger quickly boil and rise, and he retreats saying that there is a different fighter who is more powerful. They are confused, as Shin says that Dabura is the most powerful Majin. Suddenly, Vegeta begins acting strangely, screaming that something invisible is attacking him. Shin informs the others that Babidi is trying to take over Vegeta's mind and they encourage him to fight back, but it is too late. Vegeta is overwhelmed by Babidi, and is transformed into a much more powerful stage, Majin Vegeta. Babidi orders his new apprentice, Majin Vegeta, to destroy Goku, Gohan and Shin, but he refuses, saying that he will only fight Goku.

Babidi is surprised by Majin Vegeta's ability to fight his mind control, but obediently transports the three fighters and Shin back to the World Martial Arts Tournament. Majin Vegeta, eager to fight Goku, blows up part of the spectator bleachers, killing dozens of people and almost killing his wife, trying to convince Goku to fight him. After taunting Goku for a while, Goku eventually agrees. Shin tries to get in the way of the two Saiyans' feud, but backs down when Goku threatens to blast him if he gets in the way (to the surprise of Vegeta). Goku and Majin Vegeta then are teleported to a secluded mountain area, where they proceed to fight. Majin Vegeta reveals to Goku that he deliberately let Babidi control him in order to allow his evilness to resurface, which would allow Vegeta to fight Goku as he once was, saying "I was cold and ruthless, unencumbered by foolish emotion!" He further elaborates that he came to realize that he had become a normal person; he has a wife and son he adores and has started to like living on Earth, but he has become ashamed of the change within him and believes his ties to his family and the planet made him weak. After that, Majin Vegeta and Goku both power-up to Super Saiyan 2, with power levels just surpassing that of Gohan's when he fought Super Perfect Cell.[17][18] Then Goku and Majin Vegeta fight furiously, with each fighter having one glorious moment after one another.

Vegeta was able to fight evenly with Goku, (catching the latter off-guard on a few occasions). Throughout the battle, Vegeta informs Goku of how he began to enjoy comfortable family life with Bulma and Trunks, but his Saiyan nature began to disagree with this new cozy, non-violent lifestyle, making Vegeta feel weak and useless, thus, Vegeta wanted to retread the path he was on a long time ago, evil and ruthless. Goku tries to persuade Vegeta that his life has changed, and he can still easily enjoy being a competitive fighter with a loving family, but Vegeta brushes this notion aside as nonsense. Eventually, Goku calls the fight to a halt because he senses Majin Buu's extraordinary power, meaning he has been released from to the energy spent by Goku and Majin Vegeta which Babidi used to revive the sleeping Majin Buu. Majin Vegeta refuses to oblige, even when told Majin Buu will kill his family. Goku angrily be