If you grew up watchingDragon Ball Z꧃then you know two things for sure: Goku will always be the face of the franchise and Vegeta will never be more than his “always second best” rival. For Vegeta fans, that can be a bit upsetting. He ൩undeniably has more of a presence inZthan Goku, his character arc is very in your face and noted, and he has probably the best performance in both the English and Japanese dubs.ജ Vegeta is꧙ a well-loved character, but it doesn’t always seem like series creator Akira Toriyama shares that same love.
Vegeta is frequently beaten up by enemies to showcase how strong they are, he’s humiliated by Goku and others quite a bit throughout the course of the franchise, and his character arc ends with him not surpassing Goku but by accepting how much bet🅠ter he is. In the wrong light, all that makes for a very frustrating depiction of a dynamic character. But let’s think about all that differently. Toriyama isn’t por𒊎traying Vegeta like this because he dislikes him, but because it’s a more real presentation of what otherwise would have been a very static character.
Vegeta is a great characterbecausehe’s Goku’s “always second best” rival. He needs to push himself more than Goku does just to keep up. In pushing himself this way, Vegeta always achieves feats that Goku couldn’t even dream of. If you’re a fan of the character and feel dis💜appointed with how he’s been treated, don’t. There’s so much Vegeta can do that Goku can’t, and all that serves to make him even more impressive.
15 Vegeta Can Kill His Enemies
By the time Dragon Ball Z rolls around, Goku’s gone𓄧 through a fair amount of character d💫evelopment. He’s calmer and refuses to kill his enemies. This is a double edged sword. On one hand, characters like Piccolo and Vegeta get a chance to shine and develop, but you get moments where Goku leaves the entire Ginyu Force alive.
Vegeta actually goes through with ki🔴lling his enemies. Not just his enemies, he’ll kill his friends. Goku was perfectly content letting Nappa🐓 live but Vegeta thought otherwise. If it weren’t for Vegeta, the Ginyu Force would have gotten away to hunt down Goku another day. Vegeta also fights Majin Buu with the intent to kill him the first time they meet up which is vastly different from Goku’s first fight with Buu where he knows he can kill him, but decides not to so Goten and Trunks can have a shot.
14 Vegeta Can Science His Way To Super Saiyan 4
If there’s one thing GT does right, it’s how it characterizes Vegeta. His ego’s de🐼flated and he no longer has an unhealthy obsession with surpassing Goku. He still keeps training, but he fights because he♒ has to and not out of regurgitated Saiyan pride. By the last saga, Vegeta realizes the gap between him and Goku is too wide, but it can be closed by pumping himself full of Blutz Waves to let him transform into Super Saiyan 4.
No other Vegeta would have wanted to do this. They would have trained as much as they could before failing. This is a Ve♋geta who understands that sometimes the only way to progress is to throw away your pride. The experiment works and he’s on equal footing with a natural SS4 Goku, ready to fight alongside the man who was once his greatest enemy.
13 Vegeta Can Raise A Family
Where Goku blows Vegeta away in raw power, Vegeta blows Goku away in his fatherly duties. In that he’s actually a father to his children. Now let’s be fair to Goku, he can’t reasonably raise his children most of the time on account of being dead. But when he can? He trains with King Kai instead. Goku’s lack of a presence in his son’s life gets to a point where Gohan actually asks to wear Piccolo’s gi for the ♌Cell Games.
Now let’s look at Vegeta. He’s incredibly cold towards Trunks initially, but losing him in the Cell Games softens him up. By the time we see Vegeta again in the Buu saga, he’s training his son and even offers to take him to the amusement park. Super continues this trend ꦅby having Vegeta dote over Bulma as she’s giving birth to Bulla. Goku just doesn’t compete when it comes to being a father.
12 Vegeta Can Actually Get Screentime In Z
At its core, Dragon Ball Z is an ensemble. Goku’s practically missing half the time. Most people are privy to saying that Z is more Gohan’s story than Goku, but you could get away with claiming that Vegeta and Gohan act as co-leads even if, at its core, Dragon Ball is still the story of Goku’s legacy and person.
Vegeta serves as the main villain in the Saiyan saga and then he’s active in every major fight until he dies fighting Frieza. After that, he has the most fights and screen time in the Cell saga. For the Buu saga, he’s responsible for being the first person to actually try to really kill Buu. In the Frieza and Cell sagas, Goku’s either training or healing. In the Buu saga, he’s just unconscious. If 🦂Goku’s out of the picture, you can guarantee Vegeta’s going to get some screentime.
11 Vegeta Can Skip The God Ritual
One of the major plot points in Battle of Gods is Goku’s disdain for the God ritual. He’s unhappy that he had to resort to external help to achieve a new tier of power, and that drives his character during his final confrontation with Beerus. The anime adaptation of BoG in Dragon Ball Super decides to play with this a🅘 bit by having Vegeta also scorn the power up and decide he’ll achieve God Ki without the ritual. It’s your typical Vegeta boast but he actually succeeds and goes from regular Ki to God Ki just by living with Whis.
