Dragon Ball

Vegeta is known as the Prince of All Saiyans who grew up on his home planet Vegetasei. When he was a boy, the diabolical ice-jin Frieza took him from his home and trained him as one of his henchmen, in which state he remained until Frieza mercilessly blew up his planet. He eventually became very cold-hearted and ruthless, murdering countless millions of innocent occupants of many planets during his purges1. He escaped from Frieza's iron-fisted rule and ventured to Earth after Goku's brother Raditz died. His intention was to wreak havoc upon who he deemed a traitor to the Saiyan race, Goku. He also heard of the Dragon Balls and desired to go on a quest to gain immortality for himself. He and Goku battled on Earth, and Vegeta even transformed into his Great Ape form, known as the Oozaru. Yajirobe cut off his ape tail and he was forced to turn back into his regular humanoid form.

He traveled to Namek in search of the Dragon Balls and found that his old dictator Frieza had heard tell of the magical wish-granting orbs and had arrived on the planet as well. He was gleeful in the fact that not only was there a possibility of gaining eternal life, but there was also a chance to seek revenge for all the horrors Frieza had inflicted upon him. He did succeed in tricking Frieza and stole the Dragon Balls the lizard tyrant had collected, but in a turn of events Frieza killed him and Goku, who had journeyed to Namek too, fought Frieza instead of Vegeta renewing his honor by fighting him.

The Namekian Dragon Balls2 were then used to revive everyone who had died by Frieza's bloodthirsty hands, and Vegeta had been one of the victims. Therefore, he was given life again. He reluctantly joined Goku's group of warriors named the "Z Fighters," but he still wanted to kill Goku.

After Namek was blown up by Frieza, everyone thought that Goku had died during the explosion. It soon became apparent that he had not. Vegeta, who was furious over his archrival's assent to Super Saiyan, left to roam the universe and try to figure out the enigma of the third-class Saiyan's prowess.

He crash-landed back on Earth when he and the other Z Fighters (not including Goku, who was still out in space) sensed Frieza's energy, although they had long thought him perished. They rushed to the scene, Vegeta having to endure wearing the infamous pink "Bad Man" T-shirt Bulma bestowed upon him, and were shocked when a mysterious lavender-haired young man turned Super Saiyan and killed Frieza and his father King Cold with his sword.

The young man informed the warriors (and Bulma who had followed them in a jet plane) that Goku would be arriving in two hours. Vegeta and the rest waited, while all trying to figure out the handsome boy's identity.

Goku arrived and the boy drew him aside to talk privately. After a short spar, the boy revealed that his name was Trunks, he was from the future, and that Bulma and Vegeta were his parents. He also fortold the coming of two deadly androids and also of a heart virus that would attack Goku's heart.

Piccolo heard the news and, leaving out any mention of Trunks' identity and even his name, explained the boy's ominous warning to the other warriors.

And, as prophesied, Vegeta and Bulma fell in love, and later you see Bulma with an adorable little baby in her arms with Vegeta as the father, of course.

The androids came, there were battles, Android 19 and 20 were defeated, and then Cell came into the scene. He absorbed Androids 17 and 18 to become "Pefect Cell" and threatened Earth's destruction unless the planet's finest fighters beat him in a tournament he deemed the "Cell Games."

We all know the story of the Cell Games, but during that time, Future Trunks (who had come back from the future) was killed by Cell. This riled the fatherly fury inside of Vegeta and he attacked the monster for all he was worth.

Goku sacrificed himself for the second time to save the Earth when Cell threatened to explode, and Vegeta fell almost into a state of depression. Seven years passed, and Goku visited Earth for a day.

Bobbidi chose that day to wreak havoc upon the world with his father's creation, Majin Buu.

Vegeta let Bobbidi control him by letting him make use of the evil lurking inside of his heart. He became Majin Vegeta and was fed power by Bobbidi. He challenged Goku to the fight he had been waiting for and in the end tricked Goku and knocked him unconcious, taking a Senzu Bean for himself. The energy from that fatal battle went into awakening Buu.

Majin Vegeta realized that it was all his fault that Buu had been awakened, and with a last goodbye to Bulma, his son Trunks, and his rival Goku, he sacrificed himself to end Buu's life.

Buu came back to life but was defeated by the faithful Z Fighters.

Vegeta was later given life for the second time and his heart greatly improved, although he still keeps his arrogant personality and bad attitude we all love.

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1A "purge" is where someone will travel to a planet and eliminate all of the life forms upon it.

2The Namekian Dragon Balls are the Dragon Balls located on Planet Namek. They are much bigger than the Earth's Dragon Balls and the Namek dragon, Porunga, can grant three wishes. Shenron, the Earth's dragon, can only grant one wish.