Raditz

"AHAHAHA! Uh, excuse me - has anyone seen my arm? AHAHAHA! You can't miss it, it's green! AHAHAHAHAHA!"



Raditz is the older brother of Goku and the first villain in the series Dragonball Z and in the Dragonball Z Kai series.

He is one of the last surviving members of a race known as the Saiyans, and comes to earth in search of his brother, to see if he had taken over earth, as he was supposed to. However, Goku hit his head as a child, and lost all memory of his mission and who he was. Raditz is also the first Saiyan to come to earth, and at that point he was much stronger than Goku, and Piccolo, who had teamed up to fight him.

Upon arriving on Earth, Raditz encountered a farmer, who tried to shoot him, but Raditz caught the bullet and sent it back at him, killing him. During his search for Goku, Raditz encountered Piccolo, whose attack had no effect on him. Raditz was about to use an attack called "Keep your eyes on the birdie" when his scouter picked up Goku's power level, and he headed off to find him.

Raditz kidnapped Goku's son Gohan to make him rejoin the Saiyans. Goku and Piccolo teamed up to fight him, but Raditz was still stronger, destroying Piccolo's arm. Piccolo was left with no choice but to use his ultimate attack, The Special Beam Cannon, but Raditz dodged it. He then attempted to use his "Keep your eye on the birdie" again, but at that moment, Goku snuck behind him and grabbed his tail, causing him agonizing pain. However, he tricked Goku into letting him go, then stomped on him.

Gohan unleashed his hidden power and broke free of Raditz's space pod (where Raditz had locked him), and hit Raditz with his head, damaging him. As Raditz was about to kill Gohan, Goku grabbed him from behind, sacrificing himself to defeat Raditz as Piccolo used Special Beam Cannon on them, mortally wounding them both. However, Raditz did not die from this attack; after his scouter transmitted what Piccolo said about the Dragonballs to Nappa and Vegeta (and Frieza), he was laughing at Piccolo, who then finished him off.

His actual death was never shown onscreen (as the last we see of him, Piccolo is raising his fist above him to deliver the deathblow), and his corpse remains offscreen when Bulma and Krillin take his scouter, suggesting that it was not a pretty sight what Piccolo did to him. His body is, however, seen from a distance at times (particularly the titlescreen of the episode), and clearly seen in the redub, and the ground around him appears cracked and damaged, though there are no visible markings on it as to how or where the deathblow was struck. Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi suggests that Piccolo smashed him with his fist to kill him.