This change serves as a reminder of how much Vegeta has grown. In the Cell saga, Vegeta didn’t want to achieve Full Power Super Saiyan because it was a technique Goku had mastered. Here, Vegeta’s more than oka🥂y developing God Ki so long as it’s not the same way a✅s Goku.
10 Vegeta Can Make A Son Who Actually Takes Responsibility For The World
Gohan’s given an incredible amount of focus in Z to the point that many fans consider him the protagonist. Unfortunately, it’s clear by the end of the series that Gohan isn’t cut out for the fighting lifestyle. This isn’t bad on paper, but it’s gotten to a point in Super where Gohan went from the strongest character at the end of Z to dead weight by Resurrection F. He’s naturally gifted, butꦑ he’s adverse to actually using his gifts🔴.
Compare him to Future Trunks. Trunks fights tooth and nail to not only protect the only world he’s ever known, but also take responsibility for other timelines. Gohan, on the other hand, stops training after realizing how much danger the Earth was in with both Cell and Majin Buu, and doesn’t even bother to figure out why Trunks came back to the past in Super when Goku Black showed up.
9 Vegeta Can Create All Of His Moves
You notice something very interesting when you compare Goku’s most iconic moves to Vegeta’s. The Kamehameha, Spirit Bomb, and Instant Transmission are by far Goku’s most used techniques while Vegeta’s are the Galick Gun, Fin𝓰al Flash, and Big Bang Attack. The thing is, none of those moves are Goku exclusive whereas Vegeta’s are all presumably developed by him for him. Master Roshi create🌜d the Kamehameha, King Kai developed the Spirit Bomb, and Instant Transmission is a Yardrat ability. Goku hasnomoves of his own.
Even Super Saiyan which he was the first character to actually utilize properly was already hard-coded into his DNA. We may never see Vegeta developing his moves, but we know they’re all his by sheer virtue of no one else being able to u🧸se them. They’re also incredibly devast⛦ating by comparison. Vegeta’s Final Flash against Cell could have easily obliterated the Earth according to Trunks.
8 Vegeta Can Outdo Super Saiyan 3 As Super Saiyan 2
Super Saiyan was always portrayed as a linear progression in Dragon Ball Z. Besides the stamina drain on SS3, there was no reason to ever assume SS1 and SS2 had anything to make it superior. Until Vegeta outdid Goku completely in Battle of Gods.During the film, Bulma end🔯s up slapping him causing Beerus to hit her. This enrages Vegeta and prompts him to go Super Saiyan 2 and lay into Beerus.
We see that Vegeta is able to slap him around and make him bleed before he runs out of stamina. Master Roshi even notes that Vegeta surpassed Goku in that moment. Goku as Super Saiyan 3 wasn’t even able to hit Beer🐼us when they fought. It didn’t last long and Vegeta more than likely didn’t keep his rage fueled power up, but it🐎 does prove that Vegeta can outdo a Super Saiyan 3 Goku tenfold.
7 Vegeta Can Care About His Wife
Chi-Chi marries the love of her life, but it turns out all he wants to do is work out and punch dudes really hard. At first glance, it’s not like Bulma got off much better but Vegeta actually grows to really care for an🌺d love Bulma. You’d think it’d be the other way around, but it does showcase the parallels in Goku and Vegeta’s development.
Goku goes from a sincere Earthling who comes to accept his Saiyan heritage faults and all. Vegeta goes from a cold blooded Saiyan to someone wholly assimilated into Earthling culture, learning to love and care like one. Goku clearly cares about Chi-Chi but it’s obvious that the concep🔴t of love isn’t something particularly cares for which only makes his marriage look worse. Goku will probably always be stronger than Vegeta, but⭕ at least Vegeta won’t have to go to couple’s therapy down the line.
6 Vegeta Can Die A Heartbreaking Death
Death in Dragon Ball is a common occurrence and easily reversed, but that doesn’t mean those deaths don’t have weight. Toriyama has a way of taking a death and turning it into something so much more, to the point where you forget characters can be revived.𒐪 Very rarely are they actuall♊y heartbreakingly sad, however.
As Vegeta hugs his son for the first and last time, he resolves that the only way to stop Buu is to kill himself in a massive blast. He’s entirely isolated when it happens and his thoughts go to his wife, his son, and his greatest rival, Goku. As he blows 🔯himself to pieces, he knows he’s done something good with his life.. He’s a changed man. His death is made all the sadder because he doesn’t keep h꧃is body post-death like Goku. This was the end of the road, but Vegeta went out smiling anyways.
