Vegeta is the prince of the Saiyans, the invader who comes to Earth for the Dragon Balls and ends up staying, marrying and raising a family. He first appears in chapter 204 of the manga, on sale in December 1988, and no other character in the saga changes as much while holding on so stubbornly to his pride.
Who he is
The son of King Vegeta, he is born heir to a warrior race working for Frieza. When the tyrant destroys Planet Vegeta, the prince is among the few survivors and grows up serving the man who wiped out his people. Arrogant, calculating and ruthless, he sees Goku, born a low-class warrior, as a living insult to the Saiyan hierarchy.
His name follows the Saiyan rule of vegetable puns; in his case the pun is simply the English word vegetable.
His story across the series
- Dragon Ball Z: he lands on Earth with Nappa to wish for immortality, kills his defeated partner and pushes Goku to the brink. Spared, he heads to Namek, defies Frieza and dies in tears, begging Goku to avenge the Saiyans. Once revived, he becomes a Super Saiyan while waiting for the androids. In the Cell saga his pride costs everyone dearly when he lets the villain reach his perfect form. In the Majin Buu saga he lets Babidi control him just to get his rematch with Goku, then sacrifices himself to protect his family.
- Dragon Ball Super: he trains with Whis, reaches Super Saiyan Blue and, at the Tournament of Power, pushes that form beyond its limits. In the manga he develops Ultra Ego, drawing on the power of the Gods of Destruction.
- Dragon Ball Daima: he shows Super Saiyan 3 for the first time, at the price of a huge energy drain.
- Dragon Ball GT: he is possessed by the parasite Baby and later reaches Super Saiyan 4 with the help of a machine built by Bulma.
Powers, techniques and transformations
| Technique or form | Key moment |
|---|---|
| Galick Gun | His duel with Goku on Earth (Z) |
| Great Ape | Transformation with an artificial moon (Z) |
| Big Bang Attack and Final Flash | Android and Cell sagas (Z) |
| Super Saiyan | Reached far from Earth, before the androids (Z) |
| Majin Vegeta | His deal with Babidi (Z) |
| Super Saiyan God and Blue | Dragon Ball Super |
| Ultra Ego | Dragon Ball Super manga |
| Super Saiyan 3 | Dragon Ball Daima |
| Super Saiyan 4 | Dragon Ball GT |
With Goku he forms Vegito and Gogeta, two fusions that turn entire battles around. For the full picture of the golden forms, read our guide to Super Saiyan transformations.
Relationships
- Goku is his lifelong obsession: enemy, then rival, finally something very close to a friend, though Vegeta would never say so.
- Bulma is the woman with whom he builds a family, almost in spite of himself.
- Trunks is both the son who came from the future and the one born in the present. When Cell strikes down the older Trunks, Vegeta charges in blind with rage, one of the rare times he loses control on someone else's behalf.
- Frieza is the master who destroyed his planet and his childhood.
Why he is iconic: our take
Vegeta has the longest and most satisfying character arc in Dragon Ball. His change does not happen in a single episode: it is slow, full of relapses, and it runs through embarrassing low points like choosing to become Babidi's puppet. That is exactly why his sacrifice against Majin Buu lands so hard, and it is also the moment he openly admits that Goku is the better fighter.
Readers picked up on his anti-hero appeal immediately: he placed high among male characters in the Anime Grand Prix polls of 1991 and 1992. Pride remains both his engine and his weakness, and the writers know how to play it for laughs as well as for drama.
Did you know? In Japan Vegeta has always been voiced by Ryō Horikawa. The only exception is the shrunken version in Daima, voiced by Yūdai Mino.
Trivia
- He is sometimes referred to in full as Prince Vegeta IV.
- The word Saiyan itself comes from rearranging the syllables of yasai, Japanese for "vegetable".
- In the Latin American Spanish dub he has been voiced by René García, while in Brazil Alfredo Rollo has played him since his debut.